Help choosing a graphics card

[Waterspear65]

Hi, I am wanting to build a computer to game on and I can't decide between the gtx 970 and the r9 390. I want to know which card is best for me specifically.

 

-1080p 60fps on high settings

- titles like witcher 3, skyrim es 5, gta v, crysis 3, 

- modding skyrim and texture packs

 

Also, which brand is the best for each card?

The msi gtx is 357 while the msi r9 is 320

But the sapphire nitro is 345.

[skyress3000]

I would get the sapphire nitro 390; it has better value than the 970 and sapphire makes great cards.

[Waterspear65]

I would get the sapphire nitro 390; it has better value than the 970 and sapphire makes great cards.

http://www.neweggbusiness.com/product/product.aspx?item=9b-14-202-164

is this one good?

[skyress3000]

http://www.neweggbusiness.com/product/product.aspx?item=9b-14-202-164

is this one good?

YES! That's a nice deal too, usually they're closer to 970 prices

[Waterspear65]

YES! That's a nice deal too, usually they're closer to 970 prices

Will it fit in a corsair obsidian 450d mid tower?

[skyress3000]

Will it fit in a corsair obsidian 450d mid tower?

Yes, definitely

[Guest]

Hi, I am wanting to build a computer to game on and I can't decide between the gtx 970 and the r9 390. I want to know which card is best for me specifically.

 

-1080p 60fps on high settings

- titles like witcher 3, skyrim es 5, gta v, crysis 3, 

- modding skyrim and texture packs

 

Also, which brand is the best for each card?

The msi gtx is 357 while the msi r9 is 320

But the sapphire nitro is 345.

According to GPUBoss (unreliable I know), the R9 390 beats the 970 in most aspects. The R9 390 actually competes better with the 980 and (according to Australia), the $200 does not make for the 10FPS...you're better off getting the 390 or 390X

[Synawke]

for witcher 3 id get a nvidia card for the hair works. The 390 preforms better in most cases but also has its drawbacks like noise, heat, and less features. At 1080p 60hz both will meet the requirement to reach 60fps max settings in just about every game out.

[Waterspear65]

for witcher 3 id get a nvidia card for the hair works. The 390 preforms better in most cases but also has its drawbacks like noise, heat, and less features. At 1080p 60hz both will meet the requirement to reach 60fps max settings in just about every game out.

What features does it not have?

How much more noise and heat?

[Synawke]

What features does it not have?

How much more noise and heat?

Nvidia have better drivers, the heat difference can be pretty substantial sometimes. A friend of mine has an r9 fury nano that under load reaches about 90 degrees Celsius while another friend who has a 980ti is about 80 degrees Celsius under load. I have personally found AMD cards to be loud enough to the point where friends on skype tell me to shut up because they can hear it lol, i can also hear it if there are little to no sounds happening in my headphones. Not saying Nvidia cards are silent when under load, but not loud enough to bother me as much as an AMD. Nvidia has PhysX support too. and if you are emulating games then AMD is just awful at it compared to Nvidia. Not saying AMD has bad cards, they both have their ups and downs. I personally prefer Nvidia.

[LeapFrogMasterRace]

gta v and modded skyrim use a ton of vram so get a 390

[Synawke]

gta v and modded skyrim use a ton of vram so get a 390

Not enough to get over 3.5 at 1080p

[don_svetlio]

My my, so much misinformation in this thread it's not even funny.

 

Nvidia have better drivers, the heat difference can be pretty substantial sometimes. A friend of mine has an r9 fury nano that under load reaches about 90 degrees Celsius while another friend who has a 980ti is about 80 degrees Celsius under load. I have personally found AMD cards to be loud enough to the point where friends on skype tell me to shut up because they can hear it lol, i can also hear it if there are little to no sounds happening in my headphones. Not saying Nvidia cards are silent when under load, but not loud enough to bother me as much as an AMD. Nvidia has PhysX support too. and if you are emulating games then AMD is just awful at it compared to Nvidia. Not saying AMD has bad cards, they both have their ups and downs. I personally prefer Nvidia.

You're comparing a single fan cooler without copper heatpipes to an aftermarket 980 Ti? That's like comparing a i7 with an AiO and a stock cooler and saying one runs cooler than the other. The Nano has a 175W TDP whereas the 980 Ti has a 250W TDP. Hmm - I wonder which gives off more heat. Hmmm.

"I'm not saying AMD cards are bad" - that's exactly what you're saying - but you're making up things to support your claim, or at least exaggerating quite a bit.

 

Hi, I am wanting to build a computer to game on and I can't decide between the gtx 970 and the r9 390. I want to know which card is best for me specifically.

 

-1080p 60fps on high settings

- titles like witcher 3, skyrim es 5, gta v, crysis 3, 

- modding skyrim and texture packs

 

Also, which brand is the best for each card?

The msi gtx is 357 while the msi r9 is 320

But the sapphire nitro is 345.

 

gta v and modded skyrim use a ton of vram so get a 390

First off - the 3.5GB thing IS an issue - it won't magically go away. The fun part is - when you normally hit the max of your VRAM your card starts caching in system RAM but since the 970 has more VRAM left it uses it and degrades ALL the VRAM to that speed in order for the last part to be used. Nvidia supposedly did some driver magic and locked that VRAM away for good but people are still having issues with it.

Drivers - funny you mention it - the last 3 drivers I tried to install for my 860M (750 Ti rebrand) ended with a system freeze, driver crash or corrupt isntallation. That's mainly cause Nvidia don't give a shit about mobile users though - feel free to check http://www.notebookcheck.net/ for other people's issues with drivers. As for stability - quite a few people will tell you both are currently stable and both are regularly updated. The notion that Nvidia have suprior drivers is frankly outdated as it's simply not the case anymore.

 

What features does it not have?

How much more noise and heat?

Noise ENTIRELY depends on the cooler. A Sapphire Nitro 390 will be cooler and quieter than almost any 970. Why? Because the cooler is simply better than say the Strix cooler or G1 turbine, sorry, G1 gaming. As for heat, while a 390 will output more heat, it won't be overheating or even reaching 75*C as often as our friend would have you believe. I'm surprised he hasn't brought up benches of the terrible 290X reference cooler. Power draw is a similar story - A 390 will use about 70W more under MAX load but do you know what that saves you? About 1 diet coke every 2 months or so assuming you game for 5-6 hours daily. Wow - 1$ per 2 months. That means for 3 years it saves you about 18$. Yeah. Worth losing 5% performance over 18$ over the course of 3 years...

As for features - with Crimson coming I can say that about 95% of the "features" Nvidia advertise have AMD equivalents - not counting proprietary bullshit like Gimpworks which refuses to work properly on anything but a 980/980 Ti/Titan X.

People who can back me up - @D2ultima , @Prysin , @App4that

[LeapFrogMasterRace]

@don_svetlio can't tell if you where disagreeing with me or not

[don_svetlio]

@don_svetlio can't tell if you where disagreeing with me or not

I agree - Modding needs a LOT of VRAM - ask @Pohernori

[Kinda Bottlenecked]

Yeap, modding takes up tons of vram. But you have to consider how far you are going to go with modding your Skyrim. 

[baxtmann]

sadly, the amd one...

[don_svetlio]

sadly, the amd one...

why sadly?

[App4that]

Did someone say the Nitro is loud? No, the Nitro is not loud. Tech Showdown showed it's quieter than a MSI 970. I have only heard mine ONCE and that was because I set the fan to 100% in Afterburner for shits and giggles. And my Nitro 390 runs 52c playing Fallout 4. So.

Edit, that temp is from weeks of playing with case fans and some calculus. No joke

[LeapFrogMasterRace]

I agree - Modding needs a LOT of VRAM - ask @Pohernori

Okay I was confused because you where talking about misinformation and quoted me.

[don_svetlio]

Okay I was confused because you where talking about misinformation and quoted me.

I was just making sure I quoted that guy so I went on a quoting spree

[Prysin]

Yeap, modding takes up tons of vram. But you have to consider how far you are going to go with modding your Skyrim. 

less then 150 graphics mods is peasant mode anyways

[Prysin]

@Waterspear65

 

MSI or Sapphire R9 390 is the best bet.

They perform slightly better then most 970s bar the extremely high clocked versions like the Gainward Phoenix, Palit Jetstream or EVGA FTW ACX2... however the FTW, Phoenix or Jetstream is quite expensive for a 970...

 

and even then, a mild OC (like +50-100MHz on the core) of the R9 390 will see it flying past those cards with ease, again.

[Synawke]

My my, so much misinformation in this thread it's not even funny.

 

You're comparing a single fan cooler without copper heatpipes to an aftermarket 980 Ti? That's like comparing a i7 with an AiO and a stock cooler and saying one runs cooler than the other. The Nano has a 175W TDP whereas the 980 Ti has a 250W TDP. Hmm - I wonder which gives off more heat. Hmmm.

"I'm not saying AMD cards are bad" - that's exactly what you're saying - but you're making up things to support your claim, or at least exaggerating quite a bit.

 

 

First off - the 3.5GB thing IS an issue - it won't magically go away. The fun part is - when you normally hit the max of your VRAM your card starts caching in system RAM but since the 970 has more VRAM left it uses it and degrades ALL the VRAM to that speed in order for the last part to be used. Nvidia supposedly did some driver magic and locked that VRAM away for good but people are still having issues with it.

Drivers - funny you mention it - the last 3 drivers I tried to install for my 860M (750 Ti rebrand) ended with a system freeze, driver crash or corrupt isntallation. That's mainly cause Nvidia don't give a shit about mobile users though - feel free to check http://www.notebookcheck.net/ for other people's issues with drivers. As for stability - quite a few people will tell you both are currently stable and both are regularly updated. The notion that Nvidia have suprior drivers is frankly outdated as it's simply not the case anymore.

 

Noise ENTIRELY depends on the cooler. A Sapphire Nitro 390 will be cooler and quieter than almost any 970. Why? Because the cooler is simply better than say the Strix cooler or G1 turbine, sorry, G1 gaming. As for heat, while a 390 will output more heat, it won't be overheating or even reaching 75*C as often as our friend would have you believe. I'm surprised he hasn't brought up benches of the terrible 290X reference cooler. Power draw is a similar story - A 390 will use about 70W more under MAX load but do you know what that saves you? About 1 diet coke every 2 months or so assuming you game for 5-6 hours daily. Wow - 1$ per 2 months. That means for 3 years it saves you about 18$. Yeah. Worth losing 5% performance over 18$ over the course of 3 years...

As for features - with Crimson coming I can say that about 95% of the "features" Nvidia advertise have AMD equivalents - not counting proprietary bullshit like Gimpworks which refuses to work properly on anything but a 980/980 Ti/Titan X.

People who can back me up - @D2ultima , @Prysin , @App4that

I never said 980 ti. they have a 980 and not an aftermarket one. They thought it looked cooler if it wasn't aftermarket. Its widely know that nvidia has better drivers and if there is a problem it is fixed very fast. Through my experience too. I am not saying AMD cards are bad cards. I personally prefer Nvidia but they AMD does not have bad cards. I don't have problems with the 3.5 because I have a single 1080 monitor anyways so i never really go over 3.5 gigs. Even on my modded skyrim. Never heard about it using system ram ill have to try that for myself. And about the heat, of all the people I know and all the videos ive seen, ive never seen any high powered AMD card only get to 75 under load. 

[App4that]

I never said 980 ti. they have a 980 and not an aftermarket one. They thought it looked cooler if it wasn't aftermarket. Its widely know that nvidia has better drivers and if there is a problem it is fixed very fast. Through my experience too. I am not saying AMD cards are bad cards. I personally prefer Nvidia but they AMD does not have bad cards. I don't have problems with the 3.5 because I have a single 1080 monitor anyways so i never really go over 3.5 gigs. Even on my modded skyrim. Never heard about it using system ram ill have to try that for myself. And about the heat, of all the people I know and all the videos ive seen, ive never seen any high powered AMD card only get to 75 under load.

Come on over to my house, have a beer, witness my Overclocked 390 hitting the low 60s while bench testing and 50s gaming.