R9 390 vs GTX 970: Which card is better for my system?

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DragonGunner

DragonGunner

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Hi guys, first off, I want to apologize, because I've seen a thousand similar questions to this, even though none that I saw really addressed my issues.

So, the question and the context. I'm a heavy gamer, fairly new to OC, currently running an R7 260X, 16GB RAM, and a non-OC AMD FX-8350 (which already runs pretty hot). Want to upgrade. Both cards are the same price, here.

As I understand it, the core clock of the GTX 970 is faster, but the 3.5GB VRAM could be limiting for future gaming, and SLI clones VRAM across the chips, so that couldn't be expanded without another upgrade. On the other hand, the Maxwell chip is clocked at a fairly low speed, so plenty of room to OC at my leisure.

Conversely, the R9 390 is slightly slower, but has a huge 8GB of VRAM, and nearly twice as much bandwidth. My setup uses a 1440p 60Hz monitor, one that I don't plan on upgrading from in the foreseeable future, so my use of the VRAM - with current games - would be limited, no matter how high I set the settings. Furthermore, the 390 runs HOT - very little room to OC, and I'm worried that introducing that much heat into my case (a Sharkoon Rex3 Value with a push/pull aircool setup) will degrade other systems.

I'm really torn between these, because I can't afford anything better, but don't want to upgrade for another year or two at last. Please advise me!
 
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madmatt30


huge amount of comparable benchmarks about mate - youre just not looking properly
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-radeon-rx-480-polaris-10,4616-6.html

theyre reference score,the aftermarket...
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thor220

thor220

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The core clock means nothing when comparing across architecture. The GTX 970 and R9 390 are about even except when it comes to DX 12, above 1080p, overclocking, and power consumption.

The GTX 970 is the better overclocker and uses less power. The R9 390 is going to win in DX 12 and vulcan titles by a large margin or when playing games above 1080p resolution. 8 GB of VRAM on the 390 means it will simply last longer than the GTX 970, which only has 3.5 GB of full speed RAM and a pretty much worthless 0.5 GB at 1/6 speed.

Since you are new to overclocking and want the card to last a decent amount of time I would recommend a 390. If it's at all possible, an RX 480 or RX 470 are both excellent choices as well.
 
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madmatt30

madmatt30

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Is a 8gb 480 out of reach ?? Performs slightly better than the 390 a lot of the time with less power draw & lower temps.

I don't think any of those cards is ideally suited to 1440p but I'd put the 970 last in all honesty due to the 4gb vram.

While on current benches it still looks a contender I think a year down the line things will worsen for it.
 
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geofelt

geofelt

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First of all, ignore vram as a selection criteria.

VRAM has become a marketing issue.
My understanding is that vram is more of a performance issue than a functional issue.
A game needs to have most of the data in vram that it uses most of the time.
Somewhat like real ram.
If a game needs something not in vram, it needs to get it across the pcie boundary
hopefully from real ram and hopefully not from a hard drive.
It is not informative to know to what level the available vram is filled.
Possibly much of what is there is not needed.
What is not known is the rate of vram exchange.
Vram is managed by the Graphics card driver, and by the game. There may be differences in effectiveness between amd and nvidia cards.
And differences between games.
Here is an older performance test comparing 2gb with 4gb vram.
http://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Video-Card-Performance-2GB-vs-4GB-Memory-154/
Spoiler... not a significant difference.
A more current set of tests shows the same results:
http://www.techspot.com/review/1114-vram-comparison-test/page5.html

And... no game maker wants to limit their market by
requiring huge amounts of vram. The vram you see will be appropriate to the particular card.

If you are worried about heat, look to one of the newer gen cards like the RX480 or GTX1060.
Price should be little different and the newer cards are stronger.




 
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thor220

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The amount of VRAM doesn't really have an impact on FPS but it does have a very visible impact on frame smoothness, something ironically left out of many benchmarks. Video cards lacking VRAM with have stuttering and and larger frame-rate deviance.
 
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DragonGunner

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As I said, I'm using a 1440p monitor, and don't intend on replacing it anytime soon.

To be honest I have heard very little about the 480. At my local store, it's twenty dollars cheaper than the other two cards - definitely a bonus, but not a gamechanger. What worries me is that I'm not finding a whole lot of benchmarks or comparisons to other cards, with big benchmarkers like futuremark notable for their absence. This benchmark (http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu.php?gpu=Radeon+RX+480) states that it performs below the GTX 970?
 
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geofelt

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GTX970 class cards, and that includes RX480 and R9-290 and 390 cards generally play most games well at 1080P.
FPS is important for fast action games but not so much for more cpu intensive games like sims, strategy and mmo.

If you will play fast action games at 1440P, I think you should ultimately be looking at GTX1070

OTOH, GTX970 class will be a very big boost from your R7-260X
If in doubt, buy a EVGA GTX970 and register it asap so you can qualify for their 90 day step up program if you think you need more.
http://www.evga.com/support/stepup/
 
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DragonGunner

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Realistically, I've only recently begun facing difficulties with my R7 260x. I do play fast action games, primarily, and FPS is extremely important to me. Up till the last year or so, I've been able to turn down the settings and cope, but with this purchase I'm hoping for something that will not only let me ramp my settings back up, but also guarantee no upgrades for at least a year, and maybe even let me slip into light VR gaming (though this is not a priority). Even an R9 280 would be a notable step up - I'm looking for something with enough power to weather the market, though. The RX 480 seems good, but I know very little about it.

The GTX 1070 is out of my price range, unfortunately. I'm only looking at cards that are close to 300 USD, or not much higher.
 
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madmatt30

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huge amount of comparable benchmarks about mate - youre just not looking properly
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-radeon-rx-480-polaris-10,4616-6.html

theyre reference score,the aftermarket models perform better.

Its swings & roundabouts between all 3 cards dependant on game & resolution.
I own two 970's myself,had them since release,I absolutely would not buy one now at this point in time though.

if the 480 is the cheapest it makes common sense to me its the best buy personally

more benches here

https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/RX_480_STRIX_OC/

shows both the reference & strix cards compared to the 390 & the 970

once again swings & roundabouts

theres no real definitive winner between the 3 cards.
Bear in mind the rx 480 is fairly new,the other cards are well established driver wise.
I would only expect the amd drivers to get better with time & performance to increase if anything.



 
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DragonGunner

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You've almost got me sold on the RX 480. One issue that I've seen in multiple reviews, though, is that the 480 has power issues wherein it draws additional power from the mobo, occasionally causing the system to shut down outright. Most reviewers put it down to poor power allocation in old or cheap motherboards - all well and good, except that mine is both old and cheap (Gigabyte 990FXA-UD3). That's got me a little bit scared. Will later drivers solve this issue?

So, failing the 480 (unless you guys have new information about that power issue), I'm getting that I should go with an R9 390? That its VRAM and DX12 will serve me better than the GTX 970 at 1440p, both now and in the future.

One thing that you guys haven't really addressed is the high TDP on the R9 card. My FX-8350 already hovers around 55C without a fireball graphics card in the case. Am I silly in being scared that a heat-generating card like the R9 390 will adversely affect my CPU?
 
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