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GTX 970 or R9 390 for 1440p ???

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Hello all and thanks in advance for the help.

I have to give away my gtx770 to my best friend as a gift and im thinking in the gtx 970 or the r9 390. Im leaning to nvidia side from long time since the gtx 500 series , even though my last amd gpu was the 5870 and cant say anything bad of it. But right now the price on the 390 is nice and the performance too but that heat for me is a concern i really dont like hot cards not one bit. the only i saw in the reviews giving a good cooling solution was the Nitro 390 ( doesnt fit my case). On the other hand the GTx 970 suffers from coil whine and 3.5gb ( i know doesnt affect 1080p) but what about 1440p??? i dont wanna find myself returning the card and go like i ve read a lot of complains , go through the rma situation like 3 or 4 times. my budget is extremely hold to top $350 if i can pay less will be great. Right now im playing at 1080 but planning on getting a 1440p monitor soon. i really wanna know your comments and opinions on this matter since i know here are 390 and gtx 970 owners. theres the drivers matter too. love EVGA from nvidia and Sapphire from amd, anyway msi and ga are next, asus at last.

note( hate when i see a gpu getting close to 80C )
 
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wow. maybe we can be best friend from now so you can give me gpu too in the future. lol.. kidding

on topic, i think you should just get 970. as you said you are leaning towards nvidia cause if you do get AMD, you will just keep blaming AMD for any driver issues blah blah..
 
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Hello all and thanks in advance for the help.

I have to give away my gtx770 to my best friend as a gift and im thinking in the gtx 970 or the r9 390. Im leaning to nvidia side from long time since the gtx 500 series , even though my last amd gpu was the 5870 and cant say anything bad of it. But right now the price on the 390 is nice and the performance too but that heat for me is a concern i really dont like hot cards not one bit. the only i saw in the reviews giving a good cooling solution was the Nitro 390 ( doesnt fit my case). On the other hand the GTx 970 suffers from coil whine and 3.5gb ( i know doesnt affect 1080p) but what about 1440p??? i dont wanna find myself returning the card and go like i ve read a lot of complains , go through the rma situation like 3 or 4 times. my budget is extremely hold to top $350 if i can pay less will be great. Right now im playing at 1080 but planning on getting a 1440p monitor soon. i really wanna know your comments and opinions on this matter since i know here are 390 and gtx 970 owners. theres the drivers matter too. love EVGA from nvidia and Sapphire from amd, anyway msi and ga are next, asus at last.

note( hate when i see a gpu getting close to 80C )

Well lets look at a couple of things:

1: Normally at stock the R9 390 is the better card and when overclocked to their respective maxes stay on par with a slight edge to the R9 390 (I believe at around 1450mhz for the GTX 970 vs 1175mhz for the R9 390 the 390 was very slightly ahead on average from what I saw on a few videos)
2: The GTX 970 uses less power by about ~50watts depending on the clocks of either card, but its also up to the coolers a lot of times when it comes to how much heat is dissipated as there are some really good coolers on the 390 and 970 while there are also bad coolers on both sides.
3: Drivers are a non-issue, both are equivalent at this point so your not gaining or losing anything by picking a side on the drivers at least
4: The 3.5gb issue vs the 8gb its obvious who has more and which is better but its all dependent on the games of course and if you plan to SLI/CFX possibly in the future.

If you want a cool and quiet R9 390, get the XFX R9 390 DD. The reviews put the new designed cooler as a very cool and quiet card even overclocked to the max.
newegg sale of the card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150728&cm_re=R9_390-_-14-150-728-_-Product

Review of the card
http://hardocp.com/article/2015/09/...ipation_8gb_video_card_review/10#.Vhkr2jZdEuU

@Aquinus seems to enjoy his R9 390 and it stays very cool as well

If you asked me which I would choose of the two cards, I would get the 390 hands down.
 
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wow. maybe we can be best friend from now so you can give me gpu too in the future. lol.. kidding

on topic, i think you should just get 970. as you said you are leaning towards nvidia cause if you do get AMD, you will just keep blaming AMD for any driver issues blah blah..
Lol hes like my brother and the godfather of my son. Btw i will not blame amd blah blah lmao, but just was putting related issues on the table that many people talk about.
 
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Well lets look at a couple of things:

1: Normally at stock the R9 390 is the better card and when overclocked to their respective maxes stay on par with a slight edge to the R9 390 (I believe at around 1450mhz for the GTX 970 vs 1175mhz for the R9 390 the 390 was very slightly ahead on average from what I saw on a few videos)
2: The GTX 970 uses less power by about ~50watts depending on the clocks of either card, but its also up to the coolers a lot of times when it comes to how much heat is dissipated as there are some really good coolers on the 390 and 970 while there are also bad coolers on both sides.
3: Drivers are a non-issue, both are equivalent at this point so your not gaining or losing anything by picking a side on the drivers at least
4: The 3.5gb issue vs the 8gb its obvious who has more and which is better but its all dependent on the games of course and if you plan to SLI/CFX possibly in the future.

If you want a cool and quiet R9 390, get the XFX R9 390 DD. The reviews put the new designed cooler as a very cool and quiet card even overclocked to the max.
newegg sale of the card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150728&cm_re=R9_390-_-14-150-728-_-Product

Review of the card
http://hardocp.com/article/2015/09/...ipation_8gb_video_card_review/10#.Vhkr2jZdEuU

@Aquinus seems to enjoy his R9 390 and it stays very cool as well

If you asked me which I would choose of the two cards, I would get the 390 hands down.
Xfx uhhh i just remember bad things my only two dead gpus were xfx. I prefer msi but runs hotter, i watched jayztwocents review and temperature was 80c load. Remember my case is a rosewill challenger the air flow is decent.
 
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Sapphire Nitro 390. It has the best cooler.
 
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Sapphire Nitro 390. It has the best cooler.
Lol i know but my case is a tuna can i cant go nitro. That cooler is bigger than a subway sandwich
 
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Lol i know but my case is a tuna can i cant go nitro.
The gigabyte 390 is by far the worst since it has locked voltage control. The MSI is your best option you'll probably have to tweak the fan profile if you wanna stay bellow 80C
 

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First I'll say that when I ran a single GTX970, it handled my 1440p screen just fine. I have yet to find a game that wouldn't run smooth on a single GTX970 on it.* The only reason I went SLI was to get 120Hz smoothly.

I would go for the GTX970. A 390 uses about 70w more power, and that translates into more heat. And that number gets bigger when you start adjusting voltages. Plus the 970 is a better overclocker. The 390 overclocking results are all over the place, I've seen some that can't break 1100, and I've seen some that do 1250. It is a big gamble, and yeah the ones that do 1250 hang with the 970 overclocked, but the ones that can't even do 1190 are blown away by an overclocked 970. The 970 on the other hand is a lot more consistent with overclocking. I have yet to find one that can't do 1450, and most can hit 1500. And the 970s run so cool. Even my mITX GTX970 with a single fan manages to stay around 70°C under full load with a fan quiet enough that I can't hear it in a close case.

Edit: *On max or near max settings.
 
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@Aquinus seems to enjoy his R9 390 and it stays very cool as well
I can't say I've been disappointed, that's for sure. The Witcher 3 isn't exactly, playable in surround but, it's smooth as butter at 1080p. I was able to get a smooth experience out of FarCry 4 in surround though. It does get warm and uses a good bit of power. Mine stays cool pretty well, even at stock fan profiles because my Antec 1200 moves a crap ton of air. The air coming out of my chassis gets very warm under load but, that's not just GPU either.

I've said this to other people and I'll say it to you as well. I don't think you'll be disappointed with what's out right now with either. That's is a big question as to the longevity of the 3.5GB thing whereas the 390 has 8GB of VRAM. Given the number of TMUs on the 390, I wouldn't dismiss that 8GB being worthless without crossfire as FarCry 4 just barely skimmed 4GB in some scenes and it was running pretty smoothly in surround.

Both are good GPUs and will do you well but for me there is lingering concern about the longevity of 4GB of VRAM. I got my first 6870 thinking 1GB was fine and a second thinking 1GB was fine when I could have gotten a couple more years out of them if they had 2GB instead of 1. So I've already had the VRAM problem and the 390 was an attempt to avoid it which is part of the reason why I got it over the 970.

I also would like to think that my contribution to AMD will help fund them to make some better hardware down the road. It's not like the 390 is bad.
 
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I would go for the GTX970. A 390 uses about 70w more power, and that translates into more heat. And that number gets bigger when you start adjusting voltages. Plus the 970 is a better overclocker. The 390 overclocking results are all over the place, I've seen some that can't break 1100, and I've seen some that do 1250. It is a big gamble, and yeah the ones that do 1250 hang with the 970 overclocked, but the ones that can't even do 1190 are blown away by an overclocked 970.

Unless you have one of the voltage locked 390's, all the ones I've seen (unless you find the bottom of the barrel one) will do ~1150.

Xfx uhhh i just remember bad things my only two dead gpus were xfx. I prefer msi but runs hotter, i watched jayztwocents review and temperature was 80c load. Remember my case is a rosewill challenger the air flow is decent.
Well, try the MSI then as those seem to get a lot of praise. But the auto fan is a little meh on the card so I would personally set my own fan curve if I was you.

Also I looked up the case you had, are you sure the Nitro won't fit, I don't think its that big?
 

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Unless you have one of the voltage locked 390's, all the ones I've seen (unless you find the bottom of the barrel one) will do ~1150.

Like I said, it varies a lot more on the 390 than the 970. I've had a 390 that, regardless of how much voltage I gave it, it wouldn't go past 1100. I've had a 390 that did 1250. Sure, you can probably assume 1150 is going to be possible in most cases with voltage increases, but will a 390@1150 still compete with a 970@1500? Even in Jay's video, the 970 overclocked is right there with the 390, and his 390 is at 1200 and the 970 is only at 1442.

Then, again, with voltage increase comes a very large heat increase. Taking cards that are already struggling to stay in the 70°C range with reasonably quiet fans and upping the voltage gets you very close to 80°C+ with audible fans.

So what it comes down to is stock or overclocked the performance between the two is very similar, not anywhere near enough where a game that isn't smooth on one will be on the other. But the 390 puts out more heat, uses more power, and takes up more room in the case, and is almost always louder(especially when overclocked). The only advantage is the 8GB, and at this point that is nothing more than a marketing gimmick.
 
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Like I said, it varies a lot more on the 390 than the 970. I've had a 390 that, regardless of how much voltage I gave it, it wouldn't go past 1100. I've had a 390 that did 1250. Sure, you can probably assume 1150 is going to be possible in most cases with voltage increases, but will a 390@1150 still compete with a 970@1500? Even in Jay's video, the 970 overclocked is right there with the 390, and his 390 is at 1200 and the 970 is only at 1442.
As he said in the video, that was where the 970 was stable so it does vary from card to card. But overclocking also has diminishing returns after awhile as well which shows considering how much overclocking is needed for it to compete with the 390 receiving a 150mhz increase while considering stock for stock the 390 is better. It also comes down to how long the OP intends to keep the card and SLI/CFX. Point is of the two cards they are both equal on most grounds with one containing more VRAM in exchange for a little higher power consumption.

Its a question of which is a better value.
 
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Hello all and thanks in advance for the help.

I have to give away my gtx770 to my best friend as a gift and im thinking in the gtx 970 or the r9 390. Im leaning to nvidia side from long time since the gtx 500 series , even though my last amd gpu was the 5870 and cant say anything bad of it. But right now the price on the 390 is nice and the performance too but that heat for me is a concern i really dont like hot cards not one bit. the only i saw in the reviews giving a good cooling solution was the Nitro 390 ( doesnt fit my case). On the other hand the GTx 970 suffers from coil whine and 3.5gb ( i know doesnt affect 1080p) but what about 1440p??? i dont wanna find myself returning the card and go like i ve read a lot of complains , go through the rma situation like 3 or 4 times. my budget is extremely hold to top $350 if i can pay less will be great. Right now im playing at 1080 but planning on getting a 1440p monitor soon. i really wanna know your comments and opinions on this matter since i know here are 390 and gtx 970 owners. theres the drivers matter too. love EVGA from nvidia and Sapphire from amd, anyway msi and ga are next, asus at last.

note( hate when i see a gpu getting close to 80C )

Your not the only one concerned about 3.5gb

Nvidia recently published a DX 12 Do's and Don't's

GameWorks said:
  • Don’t rely on being able to allocate all GPU memory in one go
  • Depending on the underlying GPU architecture the memory may or may not be segmented

The memory management shifts to the application in DX12. If you plan on keeping it well into the DX12
 

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Point is of the two cards they are both equal on most grounds with one containing more VRAM in exchange for a little higher power consumption.

70-100w is not "a little". That's 40-60% more power, thats a lot.

But you are right, it does come down to which is the better value. The OP has to weigh the drawbacks, because performance is basically the same. The 390 definitely has more drawebacks(heat, noise, power consumption, size) than the 970(less VRAM, which doesn't affect performance). And at the same time, the 970 is cheaper(at least at newegg) with an eVGA model going for $280 and a Zotac for $290, while the cheapest 390 I could find on newegg is $320.
 
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Benchmark Scores yes
Performance is almost the same, but the 8GB card may be more usable in the ~future~ with the advent of DX12 gaming.
Future games may be written to take advantage of more RAM. (this is bound to happen) If that happens, 8GB will be what we all want.

The GTX is cooler and uses less power, but you may need to replace it sooner than you will the R9-390 card.

That Rosewill case can accommodate an 11.3 inch GPU.
 

Aquinus

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the 970 is cheaper(at least at newegg) with an eVGA model going for $280
Yeah, if you're planning on getting a refurbished GPU. All of the EVGA cards new start at ~320 USD on NewEgg. I would say the price on them is about the same.
 
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Well im planning on having the card for at least 2years( i cant change it in a year cuz if i do my wife sentenced me to death) and cxf/sli is not an option for me.
 
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70-100w is not "a little". That's 40-60% more power, thats a lot.

But you are right, it does come down to which is the better value. The OP has to weigh the drawbacks, because performance is basically the same. The 390 definitely has more drawebacks(heat, noise, power consumption, size) than the 970(less VRAM, which doesn't affect performance). And at the same time, the 970 is cheaper(at least at newegg) with an eVGA model going for $280 and a Zotac for $290, while the cheapest 390 I could find on newegg is $320.
Uhh...That's not true...

GTX 970 has less VRAM (Including a segmented VRAM system), Lower Stock performance, Coil Whine, and needs significant overclocking to match small overclocking from the R9 390. Plus its more like 40 watts different dude to 50 depending on clocks but that's the same for Both cards when comparing their power consumption.

Yeah, if you're planning on getting a refurbished GPU. All of the EVGA cards new start at ~320 USD on NewEgg. I would say the price on them is about the same.
Well there is the MSI Titanium edition for 309 on newegg new but no idea on that one or the cooler on it (Though its MSI so I am sure its fine).

Well im planning on having the card for at least 2years( i cant change it in a year cuz if i do my wife sentenced me to death) and cxf/sli is not an option for me.
In most situations, the 390 at that performance bracket and price bracket is still the better option especially if you want to keep it for awhile.
 
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Performance is almost the same, but the 8GB card may be more usable in the ~future~ with the advent of DX12 gaming.
Future games may be written to take advantage of more RAM. (this is bound to happen) If that happens, 8GB will be what we all want.

The GTX is cooler and uses less power, but you may need to replace it sooner than you will the R9-390 card.

That Rosewill case can accommodate an 11.3 inch GPU.
The card is 13.2inches
 
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The only gtx970 i havent read about coilwhine is the msi 10 ME ,but its close to $350
 
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The only gtx970 i havent read about coilwhine is the msi 10 ME ,but its close to $350

The 100ME from MSI is the same PCB as the gaming if the gaming has coil whine then the 100ME does too it's just that no one has gotten a card that does it yet.
 
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Im.not planning on oc neither. I just wanna play for at least 2 years maybe a little more with some eyecandy at 1440.
 
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