I have plans on getting myself a new GPU. The choice: GTX970 or R9 390. What about the upcoming GPU's?

Zyre · December 6, 2015

Greetings Linus members,

I've been using a MSI R9 270x HAWK for about 1,5 years. I bought it from my best friend in the summer of 2015 (July).

These days games are slowly demanding more to the point that I can't get a stable 60fps with most of the settings set to high.

My plan is to save up money and get myself a new GPU next year. With my current finance it won't be until March or April of 2016 if I'm lucky.

I did some research and found out that AMD and Nvidia are rumored to release their new GPU's in the summer of 2016.

My first question that I'd like to ask is if it's worth waiting and getting the newest GPU. A good friend of my said no, because you will always be waiting for latest and greatest hardware. Besides, it will be more expensive on launch.

If I where to upgrade right now then my pick would be between the GTX970 and AMD R9 390. This is my budget range which is about €350,- (These prices are the Netherlands).

What I want from a new GPU is it lasting me for about 3 years. I don't have the means to simply upgrade each year. I compared the two cards and don't know which one would be the better pick which can last me a couple of years.

I'll be gaming on 1080p for the coming years still. The GTX970 only has 4GB VRAM while the AMD card has 8GB VRAM. These days games demand more and more VRAM. But as a counter a lot of games use Gameworks.

I would like to know what the better pick would be. Will the VRAM amount matter in my situation? What about the upcoming GPU's?

Thanks and I hope my topic is understandable

don_svetlio · December 6, 2015

R9 390 - 3.5GB of VRAM* is not enough for "futureproof" for 3 or so years considering Pascal/Arcitc islands are rumored to have 16GB of VRAM

390 performs about 5% faster on average

Gameworks is not something positive and shouldn't be regarded as such - locking down games via proprietary tech is anti-consumer and we as consumers shouldn't support it