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MSI GTX 970 or MSI R9 390?

Joegeddon
By Joegeddon
in Graphics Cards
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So I was trying to find a gpu to buy and I was pretty convinced I was going to get the MSI GTX 970. Then their R9 390 caught my eye. It is only £10 more expensive but has twice the VRAM, I checked the clock speed of the NVIDIA cores and it is about 50MHz higher. Also the RAM that is used is in the GTX 970 is 900MHz faster.

 

The question is which one do I get?

 
  • AMD Athlon X4 760K CPU   |   MSI FM2+ ATX A88X-G45 Motherboard   |   8GB 1600MHz RAM   |   MSI GTX 760 GPU (Reference)
  • Thermaltake Versa H22 Case   |   1TB Seagate, 0.5TB Hitachi (7200RPM)   |   ArcticRed+ 700WStock    |   Windows 8.1

 

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So I was trying to find a gpu to buy and I was pretty convinced I was going to get the MSI GTX 970. Then their R9 390 caught my eye. It is only £10 more expensive but has twice the VRAM, I checked the clock speed of the NVIDIA cores and it is about 50MHz higher. Also the RAM that is used is in the GTX 970 is 900MHz faster.

 

The question is which one do I get?

Is the CPU that 760K?

"We also blind small animals with cosmetics.
We do not sell cosmetics. We just blind animals."

 

"Please don't mistake us for Equifax. Those fuckers are evil"

 

This PSA brought to you by Equifacks.
PMSL

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390 all the way, 8 GB of VRAM is really nice for future games, DX12 will be more optimized on the AMD side (DX12 is developed with Mantle as a base point), their drivers will get a MASSIVE update in a couple of weeks with a completely overhauled Control Centre/Shadowplay rival. Right now the performance is really similar to the 970, but most games it's already slightly ahead.

Mah Build:  CPU: Intel i7-7700K COOLING: NZXT Kraken X52 GPU: Asus Strix GTX 1080 MOBO: Asus Strix Z270F RAM: 16GB GSKILL TridentZ RGB 3000 

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Is the CPU that 760K?

Sadly yes.

 
  • AMD Athlon X4 760K CPU   |   MSI FM2+ ATX A88X-G45 Motherboard   |   8GB 1600MHz RAM   |   MSI GTX 760 GPU (Reference)
  • Thermaltake Versa H22 Case   |   1TB Seagate, 0.5TB Hitachi (7200RPM)   |   ArcticRed+ 700WStock    |   Windows 8.1

 

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Also I noticed the AMD card uses an extra 110W and runs hotter and I won't be able to deal with that unless I replace my case.

 
  • AMD Athlon X4 760K CPU   |   MSI FM2+ ATX A88X-G45 Motherboard   |   8GB 1600MHz RAM   |   MSI GTX 760 GPU (Reference)
  • Thermaltake Versa H22 Case   |   1TB Seagate, 0.5TB Hitachi (7200RPM)   |   ArcticRed+ 700WStock    |   Windows 8.1

 

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Sadly yes.

Well unless you upgrade it, anything over a R9 280, or maybe an R9 280X is pointless.

"We also blind small animals with cosmetics.
We do not sell cosmetics. We just blind animals."

 

"Please don't mistake us for Equifax. Those fuckers are evil"

 

This PSA brought to you by Equifacks.
PMSL

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Replace the CPU then the GPU.

Well that involves a new motherboard as well. Any good INTEL CPUs or Motherboards?

 
  • AMD Athlon X4 760K CPU   |   MSI FM2+ ATX A88X-G45 Motherboard   |   8GB 1600MHz RAM   |   MSI GTX 760 GPU (Reference)
  • Thermaltake Versa H22 Case   |   1TB Seagate, 0.5TB Hitachi (7200RPM)   |   ArcticRed+ 700WStock    |   Windows 8.1

 

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Well that involves a new motherboard as well. Any good INTEL CPUs or Motherboards?

At the low end, the i3 4160, and the motherboard that fits your budget and lists support for the i3-there are TBH a lot of good budget boards.

Mid range the i5 4440/4460 and pretty much the same applies with motherboards for it as well.

"We also blind small animals with cosmetics.
We do not sell cosmetics. We just blind animals."

 

"Please don't mistake us for Equifax. Those fuckers are evil"

 

This PSA brought to you by Equifacks.
PMSL

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Depends. More stock performance or efficiency. But that Athlon.... hmm... I'd replace that first...

i5 2400 | ASUS RTX 4090 TUF OC | Seasonic 1200W Prime Gold | WD Green 120gb | WD Blue 1tb | some ram | a random case

 

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Well unless you upgrade it, anything over a R9 280, or maybe an R9 280X is pointless.

Well, I believe that getting a worse GPU is not a smart choice, he can always upgrade the CPU later on. The 390 gets my vote.

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D GPU: AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT 16GB GDDR6 Motherboard: MSI PRESTIGE X570 CREATION
AIO: Corsair H150i Pro RAM: Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB 32GB 3600MHz DDR4 Case: Lian Li PC-O11 Dynamic PSU: Corsair RM850x White

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Well, I believe that getting a worse GPU is not a smart choice, he can always upgrade the CPU later on. The 390 gets my vote.

We are talking about upgrading the CPU first, then the GPU later-the GTX 760 is still quite a good card. And the R9 390 is the best value for money after all (I'm still pissed at the way the series was launched).

 

The GTX 760 is around the performance of a gTX 950/GTX 960:

"We also blind small animals with cosmetics.
We do not sell cosmetics. We just blind animals."

 

"Please don't mistake us for Equifax. Those fuckers are evil"

 

This PSA brought to you by Equifacks.
PMSL

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replace your cpu first if can but either way should work fine too actually.

390 is the way to go and 390 actually cools better than 970 just the wattage at full load higher. the cooler is more advanced.

CPU:  i7 4770k @ overclocked to 4.4ghz             GPU: Intel HD4600                                                                SSD: Kingston V300 120GB (OS)                   Cooler:  Corsair H100i GTX
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Evolve (Black)                RAM: 2x4gb Corsair Dominator Platinium 2133mhz  HDD: 1TB Seagate                                            Mouse: Logitech G502
OS:     Windows 10                                                      PSU: Corsair RM850i 80+ Gold                                          Motherboard:  AsusZ97 Pro Gamer              Keyboard: Vortex Pok3r 3

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And if you want a cpu advice budget option will be a i5 4460 and a h97 or h81

CPU:  i7 4770k @ overclocked to 4.4ghz             GPU: Intel HD4600                                                                SSD: Kingston V300 120GB (OS)                   Cooler:  Corsair H100i GTX
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Evolve (Black)                RAM: 2x4gb Corsair Dominator Platinium 2133mhz  HDD: 1TB Seagate                                            Mouse: Logitech G502
OS:     Windows 10                                                      PSU: Corsair RM850i 80+ Gold                                          Motherboard:  AsusZ97 Pro Gamer              Keyboard: Vortex Pok3r 3

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Also I noticed the AMD card uses an extra 110W and runs hotter and I won't be able to deal with that unless I replace my case.

Then just go with 970

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Also I noticed the AMD card uses an extra 110W and runs hotter and I won't be able to deal with that unless I replace my case.

The 390 runs 2 degrees celsius hotter than a GTX 970, don't bother with that, it's definitely too hot for you ;_;

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D GPU: AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT 16GB GDDR6 Motherboard: MSI PRESTIGE X570 CREATION
AIO: Corsair H150i Pro RAM: Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB 32GB 3600MHz DDR4 Case: Lian Li PC-O11 Dynamic PSU: Corsair RM850x White

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Low Wattage = 970

Performance = 390

This.

OP - Similar enough performance @ 1080p, but the small gap widens the higher res you go (in favor of AMD), but also...at completely different power scenarios, factor in which do you prefer.?

 

 

Or.. consider which FEATURE SET on each companies (AMD/Nvidia) brand you prefer the most.

When your within a bees dick of eachother on two cards to the point of hardly telling the difference between them, also look into what features each card can bring to the table.

But the quote above is the best way to put it.

Maximums - Asus Z97-K /w i5 4690 Bclk @106.9Mhz * x39 = 4.17Ghz, 8GB of 2600Mhz DDR3,.. Gigabyte GTX970 G1-Gaming @ 1550Mhz

 

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Why is everyone going off the 290's power usage and heat output when talking about the 390? The 390 runs almost 10c cooler.

If anyone asks you never saw me.

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390 > 970

Gap expected to widen in 2016 with DX12 / Vulkan games

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