Sapphire 390 vs MSI 970. Reliability vs FPS

[App4that]

Nobody to defend here honestly. Look at the video I showed you. This guy is using 980Ti SLI in his system. That's the Bill Gates of PC gaming. And he says the 390 makes a very playable experience on its own. I love my 390x. Whatever issues you had were unfortunately specific to yourself. I don't know too many people who say the 290 is better than the 390. Except the 290 is a better overclocker than the 390 when given the chance since the 390 has a tdp limit

I'd agree it could be my experience if Digital Foundry didn't show the exact same thing. Don't watch the average fps, watch the fps in real time. The 300 series have higher peak and lower minimum fps over just about anything else. The Nvidia cards get a lower average sometimes but are way more consistent.

[don_svetlio]

In FPS, did you read the topic's title? Or too busy defending Radeon LOL? Play the game, tell me the shuttering and fps drops aren't a problem.

EXACTLY - look at the battlefront video, 390 has 0 drops....

[afyeung]

I'd agree it could be my experience if Digital Foundry didn't show the exact same thing. Don't watch the average fps, watch the fps in real time. The 300 series have higher peak and lower minimum fps over just about anything else. The Nvidia cards get a lower average sometimes but are way more consistent.

I don't want to argue with you dude because I mostly agree with you. Honestly I was having too many performance issues across the board with FO4 so I just stopped. But if you want to make a claim that the 290 is better than the refreshed 390 overall, then you definitely need to bench a game other than the horribly optimized Fo4.

[App4that]

EXACTLY - look at the battlefront video, 390 has 0 drops....

If that's the case Im happy the 300 series found a game it can run reliability lol. Though seeing as Jay saw fps drops with the 380x I'm not sold that's the case.

[afyeung]

I'd agree it could be my experience if Digital Foundry didn't show the exact same thing. Don't watch the average fps, watch the fps in real time. The 300 series have higher peak and lower minimum fps over just about anything else. The Nvidia cards get a lower average sometimes but are way more consistent.

Just curious. Do you play with the fps cap?

[App4that]

I don't want to argue with you dude because I mostly agree with you. Honestly I was having too many performance issues across the board with FO4 so I just stopped. But if you want to make a claim that the 290 is better than the refreshed 390 overall, then you definitely need to bench a game other than the horribly optimized Fo4.

I'm not arguing, not even close. I'm being honest and I feel the OP deserves their question answered honestly.

Fallout 4 is a hot mess, no argument there at all. But if one card is better with a hot mess than another, that's still quantifiable. Maybe Don's right and the 300 series comes into its own with DX12. I personally prefer the build quality of the 200 series from Sapphire over the build quality of the 300 series Sapphires but I admit that's a different topic.

[App4that]

Just curious. Do you play with the fps cap?

No, I do run the game in 1440 though. All the stuttering I've ever seen is draw call related. Even the 290 feels them sometimes.

[afyeung]

If that's the case Im happy the 300 series found a game it can run reliability lol. Though seeing as Jay saw fps drops with the 380x I'm not sold that's the case.

Don't know what AMD is trying to pull with the 380x. 380x= rebranded 280x= rebranded 7970. yet they claim that it can do 1440p and the benchmarks look fake and ridiculous since they show it matching the 290x.

[ivan134]

I'm not arguing, not even close. I'm being honest and I feel the OP deserves their question answered honestly.

Fallout 4 is a hot mess, no argument there at all. But if one card is better with a hot mess than another, that's still quantifiable. Maybe Don's right and the 300 series comes into its own with DX12. I personally prefer the build quality of the 200 series from Sapphire over the build quality of the 300 series Sapphires but I admit that's a different topic.

No it's not. If a dev releases a hot mess, dont buy the game.

[don_svetlio]

Don't know what AMD is trying to pull with the 380x. 380x= rebranded 280x= rebranded 7970. yet they claim that it can do 1440p and the benchmarks look fake and ridiculous since they show it matching the 290x.

380X is a new chip

380X = Tonga XT

280X = Tahiti XT

380X = GCN 1.2

280X = GXN 1.0

[don_svetlio]

If that's the case Im happy the 300 series found a game it can run reliability lol. Though seeing as Jay saw fps drops with the 380x I'm not sold that's the case.

Jay uses Overdrive. What exactly do you expect?

[afyeung]

380X is a new chip

380X = Tonga XT

280X = Tahiti XT

380X = GCN 1.2

280X = GXN 1.0

That's another thing too. AMD marketed the new GCN to be able to do higher VSR resolutions when it could be modded easily to work with older GPUs. Power consumption should be different but spec for spec they are the same.

[don_svetlio]

That's another thing too. AMD marketed the new GCN to be able to do higher VSR resolutions when it could be modded easily to work with older GPUs. Power consumption should be different but spec for spec they are the same.

380X uses 200W

280X uses 250W

380X is 5% faster

[App4that]

No it's not. If a dev releases a hot mess, dont buy the game.

While I agree with you, some GPU's have a better time than others and that says something. I for one am not in the habit of letting my GPU pick the games I can play.

[don_svetlio]

While I agree with you, some GPU's have a better time than others and that says something. I for one am not in the habit of letting my GPU pick the games I can play.

I've played Crysis 2 on a 5670 even though it runs like shit on Tera Scale - I still got 45 fps. Explain?

[ivan134]

While I agree with you, some GPU's have a better time than others and that says something. I for one am not in the habit of letting my GPU pick the games I can play.

It doesnt say anything more than dont release broken games. When you don't your job correctly, you get fired so I'm not sure why you want to give your hard earned money to someone else who wont do theirs correctly. Fallout 4 runs like ass on Nvidia GPUs too, and this seems to be a recurring theme with Nvidia sponsore games even though they supposedly send engineers to go help them. Run like garbage on everything but slightly better on nvidia. Its strange that the conclusion and solutuon you draw from that is to buy Nvidia cards.

[App4that]

It doesnt say anything more than dont release broken games. When you don't your job correctly, you get fired so I'm not sure why you want to give your hard earned money to someone else who wont do theirs correctly. Fallout 4 runs like ass on Nvidia GPUs too, and this seems to be a recurring theme with Nvidia sponsore games even though they supposedly send engineers to go help them. Run like garbage on everything but slightly better on nvidia. Its strange that the conclusion and solutuon you draw from that is to buy Nvidia cards.

BS, I can't have a conversation about trying to maximize the stability of Fallout 4 without an Nvidia owner crashing the party wanting to know what's wrong with us because the game runs fine. The sweet spot is 1080p and a 970. Of course a i7 or another 8 thread CPU is also a plus.

 

 

I've played Crysis 2 on a 5670 even though it runs like shit on Tera Scale - I still got 45 fps. Explain?

You keep missing that I'm only speaking of the 300 series, which appears to be a cash grab. If I had my way I'd put a Vapor-X 290 and a Nitro 390 in from of you, the difference in build quality is striking. Drive the two and the 290 performs better at a lower clock in game, match the clocks and the 390 only beats the 290 by a few frames in synthetic benchmarks.

 

I'm not brand loyal, the hype about the 300 series is completely over inflated. The ONLY thing the 390 does better than the 290 is load temperature and load wattage draw. In my opinion that's not worth the loss of stability and build quality.

[BulkyZaNka]

After reading all those posts I might be slightly more confused than I was hahah

 

You all are saying that the 970 will be more reliable and have better oc but the 390 will be better over time? Since I'm not going to achieve massive oc I should go for 390?

[App4that]

No one knows what will happen tomorrow. Buy for today.

[ivan134]

After reading all those posts I might be slightly more confused than I was hahah

You all are saying that the 970 will be more reliable and have better oc but the 390 will be better over time? Since I'm not going to achieve massive oc I should go for 390?

False. He's bitter because he lost the silicon lottery. Get a 390.

[don_svetlio]

After reading all those posts I might be slightly more confused than I was hahah

 

You all are saying that the 970 will be more reliable and have better oc but the 390 will be better over time? Since I'm not going to achieve massive oc I should go for 390?

AMD cards have historically lasted longer

A 7970 used to be slower than a 680 at release.

Now it's 10% faster

[App4that]

False. He's bitter because he lost the silicon lottery. Get a 390.

Don't make me drop the F bomb, A plastic fantastic GPU as a replacement for a high build quality one has zero to do with any lottery. How about the color changing LED backlit logo that changed with GPU temperature, or the six LEDs in the METAL backplate that tracked GPU usage, all gone on the 390?

 

Keep making excuses for Radeon and Sapphire, I'm sure nothing bad could come of it.

[MMKing]

Buy the cheaper one. If the price difference is insignificant for your budget, go for the 390 as it has twice the VRam.

 

Seriously, the 390 and the 970 is extremely close in price and performance. This may change with the 390 4GB version coming around.

[ivan134]

Don't make me drop the F bomb, A plastic fantastic GPU as a replacement for a high build quality one has zero to do with any lottery. How about the color changing LED backlit logo that changed with GPU temperature, or the six LEDs in the METAL backplate that tracked GPU usage, all gone on the 390?

 

Keep making excuses for Radeon and Sapphire, I'm sure nothing bad could come of it.

If that was your issue, you would tell him to get an MSI 390. Instead you're telling him to get an inferior card based on a broken game and now the aesthetics of your card.

[App4that]

If that was your issue, you would tell him to get an MSI 390. Instead you're telling him to get an inferior card based on a broken game and now the aesthetics of your card.

Inferior? Are you reading what you type? At stock speed the 390 and 970 on average offer the same performance if all you care about are fps. Overclocked the 970 can pass up a 390. I have no idea how everyone got so blinded by hype on this forum. And since you won't read your post, read mine where I advised the 290. It's cheaper and offers the same performance as the 970 and 390. Put the money saved away and let it grow for when things change in 6 months.