Which GPU should I buy ?

[ElboxD]

Good day everybody !

In the first place I would like to congratulate you for this awesome community, keep doing it!

In the second place, I would like to ask for your opinions about a new build that I have on mind. IS just that I live in Russia, although I’m from Peru and lately I’ve been watching hardware’s prices and I’ve compared them to Amazon and Newegg’s prices and Russia's prices, almost everything is cheaper because of the current economics problems that the country is facing and the devaluation of their currency (Ruble). In the next tables I’ll post the prices of the GPUs that I would like to buy, waiting for your opinions on prices and performance base on the Russian prices of this items.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: AMD FX-6350 3.9GHz 6-Core Processor  ($113.00) 

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($34.30) 

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3P ATX AM3+ Motherboard  ($73.25) 

Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($89.72) 

Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 280X 3GB Vapor-X Video Card  ($299.98 @ Amazon) 

Total: $610.25

 

*All the prices are from Russia.

 

 

 

 

Prices:

GPU              | Price in Russia                    | Price in USA            | Notes

 

R9 280          | 17990 Rubles = $270           | $329 (Newegg)       | Store

R9 285          | 12890 Rubles =$193            | $249.99 (Newegg)  | Store

R9 280x *     | Watch table bellow 

R9 290 **      | Watch table bellow

* In the case of the 280x there are two models (both SAPPHIRE VAPOR-X Radeon R9 280X TRI-X) and the difference between them is the Core clock and Boost Clock :

 

 

Model               | Core Clock (MHz) | Boost Clock (MHz) |Price in Russia              | Price in USA         | Notes

 

100363VX-3L   |950                           |1000                           | 15540 Rubles = $234    | $234 (Newegg)      | Store 

JPILH01           |1000                         |1100                           | 18780 Rubles = $282    | $357.77  (Newegg)  | Store

 

What does the difference in Core clock means and how does it affect the performance in games and/or heavy multi task applications ?

 

** In the case of the 290 there are two models too (both ASUS Radeon R9 290) and the difference between them is the Core clock and the Memory clock:

 

Model                             | Core Clock (MHz) | Memory Clock (MHz, GDDR5) | Price in Russia                | Price in USA         | Notes

 

R9290-DC2-4GD5        |947                           | 1250                                             | 17990 Rubles = $270        |$305 (Amazon)      | Store

R9290-DC2OC-4GD5   |1000                         | 1260                                            |  18970 = $285                   | $330 (Amazon)      | Store

 

What does the difference in Memory Clock means and how does it affect the performance in games and/or heavy multi task applications ?

 

But I don’t understand the difference of prices in the Newegg website.

 

 

 

So, according to the prices listed above, may be kind of obvious which one I should buy but is just that I want to know your opinion because my budget allows me to buy a GPU of max. $250 (Russian prices), should I wait and buy the R9 290 ?

Thank you in advance for your responses. Have a good day.

[Tim Drake]

The R9 285 look's cheap as hell where you are, I would recommend it.

[Fatelinha]

As Tim Drake said,  the R9 285 is very cheap so that would be my choice considering that you have an Fx 6350

[ElboxD]

Thank you very much for your fast responses.

 

And in fact, that's what I've been thinking to buy but I've read a lot about the R9 285 and the rewievs are mixed. Some people say is a great card and others say that it shouldn't exist. And I've read that in this community that's why I decided to create this post and ask if is better for me to buy a hi-end GPU like 280x or 290. Although, the price difference is quite big between these cards, I want to buy something good for my system. 

 

I just to play Dota 2 and my current laptop is bad so I haven't tried to play other games like Crysis 3 or Battlefield 4 on a 27" Samsung and 1080p. I would like to play those games on ULTRA or at least almost all the settings Max out.

 

 

As Tim Drake said,  the R9 285 is very cheap so that would be my choice considering that you have an Fx 6350

 

Does that card has a relative "connection" to that CPU ?

[ElboxD]

Pump up, I woulid like to know others opinion please.

[Humbug]

285 is good, the newer architecture has better tesellation performance, suports freesync. And supports downsampling from 4k via the driver which is great to make old games look better.

[Humbug]

Does that card has a relative "connection" to that CPU ?

just that a high end expensive card can be bottlecked by a midrange CPU. Will be less of a problem if dx12, mantle, opengl next catch on.

[ElboxD]

Between 285 and 290 OC there is almost $90 of difference. To pay those $90 is not worthed? Base on my CPU and performance in games like Crysis 3 or BF4.

[Tim Drake]

Between 285 and 290 OC there is almost $90 of difference. To pay those $90 is not worthed? Base on my CPU and performance in games like Crysis 3 or BF4.

People think the 285 shouldn't exist because it performs similar to the 280x for around the same price but this is not the case where you live so its a great deal.

[ElboxD]

People think the 285 shouldn't exist because it performs similar to the 280x for around the same price but this is not the case where you live so its a great deal.

 

But the 285 has only 2 Gb of ram. 

[Tim Drake]

But the 285 has only 2 Gb of ram. 

So does the 280x..

 

2GB is plenty..

[ElboxD]

So does the 280x..

 

2GB is plenty..

 

AFAIK the 280x (in both models I've posted) has 3 GB

[Tim Drake]

AFAIK the 280x (in both models I've posted) has 3 GB

Hm. Price difference isn't worth it though.

 

Either get the 285 or the 280 and OC it.

[Darkman]

Hm. Price difference isn't worth it though.

 

Either get the 285 or the 280 and OC it.

^ This, these are probably the best bang for the buck out of all of the cards you're looking at.

[ElboxD]

Will the 285 run games like BF4 or Crysis with ULTRA settings and 1080p at a good frame rate ?

[Clarkey]

Will the 285 run games like BF4 or Crysis with ULTRA settings and 1080p at a good frame rate ?

haha probably not consistently on ultra but on high yeh it should, 

 

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1332?vs=1333

[ElboxD]

And if a want to play games like Dota 2 at the highest settings and stream at the same time. Will I be able to do it with good quality (1080p) on Twitch?

PS: Again, thanks for all of your answers.

[Tim Drake]

And if a want to play games like Dota 2 at the highest settings and stream at the same time. Will I be able to do it with good quality (1080p) on Twitch?

PS: Again, thanks for all of your answers.

Those cards can destroy mobas at 1440p ultra because they are so easy to run.

[ElboxD]

Even when streaming at high quality? I know that the stream's quality has other factors like the Mbits of upload of my internet connection but still, Would be possible? I want to use 2 monitors. One for my game and another one for the stream administration like reading messages, etc...

[holy-sock]

Will the 285 run games like BF4 or Crysis with ULTRA settings and 1080p at a good frame rate ?

In games like these an r9 280 can run them on ultra at about 40-60 fps

[ElboxD]

In games like these an r9 280 can run them on ultra at about 40-60 fps

So I guess the 285 may perform the same or even a bit better, Am I right?

[SteveGrabowski]

I'd get the R9 290. The R9 285 is a bad value, just like the GTX 960 with the gimped 2GB VRAM. Sort out the CPU later (perhaps a later upgrade to an FX-8350 or even an i5) when the difference in price is so small while the difference in performance is so large between the 285 and 290.

 

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1333?vs=1068

 

And that comparison is with the absolute worst 290, the reference model that constantly throttles at 94C. An Asus DirectCUII, while not being the best 290 out there, is still far superior to the reference model from the benchmark above.

[Guest]

R9 285 is soooo cheap for you. I'd get that!

[holy-sock]

So I guess the 285 may perform the same or even a bit better, Am I right?

I imagine so. Probably around the same.

[ElboxD]

I'd get the R9 290. The R9 285 is a bad value, just like the GTX 960 with the gimped 2GB VRAM. Sort out the CPU later (perhaps a later upgrade to an FX-8350 or even an i5) when the difference in price is so small while the difference in performance is so large between the 285 and 290.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1333?vs=1068

And that comparison is with the absolute worst 290, the reference model that constantly throttles at 94C. An Asus DirectCUII, while not being the best 290 out there, is still far superior to the reference model from the benchmark above.

$90 dollars is quite a lot for me. And I decided to do the following.

Buy the fx-8350 BOX (the one that comes with their own cooler and save the $34 of the cooler Master) because the fx-6350 plus the cooler master cost the same as the fx-8350 box.

And also buy the R9-285 for now and look forward to an upgrade like 280x or 290 and crossfire.

What do you think guys?