help me decide between the R9 390 and GTX 970

[Eyesthetics]

Hello guys, I'm currently looking for a graphics card and my budget is around $300, both the gtx 970 and the R9 390 are priced around the same so I'm really confused which i should go with, I've had bad experience with my reference R9 290 (blew up 5 psu, black screen popping up) but the 390 is so alluring due to the 8gb of vram

 

On the other hand the gtx 970 has merely 3.5gb of vram so there really is no reason to go with the 970 over the 390 is there? 

 

I looked up the benchmarks and both cards seem to trade blows with each other some games run better on the 970 and some run better on the 390

 

I play at 1080p, might get a 2k monitor in the future if the money allows but not a priority for now, 4k is out of my league so i couldn't care less about 4k performance 

 

The games i play are mainly AAA-FPS 

 

My pc specs 

 

I5 4690k 

No graphics card for now (sold my faulty 290)

8gb ram

Seasonic x660 

Samsung 850 evo 250gb 

Wd blue 1tb 

Raijintek triton 240 

ASRock H81M

[Starelementpoke]

6 minutes ago, Eyesthetics said:

Hello guys, I'm currently looking for a graphics card and my budget is around $300, both the gtx 970 and the R9 390 are priced around the same so I'm really confused which i should go with, I've had bad experience with my reference R9 290 (blew up 5 psu, black screen popping up) but the 390 is so alluring due to the 8gb of vram

 

On the other hand the gtx 970 has merely 3.5gb of vram so there really is no reason to go with the 970 over the 390 is there? 

 

I looked up the benchmarks and both cards seem to trade blows with each other some games run better on the 970 and some run better on the 390

 

I play at 1080p, might get a 2k monitor in the future if the money allows but not a priority for now, 4k is out of my league so i couldn't care less about 4k performance 

 

The games i play are mainly AAA-FPS 

 

My pc specs 

 

I5 4690k 

No graphics card for now (sold my faulty 290)

8gb ram

Seasonic x660 

Samsung 850 evo 250gb 

Wd blue 1tb 

Raijintek triton 240 

ASRock H81M

Personally 390.

[ELSknutson]

390 

[SeanAngelo]

19 minutes ago, Eyesthetics said:

Hello guys, I'm currently looking for a graphics card and my budget is around $300, both the gtx 970 and the R9 390 are priced around the same so I'm really confused which i should go with, I've had bad experience with my reference R9 290 (blew up 5 psu, black screen popping up) but the 390 is so alluring due to the 8gb of vram

 

On the other hand the gtx 970 has merely 3.5gb of vram so there really is no reason to go with the 970 over the 390 is there? 

 

I looked up the benchmarks and both cards seem to trade blows with each other some games run better on the 970 and some run better on the 390

 

I play at 1080p, might get a 2k monitor in the future if the money allows but not a priority for now, 4k is out of my league so i couldn't care less about 4k performance 

 

The games i play are mainly AAA-FPS 

 

My pc specs 

 

I5 4690k 

No graphics card for now (sold my faulty 290)

8gb ram

Seasonic x660 

Samsung 850 evo 250gb 

Wd blue 1tb 

Raijintek triton 240 

ASRock H81M

390

[Kobolobob]

21 minutes ago, Eyesthetics said:

Hello guys, I'm currently looking for a graphics card and my budget is around $300, both the gtx 970 and the R9 390 are priced around the same so I'm really confused which i should go with, I've had bad experience with my reference R9 290 (blew up 5 psu, black screen popping up) but the 390 is so alluring due to the 8gb of vram

 

On the other hand the gtx 970 has merely 3.5gb of vram so there really is no reason to go with the 970 over the 390 is there? 

 

I looked up the benchmarks and both cards seem to trade blows with each other some games run better on the 970 and some run better on the 390

 

I play at 1080p, might get a 2k monitor in the future if the money allows but not a priority for now, 4k is out of my league so i couldn't care less about 4k performance 

 

The games i play are mainly AAA-FPS 

 

My pc specs 

 

I5 4690k 

No graphics card for now (sold my faulty 290)

8gb ram

Seasonic x660 

Samsung 850 evo 250gb 

Wd blue 1tb 

Raijintek triton 240 

ASRock H81M

as a former 970 user id have to say the 390, the vram will pay off in the long run

 

Bought my 970 before the 390 came into stores where i live, if i had access to both i would have taken the 390, despite the fact that i preferr Nvidia over AMD

[Minetex]

Personally the 970. I have almost the same setup as yours, and it runs perfectly. I'm a bit into nVidia fanboyism, but screw that. NVidia cards have better support and the most important, the are MUCH more effective (almost half the power usage).

[Kobolobob]

Just now, Minetex said:

Personally the 970. I have almost the same setup as yours, and it runs perfectly. I'm a bit into nVidia fanboyism, but screw that. NVidia cards have better support and the most important, the are MUCH more effective (almost half the power usage).

Drivers are kinda horrible atm tho, mine crashed all the time

[Starelementpoke]

1 minute ago, Minetex said:

Personally the 970. I have almost the same setup as yours, and it runs perfectly. I'm a bit into nVidia fanboyism, but screw that. NVidia cards have better support and the most important, the are MUCH more effective (almost half the power usage).

Better support, looks back to the driver issues they had literally a week ago. Also, remember the 780ti? How´s that performing right now anyway?

[Narnash]

390 and be sure not to take a ASUS one! (Sapphire or MSI for AMD Cards is best)

[jcw150]

Whichever is cheaper and if you're going to overclock look towards the 970 slightly more.

[Moonzy]

31 minutes ago, Eyesthetics said:

I play at 1080p, might get a 2k monitor in the future

if you're going upgrade to a resolution higher than 1080p and you're playing AAA titles,

i say go for the 390, the vram is essential for resolution above 1080p

the 970's 3.5gb vram can be capped if you push the card hard enough at 1080p now

 

that said, if you're into nvidia's features then you can still get the 970 and turn down details in games for the fps and less vram usage

 

so it all boils down to your own needs

[Mkander99]

390, you dont really need Shadowplay for streaming/recording because you can use Intel Quicksync, and that 8 gb of vram will pretty much futureproof your card

[Kobolobob]

Let us know what you decide on =)

[Eyesthetics]

Ok thanks for the input guys i think I'll go with the 390 screw the 970 and the 3.5gb crap

[Eyesthetics]

But can my psu handle the power hungry Hawaii chip?! 

[WynLore]

1 hour ago, Starelementpoke said:

Better support, looks back to the driver issues they had literally a week ago. Also, remember the 780ti? How´s that performing right now anyway?

Allegedly worse... or so I'm told from three of my friends. One of them's pissed off enough that he bought a 390X.

[Qwerty2323]

Simple choice you want more powerful card but get more heat, power consumtion 390.

You want cooler card that will use less power and probably wont spin fans and slghty lower performance that is 970...

I have damn hot summers at my country so for me amd would not be option...

[Starelementpoke]

31 minutes ago, Qwerty2323 said:

Simple choice you want more powerful card but get more heat, power consumtion 390.

You want cooler card that will use less power and probably wont spin fans and slghty lower performance that is 970...

I have damn hot summers at my country so for me amd would not be option...

There are 390s that are cooler than some 970s.

[max_headroom]

Do what I did.

I bought them both and evaluated them for a week.  Heavy use on both cards and in the end, return the other one.

 

I bought the GTX 970 EVGA SC and the XFX R9 390 XXX.

The 970 ran a decent card.  I thought I was going to keep it since the 390 I bought was defective.  I returned the 390 and got another one.  I played around with the 390 for several days and I must say I like it better than the 970.

 

The games where the 390 played better was GTA 5.  On the 970, with everything turned up, I would get stuttering.  When I turn some settings down then it would be fine.  However, then I played GTA 5 on the 390, everything turned up and I get a solid 60 fps.  The graphics are unreal.  It felt like I was playing a CGA movie.

 

The 390 runs a little hotter but never exceeded 70 degrees.  I created a custom curve.  After a week I returned the Nvidia and kept the AMD.

 

I've been an Nvidia fan for nearly a decade.  I think this time around AMD has the better card for the money.

[ivan134]

15 minutes ago, max_headroom said:

Do what I did.

I bought them both and evaluated them for a week.  Heavy use on both cards and in the end, return the other one.

 

I bought the GTX 970 EVGA SC and the XFX R9 390 XXX.

The 970 ran a decent card.  I thought I was going to keep it since the 390 I bought was defective.  I returned the 390 and got another one.  I played around with the 390 for several days and I must say I like it better than the 970.

 

The games where the 390 played better was GTA 5.  On the 970, with everything turned up, I would get stuttering.  When I turn some settings down then it would be fine.  However, then I played GTA 5 on the 390, everything turned up and I get a solid 60 fps.  The graphics are unreal.  It felt like I was playing a CGA movie.

 

The 390 runs a little hotter but never exceeded 70 degrees.  I created a custom curve.  After a week I returned the Nvidia and kept the AMD.

 

I've been an Nvidia fan for nearly a decade.  I think this time around AMD has the better card for the money.

While I vote 390, I've never heard of a 970 having problems in gta 5. That is usually one of the games where both cards are tied. You must have some really bad luck if both of the cards you bought were malfunctioning.

[max_headroom]

18 minutes ago, ivan134 said:

While I vote 390, I've never heard of a 970 having problems in gta 5. That is usually one of the games where both cards are tied. You must have some really bad luck if both of the cards you bought were malfunctioning.

It is possible that I had 2 bad cards.  LOL.

However I don't think the 970 had any problems where as the 390 clearly did.

Regardless, I'll stick with my 390 for a couple of years.  We'll see if Polaris or Pascal will blow me away.

[Mew]

6 hours ago, Starelementpoke said:

Better support, looks back to the driver issues they had literally a week ago. Also, remember the 780ti? How´s that performing right now anyway?

It's faster than the 970

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1441?vs=1595

4 hours ago, Starelementpoke said:

There are 390s that are cooler than some 970s.

They run cooler but output more heat; it doesn't magically disappear. Because of thermodynamics, the rest of your system will run a little warmer.

 

To the OP: Honestly it doesn't matter which one you pick because the performance that you get is identical. I can hardly recognize a 20% performance difference, let alone a  5% difference. Get the one the looks the best and is on sale. 

[Nena Trinity]

I have a 970 and I personally wish the 390 was around when I bought my GPU...  

[Eyesthetics]

I'm currently using a 970 which is borrowed from my friend's and i can confirm that in gta V it can't get solid 60 fps with everything turned up to ultra (2x msaa) it dips to 30-45 fps in the countryside, i have to turn the grass quality and shader quality down to normal to get a solid framerate, the vram usage is barely touching 3.5gb

[AmbellinaThePrise]

You've got a 660w PSU it looks like, so I would suggest the 390. You're not going to encounter any issues at 1080p with it for sure.