Before asking about R9 380 / 390 vs GTX 960 / 970

[FixedDevice]

A short and simple answer:

 

Q: "R9 380 4GB or GTX 960?"

A: R9 380 4GB (Sapphire or MSI).

 

Q: "R9 390 or GTX 970?"

A: R9 390 (Sapphire or MSI).

 

*In terms of price-to-performance

[Mohenjo]

Yet nvidia is still wrecking AMD. The majority of PC builders are guys like. NVIDIA CAUSE ITS POPULAR. and pair 980s with 8350s because it says 8 cores and a lot of ghz 

[Kinda Bottlenecked]

The answer is not always the 390 for "970 vs 390" But 380 for "380 vs 960", yea I can agree with that. 

[FixedDevice]

Yet nvidia is still wrecking AMD. The majority of PC builders are guys like. NVIDIA CAUSE ITS POPULAR. and pair 980s with 8350s because it says 8 cores and a lot of ghz 

 

Yep, I always see this question asked and it's always the same response. >.> Just going to use this for my signature.

[Sir_Chicken]

R9 380 < GTX 960 OC

R9 380 OC = GTX 960 OC

 

Same for R9 390, GTX 970

but 8gb vram ^

 

AMD doesn't oc as well :I

[Enderman]

The answer is not always the 390 for "970 vs 390" But 380 for "380 vs 960", yea I can agree with that. 

Its only the answer when talking about price to performance

And not everyone is a pure "fps per dollar" gamer...

[FixedDevice]

Its only the answer when talking about price to performance

And not everyone is a pure "fps per dollar" gamer...

I should have added that price-to-performance footnote!

[Kinda Bottlenecked]

Its only the answer when talking about price to performance

And not everyone is a pure "fps per dollar" gamer...

 

Some peeps have their shield whoha going on. That's fine by me, the 970 will always be the answer for them. 

[TorqueS]

R9 380 < GTX 960 OC

R9 380 OC = GTX 960 OC

 

Same for R9 390, GTX 970

but 8gb vram ^

 

AMD doesn't oc as well :I

OC is not for everyone...you can't make a general comparison and recommendation based on OC. And just because a 390 doesn't get to 1400MHz like a 970 does...it's an absolutely pointless argument.

The architectures differ, thus the gains from 1MHz added to the stock clock will vary as well. A 1200MHz 390 will be on par with a 1400MHz 970.

 

This topic has been debated over and over.

 

380 is a better choice than the 960 regardless of the scenario.

 

390 vs 970 is another story, they're way closer in performance, so the scenario will dictate the choice. Pure gaming? 390. Gaming with some editing or streaming, I'd say 970 due to Shadowplay.

[Enderman]

I should have added that price-to-performance footnote!

Thats much better

 

Some peeps have their shield whoha going on. That's fine by me, the 970 will always be the answer for them. 

And stuff like shadowplay, or linux support, and a bunch of other features which are different than AMD's options

sometimes a proprietary feature is more important than a few more fps

[noisebomb44]

And stuff like shadowplay, or linux support, and a bunch of other features which are different than AMD's options

sometimes a proprietary feature is more important than a few more fps

yeah, i agree, thats the reson why i bought the 770 instead of the better performing AMD equivalent

also the wii really proved that point

[Kinda Bottlenecked]

Thats much better

And stuff like shadowplay, or linux support, and a bunch of other features which are different than AMD's options

sometimes a proprietary feature is more important than a few more fps

Neh, I wouldn't count shadowplay as proprietary tech. Since amd already has their own. Stuff like dsr amd has their own as well.

Only that shield game stream thing and cuda. Amd doesn't have a competitor to those. And they are important features for some.

[Enderman]

Neh, I wouldn't count shadowplay as proprietary tech. Since amd already has their own. Stuff like dsr amd has their own as well.

Only that shield game stream thing and cuda. Amd doesn't have a competitor to those. And they are important features for some.

AMD raptr is crap though...ask anyone with an AMD card

[Kinda Bottlenecked]

OC is not for everyone...you can't make a general comparison and recommendation based on OC. And just because a 390 doesn't get to 1400MHz like a 970 does...it's an absolutely pointless argument.

The architectures differ, thus the gains from 1MHz added to the stock clock will vary as well. A 1200MHz 390 will be on par with a 1400MHz 970.

A 1200mhz 390 will surge past the 1400mhz 970 by far. A 1200mhz 390 is more equivalent to a 1550-1600mhz 970

[Kinda Bottlenecked]

AMD raptr is crap though...ask anyone with an AMD card

That's like a year ago. (I've ask the app installed on my desktop, it says its fine now)

[TorqueS]

A 1200mhz 390 will surge past the 1400mhz 970 by far. A 1200mhz 390 is more equivalent to a 1550-1600mhz 970

So it improved that much? 

I took the reference from Jay's video back when he reviewed the MSI 390. He reached 1200 on the 390 and 1442 on the 970 SSC, the difference between them were like 3FPS more for the 390.

[Enderman]

That's like a year ago. (I've ask the app installed on my desktop, it says its fine now)

can it record 1440p or 4k?

[Kinda Bottlenecked]

So it improved that much?

I took the reference from Jay's video back when he reviewed the MSI 390. He reached 1200 on the 390 and 1442 on the 970 SSC, the difference between them were like 3FPS more for the 390.

That's dependant on the game. Some don't scale well with overclocks. While some do. 1442 is also really pathetic for a 970.

[Kinda Bottlenecked]

can it record 1440p or 4k?

I don't see why not? There were a bunch of settings the last time I saw the recording settings page.

[App4that]

can it record 1440p or 4k?

You don't buy a Sports car based on the radio, and you don't buy a graphics card based on the record options. If you care about performance. I bet I've been playing video games longer than you've been alive and at no point in all those hours of play was it necessary to record it.

[Enderman]

You don't buy a Sports car based on the radio, and you don't buy a graphics card based on the record options. If you care about performance. I bet I've been playing video games longer than you've been alive and at no point in all those hours of play was it necessary to record it.

Uhhhh....you do realize that some people have a youtube channel and record gameplay videos, right?

 

Your analogy is also incorrect because you can buy a sports car with no radio, or buy a sports car with a radio that goes 10mph slower, and for people who do want a radio, 10mph is not a significant difference

 

And why does it even matter how long you've been playing video games? Obviously you have no idea what youtube or lets plays are

So that makes you completely unqualified to even talk about recording features lol

[Nena Trinity]

Yet nvidia is still wrecking AMD. The majority of PC builders are guys like. NVIDIA CAUSE ITS POPULAR. and pair 980s with 8350s because it says 8 cores and a lot of ghz 

I wanted a AMD card but Linux drivers prevented me from getting it!

[Nena Trinity]

-snip-

Raptr is bad? Also the Cooler & TDP does not bother me much but what does is driver support...

[Mobilizer]

@App4that @Enderman

 

I swear, you two get so worked up about little things and start pages of unnecessary arguments. I see this almost all the time on the forums and ruin a good and simple thread like this one. I'm not going to make anymore posts here but it's way too annoying how you both love to start arguments where one of you always has to win.

 

I personally think this thread needs to be deleted by any mod and the owner needs to remake a locked version instead. Sorry but I had to put this out there.

[Vellinious]

Stock for stock and even mildly overclocked vs mildly overclocked, the 390 is going to perform slightly better in most games.  Start pushing the overclocks though, and the 970 has a LOT more head room and in most cases, will pull pretty far ahead of the 390.  

Just depends on what you're looking for.  Do you want to plug it in and throw 50 mhz on the core, think you're cool and go to town on your CSGO game?  Buy the 390.  Gonna put them under water, crank up the voltage and really push them?  Get the 970, because the 390 is going to disappoint you.

There it is.