Quick upgrade for 6870?

Space Monkey · 21 Apr 2014 at 14:21

Also not sure if you have seen, AMD are releasing another set of free games soon, so either keep them and enjoy or sell them on and put towards an SSD?

wildest_jjk · 21 Apr 2014 at 14:21

Space Monkey said:
wildest_jjk,

Been going through a similar situation as you, looking for the best card at the right price, too much choice eh! First world problems

What I've gleaned from this, is that, if you want the best price to performance ratio then you'll be looking at the AMDs, but if you're flush then by all means get an Nvidia.

My brain has been saying to me, get an AMD, but the heart says Nvidia

From experience, Nvidia cards have always been the easiest to get along with, I always seem to have some niggles with AMD GPUs, but it's not something that would put me off buying them, especially as this generation are so close in performance (290 v 780 etc) and I think (could be wrong here) that the AMD will stand the test of time better, more ram, wider bus, and Mantle is taking shape nicely at the moment, so basically, I've decided to get a 290 based on specs, performance and a lower cost

Not sure if my ramblings help but just wanted to share my thoughts

Thanks for this. I enjoy ramblings

This is completely how I feel to be honest. I do think I want an AMD again but I am willing to change.

Based on what you have said and what the guys have mentioned in this thread it seems to make sense that the AMD is the best choice at the moment. I'm not biased in the slightest I don't care about brands so would easily buy an Nvidia if it made more sense.

I was just seeing if looking more closely at the games would change this. However I don't think that's happened. It also seems like its slightly the wrong time to get a new GPU, what with Mantle/DX12 and Crypto price rises (if this is still the case). These are all things I've read about and have had to try and understand to make a decision. That said its the same with any technology, I think if I don't just buy one I will always be waiting for the next thing to come along.

Thanks again, now look who's rambling

wildest_jjk · 21 Apr 2014 at 14:22

Space Monkey said:
Also not sure if you have seen, AMD are releasing another set of free games soon, so either keep them and enjoy or sell them on and put towards an SSD?

Another reason to hold off then lol. Where did you read this? It would make more sense to get them.

humbug · 21 Apr 2014 at 14:24

Not easy spending over £300 is it? i agonised for weeks over it.

Space Monkey · 21 Apr 2014 at 14:25

There's a thread in this very sub forum, due today but just asked Gibbo and he said he's not received his allocation yet, he'll check tomorrow

Space Monkey · 21 Apr 2014 at 14:27

humbug said:
Not easy spending over £300 is it? i agonised for weeks over it.

Massive difference in your screenies of BF4 with Mantle Humbug

wildest_jjk · 21 Apr 2014 at 14:29

It's not at all easy, on top of that I have people (friends) telling me it's too much to spend on a card. But I think these high end cards will have a good couple of years in them as a minimum. This of course is my personal opinion lol.

I think I can justify it to be honest as I was going to be getting an Xbox One but this is now not going to be the case.

Thanks for checking the free games, this would be a nice added extra

humbug · 21 Apr 2014 at 14:31

Space Monkey said:
Massive difference in your screenies of BF4 with Mantle Humbug

Yeah, that is on Medium settings to illustrate just how much the CPU can bottleneck this game.

But even when GPU bound on a 290 there is still a significant gain.

Space Monkey · 21 Apr 2014 at 14:38

It's really frustrating not being able to make a decision, I too have been looking for weeks at GPUs (well all parts of a PC as I'm starting from scratch again) so I feel your pain

Personally, from all that you've said, I'd recommend you get an AMD 290 with the free games, especially as you're coming from an AMD and have no issues with them, I don't think you'll see any difference when gaming on an Nvidia, and then you'll also be upset at yourself for spending the difference?

I finally found some inner peace by just saying 'stuff it' stop looking, you know enough, more research will only frazzle your brain even more, and just pick a card (R9 290 in my case), after that there was much rejoicing, dancing in the streets and general merriment

wildest_jjk · 21 Apr 2014 at 14:40

Space Monkey said:
It's really frustrating not being able to make a decision, I too have been looking for weeks at GPUs (well all parts of a PC as I'm starting from scratch again) so I feel your pain

Personally, from all that you've said, I'd recommend you get an AMD 290 with the free games, especially as you're coming from an AMD and have no issues with them, I don't think you'll see any difference when gaming on an Nvidia, and then you'll also be upset at yourself for spending the difference?

I finally found some inner peace by just saying 'stuff it' stop looking, you know enough, more research will only frazzle your brain even more, and just pick a card (R9 290 in my case), after that there was much rejoicing, dancing in the streets and general merriment

Lol I couldn't agree more. Any idea what the free games might be?

Is it anything to do with this?

http://sites.amd.com/us/promo/never-settle/Pages/nsreloadedforever.aspx

Space Monkey · 21 Apr 2014 at 14:43

That looks like it, I'll find the list in a sec

Space Monkey · 21 Apr 2014 at 14:44

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18594198

wildest_jjk · 21 Apr 2014 at 14:45

Wow and I can get three of those?

Space Monkey · 21 Apr 2014 at 14:47

wildest_jjk said:
Wow and I can get three of those?

Yep, or more if you choose some indie titles, as 2 indies equal 1 major

wildest_jjk · 21 Apr 2014 at 14:49

Space Monkey said:
Yep, or more if you choose some indie titles, as 2 indies equal 1 major

That's pretty good, wouldn't mind playing thief and the murdered soul suspect game. They are probably the newest in the list I think anyway.

Thanks

humbug · 21 Apr 2014 at 14:53

wildest_jjk said:
That's pretty good, wouldn't mind playing thief and the murdered soul suspect game. They are probably the newest in the list I think anyway.

Thanks

I'm buying Thief this week, i'm interested to see what the Audio is like.

Ian Evey · 21 Apr 2014 at 15:10

humbug said:
The benchmark thread your talking about looks like this.

I have an old AMD CPU, My Minimum FPS with that CPU are hardly a barometer.

LtMatt has a CPU closer to Whyscotty and his 780, he gets 62, Matt gets 75
Gregster with a GTX Titan and a 3930K gets 81.

DS has more compute based lighting, shadowing and reflection than anyother game, its a billboard for compute 3D rendering.

Its the perfect test for a GPUs ability to render anything other than flat lifeless imagery.

Nvidia do well with simple Graphics, if things start to get complicated they don't do as well as AMD.

humbug said:
Yeah, that is on Medium settings to illustrate just how much the CPU can bottleneck this game.

But even when GPU bound on a 290 there is still a significant gain.

My min on siege of Shanghai is 70 and average of 85 or higher depending on the differences in gameplay . Obviously mantle helps a little when playing the game and not stood in one place but those fps are a lot lower when using dx11 vs a 780 and not far off mantles fps.

Have amd made no improvements anymore with regards to bf4 and dx11 and only bothered about mantle performance?

humbug · 21 Apr 2014 at 15:19

Ian Evey said:
My min on siege of Shanghai is 70 and average of 85 or higher depending on the differences in gameplay . Obviously mantle helps a little when playing the game and not stood in one place but those fps are a lot lower when using dx11 vs a 780 and not far off mantles fps.

Have amd made no improvements anymore with regards to bf4 and dx11 and only bothered about mantle performance?

What CPU did you use?

The Graph was not stood in one place, its going from Flag E to B.

Here, a recording of something similar.

Watch the FPS in the top right on both, the difference is as clear as day.

Oh, BTW, i'm getting Min 68 because thats GPU bound. on lower settings (CPU Bound) in Mantle i get over 100.

DirectX

Mantle

Ian Evey · 21 Apr 2014 at 15:34

humbug said:
What CPU did you use?

The Graph was not stood in one place, its going from Flag E to B.

Here, a recording of something similar.

Watch the FPS in the top right on both, the difference is as clear as day.

DirectX

Mantle

I was trying to say why is dx11 on a 290 a lot lower than mantle is and a 780 is so close to mantle fps figures. The fps I quoted I had are from a competitive 14 minute game.

You think your CPU still holds mantle back?

I use a 3570k @ 4.2

LtMatt · 21 Apr 2014 at 15:38

Ian Evey said:
I was trying to say why is dx11 on a 290 a lot lower than mantle is and a 780 is so close to mantle fps figures. The fps I quoted I had are from a competitive 14 minute game.

You think your CPU still holds mantle back?

I use a 3570k @ 4.2

You'd get similar fps on DX with his cpu, trust me. His gpu is seeing 60-70% usage in DX according to the on screen display. Big bottleneck for a 290.