R9 380 or HD 7970

[nolakola]

I found a used R9 380 for 130$ and an HD 7970 for 89$.... Which is the better purchase?

[Crunchy Dragon]

If I recall correctly, an R9 380 is basically a rebadged HD 7970.

I'm not 100% sure if that's correct or not, gonna do some Googling to double check that.

EDIT: Was thinking of the 280/280x, not the 380/380x. That said, the 380 is basically a slightly better 280 with 4Gb VRAM.

Based off of what games in this day and age are like, I would recommend the 380 solely for the higher VRAM, 2GB doesn't really cut it anymore.

 

Sources:

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1862536/radeon-7970-280x.html

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2687094/280-380.html

Edited August 1, 2018 by Crunchy Dragon

[Sakkura]

The 7970 is a little more powerful, but less power-efficient and lacks some newer features.

 

The 380 is a rebadged 285, which is a newer card with about the same performance as a 280 (which is a rebadged 7950).

 

I guess the 7970 is the better deal considering the lower price.

[combine1237]

You might be able to find a used 290x for around 130 USD if you look.

[Sakkura]

12 minutes ago, Crunchy Dragon said:

Based off of what games in this day and age are like, I would recommend the 380 solely for the higher VRAM, 2GB doesn't really cut it anymore.

The 7970 comes with 3GB of VRAM, not 2GB.

 

Also the 380 comes with either 2GB or 4GB of VRAM, so the 7970 may well be the better card in that regard.

[Crunchy Dragon]

Just now, Sakkura said:

The 7970 comes with 3GB of VRAM, not 2GB.

 

Also the 380 comes with either 2GB or 4GB of VRAM, so the 7970 may well be the better card in that regard.

Missed that, I haven't looked at AMD's cards in a while and I was probably thinking of another card.

 

3Gb is decent for 1080p gaming, I do 1080p75 at Medium settings with no trouble.

[orbitalbuzzsaw]

I'd get the 7970 as it's still a respectable card at 1080p and 3GB of VRAM is just fine for 1080p