R9 380 2gb vs 4gb vram or GTX 970

[PaddyMcpadington]

I am planning of getting a graphics card and im curious if I need 2 gigabytes of vram of 4 gigabytes, I am only going to be playing on a 1080p monitor with no multi monitor set up of any kind, I play games like; eve online, world of tanks, world of warships, smite, minecraft, civ 5 and warframe, I don't play massively demanding games. Ill probably still be playing 1080p for the next 2 years.
I'm mainly stuck between two cards either the R9 380 or GTX 970, or if you guys have any better suggestions that can save me money. I would like the GTX 970 but for an extra £80 and only about a maximum of 20 frames per second more, I'm not sure if its worth it. Any ideas?

 

[bootcher]

The GTX970 performs better than the R9 380, it is the best GPU currently for 1080p gaming. The R9 380 also performs well, but the GTX 970 performs better. They will both last you 2 years, only in 2 years the GTX 970 will still perform better. Sometimes 20 frames more is the difference between playable and unplayable, though you can always lower quality settings and/or resolution.

You will need to make a decision if the extra performance is worth the extra money. Personally I always try to get the best performing GPU I can so it will last me longer.

 

[George Mulligan]

GTX 970 is the better card between the two. Better performance and lower TDP. Is it worth it? That's up to you. Personally, if I'm buying a brand new GPU, I'd like it to be a little future proof. Even though you've listed what you play today, it might not be the case a year from now. Of course that argument can be made all the way up to the GTX 980Ti or Titan.

 

[Mikey1990]

It really depends on the games you really play. It doesn't sound like you play the best of the best games that require so much performance. So I don't recommend the GTX 970 as it sounds like it will be a waste of money for what you play. The R9 380 2GB sounds perfect for what you need as you only want to play on a single monitor on 1080p. The 4GB R9 380 is suited for multi monitors or going higher on graphic quality like 2K or 4K gaming.
I hope that helps .

 

[Deqzel]

I'll urge you to consider the possibilities of multiple Graphic Cards, not now but in the future. For the Titles you are mentioning both cards will rarely (if ever) drop below 60fps at 1080p. So here comes the possibility of multiple GPUs, check if you MOBO is compatible with SLI or Crossfire, so in the future you can save some money by buying a second GPU instead of a replacement for your current one. I was wondering the exact same question and I decided on buying now a R9 380 4gb and since my MOBO supports Crossfire and later (hopefully by December) I'll buy a second 380. Note that I won't need a PSU, Fan Cooler or Case upgrade.