Getting a 1440p, sell 970 buy 390x or buy another 970

[riixupvp]

Heya folks, I'm getting ready to buy a 1440p monitor, and to enjoy the smooth 60fps while at ultra, I am trying to decide on getting a 390x while selling my 970, or to buy another 970. What do you guys recommend?

[Khajiit Dealer]

Buy another 970. Just make sure your PSU can handle it. 

[EIijah]

Two 970's will perform better, but the 390X has benefits with 8GB vRam at 1440p 

[FuzzyYellow]

honestly, a single 970 can do 1440p fairly well. I would throw another in there if you're not happy with the performance.

[Oberon.Smite]

As @FuzzyYellow said, benchmark, play some games, and THEN decide if you need a new GPU or not.

[othertomperson]

Two 970's will perform better, but the 390X has benefits with 8GB vRam at 1440p 

 

That's irrelevant at 4K, let alone 1440p.

 

There's precious little difference between the 970, 390 and, if overclocked, 980 and 390X. Especially when considering the price difference. Try with a single 970 and if it's not enough then add another one, but don't assume that you'll need one from the off.

[EIijah]

That's irrelevant at 4K, let alone 1440p.

 

There's precious little difference between the 970, 390 and, if overclocked, 980 and 390X. Especially when considering the price difference. Try with a single 970 and if it's not enough then add another one, but don't assume that you'll need one from the off.

1440p uses more Vram and depending on the game can exceed the 3.5Gig limitation of a 970

[riixupvp]

1440p uses more Vram and depending on the game can exceed the 3.5Gig limitation of a 970

I already have GTA V hitting 3.5-3.6 and stutters so

[EIijah]

I already have GTA V hitting 3.5-3.6 and stutters so

I would get the 390x then unless you can handle turning down a couple things or you don't play that much

[ScaryFatKidGT]

Again people worrying about v-ram...... 2 970's is going to have enough horsepower run ANY game with ANY SLi scaling at all better than a 390x, better than a 980 and in some games better than a 980ti. Also 2 970's probably wont use much more power than a R9 390x.

 

If you didn't already have a 970's I would say get the 390x (than another down the road if needed) but sense you do just get another.

[Profoundsoup]

Get another 970

[beavo451]

Or sell your 970 and get a 980Ti. Similar performance. No reliance on SLI support. Less heat.

[Profoundsoup]

Or sell your 970 and get a 980Ti. Similar performance. No reliance on SLI support. Less heat.

Or this, on SLI supported games the 970 SLI will kick ass tho

[ThomasD]

Or sell your 970 and get a 980Ti. Similar performance. No reliance on SLI support. Less heat.

This.

 

Assuming you have the money for a second 970 then, by selling your existing 970, you should be in the ballpark of a reference 980ti.

[SteveGrabowski0]

If you have a good 750W PSU, I'd get the second 970 unless you're willing to sell your 970 and jump up to a 980 Ti. 4GB is still a lot of VRAM even for 1440p.

[Eugene Yap]

Get another 970 but check if there is enough air-flow after adding another 970.

And also you have to be aware about the bugs you might face with SLI.

And yes vram will be issue some games like gta5 and skyrim with heavy mods.

390x is pretty good on its own.

[Prysin]

Sell 970, get Powercolor R9 390X2 and laugh at all the plebs still running a 970

on a more serious note, Sell current 970 (say 250 USD??)

add that to the 300 ish USD you had ready for another 970

total amount you can spend> 550 USD

BUY R9 Fury

?????

Profit!!!

[Twitchstick]

I just purchased a 970 and a 1440p monitor and have been having great results. Most of my games are just about maxed except for AA and I can hit a stable 60FPS. Even GTA V but it does dip a bit during heavy exposion or very fast moving scenes, but nothing crazy. 

[Briggsy]

Vram requirements will always continue to increase over time. its a trend that will not slow down. If you plan on upgrading again in the next year or two, another 970 is Probably Ok right now.

[i_build_nanosuits]

 

Or sell your 970 and get a 980Ti. Similar performance. No reliance on SLI support. Less heat.

i would do this ^^ and in the meantime try to game with your GTX970 at 1440p...my GTX780 can play anything fairly well with good image quality and fidelity no reasons your GTX970 couldn't.

 

I can play GTA5 on very high settings and FXAA @ 80FPS+ (FXAA at 1440p looks MUCH better MUCH sharper than 16xMSAA@1080p BTW) and BF4 for example i play ultra preset @ 80FPS as well...butter smooth.

I can even play Batman: the arkham knight at 1440p fairly well (my monitor is Gsync too though so that 50FPS feel pretty smooth) ...yes it can play even Batman.

If you can swing for a Gsync monitor 144hz like the one i got, do that.

Deal with the GPU later...i will deal with my GPU later but for now i'm REALLY enjoying gaming on such a monitor the experience is worlds better even if you can't max out all the settings.

[arniks8]

Sell 970, get Powercolor R9 390X2 and laugh at all the plebs still running a 970

So you are calling me a pleb, because I bought GTX 970 since it was faster(@1080p), cooler and was cheaper than 290x? (390(x) is OC'd 290(x) 8Gb version with improved drivers). You can call me whatever you like, but your comment is absurd.

[Kinda Bottlenecked]

So you are calling me a pleb, because I bought GTX 970 since it was faster(@1080p), cooler and was cheaper than 290x? (390(x) is OC'd 290(x) 8Gb version with improved drivers). You can call me whatever you like, but your comment is absurd.

 

Actually, there aren't any improved drivers. Only different power management micro architecture and better memory chips. 

[Prysin]

Actually, there aren't any improved drivers. Only different power management micro architecture and better memory chips. 

pretty much this...

 better binning. better components, a few minor tweaks under the hood and a slightly increased clock speed....

[i_build_nanosuits]

pretty much this...

 better binning. better components, a few minor tweaks under the hood and a slightly increased clock speed....

...still trade blows with a GTX970 though.

 

Worthy upgrade to a GTX970 are IMHO a GTX980ti or Radeon FuryX...and i think we all know which is better.

The R9 390X is only marginaly faster than a GTX970, nothing to write home about between the two, and even the GTX980 which is faster across the board wouldnt be worth the upgrade.

OP should just try to game at 1440p on his GTX970 and call it a day, nothing wrong having to run high or very high settings instead of ultra from time to time, you won't notice the difference in most games anyways (talking from experience i am gaming at 1440p on my GTX780 a lot lately...tried MANY games, they all run perfectly fine at what i consider ''high'' image fidelity)

 

And most well optimised titles you can run ultra anyways, there is only like AC:U, Batman arkham knight, witcher 3 and crysis 3 that i can't run ultra settings so far. (in my favor i use a Gsync display though so drops to 50-55FPS are completely fine on this)

[TechSilver13]

Having owned SLI /Crossfire with 760 780 280x 290x 970 980 Titan and 980ti I will tell you that even dual 980s stutter on some games. A single 980ti is the best thing you can buy and it will actually last. I have two and it is WAY overkill and I have never said that about any of my setups. Don't skimp and get a single 980ti.