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Which Graphics Card?

Philcat101
By Philcat101
in Graphics Cards
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Posted

I don't plan to game competitively, and I only play games like Minecraft, Space Engineers and Scrap Mechanic.

I was looking at the 4GB version of all of these cards:

R7 370

GTX 960

R9 380

and the R9 380X

Which of these cards should I go for? I am on a budget, so if I can spend less, that would be great. Still, I want to get good value.

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GTX 960 or R9 380 are probably your best choice for price/performance. All based on if your going for the red or green team.

 

I have a 4GB GTX 960 and it plays pretty much anything at 1080p 60fps settings maxed.

 

Also, get ready for all the fanboys to jump in and tell you which side is better.

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380X is a good bang for the buck card on the red side.

My ~$200 USD build:

AMD A8-7600    G. Skill Ripjaws Z @1800 CAS 8     EVGA 500w 80+ PSU    Gigabyte GAF2A68HM-DS2H Motherboard

 

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I would say either the 380 or the 960, since the games you play aren't that demanding.

 

Possibly the 380 is better as you're on a budget.

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-snip-

None of those games require a lot do drive them, if you wanted you could get away with a 950 if you wanna save some coin. Why do you want/need 4gb?

If you have the option to get a high refresh rate monitor, do it.

 

Main PC CPU: i7 9700k CPU Cooler: NZXT x62 280mm Motherboard: MSI Z390 Carbon Gaming Pro AC GPU: EVGA GTX 3070 FTW3 RAM: Corsair 4x8gb 3200mhz SSD: 980 Pro 1TB, 2x 500gb Sata Case: NZXT S340 Black/Red PSU: EVGA Supernova G.2 750w 80+ Gold

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You mentioned Space Engineers, DO NOT GET A AMD GPU FOR THIS GAME.

While it could be CPU issues, the difference between my GTX 660 and my friend's R9 380 is that I get well over 2 times the fraterate in every scenario.  (i7 4790K vs his FX 8350 though.) so take this with a grain of salt.  How are other people doing on SE with their AMD GPUs?

For the Best builds and Price lists here is a world where many points of the price have been predefined already for your convenience!

The Xeon E3 1231 V3 IS BETTER Than the Core i5 4690K and a Significantly better value for the non-overclockers or value shoppers.

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None of those games require a lot do drive them, if you wanted you could get away with a 950 if you wanna save some coin. Why do you want/need 4gb?

Ever tried SE?  :P  if you have, you would know how demanding it is on the GPU.

For the Best builds and Price lists here is a world where many points of the price have been predefined already for your convenience!

The Xeon E3 1231 V3 IS BETTER Than the Core i5 4690K and a Significantly better value for the non-overclockers or value shoppers.

The OS is like a kind food, Try it before saying if you like it or don't.

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You mentioned Space Engineers, DO NOT GET A AMD GPU FOR THIS GAME.

While it could be CPU issues, the difference between my GTX 660 and my friend's R9 380 is that I get well over 2 times the fraterate in every scenario.  (i7 4790K vs his FX 8350 though.) so take this with a grain of salt.  How are other people doing on SE with their AMD GPUs?

It would probably be the CPU, as SE is very CPU demanding, with all of its collision calculations, planet rendering, and physics.

The 4790k is a single threaded beast

LIBERATOR: Core i5 6400 @ 2.7GHz | GeForce GTX 670 2 GB | HyperX Fury 8GB DDR4 @ 2133 MHz | 250 GB Samsung 850 Evo SSD
My new build; Liberator, Check it out

The more friendly we are, the more helpful we are!

 

MY OLD BUILD (AKA PREBUILT MONSTROSITY)
INSANITY: AMD Athlon II X2 @ 3.0 GHz | Geforce GT 720 2 GB | 4 GB DDR3 @ 1333 MHz | 120 GB Silicon Power SSD | 500 GB Hitachi HDD

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None of those games require a lot do drive them, if you wanted you could get away with a 950 if you wanna save some coin. Why do you want/need 4gb?

More and more games are starting to use about 2-2.5GB VRAM at 1080p now, so getting a 2GB card is not really a good idea for 1080p anymore. If you play really simple games that don't have a lot of mods or texture effects, you can get away with it, but if you play AAA games then your in trouble.

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It would probably be the CPU, as SE is very CPU demanding, with all of its collision calculations, planet rendering, and physics.

The 4790k is a single threaded beast

I totally agree with this.  I'll do some research on GTX 660 Q6600 numbers vs GTX 660 i7 4790K numbers and see what turns out. When I did use that 660 with my old Q6600 system, I never really noticed a huge jump in performance in that game though...  I kind of wish I had a AMD GPU to test in my i7 rig that's not AGP.

For the Best builds and Price lists here is a world where many points of the price have been predefined already for your convenience!

The Xeon E3 1231 V3 IS BETTER Than the Core i5 4690K and a Significantly better value for the non-overclockers or value shoppers.

The OS is like a kind food, Try it before saying if you like it or don't.

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380 runs everything perfectly have one in my rig (factory overclocked)

Specs:

CPU: i5-6500 3.2 GHz Mobo: ASRock H110M-HDV RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB 2133 MHz DDR4 GPU: GTX 1070 Founders Edition Storage: 120GB Sandisk Ultra II 1 TB WD HDD 7200 RPM PSU: Antec VP600P 600W Display: CrossOver 2795QHD 2560x1440 105 Hz OC OS: Windows 10 64 bit

 

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380 runs everything perfectly have one in my rig (factory overclocked)

No it doesn't. Try playing Fallout 4 or MechWarrior online.

Had a 399, sold it because it didn't play well with Gameworks

If anyone asks you never saw me.

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No it doesn't. Try playing Fallout 4 or MechWarrior online.

Had a 399, sold it because it didn't play well with Gameworks

 

 

380 runs everything perfectly have one in my rig (factory overclocked)

 

 

More and more games are starting to use about 2-2.5GB VRAM at 1080p now, so getting a 2GB card is not really a good idea for 1080p anymore. If you play really simple games that don't have a lot of mods or texture effects, you can get away with it, but if you play AAA games then your in trouble.

 

 

It would probably be the CPU, as SE is very CPU demanding, with all of its collision calculations, planet rendering, and physics.

The 4790k is a single threaded beast

Here are my results from simple testing:

 

Q6600 vs i7 4790K in Space Engineers using presets of high and low as max and min respectively,

i7

Maximum settings:  22-23 FPS

Minimum settings;  24 

Q6600

Maximum settings:  none  Please note it was tested on a ancient installation of Windows 7 with tons of viruses no doubt.

Minimum settings:  18-20 FPS

There were huge micro-stuttering and frame drop issues on the Q6600...  much less enjoyable.

 

Friends AMD FX 8300 + R9 380 combo:

Maximum settings: 14-16

Minimum settings:  14-16

 

[all these are in DX11 on SE at 1080p.]

 

I really wish I could test that R9 380 on my i7 4790K for an actually good comparison.  For all I know, it could be great at SE!

For the Best builds and Price lists here is a world where many points of the price have been predefined already for your convenience!

The Xeon E3 1231 V3 IS BETTER Than the Core i5 4690K and a Significantly better value for the non-overclockers or value shoppers.

The OS is like a kind food, Try it before saying if you like it or don't.

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With a i7, maybe. A strong CPU usually helps a AMD card in games where it struggles in comparison to a Nvidia. But the i7 can't help the game look better, which the Nvidia card does in some games.

I have a few games that not only run better but look better after switching to Nvidia from AMD.

If anyone asks you never saw me.

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With a i7, maybe. A strong CPU usually helps a AMD card in games where it struggles in comparison to a Nvidia. But the i7 can't help the game look better, which the Nvidia card does in some games.

I have a few games that not only run better but look better after switching to Nvidia from AMD.

of course it sucks with gameworks its a Nvidia feature just turn it off, its made to run badly on AMD cards.

Specs:

CPU: i5-6500 3.2 GHz Mobo: ASRock H110M-HDV RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB 2133 MHz DDR4 GPU: GTX 1070 Founders Edition Storage: 120GB Sandisk Ultra II 1 TB WD HDD 7200 RPM PSU: Antec VP600P 600W Display: CrossOver 2795QHD 2560x1440 105 Hz OC OS: Windows 10 64 bit

 

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of course it sucks with gameworks its a Nvidia feature just turn it off, its made to run badly on AMD cards.

Not entirely accurate.

Turning off any Gameworks features won't help a lack of driver support for the game, which is usually the case and issue using a AMD card in a Gameworks game.

Not Nvidia's fault they make relationships with developers.

If anyone asks you never saw me.

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You mentioned Space Engineers, DO NOT GET A AMD GPU FOR THIS GAME.

While it could be CPU issues, the difference between my GTX 660 and my friend's R9 380 is that I get well over 2 times the fraterate in every scenario.  (i7 4790K vs his FX 8350 though.) so take this with a grain of salt.  How are other people doing on SE with their AMD GPUs?

Perfectly fine. 60+ FPS with my 290 :P Drops though when staring at massive ships.

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Perfectly fine. 60+ FPS with my 290 :P Drops though when staring at massive ships.

Thanks!  finally, somebody with a AMD GPU talks about SE :P  This comparison was staring at a massive ship in the same spot.

 

This makes me really look forward to Pascal, when I can finally leave the GTX 660 SLI master race for 60+ FPS!

For the Best builds and Price lists here is a world where many points of the price have been predefined already for your convenience!

The Xeon E3 1231 V3 IS BETTER Than the Core i5 4690K and a Significantly better value for the non-overclockers or value shoppers.

The OS is like a kind food, Try it before saying if you like it or don't.

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