R9 280 vs GTX 960 vs R9 285

[AMDIvailo]

Hi, i have hard time when choosing GPU. Now i have 3 main options: Sapphire r9 280, MSI Twin Frozr GTX 960 and R9 295 again from sapphire. Please list the pros and cons of each card

[Stardar1]

R9 280x will be the best card in this price range, i have seen them for about $250

[SkywardKkalox]

R9 280x will be the best card in this price range, i have seen them for about $250

And lower.

[Sakkura]

R9 280 advantage: More VRAM

 

R9 285 advantage: More efficient than 280, slightly more performance, supports Freesync

 

GTX 960 advantage: More efficient than 285 (let alone 280), supports G-sync

[Mohenjo]

if you want to stream games to your cell phone then get the 960. if you dont care about all the goodies and just want raw performance then get the 280x

[Bob Jim]

I also had to make this decision. I chose that exact MSI GTX 960, because it has roughly the same performance as the other two, has much lower heat output and power consumption, and because Nvidia drivers and optimization > amd.

[Stardar1]

I also had to make this decision. I chose that exact MSI GTX 960, because it has roughly the same performance as the other two, has much lower heat output and power consumption, and because Nvidia drivers and optimization > amd.

but the 280x has better performance and optimization doesnt make a ton of difference.

[The Toaster]

R9 280 advantage: More VRAM

 

R9 285 advantage: More efficient than 280, slightly more performance

 

GTX 960 advantage: More efficient than 285 (let alone 280)

Pretty much this, plus the 280 is very cost efficent as well.

The 280x is the best of both worlds though, despite being a little more power ungry.

[Mattrixx]

General consensus is that the 280x is best for this price range. I've seen them for $210.

[ivan134]

R9 280 advantage: More VRAM

 

R9 285 advantage: More efficient than 280, slightly more performance, supports Freesync

 

GTX 960 advantage: More efficient than 285 (let alone 280), supports G-sync

Gsync and freesync are not current considerations for anyone with this budget.

[AMDIvailo]

Sorry but i have strict budget and i cant extend it. 

[Sakkura]

Gsync and freesync are not current considerations for anyone with this budget.

 

Sure they are. Allows you to benefit from the card that much longer if you upgrade the monitor later on.

[ivan134]

Sure they are. Allows you to benefit from the card that much longer if you upgrade the monitor later on.

Whoever chooses to upgrade to such expensive monitors over better graphics cards 1st should have their head checked.

[AMDIvailo]

My other parts are: AMD FX 8350

8 GB(2x4) Ram Corsair Vengeance

M5 A97 EVO R2.0

600w Cooler Master Power Supply

This may help with the right decision.

[Bob Jim]

but the 280x has better performance and optimization doesnt make a ton of difference.

Why does everyone automatically assume that we are talking about a 280x.... Anyway, at least in the UK, a 280x is £30 more than a 280, and you need a 500w PSU, rather than a 960s 400-450.

[Stardar1]

Why does everyone automatically assume that we are talking about a 280x.... Anyway, at least in the UK, a 280x is £30 more than a 280, and you need a 500w PSU, rather than a 960s 400-450.

you said "other options" and the 280x is in fact another option

[sgloux3470]

I'm starting to recommend the 285 over the 280(x) because the improved features are starting to really show themselves in games like The Witcher 3.

The 960 is an okay card too, and again in recent titles we see it beating cards like the 280x and 780.

I would maybe wait a couple of weeks though to see what the deal is with the 370/380. It could be we'll see a 285 rebrand with 4GB of VRAM for around the same price point.

[TriBeard]

Just made this choice for a computer that I built for a friend. Got an r9 280x XFX for 205. Best option in the price range.

[Sakkura]

Whoever chooses to upgrade to such expensive monitors over better graphics cards 1st should have their head checked.

 

They will get cheaper over time.

[AMDIvailo]

Guys in my country(Bulgaria) r9 280x (Asus) is 353 dollars, 280 (Sapphire) is just 210 dollars and 295 (Sapphire OC ITX) is 266 dollars so its a huge difference between r9 280 and 280x.

[ivan134]

They will get cheaper over time.

Upgrading grahpics card 1st will still make more sense.

[ansauri]

I would wait for the lauch of 380 (which is a rebranded 285) and its prices, or go for the 960. The 285 has a bit more performance and full support of dx12. The 960 has much better driver support and lower heat and power consumption.

 

The 280 is also a good card, but do you really want to buy old technology? People say the 285 has more features for freesync, but it's just way more than that. Freesync, TrueAudio, VSR, Crossfire through pcie, unified video decoder with full support of 4k, colour compression, 4 times more asynchronous compute engines that will have an impact in dx12, double geometry processor that bring double tessellation performance...

[Nena Trinity]

Any R9 over the 960 unless its 270 or 270X...

[AMDIvailo]

Guys can someone explain to me what is v-sync, g-sync and freesync?

[Sakkura]

Guys can someone explain to me what is v-sync, g-sync and freesync?

 

V-sync is the traditional way to prevent tearing, the problem where the top and bottom parts of the image don't fit together because only a partial new frame was ready when the monitor refreshed. V-sync makes the graphics card wait until it has a full new frame before it pushes it to the monitor. Unfortunately that leads to (mild) stuttering when some frames get delayed and others don't.

 

G-sync and Freesync are Nvidia's and AMD's solutions to the problem, making the monitor change its refresh rate on the fly to match the FPS the graphics card(s) can deliver. So you don't get tearing AND you don't get stuttering. Unfortunately the monitors with these technologies are still pretty expensive, and each monitor will only support either the Nvidia or the AMD version.