Sapphire 390 vs MSI 970. Reliability vs FPS

[Kinda Bottlenecked]

And again, if a person buys two cards back to back and can't reach the numbers you state, that's more than bad luck. Your numbers are off.

 

You bought 2 nitro sapphires? What? 

[App4that]

You bought 2 sapphires? What?

Yes, you know this lol. I got a 290 and a 390. 390s a good card, just not as good in my opinion as the 290. If Sapphire comes out with a Vaporx 390, then maybe I'll check it out and re evaluate my position.

Oh and edit. The guy that bought my 390 loves it.

[byalexandr]

A Sapphire 390 Nitro? I'd go for that instead of any 970. Period. That card is a beautiful piece of manufacturing, such a pleasure to look at and it rapes the 970.

[Kinda Bottlenecked]

Yes, you know this lol. I got a 290 and a 390. 390s a good card, just not as good in my opinion as the 290. If Sapphire comes out with a Vaporx 390, then maybe I'll check it out and re evaluate my position.

 

So you did not buy a Msi card?

[App4that]

A Sapphire 390 Nitro? I'd go for that instead of any 970. Period. That card is a beautiful piece of manufacturing, such a pleasure to look at and it rapes the 970.

Hold one in your hands, not even half as nice as a Vapor-X 290. Literally feels like you picked the 390 up at a dollar store in comparison.

[App4that]

So you did not buy a Msi card?

No, it's the red. My whole build is blue to match the Vapor. I'd like to get to drive one to see if it can overclock like I hear they can. But not enough to get one.

[byalexandr]

Hold one in your hands, not even half as nice as a Vapor-X 290. Literally feels like you picked the 390 up at a dollar store in comparison.

Is it really that nice? I wouldn't mind getting a Vapor-X 290 for my reference 290... The one card I think is the nicest though (visually appealing) is the 380 Nitro.

[Kinda Bottlenecked]

No, it's the red. My whole build is blue to match the Vapor. I'd like to get to drive one to see if it can overclock like I hear they can. But not enough to get one.

 

And you're surprised that your Nitro isn't overclocking well? 

[App4that]

Is it really that nice? I wouldn't mind getting a Vapor-X 290 for my reference 290... The one card I think is the nicest though (visually appealing) is the 380 Nitro.

The Nitro looks good in pictures and in the case through the window. It's the fan shroud and backplate that let it down. The fan shroud feels cheap and the backplate doesn't have the build quality of the Vapor.

[byalexandr]

The Nitro looks good in pictures and in the case through the window. It's the fan shroud and backplate that let it down. The fan shroud feels cheap and the backplate doesn't have the build quality of the Vapor.

I still love the aesthetic. It's one of the nicest cooler designs I've ever seen.

[App4that]

And you're surprised that your Nitro isn't overclocking well?

No, that I forgave. I don't buy a GPU to overclock, that's a side bonus if it happens. My responses are pointed at the claims the 390 overclocks better than the 970. Which is silly business.

[App4that]

I still love the aesthetic. It's one of the nicest cooler designs I've ever seen.

The cooler works on the Nitro, I mean REALLY works. Only let down were the VRM temperatures but without overclocking headroom it doesn't matter that much I guess.

[Kinda Bottlenecked]

No, that I forgave. I don't buy a GPU to overclock, that's a side bonus if it happens. My responses are pointed at the claims the 390 overclocks better than the 970. Which is silly business.

 

What has that got to do with you claiming that my numbers are off? 

[App4that]

What has that got to do with you claiming that my numbers are off?

The claim that it's common to hit 1200mhz on the core of the 390. Mine hit it, even posted Valley, Heaven, and Firestrike scores. Bad ass scores. Couldn't play a single game without issues at that speed. And that's why pages back I called the 390 a paper dragon. It's all show, and no go. Maybe tomorrow Radeon releases a driver that fixes it, I honestly hope they do.

[Kinda Bottlenecked]

The claim that it's common to hit 1200mhz on the core of the 390. Mine hit it, even posted Valley, Heaven, and Firestrike scores. Bad ass scores. Couldn't play a single game without issues at that speed. And that's why pages back I called the 390 a paper dragon. It's all show, and no go. Maybe tomorrow Radeon releases a driver that fixes it, I honestly hope they do.

 

Read my post again. I said MSI 390. And find me a someone who plays games at their benchmark clocks. Many of us don't. 

[96Evo]

Buy the cheaper one. If the price difference is insignificant for your budget, go for the 390 as it has twice the VRam.

 

Seriously, the 390 and the 970 is extremely close in price and performance. This may change with the 390 4GB version coming around.

 

that 4GB 390 is exclusive to china market so any other countries wont have it.

 

I would say get the r9 390 because you get so much value out of the card than 970. 

Because if you shop for a new monitor, freesync will always be cheaper and more affordable than g-sync.

 

I currently have 970 and buying a new monitor is hard becuz if I want g-sync supported monitor I have to pay 100-200 buck more while with freesync I dont have to. Well then again it just my place.

[App4that]

Read my post again. I said MSI 390. And find me a someone who plays games at their benchmark clocks. Many of us don't.

I know you said MSI, topic title says Sapphire and I know people that play games using their fastest clock speed with 970s. But I fall back on the 290 being the better value than both the 390/970.

[96Evo]

I know you said MSI, topic title says Sapphire and I know people that play games using their fastest clock speed with 970s. But I fall back on the 290 being the better value than both the 390/970.

 there are not a lot of r9 290 at the price of 250 anymore. So it is not a better value card. Even if you find one it will have a stock cooler which will not be ideal. If you do find one with aftermarket cooler, it price will be around 300 buck which is maybe 10-20 more cheaper than 390since 390 give u more vram, better cooling than 290 . But it is not worth it.

 

390 right now is being a better value.

[Kinda Bottlenecked]

I know you said MSI, topic title says Sapphire and I know people that play games using their fastest clock speed with 970s. But I fall back on the 290 being the better value than both the 390/970.

 

Topic title says sapphire, so? I've specified the Msi variant in all my posts just so you won't get confused. But you still bring in other topics that are not involved in this conversation. Where in our posts between you and me did we discuss the 290? Yes peeps do play with their highest clock speeds. But very rarely above 1600mhz or above 1200mhz. 

 

Throw me a waterblock custom loop and I'll play my games at 1200mhz. 

[96Evo]

Topic title says sapphire, so? I've specified the Msi variant in all my posts just so that you won't get confused. But you still bring in other topics that are not involved in this conversation. Where in our posts between you and me did we discuss the 290? Yes peeps do play with their highest clock speeds. But very rarely above 1600mhz or above 1200mhz. 

 

Throw me a waterblock and I'll play my games at 1200mhz. 

 

I do agree with you

 

each game are different, some love oc and some dont, Some make you reduce the oc and stuff. HIgh oc doesnt mean it stable at all games, so often times raw performance is much more better and important. Also high oc doesnt mean more performance when compared 390 and 970.970 may oc more but it wont give u a lot of performance, and 390 may oc less doesnt mean you get less performance. 

[afyeung]

 

 

 

@App4that is right in some cases. Even though the 390(x) has better cooling, it is probably the worst card on the market to get for overclocking. Reason being, all 390(x) Bioses as of now have a TDP limit. This adds up to the card performing worse as you increase the voltage, which is required to clock these cards high. So the higher clocks are negated by the TDP/voltage degradation. Don't say that I'm pulling info out of my ass because everybody who reviewed the 390(x) or is on Overclock.net will back me up. You may bench slightly higher with +100mv and 1200 on the core, but if you can reach 1160 with +30 for example(My MSI 390x can do +1150 with +38), it will game much better than 1200 on the core. 

[Kinda Bottlenecked]

@App4that is right in some cases. Even though the 390(x) has better cooling, it is probably the worst card on the market to get for overclocking. Reason being, all 390(x) Bioses as of now have a TDP limit. This adds up to the card performing worse as you increase the voltage, which is required to clock these cards high. So the higher clocks are negated by the TDP/voltage degradation. Don't say that I'm pulling info out of my ass because everybody who reviewed the 390(x) or is on Overclock.net will back me up. You may bench slightly higher with +100mv and 1200 on the core, but if you can reach 1160 with +30 for example(My MSI 390x can do +1150 with +38), it will game much better than 1200 on the core. 

 

And that's why I said, very rarely will peeps play games at their max clock speeds...

[afyeung]

No, that I forgave. I don't buy a GPU to overclock, that's a side bonus if it happens. My responses are pointed at the claims the 390 overclocks better than the 970. Which is silly business.

Yeah. The 390(x)'s are actually terrible overclockers on the core which yields the most performance. I have seen a 7-10% boost though with my stock vs. overclock. But nothing spectacular. However, the great thing is that since these are so cool, it doesn't make a difference to tun overclocked vs stock so you might as well go balls to the wall before you see performance degradation. I will say that these cards however are very great memory clockers. Mine can do 1700mhz on the memory easy. This is a HUGE memory bandwidth. If you can clock the 390x at 1700mhz your memory bandwidth is near that of the FURY X which is its claim for fame. 

[afyeung]

And that's why I said, very rarely will peeps play games at their max clock speeds...

I play all my games at my max clock before I see performance degradation. For everybody it's different. But it's pointless not to run the 390(x) not overclocked.

[afyeung]

Is it really that nice? I wouldn't mind getting a Vapor-X 290 for my reference 290... The one card I think is the nicest though (visually appealing) is the 380 Nitro.

Not really any point in getting a better 290. The higher clocks will only help you at 1440p and higher.