Which GPU £280 budget

[davewhite04]

Why bother mentioning the psu requirements when the OP has a 750W psu

Anyway, the 390 is the current best option in the price segments and with DX12 it's a no brainer given the recent controversy over Async Shaders, VR,etc.

I think there are enough posts here for the OP to make a decision but he hasn't posted back so probably a waste of time continuing here.

Because the 390 draws more power obviously, and the performance increase in 1080P is nothing you'd notice in any game, and it isn't the best option in the price segments if the guy wants a £30-£40 game(which is probably the best current gen game available) the £269.99 drops to £239.99 or even £229.99! Amazing value. An NVidia card offers so much more.

The guy is obviously deciding, I've had my say so it's up to him now.

 

[madsin]

I think there are enough posts here for the OP to make a decision but he hasn't posted back so probably a waste of time continuing here.

The OP has been reading and checking back every half hour.

Do i need to answer evry comment to keep the thread viable ?

Im after advice so i kinda try to listen.

I get the general view that AMD 390 seem,s to hold its own then own some.

regardless of the obove posters comments i value all of you guys advice and views.

I can assure you your not as he/she put it dealing with a waste of time.

Yeh i no fs123 just saying right !

 

[Aretak]

I would have went for AMD if they were better but the truth is they are not, the drivers remain unstable compared to the Nvidia ones, and Nvidia cards offer so much more than just a graphics card upgrade.

Having used multiple cards from both brands over the past year, I say this is nothing more than fanboy hogwash. For a single card there's zero difference in driver "stability" or anything else. The single and only thing I missed whilst using AMD cards was half-rate adaptive v-sync. As for "Nvidia cards offer so much more than just a graphics card upgrade", is that a direct quote from a piece of marketing material?

 

[davewhite04]

Having used multiple cards from both brands over the past year, I say this is nothing more than fanboy hogwash. For a single card there's zero difference in driver "stability" or anything else. The single and only thing I missed whilst using AMD cards was half-rate adaptive v-sync. As for "Nvidia cards offer so much more than just a graphics card upgrade", is that a direct quote from a piece of marketing material?

I don't think AMD has got a Nvidia shield style tablet, and g-sync is class leading technology. Virtually every AMD site/forum or 3rd party site mentions the stability of the drivers, I never considered a AMD with my recent upgrade because of G-Sync(which is amazing, even though I'm locked at 60hz because it's 4K, this guy could get a 144hz G-Sync), most games go out of their way to fully support NVidia hence their advertising. Also, I wanted a Shield. AMD offers none of this.

It is also arguable if a 390 for £239.99 exists, if it does it certainly won't have the memory speed of the card I recommended, and I don't think it would out perform it.

But it's pointless this guy is going for 390 it seems, so I hope he likes it.

 

[nashathedog]

I guess you could get a good 350WATT PSU for the 970GTX too using that logic? I'm not a fanboy I'm talking from experience. Everything I threw at my 970GTX worked amazing. I would have went for AMD if they were better but the truth is they are not, the drivers remain unstable compared to the Nvidia ones, and Nvidia cards offer so much more than just a graphics card upgrade.

£270 for a special edition 970GTX with a £30-£40 game that the guy wants, means he's paying £240 or £230 for a high end 1080P card, Which runs cooler and has very stable drivers and offers so much flexibly due to it's brilliant cooling system and they are quieter. The R9 390 has a very slight performance increase that he wouldn't notice on his current monitor, and would blow him away on a 144hz G-Sync monitor in the future.

A free-sync monitor will do just as well while being a good 100 quid cheaper than a comparable G-sync model.

 

[nashathedog]

I always go nvidia just cos i want my pc as quiet as possible, for 1080p any card you buy in that price range is going to run your games at high settings anyway.

Things change pretty quickly in the PC industry, For example the quietest coolest High end air cooled card on the market is what (debatably)?

The Sapphire Fury Tri-X.

 

[madsin]

But it's pointless this guy is going for 390 it seems, so I hope he likes it.

You couldent be more wrong my friend.

Im just as perplexed now as i was befor i started this thread.

The only real diffrence i see with both the GTX 970 & AMD r9 390 is the ram.

I dont think from what ive read and watched that the whole heat & power issues that

have plagued AMD gpu,s are relly an issue from my own perspective.

I really am just asking those that own eather or both these cards to donate a little of

there expeareances in real world terms of there pros and cons.

Allso ive decided to go with msi after some of you guys help.

Ive never used this brand befor so thankyou for the heads up.

I will hit the buy button at around 3pm tomorrow so any advice till then will be of great

help.

The whole moniter thing is very intresting to me because thats my next upgrade and it wont be 4k im sure.

Thankyou for all your advice.

 

[gooseuk]

At 1080p the msi 390 seems quite to me. No major fan noise at all. Games played Gta 5 and call of duty advanced warfare.

Even my friend came over last night, and he said my god thats quite.

 

[davewhite04]

You couldent be more wrong my friend.

Im just as perplexed now as i was befor i started this thread.

The only real diffrence i see with both the GTX 970 & AMD r9 390 is the ram.

I dont think from what ive read and watched that the whole heat & power issues that

have plagued AMD gpu,s are relly an issue from my own perspective.

I really am just asking those that own eather or both these cards to donate a little of

there expeareances in real world terms of there pros and cons.

Allso ive decided to go with msi after some of you guys help.

Ive never used this brand befor so thankyou for the heads up.

I will hit the buy button at around 3pm tomorrow so any advice till then will be of great

help.

The whole moniter thing is very intresting to me because thats my next upgrade and it wont be 4k im sure.

Thankyou for all your advice.

I'm not surprised you're puzzled mate. I had a Gigabyte G1 Gaming 970GTX which I loved, as every 1080P game I played was amazing. It constantly surprised me. Metal Gear Solid is going to be expensive for a while, so if you really want that then you are getting a £30/£40 game for free, which is what all this boils down to. Because the difference in the performance between a 390 and 970 is minimal, you won't notice.

Here is some info on G-Sync, a monitor that is really worth saving up for, there are numerous other reviews on it, none negative.

No game will need more than 4GB of Video Memory for a long time, @ 1080P. You can quote me on that one. Here are some games that run brilliantly on the 970GTX.

Witcher 3
GTA V
Elite: Dangerous
Assassins Creed Unity
The Evil Within
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare(Some tearing in cutscenes, which G-Sync eliminates)

Basically all the current Gen games run comfortably on a 970GTX. and saying that most games in the next 4 years will be ports, I don't think many will be technically superior to GTA V, Witcher 3 or Call of Duty : Modern Warfare.

I didn't play MGS V on the card as I've went 4K, but it isn't a demanding game so you should get max settings.

At the end of the day, it's about playing games, and the 970 GTX(as well as the 390) excels @ 1080P.

I think going NVidia will set you up nicely for your next Monitor upgrade too, I love my G-Sync

 

[humbug]

AMD have their own G-Sync, its called Free-Sync and because AMD don't ask for licensing fees from the screen vendors the same screens are a lot less expensive.

 

[davewhite04]

AMD have their own G-Sync, its called Free-Sync and because AMD don't ask for licensing fees from the screen vendors the same screens are a lot less expensive.

And it's not as good, so will folks stop trying to say it is?

Read this: G-SyncvsFreeSync

It seems you have a bit of time before deciding OP, so it might be worth reading this too. I'm speaking from experience btw.

 

[humbug]

And it's not as good, so will folks stop trying to say it is?

Read this: G-SyncvsFreeSync

It seems you have a bit of time before deciding OP, so it might be worth reading this too. I'm speaking from experience btw.

And this one says it is,

Cherry picking.

 

[davewhite04]

And this one says it is,

Cherry picking.

Did you watch the video?

For a start V-SYNC has to be turned off for G-Sync to work. Hence the stupid test results.(This guy didn't even know that, neither do you by the looks of things).

Finally did you see the "Sweet Spot" 45FPS Results(the ones that matter, in this blokes test in anyway)?

This is a good video for the OP.

 

[humbug]

Did you watch the video?

For a star V-SYNC has to be turned off for G-Sync to work. Hence the stupid test results.

Finally did you see the "Sweet Spot" 45FPS Results(the ones that matter)?

This is a good video for the OP.

You obviously didn't, he ran it with and without V-Sync for a thorough test, he explained the proper settings and operations to get the best out of both.
He didn't say either one was better, his results do not suggest that nor am i implying one is better than the other by posting it.

You however seems determined, hell bent even to justify G-Sync over the other.

 

[davewhite04]

You obviously didn't, he ran it with and without V-Sync for a thorough test, he explained the proper settings and operations to get the best out of both.
He didn't say either one was better nor am i implying one is better than the other by posting it.

You however seems determined, hell bent even to justify G-Sync over the other.

I'm just explaining something that I know a little bit about.

If you weren't implying that one is better then the other why did you accuse me of "cherry picking" and then continue to post a video that actually supports my position?

G-Sync was miles ahead in his FPS "sweet spot" test, and in his final comments.

I'm offering advice, I have no shares in NVidia or get paid for spending time writing all this.

I am sick of people arguing when someone doesn't "go with the flow".

 

[Doug73458]

Get the GTX 970, you won't be disappointed. A great card by any standard.

 

[fs123]

Get the GTX 970, you won't be disappointed. A great card by any standard.

Most of the reviewers on youtube/internet are all recommending the 390 over the 970 now. Even though the 970 may have been the top card last year it's now been surpassed and the 390 with 8GB would be more future proof. Everyone is saying the GCN architecture is going to be better for DX12.

I guess if you prefer Nvidia over AMD then by all means go for a 3.5GB +0.5GB card but common sense says get the 8GB card then crossfire with a cheap 390/390X next year and run games at 4K ( or with VSR) with ease.

 

[Lokken86]

390. Faster, better card than a 970.

 

[Deleted member 87287]

Wow thankyou all for all your helpfull advice.

The only umm i have is the ati driver support has it improved over the years ?

In my own experience ive had to deal with a ton issues with sli suport and could do with

a bit of stabilty in my gaming life so to speak.

Thank again guys for all your help and views.

I have had an R9 290 for 10 months now and I have no problems whatsoever with AMD drivers. I had Nvidia cards for about 7 years previously and was a bit reluctant, like you. It's been no problem though, and I got so much more value by going with AMD - my 290 was £199.99!

 

[fs123]

The OP has been reading and checking back every half hour.

Do i need to answer evry comment to keep the thread viable ?

Im after advice so i kinda try to listen.

I get the general view that AMD 390 seem,s to hold its own then own some.

regardless of the obove posters comments i value all of you guys advice and views.

I can assure you your not as he/she put it dealing with a waste of time.

Yeh i no fs123 just saying right !

I only made that comment because I thought you might have got a card by now and haven't reported back. Did not mean to offend.

Let us when you do decide.