GTX 960 4GB vs R9 280x 3GB?

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tommyturner12

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As most of you may already know, NVIDIA announced their 4GB GTX 960 models last month. However, even with 4GB of VRAM, it still is outshined by the R9 280x from AMD. But there are two issues on hand here. Keep in mind I WILL overclock.

1: I will be playing at 1080p for the time being, and I do NOT want to run games on Ultra settings, particularly because I honestly can't tell the difference between High and Ultra. I also understand that Ultra can drag frames down a lot. I'd much prefer to play games on Medium-High settings. The GTX 960 can push most games at 45+ FPS on those settings, correct?

2: My main priority will be playing Skyrim. I want to be able to run about 300+ mods on about High-ish settings. I kid you not when I say this, but I have about 200 texture mods, and right now I'm running on Intel HD 4600 graphics. I get about 10-15 FPS outdoors with, obviously, settings on all low and at 720p. So, the question is, can a GTX 960 with 4GB of RAM be able to push Skyrim with 300+ mods with a light ENB (Vividian ENB) at 1080p with Medium to High settings? It can already run the game at near 130 FPS on those settings without mods, so I'd assume that it can run with mods?

Sorry for the rant. In any case, I'd take the R9 280x as it is more powerful. However, because Skyrim is my main priority, and it'll be modded like crazy, so VRAM is essential. I'll have no problem turning settings down, either.

Also, another huge thing to mention is DirectX 12. Apparently, it significantly improves FPS and drastically reduces power consumption. As I said above, I'll be overclocking, so this should make the GTX 960 a worthy contender, correct? I o know that the R9 280X will also feature DX12, but since it is a DX 11.2 card, it will not feature most of the features of DX 12, right?

This was the card I'm looking at:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127860
 
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Eximo

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Hmm, there are a few GTX960 for $200, so the price comparison isn't exactly at ~$250. R9-290 is certainly the more powerful card though.

DX 12 only works when the program is written to use it. Thus far that is practically nothing.

R9-290 as I recall already supports some of the DX12 capabilities, so not too different there.

Coolest thing the GTX960 has going for it might be HDMI 2.0, if that is useful to you.
 
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Vlad Rose

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Also consider the 960 more than likely has the same VRAM issue that plagues the 970 at over 3.5gb since the architecture (bit width) is the same.

With Skyrim and some the higher requirement mods, expect that to become a factor.

As Jeff suggested, I would spend the little bit extra and go with the 290.
 
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tommyturner12

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Thanks for the answers guys, so the R9 290 is the better choice? I've honestly known that but I didnt know the price was so low! However, the thing is, I need to know if their is a cheaper one because I usually can't trust a card with so many faulty issues as the HIS iPower (Read the reviews)! Is there any better alternative at about the same price point?
 
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Eximo

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They in fact didn't make such a mistake. The GTX970 (3.5GB*) and GTX980 (4GB) share an architecture. The GTX960 uses a different design. (Essentially 1/2 of a GTX980)

* GTX970 has 4GB of memory, but not all the ROP and SM units that the GTX980 has. When accessing above 3.5GB the GPU has to use an extra clock cycle to access that memory. Early revisions of the drivers caused this to create a stuttering effect when high resolutions and textures were used. Only low-priority information is going to be stored above 3.5GB is my understanding from Nvidia's response.

Not really sure why people make a big deal out of it. Marketing and Engineering rarely get along at a company. Everyone who bought a GTX970 knew they were getting a crippled version of the GTX980 in the first place. Same with R9-290X and R9-290. Those lesser cards only exist because of manufacturing issues.
 
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Vlad Rose

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True, but the 3.5gb issue came into play because of the physical limitation of how much memory the bus width could handle; which hasn't changed.
 
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Eximo

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Not really a bandwidth issue persay. The chunk of the GPU that processes that i/o for the memory is disabled, but rather then just chopping off the .5GB of memory it handled, they wired it up to the overall bus. So instead of releasing a 3.5GB card, they released a 3.5GB + .5GB card.

Really comes down to this: Did they pay for a GTX970 that delivered performance at the ~$330 price point. Yes. Did learning that a crippled card doesn't perform identically to the GTX980, which is another $200, change anything. No.
 
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tommyturner12

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So, going back to the conversation. Is the 960 enough for High setting 1080p gaming? Again, I don't need the best graphics. What I like about it is the low temps, low power draw, silence under load, and it also matches my color scheme.
 
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Vlad Rose

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The modded Skyrim may give issues trying to get 60fps at 1080; depending on the mods. Almost all other games should be fine though.

I did find a reddit article that talked about system specs based on mod requirements.
http://www.reddit.com/r/skyrimmods/comments/1x892u/best_possible_specs_for_heavily_modded_skyrim/
 
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tommyturner12

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Thanks for the link bud :)
 
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Eximo

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If you run a lot of mods and the high res pack for Skyrim the extra VRAM might not be a bad idea.

Not saving a huge amount on the ASUS card, and I don't like the complete lack of information. Ask the seller for a picture of the card with username written on a piece of paper in the shot, preferably showing the card running in a computer.
 
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Lee Neighoff

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That's not how it works. Back before Maxwell, if you cut out SM units, you lost the memory tied to them. That's why cards like the GTX 770 only had a fraction of the memory of their full-chip counterparts (770 has 2/3 the SM units as the 780, and has 2/3 the VRAM).

New technology in the Maxwell architecture allowed the memory to be saved, albeit not at full speed. That's why 1/8 of the GTX 970's memory is slower than the rest - 1/8 of the SM units were disabled in order to differentiate it from the GTX 980.

This is why I fear the GTX 950 may have an issue with memory.
 
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Eximo

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GTX770 and GTX780 are completely different GPUs, so that isn't the case at all. The reason the 780 (Which is itself a crippled chip, with the 770 being the fully functional one) Has 3GB instead of 2GB is that it was designed with more in the first place.

GK110 = GTX 780, Titan, GTX780 Ti (780 is missing 3 SM units, Titan is missing 1, and the 780Ti is fully functional)
GK104 = 660Ti, 670, 680, 760, 770
GM204 = GTX970 and GTX980
GM200 = Titan X and 980Ti
GM206 = GTX960 and GTX950

GM 206 is precisely a GM204 chip with half of everything. GTX680 and GTX770 are fully functional GPUs and nearly identical aside from memory and core clock tweaks.
 
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