Looking for help in choosing a new (AMD) GPU.

[ViWaHe]

Greetings.

 

I'm very new over here at the forums (actually my first post), but have been actively following NCIX and LTT on Youtube for years now. Back in 2014 I actually build my first rig from the ground up with the help of Linus' videos. The same rig I am using to this day with some minor tweaks and upgrades. Well actually fried my original motherboard this April after some foolish overclocking (poor VRMs). Any how to the point:

 

I have made the decision of sticking to my current CPU (FX-8350) since the second generation of Ryzen CPUs rolls out. Partially because I am a very, very cautious consumer. Partially because I am currently unemployed and a full CPU-RAM-Mobo-upgrade (around the 500-1000 EUR, depending on what I decide to go with) is out of the question at my current economic state. I've been pretty successfull at breathing some additional life into my rig since I put it together about three years ago. My first step was to up my 16GBs of 1333 DDR3 RAM into 24GBs of 1600 that I found for cheap. Next I diddled around with a second R9 280X in a CrossFireX-configuration. The optimization was a real hassle and I did see marginal performance gains, but ended up having to sell the second GPU in a financial crisis about six months after I began experimenting with CrossFX. Next I installed a secondary 500GB SSD for games and replaced a 5400RPM WD Green 3TB with a 7200RPM WD Blue to have room for some more of the non-competative games. After that the latest and probably single largest upgrade was switching up my mobo after I blew the originals CPU 8-pin power socker and or VRMs doing some stupid overclocking. I moved from a bottom tier 990FX board to a higher tier 970 mobo (ASUS Pro Gaming 970 Aura).

 

Anyhow. As I said, I am not a wealthy man and I've set a sort of a "road map" if you will for my future plans to upgrade the hardware. At the very earliest I'll be able to make the leap to Ryzen during the second or third generation at the very earliest. I know it sucks, but it is what it is. In the mean time I should have enough "loose cash" to upgrade my peripherals (display, keyboard, mouse, headset) as I go along and if and when I come across them for a good deal or ona a discount.

 

At the moment I am mostly limited by my GPU, which is a XFX R9 280X DDE Black Edition (1080/1550MHz) with a 3GB of VRAM. I am currently able to scrape together about 250-350 EUR to upgrade my GPU. I am looking mainly at the AMD side of things since I want to stick to an "AMD-only" build and out of principle I will not buy an NVIDIA card. I know there are benefits to each and at one point I was looking at the different 1060/1070 variations, but game to the conclusion that any 1060 variation that was worth consideration was ultimately underpowered when compared to the OC'd models of the RX 480/580 lines. 1070 on the other hand has performance, but I disagree with the NVIDIA-pricing premium, I want to maintain a "Red build" and the overall pricing on the 1070 line is beyond my budget. So I am mainly looking at the RX 580 8GB cards (which I know are essentially overclocked and refined 480s, but I am fine with it personally).

 

My question to you is: which is the "most bang for your buck"-GPU in the RX 580 8GB range of cards and should I be considering some of the older RX480 cards which seem to be similary priced or at times even more expensive at some retailers than the newer 580's (which really dumbfounds me)? Since I currently am rocking an ASUS motherboard and also have an ASUS sound card and most likely will be buying an ASUS 144hz monitor (they are frequently on sale at my go-to online retailer, I have seriously considered the ASUS Strix OC 8GB TOP-model (the one with the larger 1080TI-styled cooling elements) to be the most appealing option to me at the moment. It runs at a clock of 1430MHz or so and seems to be somewhat futureproof for when I eventually jump to Ryzen in a couple of years. I wanted to know if the Strix TOP-model would be a valid choice?

 

Also as an appendix let me ask you: is there any chance that I would not see any performance gains when compared to the 3GB 280X I am currently rocking? The online benchmarks show that the FX-8350 seems to be playing pretty nicely with both RX 480 and 580 cards and there should be no issue of bottlenecking. Just want to be sure, because I am a sort of a stickler.

 

These are my current specs:

AMD FX8350 @4.0GHz w/ Wraith cooler

ASUS 970 Pro Gaming AURA

8+8+4+4 (24) GB of HyperX DDR3 1600MHz RAM

XFX R9 280X DDE Black Edition 1080/1550MHz

Corsair RM1000 PSU 80+ Gold, modular

ASUS Strix SOAR Gaming sound card

120 + 500GB SSDs

1TB WD Blue 7200RPM

3TB WD Green 5400RPM

24x DVD-RW

-> all this in an Antec 302 case (the case itself has a couple of aftermarket fans in addition to the ones it came with)

Will give any additional specs you need or want.

 

So yeah, really would appreciate any and all help in picking out a new GPU.  Please give me any and all tips you have.

 

English is not my first language and it's 0435AM local time when I type this so I *might* be a bit tired, let's blame any typos on that. 

 

TL;DR: Looking for a GPU to replace a R9 280X 3GB, preferably in the RX580 8GB line of cards.

[VinZie]

Just wait for vega to come out.

[BluJay614]

5 minutes ago, ViWaHe said:

Greetings.

 

I'm very new over here at the forums (actually my first post), but have been actively following NCIX and LTT on Youtube for years now. Back in 2014 I actually build my first rig from the ground up with the help of Linus' videos. The same rig I am using to this day with some minor tweaks and upgrades. Well actually fried my original motherboard this April after some foolish overclocking (poor VRMs). Any how to the point:

 

I have made the decision of sticking to my current CPU (FX-8350) since the second generation of Ryzen CPUs rolls out. Partially because I am a very, very cautious consumer. Partially because I am currently unemployed and a full CPU-RAM-Mobo-upgrade (around the 500-1000 EUR, depending on what I decide to go with) is out of the question at my current economic state. I've been pretty successfull at breathing some additional life into my rig since I put it together about three years ago. My first step was to up my 16GBs of 1333 DDR3 RAM into 24GBs of 1600 that I found for cheap. Next I diddled around with a second R9 280X in a CrossFireX-configuration. The optimization was a real hassle and I did see marginal performance gains, but ended up having to sell the second GPU in a financial crisis about six months after I began experimenting with CrossFX. Next I installed a secondary 500GB SSD for games and replaced a 5400RPM WD Green 3TB with a 7200RPM WD Blue to have room for some more of the non-competative games. After that the latest and probably single largest upgrade was switching up my mobo after I blew the originals CPU 8-pin power socker and or VRMs doing some stupid overclocking. I moved from a bottom tier 990FX board to a higher tier 970 mobo (ASUS Pro Gaming 970 Aura).

 

Anyhow. As I said, I am not a wealthy man and I've set a sort of a "road map" if you will for my future plans to upgrade the hardware. At the very earliest I'll be able to make the leap to Ryzen during the second or third generation at the very earliest. I know it sucks, but it is what it is. In the mean time I should have enough "loose cash" to upgrade my peripherals (display, keyboard, mouse, headset) as I go along and if and when I come across them for a good deal or ona a discount.

 

At the moment I am mostly limited by my GPU, which is a XFX R9 280X DDE Black Edition (1080/1550MHz) with a 3GB of VRAM. I am currently able to scrape together about 250-350 EUR to upgrade my GPU. I am looking mainly at the AMD side of things since I want to stick to an "AMD-only" build and out of principle I will not buy an NVIDIA card. I know there are benefits to each and at one point I was looking at the different 1060/1070 variations, but game to the conclusion that any 1060 variation that was worth consideration was ultimately underpowered when compared to the OC'd models of the RX 480/580 lines. 1070 on the other hand has performance, but I disagree with the NVIDIA-pricing premium, I want to maintain a "Red build" and the overall pricing on the 1070 line is beyond my budget. So I am mainly looking at the RX 580 8GB cards (which I know are essentially overclocked and refined 480s, but I am fine with it personally).

 

My question to you is: which is the "most bang for your buck"-GPU in the RX 580 8GB range of cards and should I be considering some of the older RX480 cards which seem to be similary priced or at times even more expensive at some retailers than the newer 580's (which really dumbfounds me)? Since I currently am rocking an ASUS motherboard and also have an ASUS sound card and most likely will be buying an ASUS 144hz monitor (they are frequently on sale at my go-to online retailer, I have seriously considered the ASUS Strix OC 8GB TOP-model (the one with the larger 1080TI-styled cooling elements) to be the most appealing option to me at the moment. It runs at a clock of 1430MHz or so and seems to be somewhat futureproof for when I eventually jump to Ryzen in a couple of years. I wanted to know if the Strix TOP-model would be a valid choice?

 

Also as an appendix let me ask you: is there any chance that I would not see any performance gains when compared to the 3GB 280X I am currently rocking? The online benchmarks show that the FX-8350 seems to be playing pretty nicely with both RX 480 and 580 cards and there should be no issue of bottlenecking. Just want to be sure, because I am a sort of a stickler.

 

These are my current specs:

AMD FX8350 @4.0GHz w/ Wraith cooler

ASUS 970 Pro Gaming AURA

8+8+4+4 (24) GB of HyperX DDR3 1600MHz RAM

XFX R9 280X DDE Black Edition 1080/1550MHz

Corsair RM1000 PSU 80+ Gold, modular

ASUS Strix SOAR Gaming sound card

120 + 500GB SSDs

1TB WD Blue 7200RPM

3TB WD Green 5400RPM

24x DVD-RW

-> all this in an Antec 302 case (the case itself has a couple of aftermarket fans in addition to the ones it came with)

Will give any additional specs you need or want.

 

So yeah, really would appreciate any and all help in picking out a new GPU.  Please give me any and all tips you have.

 

English is not my first language and it's 0435AM local time when I type this so I *might* be a bit tired, let's blame any typos on that. 

 

TL;DR: Looking for a GPU to replace a R9 280X 3GB, preferably in the RX580 8GB line of cards.

for what is out right now, I would get an RX 480, or RX 580 8GB. There is only about a 10% difference between the two. OR you can wait for Vega. It has been confirmed to be coming out by the end of June.

[ViWaHe]

Just now, BluJay614 said:

for what is out right now, I would get an RX 480, or RX 580 8GB. There is only about a 10% difference between the two. OR you can wait for Vega. It has been confirmed to be coming out by the end of June.

My logic byfar has been more or less "I am pushing my luck trying to pair a 580 with an FX-8350, so probably would run into a bottleneck if I wait untill Vega". In addition to that the initial info in regards to the pricing of the Vega line has had me pretty convinced that I will not be able to buy the level of card I want. I.e. I'd rather have the top of the 580-line than a mid-range card in the Vega-selection.

[ViWaHe]

7 minutes ago, L.Lawliet said:

Thank you!!!

 

U can get any 580 series TBH like from sapphire,asus,xfx or Msi.

They made a great AIB card.

What can I say... I like to be thorough... What's your opinnion on the 8GB TOP OC Strix RX 580 from Asus? Worth anything?

 

[BluJay614]

1 minute ago, ViWaHe said:

My logic byfar has been more or less "I am pushing my luck trying to pair a 580 with an FX-8350, so probably would run into a bottleneck if I wait untill Vega". In addition to that the initial info in regards to the pricing of the Vega line has had me pretty convinced that I will not be able to buy the level of card I want. I.e. I'd rather have the top of the 580-line than a mid-range card in the Vega-selection.

1) All the 580s will run about the same.

2) The prices for Vega that are out there are all speculation. Nothing has been confirmed yet.

[ViWaHe]

Just now, BluJay614 said:

1) All the 580s will run about the same.

2) The prices for Vega that are out there are all speculation. Nothing has been confirmed yet.

I heard about there being some 580s that run in the 1300s and others that run in the 1400s? Also as I said, I'm feeling like there is no motivation to upgrade an FX-based system into Vega unless I can make the jump to Ryzen at the same time?

 

[Drak01112]

13 minutes ago, ViWaHe said:

Partially because I am currently unemployed and a full CPU-RAM-Mobo-upgrade (around the 500-1000 EUR, depending on what I decide to go with) is out of the question at my current economic state.

You could run DDR3 on DDR3L mobo's, although it's not guranteed (as DDR3L is basically DDR3 undervolted with some minor changed).

[BluJay614]

Just now, ViWaHe said:

I heard about there being some 580s that run in the 1300s and others that run in the 1400s? Also as I said, I'm feeling like there is no motivation to upgrade an FX-based system into Vega unless I can make the jump to Ryzen at the same time?

 

If AMD specifically makes Vega run better on Ryzen then on anything else, they would be shooting themselves in the foot. There should be no disparity between the bottleneck an FX system would give you between an RX580 then an Vega. Yes, there are some binned 580s out there that will run faster, and there is still the silicon lottery.

[Princess Luna]

10 minutes ago, BluJay614 said:

for what is out right now, I would get an RX 480, or RX 580 8GB. There is only about a 10% difference between the two. OR you can wait for Vega. It has been confirmed to be coming out by the end of June.

Hello there! I noticed you're new to the Forums, I will give you a very nice tip! ^^

When the post you're quoting is waaaaaay big, like OP's wrote a lot in here, it is a lot preferable that you arase everything and write something like -snip- or something to avoid visual pollution on the thread, that actions is greatly appreciated.

[Drak01112]

6 minutes ago, ViWaHe said:

My logic byfar has been more or less "I am pushing my luck trying to pair a 580 with an FX-8350, so probably would run into a bottleneck if I wait untill Vega". In addition to that the initial info in regards to the pricing of the Vega line has had me pretty convinced that I will not be able to buy the level of card I want. I.e. I'd rather have the top of the 580-line than a mid-range card in the Vega-selection.

Soooo you would rather have an old-gen card rather than a brand-new spanking architecture? It would probably be better than a polaris card for the same price.

1 minute ago, Drak01112 said:

You could run DDR3 on DDR3L mobo's, although it's not guranteed (as DDR3L is basically DDR3 undervolted with some minor changed).

DDR3L is Skylake/Kabylake and maybe the new Intel chip only NVM.

[ViWaHe]

1 hour ago, Drak01112 said:

Soooo you would rather have an old-gen card rather than a brand-new spanking architecture? It would probably be better than a polaris card for the same price.

But my main concern is with running into a bottleneck and getting the necessary funds for a Vega card. By far the lowest Vega seems to be aiming for a 450-550EUR price point with a performance somewhere between a 1070 and a 1080. There will most likely be a 150-200 EUR of difference between top shelf 580 and the entry level Vega.

[Drak01112]

11 hours ago, ViWaHe said:

But my main concern is with running into a bottleneck and getting the necessary funds for a Vega card. By far the lowest Vega seems to be aiming for a 450-550EUR price point with a performance somewhere between a 1070 and a 1080. There will most likely be a 150-200 EUR of difference between top shelf 580 and the entry level Vega.

The 450-500 EUR pricing is most likely going to be the flagship/one step lower than the flagship GPU.

We simply do not know the pricing, but seeing as it's a new architecture they would most likely release low-end/mid-end cards along with the flagships.

[ViWaHe]

So I ended up going with the ASUS Strix TOP OC 8GB RX 580. Sure it may be a bit on the pricey end of the 580-spectrum, but the cooling solution keeps temps well below 70C at max loads which is more than ideal. Thanks for your help.