GPU clock related questions

CliffTerios · September 8, 2015

Hey guys,

I'm in the mids of planning my first ever self-built rig, trying to figure out which parts I want to use. Most have already been chosen but I am having trouble with the GPU.

I am trying to compare GPU's to each other and determine which will do the job. I am using an XFX R9 270X so my method was simply to compare every GPU to my current one. The new rig is supposed to be a present for my brother who doesn't play very demanding games (Hearthstone, League of Legends, World of Warcraft- You name it) so it doesn't have to be super powerful. A better graphics card could aswell be a possible upgrade as a present for another occasion.

I am looking at a..

Gigabyte R9 270X 2 GB that runs on 1050 MHz stock speed core clock and 1100 MHz boost with 5.6 GHz effective memory clock, (174,99€)

Sapphire R7 360 OC 2 GB running on 1060 MHz stock speed core clock without boost and 6.5 GHz effective memory clock, (118,99€)

Gigabyte R7 360 OC 2 GB with 1200 MHz stock core speed, no boost and 6.5 GHz effective memory clock (119,99€)

and a

MSI R7 370 Gaming 2 GB on 1000 MHz stock core speed and 1050 MHz boost along with 5.7 GHz effective memory clock (161,90€)

Hands down, I'm on a pretty tight budget but still want to go for a neat looking, red AMD build. The MSI GPU is very tempting because according to HWcompare.com it performs relatively similar to my R9 270X or at least good enough for its purpose. 1050 MHz core speed seems really good to me and I might tinker with overclocks on this particular build if the performance is not good enough. However, looking at both of the R7 360's makes me feel like I could save a good chunk of money and still have a good-enough GPU for its purpose.

I watched a lot of LinusTechTips and TechQuickie videos and have read up on a lot of product reviews in preparation for this build but I still don't know what I have to pay attention to when buying a GPU. I usually just go to HWcompare.com but then again, they do not consider different manufacturers which makes me believe that they only compare reference models. So, now, to me- Somebody who doesn't know a great deal about GPU's- It looks like Gigabyte's or Sapphire's R7 360 OC's are actually better than the more expensive R7 370 from MSI.

If there's a video that can help me out and I somehow missed out on it, it would be great if you guys could link me to it. Otherwise I would really appreciate some help!

Glenwing · September 8, 2015

Hey guys,

I'm in the mids of planning my first ever self-built rig, trying to figure out which parts I want to use. Most have already been chosen but I am having trouble with the GPU.

I am trying to compare GPU's to each other and determine which will do the job. I am using an XFX R9 270X so my method was simply to compare every GPU to my current one. The new rig is supposed to be a present for my brother who doesn't play very demanding games (Hearthstone, League of Legends, World of Warcraft- You name it) so it doesn't have to be super powerful. A better graphics card could aswell be a possible upgrade as a present for another occasion.

I am looking at a..

Gigabyte R9 270X 2 GB that runs on 1050 MHz stock speed core clock and 1100 MHz boost with 5.6 GHz effective memory clock, (174,99€)

Sapphire R7 360 OC 2 GB running on 1060 MHz stock speed core clock without boost and 6.5 GHz effective memory clock, (118,99€)

Gigabyte R7 360 OC 2 GB with 1200 MHz stock core speed, no boost and 6.5 GHz effective memory clock (119,99€)

and a

MSI R7 370 Gaming 2 GB on 1000 MHz stock core speed and 1050 MHz boost along with 5.7 GHz effective memory clock (161,90€)

Hands down, I'm on a pretty tight budget but still want to go for a neat looking, red AMD build. The MSI GPU is very tempting because according to HWcompare.com it performs relatively similar to my R9 270X or at least good enough for its purpose. 1050 MHz core speed seems really good to me and I might tinker with overclocks on this particular build if the performance is not good enough. However, looking at both of the R7 360's makes me feel like I could save a good chunk of money and still have a good-enough GPU for its purpose.

I watched a lot of LinusTechTips and TechQuickie videos and have read up on a lot of product reviews in preparation for this build but I sitll don't know what I have to pay attention to when buying a GPU. I usually just go to HWcompare.com but then again, they do not consider different manufacturers which makes me believe that they only compare reference models. So, now, to me- Somebody who doesn't know a great deal about GPU's- It looks like Gigabyte's or Sapphire's R7 360 OC's are actually better than the more expensive R7 370 from MSI.

If there's a video that can help me out and I somehow missed out on it, it would be great if you guys could link me to it. Otherwise I would really appreciate some help!

You don't look at the numbers on the spec sheet, for one thing, except for comparing different offerings of the same GPU. Specs are specific to the design, different GPU designs (architectures) may accomplish more or less with the same or different numbers, so the fact that a GPU has higher or lower core frequency than another doesn't really mean much.

To determine graphics card performance you literally just use them for stuff and see how they perform compared to other graphics cards, called benchmarks. If one card is 20% faster than another, it doesn't matter how it's accomplishing that, whether it has higher or lower clock frequencies, or more cores, or whatever. If it's faster it's faster, that's all there is to it, the paper specs are not really important.

For these GPUs in particular, the R9 270X is the most powerful one. The R7 370 is a rebranded R7 265, a step or two below the R9 270X. The R7 360 is lower still.