cpu for gtx 970

[SteveGrabowski0]

This is full build right? I like it,but could you tell me pros and cons of it

 

The pros are you get a really high end cpu that is kind of the best of both worlds: e.g., it is unlocked and can be overclocked for games where strong single performance is needed (Arma III, Far Cry 4) while it's also hyperthreaded, so performs well on games that want moar corez (Crysis 3, Fallout 4, Assassins Creed series). Another pro is you get really fast RAM to run here. A nice case, a quality PSU, a very good 1080p GPU.

 

The cons are no SSD and it's not Skylake. So no DDR4 support. That's somewhat negated by the fast DDR3 though. As for SSD, prices are still in free fall, so it's something you can profitably add to your system later pretty cheaply. An SSD is nice, but there is no way I'd buy a lesser CPU just to shoehorn an SSD in. You can already buy an 850 EVO 250 GB for less than $90, who knows what they'll be selling for in a couple of months.

[SteveGrabowski0]

It's really a coin flip between the GTX 970 and R9 390. I don't think either GPU is going to be very future proof (by that I mean cranking the settings to the max in every game) if you buy today, considering 16 nm GPUs will be out in 6-9 months. At 1080p the 970 seems to do better on multithread dominated cpu heavy games like Witcher 3, GTA V, and Fallout 4, while the 390 wins on gpu bound games Metal Gear Solid Phantom Pain, Star Wars Battlefront, and Shadow of Mordor. On single thread dominated games it's kind of hard to predict though: for instance, Dying Light runs much better on Nvidia hardware, while AMD slaughters Nvidia in Far Cry 4. Both the 970 and 390 are really solid GPUs, though a bit overpriced considering the 970 still basically sells for its launch price from Sept 2014.

 

If you go 390 I'd opt for a better power supply though. Say an Antec HCG 620W or an XFX 650W. I always like being overkill on PSUs though to leave some overclocking headroom. If you go 390, the Sapphire Nitro is the one to get. The MSI Gaming R9 390 is very good also. Avoid Gigabyte or especially Asus for 390s. For 970 I picked an MSI card that is often a pretty good overclocker. Other 970s worth considering are the Gigabyte G1 Gaming GTX 970 (best 970 on the market other than the EVGA Hybrid) and EVGA GTX 970 SSC.

[Benji_w]

Nope, the framerates I'm getting are on par with the 970. And the port isn't all that great to begin with. I get fantastic framerates in Witcher 3 and GTA V. Don't have JC3 because I don't like simple-minded garbage. Plus, it's well known that the game runs bad on all platforms. I had some crashes with the Radeon app but 15.12 has completely fixed that for me. I haven't had any game crashes at all even before 15.12. 

Oh, guess what? Nvidia's drivers crash too. Just go look at the Geforce forum. Yes, they are. And that's a fact. 

 

Haven't had a driver crash that wasn't from a bad overclock, I've also yet to have a card not hit 1500mhz+ and if you're very lucky you can get a card hit over 1600mhz.

[SteveGrabowski0]

I should add either the 390 or the 970 will probably easily play games on medium at good framerates in 2-3 years even with the 16 nm gpus becoming the norm, and right now they're awesome for 1080p ultra. Maybe a good analogy would be thinking of the R9 390 as a big fucking hammer. In games that are strongly gpu bound the power of the 390 stomps on the 970. On a straight hardware level the 390 is significantly more powerful than the 970, I mean the memory bandwidth is like 70% better on the R9 390. The GTX 970 is more a precision tool. On games that are more cpu bound it seems to have more tricks up its sleeve to more effectively utilize its gpu horsepower; it has better DirectX11 driver optimization.

 

With all that said, we not talking huge differences in performance. The 970 is still pretty powerful on a hardware level and with an i7 or i5 (and especially with an overclocked i7) the AMD drivers are still good enough that the hit isn't too much in cpu heavy games. All in all they're very close cards at 1080p. Now at 1440p you're going to be gpu bound in pretty much anything but Arma III and Fallout 4, so the R9 390 is unquestionably the better card for such a use case. I don't think the 8GB VRAM makes much difference, 4GB is already a ton of video memory (2GB had been the standard for years until 2015).

 

It really is a tough call at 1080p though, which is why you see a new GTX 970 vs R9 390 thread here almost every day. Either one is going to be awesome to game on. I personally run a GTX 970 at 1080p, which I bought before the R9 390 existed. If you asked me which one I'd buy today, I'd say I don't know.

[hoot.]

Haven't had a driver crash that wasn't from a bad overclock, I've also yet to have a card not hit 1500mhz+ and if you're very lucky you can get a card hit over 1600mhz.

Before I swapped for my 390, my 970 got a buttload of driver crashes.. Not saying I don't have occasional crashes with the 390.

[Benji_w]

Before I swapped for my 390, my 970 got a buttload of driver crashes.. Not saying I don't have occasional crashes with the 390.

 

Never had one that wasn't caused by me so not sure.

[hoot.]

Never had one that wasn't caused by me so not sure.

I guess I got a little unlucky then.