GTX 970 vs AMD Variant

[Silyy097]

Hello there guys!

Im currently drafting up a build log for a friend, and he wishes to have the GTX 970 inside. However, his budget is a little on the low side. Including a locked i5 processor and a (possibly used) GTX 970, his budget is around 1.2K SGD, which is just slightly below 1k USD. That may sound fine to all you Europeans/US/Canada people, however my build which is here:

 

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/CXpydC (4690k+New 970, rest you have to click the link)

 

Cost me about 1.8k SGD, which is around 1.3K USD.

"Wait a sec, aren't you overpaying about 300 USD for that build" and the answer is yes I am. This is because I am buying my parts locally, and prices here are sky high.

 

Back to the topic, I might be looking to switch it over to a AMD card. Im fine if the card is about the same performance or a little bit lower than the 970, but what im really looking to cut here is price. Please provide me with 2 AMD examples, 1) Same price/ higher performance, or 2) Lower price, Higher/same/little bit lower performance.

 

Dont tell me about the 3.5GB VRAM issue. Hes not going to be using that much VRAM anyway.

Also, please do not ask me "what games are you going to play", etc. Im just currently drafting up a build for him. I just need to know the AMD variants before I start deciding on what to choose. Unless if you really want to know, then please do ask.

 

EDIT: The part link given is MY build. Read the full post please, and stop asking me stuff about my build as I have already build it about 8 months ago.

[Tim Drake]

The MSI R9 390 is OP

[WereCat]

R9 290 < R9 290x < R9 390 AMD variants.

[DarkSmith2]

Check out r9 390 modells

[Guest]

The R9 390 is better performance and slightly cheaper

R9 290 is very similar performance and a bit cheaper

[Blackstormgold]

are you looking to overclock? if not you could drop the cpu cooler and maybe get a bit cheaper motherboard

[Prysin]

The "AMD Variant", the R9 390, is slightly faster then 970 out of the box. You can overclock the 970 to beat an overclocked 390. But that means you need to take the associated risks when overclocking.

 

For AMD, simply follow these guidelines

Best coolers, and high clock speeds - Sapphire

Highest clock speed and good coolers - MSI

Best customer support - XFX

The best all rounder - Powercolor/Gigabyte

Dont buy it - Asus

[ind3x]

the r9 390 is better than the 970, and i would always recommend the r9 390 over the gtx 970. (from a price/performance standpoint)

[Hero7750]

Go with an r9 390, you could get a seagate barracuda for the 1tb (its cheaper), possibly g2a for the OS, and you could get cheaper RAM.

[Sakkura]

R9 290 < R9 290x < R9 390 AMD variants.

 

Isn't the 290X back on top of the 390 with the new driver?

[Silyy097]

The "AMD Variant", the R9 390, is slightly faster then 970 out of the box. You can overclock the 970 to beat an overclocked 390. But that means you need to take the associated risks when overclocking.

 

For AMD, simply follow these guidelines

Best coolers, and high clock speeds - Sapphire

Highest clock speed and good coolers - MSI

Best customer support - XFX

The best all rounder - Powercolor/Gigabyte

Dont buy it - Asus

AMD-ASUS is a "dont buy it"? Is it really that bad? D: Ive heard of Sapphire, XFX and Powercolor but never actually decided to look them up, are they a reliable company? 

 

 

are you looking to overclock? if not you could drop the cpu cooler and maybe get a bit cheaper motherboard 

 

Read the post again. (Hint: "My" build =/= "His" build).

 

[Guest]

The MSI R9 390 is OP

R9 290 < R9 290x < R9 390 AMD variants.

Check out r9 390 modells

The R9 390 is better performance and slightly cheaper

R9 290 is very similar performance and a bit cheaper

The "AMD Variant", the R9 390, is slightly faster then 970 out of the box. You can overclock the 970 to beat an overclocked 390. But that means you need to take the associated risks when overclocking.

 

For AMD, simply follow these guidelines

Best coolers, and high clock speeds - Sapphire

Highest clock speed and good coolers - MSI

Best customer support - XFX

The best all rounder - Powercolor/Gigabyte

Dont buy it - Asus

the r9 390 is better than the 970, and i would always recommend the r9 390 over the gtx 970. (from a price/performance standpoint)

Go with an r9 390, you could get a seagate barracuda for the 1tb (its cheaper), possibly g2a for the OS, and you could get cheaper RAM.

OP, these guys probably didn't mention it, but the AMD variant is the R9 390

[Silyy097]

Go with an r9 390, you could get a seagate barracuda for the 1tb (its cheaper), possibly g2a for the OS, and you could get cheaper RAM.

Right, ill take that into consideration when im drafting his build. Definitely not getting g2a for the OS though.

[xAcid9]

Not sure about SG but in MY you can get an R9-390 PCS+ 8GB for as low as RM1,251(SGD450) or a Sapphire R9-390 Nitro 8GB RM1,304 (SGD467) and a good GTX970 cost at least RM1,500+(SGD550)[G1, Strix, Gaming all around RM1,650 (~SGD600).

All price including GST.

 

The 390s perform just as good if not better in some games. (unless it's Project*cough*Cars)

[Kinda Bottlenecked]

Right, ill take that into consideration when im drafting his build. Definitely not getting g2a for the OS though.

 

No SSD in his build? 

 

Edit: Pretty hard to include a 970 with his current budget

[WereCat]

Isn't the 290X back on top of the 390 with the new driver?

To be honest I dont really know as I am using NVIDIA GPU. But what I have seen from benchmarks it was R9 390 that was beating R9 290x.

[Prysin]

 

AMD-ASUS is a "dont buy it"? Is it really that bad? D: Ive heard of Sapphire, XFX and Powercolor but never actually decided to look them up, are they a reliable company? 

 

 

 

Read the post again. (Hint: "My" build =/= "His" build).

 

 

Sapphire is THE brand for AMD. They make some, if not the, best cards. Their coolers are fantastic and silent. They also have some series of cards that are clocked beyond belief (TOXIC series).

 

Asus did a massive mistake with AMD. They took the coolers they used for Nvidias Maxwell cards, and put them onto AMD cards. However, unlike maxwell, AMD cards uses more power and throw out more heat as a result. Asus's DCUII coolers arent capable of dealing with that heat, so the cards thermal throttle, and thus their performance goes down the drain.

[Sakkura]

To be honest I dont really know as I am using NVIDIA GPU. But what I have seen from benchmarks it was R9 390 that was beating R9 290x.

 

The initial reviews of the 390 was when the 300 series had a different driver from the 200 series, boosting performance. Now that driver is available for the earlier cards too, so I think the 290X would be ahead of the 390.

[Silyy097]

Not sure about SG but in MY you can get an R9-390 PCS+ 8GB for as low as RM1,251(SGD450) or a Sapphire R9-390 Nitro 8GB RM1,304 (SGD467) and a good GTX970 cost at least RM1,500+(SGD550)[G1, Strix, Gaming all around RM1,650 (~SGD600).

All price including GST.

 

The 390s perform just as good if not better in some games. (unless it's Project*cough*Cars)

All right, thanks for the reply

 

No SSD in his build? 

Possibly nope, due to budget constrains.

 

Sapphire is THE brand for AMD. They make some, if not the, best cards. Their coolers are fantastic and silent. They also have some series of cards that are clocked beyond belief (TOXIC series).

 

Asus did a massive mistake with AMD. They took the coolers they used for Nvidias Maxwell cards, and put them onto AMD cards. However, unlike maxwell, AMD cards uses more power and throw out more heat as a result. Asus's DCUII coolers arent capable of dealing with that heat, so the cards thermal throttle, and thus their performance goes down the drain.

Ah, I see. Never was familiar with AMD cards. Off topic, if Sapphire made coolers for Nvidia, wouldn't their coolers be overkill?

[Sakkura]

Sapphire is THE brand for AMD. They make some, if not the, best cards. Their coolers are fantastic and silent. They also have some series of cards that are clocked beyond belief (TOXIC series).

 

Asus did a massive mistake with AMD. They took the coolers they used for Nvidias Maxwell cards, and put them onto AMD cards. However, unlike maxwell, AMD cards uses more power and throw out more heat as a result. Asus's DCUII coolers arent capable of dealing with that heat, so the cards thermal throttle, and thus their performance goes down the drain.

 

That's not quite true. The main problem was with the R9 290/290X, where Asus reused the cooler designed for the GTX 780. Because the GPU in the 290/290X is smaller, not all of the heatpipes in the cooler made contact with the GPU, so cooling performance was compromised.

 

Other than that, Asus' coolers on AMD cards are fine. Not quite as good as Sapphire's best efforts, but not what you could call bad - certainly not down the drain or causing the cards to throttle.

[WereCat]

The initial reviews of the 390 was when the 300 series had a different driver from the 200 series, boosting performance. Now that driver is available for the earlier cards too, so I think the 290X would be ahead of the 390.

It is possible but I would also consider that R9 390 runs cooler and consumes less power and is able to boost higher. We seen that R9 290 can be OCd to match R9 290x stock performance. Looking at how R9 390 can be OCd it can most likely perform somewhat better over stock R9 290x even with the new driver.

[Kinda Bottlenecked]

Possibly nope, due to budget constrains.

 

The best I could do with a SSD. 

 

 

 

But if we toss the SSD. We'll be able to fit a Palit 970 Jetstream. 

 

[Silyy097]

The best I could do with a SSD. 

-snip pic-

But if we toss the SSD. We'll be able to fit a Palit 970 Jetstream. 

-snip pic-

 

GTX 970 > R9 290? Is it possible to fit a 390 in there without SSD?

Also I see that the case is ATX while the board is Micro ATX, so it might be a little hollow.

 

Side note, any yellow RAM? Would match with the Micro ATX board and Jetstream.

[Kinda Bottlenecked]

GTX 970 > R9 290? Is it possible to fit a 390 in there without SSD?

Also I see that the case is ATX while the board is Micro ATX, so it might be a little hollow.

 

Side note, any yellow RAM? Would match with the Micro ATX board and Jetstream.

 

You could, but you'll need to go a little bit above budget. the cheapest 390 I could find is the one from Sapphire.

 

Build with Yellow ram and 390 without SSD*

 

 

 

The build may seem hollow at first but its a great starting case with loads of room. I've built in it before. Although it lacks fancy stuff like rubber grommets and sleeved cables. It'll fit in your components pretty well. 

[xAcid9]

GTX 970 > R9 290? Is it possible to fit a 390 in there without SSD?

Also I see that the case is ATX while the board is Micro ATX, so it might be a little hollow.

 

Side note, any yellow RAM? Would match with the Micro ATX board and Jetstream.

GTX 970 > R9-290. Be very picky when buying R9-290/290x, most of them don't come with a great cooler. TurboDuo cooler is a nono from me especially with our climate.