GPU Upgrade Question

[Lukerative]

So, in my upgrade planning, having figured out a case and psu, I'm a little stuck between options for a new graphics card. I had previously been looking at getting a GTX 960, but then I was directed towards looking into instead getting an R9 380(x), as it has some edges over the 960, or going up a tier and looking into an R9 390(x) or a GTX 970. Having done so, I found the XFX R9 390 Double Dissipation [link]. With its generous 8GB of VRAM and advertised 4K capability, it seems like a pretty good choice. However, reviews have noted that it's rather power-hungry and can sometimes have coil whine issues. My current plan is waiting a couple of months to see if any newer cards come out in that same price and performance range, and scrape up some extra cash on the side.

 

So, my question is: Can this card hold up to its advertised future-proof specs and be useful in the years to come, or should I look somewhere else?

[LawrenceBarnes2013]

Even though i'm an nvidia fanboy, the 390 really stands up to it's reputation, beats the 970 by quite a bit, can handle high res with ease, don't know about the coil wine though. How ever with computer hardware, scratch the word "Future proof" out of the dictionary my friend because nothing is, games and software are constantly evolving as is hardware to accommodate that. Point is for now as well a bit further on the 390 is really good.

[Lukerative]

Yeah, I was a little suspicious when I saw "Future Proof" on the description infographic. And, up until this point, I've been using Nvidia myself, but from other users, I've heard that AMD cards are perfectly fine, and that the 8 gigs on this thing should carry it through a couple of years at least.

[Samfisher]

3 minutes ago, LawrenceBarnes2013 said:

Even though i'm an nvidia fanboy, the 390 really stands up to it's reputation, beats the 970 by quite a bit, can handle high res with ease, don't know about the coil wine though. How ever with computer hardware, scratch the word "Future proof" out of the dictionary my friend because nothing is, games and software are constantly evolving as is hardware to accommodate that. Point is for now as well a bit further on the 390 is really good.

The 390 barely beats the 970 really, and the 970 is an overclocking beast that can very nearly reach a 980 in terms of performance.  It does have 8GB of VRAM though, but I'm of the persuasion that the GPU will be the bottleneck before the VRAM is in any 4K game.

[LawrenceBarnes2013]

8 minutes ago, Samfisher said:

The 390 barely beats the 970 really, and the 970 is an overclocking beast that can very nearly reach a 980 in terms of performance.  It does have 8GB of VRAM though, but I'm of the persuasion that the GPU will be the bottleneck before the VRAM is in any 4K game.

Well yeah, but, i highly suspect the 390 GPU would bottleneck the 8GB frame buffer dude, after all it's a 390. As i stated i'm an nvidia fan but i'm sure the 3.5+0.5GB on the 970 is gonna be the bottleneck because yes, the 970 does OC like crazy  

[Lukerative]

Quote

The 390 barely beats the 970 really, and the 970 is an overclocking beast that can very nearly reach a 980 in terms of performance.  It does have 8GB of VRAM though, but I'm of the persuasion that the GPU will be the bottleneck before the VRAM is in any 4K game.

Honestly, I don't even plan on overclocking, unless I ran into some REALLY intensive game or whatever. As you may tell, I have absolutely no idea how to overclock anything, and part of the reason I'm going with this card is so I have a buffer against needing to OC anything.

 

So, should I look into getting a card with good overclock, or aim for more VRAM, such as the 390, in the hopes that that would possibly compensate for the lower clock speed?

[OsuMasterz]

1 hour ago, Lukerative said:

Honestly, I don't even plan on overclocking, unless I ran into some REALLY intensive game or whatever. As you may tell, I have absolutely no idea how to overclock anything, and part of the reason I'm going with this card is so I have a buffer against needing to OC anything.

 

So, should I look into getting a card with good overclock, or aim for more VRAM, such as the 390, in the hopes that that would possibly compensate for the lower clock speed?

The 390 should do you fine, more vram is easier on the gpu in higher resolutions. If you're worried about that coil whine just liquid cool it with like a corsair H55+NZXT Kraken G10 so it wont have much vibration to hear that whine. (I cooled my card this way in my build)

[Lukerative]

Alright, sounds good! Thanks for all the input!