970 vs 390, same price USD?

[bullsposeidon]

I am trying to decide on a graphics card somewhere in the $300-320ish budget range. I have seen most models of the 970 and 390 drop into this range with Newegg email deals I get. With both being around the same price, what specific models would be most recommended? Rarely a few have dropped even lower - I can currently get the EVGA SSC 970 for $280. This is probably the lowest I'm going to get a card in this budget range. My biggest concerns is the vram issue I keep hearing about the 970s and the heat issues I hear about the 390s. I don't want my computer running super hot, but I'm also worried about being bottlenecked in the future if games start needing more vram in the next year or two.

[beneficialq]

the r9 390 beats the 970 pretty much everywhere. I would get the 390. 

[ZetZet]

VRAM issue is blown out of proportion badly. It's not noticeable.

 

But 390 is faster.

 

 

 

 

970 is good in compact builds since it's very power efficient and it was good before 390 came out. Now most people should buy a 390.

[don_svetlio]

R9 390

EDIT: A good cooler will keep the 390 running under 75*C

[jimakos234]

get the 390, the temps are not going to be an issue, max 10 C difference

[beneficialq]

FYI: Heat isnt a massive problem ever as long as your pc has ok cooling (minimum 2 fans, open space)

[Fate]

The heat issues aren't an issue unless maybe you live in a hot area or a room/house with poor ventilation (my 290 heats up my room quite a bit). The 390 will perform similarly to the 970 at 1080p and better at >1080p. Also, you will be better off if you get another card for higher resolutions. I don't think 3.5GB or 4GB (whatever you want to call it) will be enough for some titles at 4k in SLI/Crossfire.

[ZetZet]

get the 390, the temps are not going to be an issue, max 10 C difference

It's not a temperature concern, it's a heat concern. 390 expels considerably more heat since it uses considerably more power. So it will heat up other components and the case more, even if it runs at similar temperatures itself.

[App4that]

R9 390

EDIT: A good cooler will keep the 390 running under 75*C

My 390 runs in the 60s c while gaming in Crossfire. The Nitro runs cooler than a Vaporx 290.

[don_svetlio]

My 390 runs in the 60s c while gaming in Crossfire. The Nitro runs cooler than a Vaporx 290.

How's your case? is it an oven? does your room boil water?

[shadowbyte]

If you live in Alaska, get the 390. It will heat your entire house. If you don't live in Alaska, get the 970. (Be warned of the 3.5 gig issue though)

[ZetZet]

How's your case? is it an oven? does your room boil water?

Making fun out of the fact that 390 is a hotter card? Is it not? I would love to see you run it in an m-itx build.

[Castdeath97]

If you live in Alaska, get the 390. It will heat your entire house. If you don't live in Alaska, get the 970. (Be warned of the 3.5 gig issue though)

Hmm 76 degrees compared 70-65 seems such a big difference to heat a house eh?

[App4that]

How's your case? is it an oven? does your room boil water?

The worst I saw was after almost an hour of Valley. Case temp hit 50c but the Vapor was 75c, Nitro was 79c, and CPU hit 79c. But I've never seen anything like that gaming.

[ZetZet]

Hmm 76 degrees compared 70-65 seems such a big difference to heat a house eh?

dude, it's not degrees that matter. 

 

 

Spoon of boiling water is 100C

 

Pot of boiling water is 100C

 

 

Will a spoon of boiling water heat up your house the same as the pot?

 

 

 

 

 

Temperature is a comparative measure.

 

You need to think about energy here.

[don_svetlio]

The worst I saw was after almost an hour of Valley. Case temp hit 50c but the Vapor was 75c, Nitro was 79c, and CPU hit 79c. But I've never seen anything like that gaming.

Before the OP gets scared - that's with TWO 390/290s - 1 will be much cooler

[Fate]

Hmm 76 degrees compared 70-65 seems such a big difference to heat a house eh?

Temperature doesn't matter, TDP matters.

[don_svetlio]

Temperature doesn't matter, TDP matters.

TDP is an arbitrary number - it's rated by engineers based on personal judgement, not a unified source.

[ZetZet]

TDP is an arbitrary number - it's rated by engineers based on personal judgement, not a unified source.

TDP, power usage, same shit doesn't matter. In this case TDP is actually as good as we will need.

 

 

Temperature doesn't tell you anything about the amount of heat. Nothing, zero.

[don_svetlio]

TDP, power usage, same shit doesn't matter. In this case TDP is actually as good as we will need.

 

 

Temperature doesn't tell you anything about the amount of heat. Nothing, zero.

TDP is just a "guess" by an engineer though

[KamiKatze]

I know I'm kind of late to the party but whats with people saying the 390 is more powerful? Has anybody ever OCed a 970? its a 15-20% performance gain, while the R9 390 is almost maxed out with the factory OC.

[ZetZet]

TDP is just a "guess" by an engineer though

It's not a guess, it's what they measured and decided is needed to cool the card, which is pretty close to heat expelled since that's they used to measure what size/performance cooler is needed. It's not a perfect measurement, it's rounded up and approximated.

 

 

Also engineers don't "guess", if they did we would have no bridges and planes. Or mars rovers.

 

I know I'm kind of late to the party but whats with people saying the 390 is more powerful? Has anybody ever OCed a 970? its a 15-20% performance gain, while the R9 390 is almost maxed out with the factory OC.

it's similar, very close, however more VRAM and 390 does seem to win in the end by a bit.

[don_svetlio]

I know I'm kind of late to the party but whats with people saying the 390 is more powerful? Has anybody ever OCed a 970? its a 15-20% performance gain, while the R9 390 is almost maxed out with the factory OC.

Actually, any 390 can get 1100 and most get 1184 as that's the average OC - 970 OCs give less than you'd expect as MHz are not equal among brands - 1MHz for Nvidia is not like 1MHz for AMD.

[Castdeath97]

dude, it's not degrees that matter. 

 

 

Spoon of boiling water is 100C

 

Pot of boiling water is 100C

 

 

Will a spoon of boiling water heat up your house the same as the pot?

 

 

 

 

 

Temperature is a comparative measure.

 

You need to think about energy here.

 

Temperature doesn't matter, TDP matters.

Considering both chips are around the same size I don't think the thermal dissipation gap is big enough. And TDP is rarely accurate.

 

[KamiKatze]

Actually, any 390 can get 1100 and most get 1184 as that's the average OC - 970 OCs give less than you'd expect as MHz are not equal among brands - 1MHz for Nvidia is not like 1MHz for AMD.

 

I just looked up some old review videos. In Jayz2cents video his 390 got up to 1200 MHz which is exceptional and his EVGA 970 got 1440 MHz which is the bare minimum that 95% of 970s are abled to achieve, at least in my book, and i have built some PCs with 970s in them. Anyways, in Jay's tests the two cards were trading blows with the 390 having a slight tendency of a lead in some scenarios. So in other words: th GTX 970 has to be overclocked to be considered a true competition for the 390. But when it is OCed, I'd prefer it over the 390 due to the lower heat and thus noise output.