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My R9 390 vs. GTX 970: Surprising Results?

Suika

Definitely not the wisest of impulse buys. XFX is the PNY of AMD, the cheapest board partner with some of the least effective cooling, and best buy always charges more than everyone else, plus you have to pay sales tax.

When all is said and done you probably paid almost 100 more than what you could have gotten by waiting, and gotten a better quality card. You probably could have gotten a sapphire 390x for the same price.

I'm not keeping it, I just wanted to benchmark and unbox lol.

if you have to insist you think for yourself, i'm not going to believe you.

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The GPU has two Dual-Link DVI-D ports.

No one uses VGA anymore

Uhm where did you get that from? All my five monitors can use VGA, and for 3 I actually USE the VGA. Many people use second (or third or whatever) monitors with only VGA.

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The GPU has two Dual-Link DVI-D ports.

Uhm where did you get that from? All my five monitors can use VGA, and for 3 I actually USE the VGA. Many people use second (or third or whatever) monitors with only VGA.Yea

Yeah, well, you're living in the past there man.

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I like chocolate milk.

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No one uses VGA anymore, even DVI is starting to go away. DisplayPort and HDMI 2 is the future.

Sometimes I have to... Granted, my main monitors are HDMI and DVI anyways...

 

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What's your angle going to be when you return it? Ummm, this thing sucks? It makes me bedroom 105 degrees Fahrenheit when I turn my computer on? I didn't know it was just an R9 290? Doesn't work with my GSync monitor? How do I plug this into my PS4?

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Yeah, well, you're living in the past there man.

Even my 144hz BenQ XL 2411z supports VGA...

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Yeah, but it doesn't do 144hz through VGA.

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I like chocolate milk.

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R9 390x benchmark vs GTX 970.

 

LOL my 970 has a 500 point higher graphics score than that with a lousy 50 MHz core bump over stock (so it's at the stock EVGA GTX 970 FTW clock).

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Yea, well, I guess we just have to wait for the Fury card.

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R9 390x benchmark vs GTX 970.

Two things you should consider. The 390x has not been released. The drivers for the 390x have not been released. I doubt the GPU benchmarks have been updated for the 390x GPU. That is why it shows up as a 290x. After the 390x drivers are released. Then would be a good time to compare the 970 to the 390x. Everything is pure speculation until the official release. 

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Two things you should consider. The 390x has not been released. The drivers for the 390x have not been released. I doubt the GPU benchmarks have been updated for the 390x GPU. That is why it shows up as a 290x. After the 390x drivers are released. Then would be a good time to compare the 970 to the 390x. Everything is pure speculation until the official release. 

Agreed, shouldn't be so bad either, as AMD hasn't been so shaky with their new driver launches lately.

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I like chocolate milk.

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R9 390x benchmark vs GTX 970.

my 780 overclocked got 13000 GPU score xD my new 780 sli is getting 22k with lower clocks. 

Needs Update

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Can't look at videos right now. Not enough data. How does it benchark compared to 970?

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The guy said it beat his 970 by a few points. The 290X however was always hanging with the 970 anyways. But THAT card at the time was the same price or close to it.

 

The 390X is $100 or $150 more but you're essentially getting the 290X....  end of debate.

 

The the 390X and 290X were the exact same price, of course get the 390X but they aren't.

 

Plus...the 970 is better overall at 1080p. because it's cheaper.

 

Price to performance is what counts.

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The R9 390 looks like it has improved fill rates and memory bandwidth, but... it's otherwise a 290.

 

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gpuz-com.jpg

if you have to insist you think for yourself, i'm not going to believe you.

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The R9 390 looks like it has improved fill rates and memory bandwidth, but... it's otherwise a 290.

 

Release date for the R9 390... It's like they didn't even try not to rebrand the card :(

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The R9 390 looks like it has improved fill rates and memory bandwidth, but... it's otherwise a 290.

 

c0017a842fc757be8ca318e820cd3857.png

 

gpuz-com.jpg

Pretty much nailed it right there buddy.

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The R9 390 looks like it has improved fill rates and memory bandwidth, but... it's otherwise a 290.

 

*snip*

 

You gonna see how far it can overclock, or is it just time to take the thing back now for the refund after it doesn't fit your PS4?

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You gonna see how far it can overclock, or is it just time to take the thing back now for the refund after it doesn't fit your PS4?

Gonna be time to take it back, I think Microsoft locked the PS4 on purpose.

 

I do have benchmarks up on OP, but here's them on another page for those two lazy to skip back forward. Benchmarks are basically the 290 vs. 970, there really isn't a performance gain in the 390. What a shame. I'm impressed with the cooler, at least.

 

We'll start with standard Fire Strike, nothing special. Just 1080p goodness.
 
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Nobody should be surprised, but I am. The R9 390 is very close to the GTX 970, the combined score is even higher but graphics score is fairly lower. The actual FPS differences are not significant, but what I'm wondering is; What about driver updates? The 390 isn't validated on 3DMark because of the driver, so maybe there are still optimizations to be made. It would be interesting to see at least. OK, moving on.
 
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Fire Strike Extreme. Maybe kicking up the resolution will favor the R9 390's extra VRAM and bus width?
 
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The R9 390 is falling behind by a few FPS, but is somehow doing better in physics. I mean, I didn't overclock the 4790k between runs, but twice now it's had a better physics score. I dunno, weird.
 
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Let's kick it up a notch; 4K. Maybe this is where we can see the 390 pull ahead.
 
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The FPS differences are marginal now, what I really want to see is crossfire versus SLI now, especially on 4K. Maybe that's where we could see the advantage in RAM and where the 390 might win. Maybe we'll see the 390 win on driver updates. I don't know. It'll be neat to see, though.
 
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Last benchmark, OpenGL on Cinebench 15.
 
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The 970 wins again, but by a hair.
 
Now the interesting thing for me was thermals and audio levels. With the EVGA GTX 970 SSC, I can hear the fans ramp up during benchmarks, but the XFX R9 390 DD has remained consistent in each test. Not dead silent, but still very quiet in comparison to the 970 ramping up. I don't have any professional equipment to test it, but I can say that, while the 390's fans run all the time, they seem quieter than the 970's on load. Oh, and thermals. Interesting stuff.
 
EVGA GTX 970 ACX2.0+
Max Temp in FurMark: 79C
 
XFX R9 390 DD
Max Temp in FurMark: 71C
 
Make of that what you will, but don't forget that the 970 has 0db mode, and FurMark is not a realistic gaming load. Real GPU temperatures are lower.

if you have to insist you think for yourself, i'm not going to believe you.

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@Suika What it basically comes down to between the 390 and the 970 is what you get for the price. Which was more or less what 290 v 970 was about as well.

AMD is making my head hurt With what they are doing right now. Still. Only a few more days until their top tier card is announced...

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390. I wanted a 390X but they didn't have any.

why does the firestrike result say you have an R9 290 then? and the performance you get is right in line with an R9 290...?!

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why does the firestrike result say you have an R9 290 then? and the performance you get is right in line with an R9 290...?!

Because it's the exact same GPU as the R9 290, with a new name and more VRAM.

if you have to insist you think for yourself, i'm not going to believe you.

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