GTX 970 or is there any AMDs alternatives?

[Lazz45]

The title says it all, I'm looking to upgrade my GPU, the current one is GTX 750, And yeah.... I was looking to buy the GTX 970 but then the Fury X came...which mean AMD GPU prices will drop, So...is there any AMD alternatives or should I just go with the GTX 970 instead?

 

I just purchased the sapphire r9 290.  It is recommended as the best cooler for it, and it generally is the cheapest.  i got mine for $250 and can outperform the 970 in some games and the 970 wins others.  The biggest thing you need to ask yourself is would you rather save your $70-$80 and buy some other nice stuff for your system or spend the extra money for maybe a frame or 2.  Personally i can say i am not one bit unhappy with my 290.  If you have good airflow (yes it is hotter than the 970) but it will never be a problem.  

[Lazz45]

At 1080p the GTX 970 beats the R9 290, 290X and 390. The 390X performs on par at 1080p. The 390X is an overclocked 290X with 8Gb GDDR5. It was more power and runs hotter than a 290X, and won't overclock well as it is already overclocked basically. I've seen ~5% performance increases from overclocks. With most GTX 970 overclocks you're looking at around 15% more performance. The 390X is also $100+ more expensive.

At 1080p I'd recommend the 970. 1440p or higher AMD usually takes the lead.

 

that is not exactly true. Jay just did a video on this and the 390 does beat the 970 in most games

[Lazz45]

--snip--

 

very nice info love the calculations

Edited July 7, 2015 by MG2R
Please do snip out long quotes :)

[MG2R]

very nice info love the calculations

Yeah, puts everything more into perspective IMO. People should do it more often when talking about power consumption, really opens your eyes and lessens the throwing of unbacked statements...

[DarkSmith2]

Yeah, puts everything more into perspective IMO. People should do it more often when talking about power consumption, really opens your eyes and lessens the throwing of unbacked statements...

ive have done the calculation by myself in this thread:

http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/401370-gtx-970-vs-r9-390/page-3

 

With nearly the same results.. but you brought it more detailed.

[Lazz45]

Yeah, puts everything more into perspective IMO. People should do it more often when talking about power consumption, really opens your eyes and lessens the throwing of unbacked statements...

 

I live in the U.S. Pennsylvania to be exact and we dont have these massive power price problems that Europe has (i feel bad for computer enthusiasts over there, and sometimes your prices on parts are higher too), and therefore AMD chips are not a problem compared to nvidia cards

 

http://www.electricitylocal.com/states/pennsylvania/pittsburgh/

 

these are the pittsburgh rates for power and as you can see im spending 19 cents less per kWh than people in germany

 

EDIT: im in college so i dont "pay a power bill" lol its in my housing costs but you see my point

[Kinda Bottlenecked]

Conclusion -- TL;DR

For some people, this difference will be significant, whilst for others, it won't. There's not really a point in arguing about it because everyone's use case, income pattern, and cost structure is different. It's good that it was mentioned, but that's about it.

 

Finally, someone who gets it 

[darkblitzrc]

Mate get the 970 everyone is saying at higher res you should go amd and since you aint even 1080p get the 970

[DarkSmith2]

 

I live in the U.S. Pennsylvania to be exact and we dont have these massive power price problems that Europe has (i feel bad for computer enthusiasts over there, and sometimes your prices on parts are higher too), and therefore AMD chips are not a problem compared to nvidia cards

 

http://www.electricitylocal.com/states/pennsylvania/pittsburgh/

 

these are the pittsburgh rates for power and as you can see im spending 19 cents less per kWh than people in germany

 

EDIT: im in college so i dont "pay a power bill" lol its in my housing costs but you see my point

 

Its not only about the prices. The prices are just higher because we have to pay huge amounts of taxes for power. This is to safe the enviroment. Using less power is the least what we can do to prevent our earth from altering much faster.

 

This article is made for kids. But im sure you get the point.

http://www.alliantenergykids.com/EnergyandTheEnvironment/SavingEnergy/022390

[Lazz45]

 

 

 

Its not only about the prices. The prices are just higher because we have to pay huge amounts of taxes for power. This is to safe the enviroment. Using less power is the least what we can do to prevent our earth from altering much faster.

 

This article is made for kids. But im sure you get the point.

http://www.alliantenergykids.com/EnergyandTheEnvironment/SavingEnergy/022390

 

 

oh no i totally understand, im a chemical engineering student and green principles are constantly taught as we are expected as this generation to help future ones lol

[Doughnutnator]

Golden sample of gtx970 would be above 1600Mhz ...

But from the scaling when comparing stock performance and overclock performance from this video you can allready see that the gtx970 should be superior.

Then why everybody is jumping in the "390betterz" bandwagon? It may have more VRAM, but both the 970 and 390 are not going to render decent framerates in games that require 3.5-4+GB of VRAM. Overclocked performs well, but the 970 overclocks better. It consumes way more Watts.

And because they are like 290X's, Crossfire maybe doesn't make a lot of sense with cards like the 980Ti, that performs almost like a 295x2, without the issues of multi GPU's, with much lower power consumption and PSU requirements.

Did I got something wrong?

[DarkSmith2]

Then why everybody is jumping in the "390betterz" bandwagon? It may have more VRAM, but both the 970 and 390 are not going to render decent framerates in games that require 3.5-4+GB of VRAM. Overclocked performs well, but the 970 overclocks better. It consumes way more Watts.

And because they are like 290X's, Crossfire maybe doesn't make a lot of sense with cards like the 980Ti, that performs almost like a 295x2, without the issues of multi GPU's, with much lower power consumption and PSU requirements.

Did I got something wrong?

 

As many said, not everybody is willing to overclock. The r9 390 comes with better performance out of the box if don't consider decent OC. 

Some people are afraid that the VRAM of the GTX970 wont be enough (regardless of resolution)

 

For people that dont care about power consumption, High OC or nvidia features, it is a good deal. I would recommend it to people i dont like that much though...

[iM8Pizza]

jeez...Guys calm your tits.... so how many safe Watts do I need to run this R9 390?