Wich one to pick MSI GTX 970 G4 or R9 390 ?

ThomSirveaux · Dec 1, 2015

The R9 390 is better in almost every way. The 8GB of GDDR5 should be the simplest indicator of performance between the two. Double the RAM means, well, better performance. Not necessarily double, but the speed of the memory is insignificant when you have so much of it.

http://gpuboss.com/gpus/MSI-Radeon-R9-390-vs-MSI-GeForce-GTX-970

glockjs · Dec 1, 2015

from the bench's i've seen they seem pretty even. they both go back and forth. go with whichever costs less imo

Star Pilgrim · Dec 1, 2015

More ram = means more in DirectX 12.
The cards that can utilize more ram will reign supreme in DX12 as benchmarks show.

But I were you, I would suck it up and just buy GTX 980 Ti and be done with it.
Buy it on credit if you have to, it is the only longterm solution.
You can throw anything at it basically.

Kal · Dec 1, 2015

ThomSirveaux said:
The R9 390 is better in almost every way. The 8GB of GDDR5 should be the simplest indicator of performance between the two. Double the RAM means, well, better performance. Not necessarily double, but the speed of the memory is insignificant when you have so much of it.

http://gpuboss.com/gpus/MSI-Radeon-R9-390-vs-MSI-GeForce-GTX-970

Sorry Thom, but the amount of RAM is not much of an indicator of performance. The primary indicators are quality controlled benchmarks. Even looking at clock speeds on GPUs and the speed of the memory isn't a consistent indicator of the performance you'll see at the monitor.

I've seen several AMD cards that look better on paper get out performed by nVidia cards because the instructions are processed more efficiently and require fewer ticks to complete.

Even then, some closely matched cards will work better on some games, and worse on others.

Snow, I'd recommend looking up a couple of benchmark reviews to see which one performs best on the games you want to play.

Star Pilgrim said:
More ram = means more in DirectX 12.
The cards that can utilize more ram will reign supreme in DX12 as benchmarks show.

But I were you, I would suck it up and just buy GTX 980 Ti and be done with it.
Buy it on credit if you have to, it is the only longterm solution.
You can throw anything at it basically.

Another long-term solution would be to wait for the next gen of nVidia cards to finally get released xD

Star Pilgrim · Dec 1, 2015

Probably more than a year from that.
They are on a 2-3 year release cycle.

Kal · Dec 1, 2015

Star Pilgrim said:
Probably more than a year from that.
They are on a 2-3 year release cycle.

Their presentation touting Pascal indicated a 2016 release; so if that's accurate, it's less than a year away.

Star Pilgrim · Dec 1, 2015

We shall see. :)

SPRNinja · Dec 2, 2015

Does this mean i get to do my rant again?

I have always been an NVidia fanboy, but with my current build I really did finally decide to go with bang for buck, and since I use triple monitors went for 2 R9-270X's. Seriously, worst fucking decision of my life. This build should be stupidly fast, instead im stuck dealing with crossfire being less than useless, drivers being less than useless, being told i cant return my cards for refund even though they have *serious* issues and now all i fucking want is to go back to an NVidia card.

Ive never had graphics card problems until i went to AMD, now I have an SSD/ I7/ watercooled/ etc etc build that barely runs SC on low, (apart from when it sometimes just pumps out 40fps randomly) and I havent played battlefield in months cause the framerate is pretty much unplayable and the drivers make the computer crash.

TLDR. Fuck AMD in the ass with the worlds largest dildo while they get spanked by bill cosby and Jared from subway. NVidia 4 lyf

Star Pilgrim · Dec 2, 2015

You can't run SC tripple monitors with 2x 280x overclocked.
What gave you the idea you can with 270? :D
You can run it OK with 2x 290x or 980ti.

I am speaking verry high settings etc.

ThomSirveaux · Dec 2, 2015

Kal said:
Sorry Thom, but the amount of RAM is not much of an indicator of performance. The primary indicators are quality controlled benchmarks. Even looking at clock speeds on GPUs and the speed of the memory isn't a consistent indicator of the performance you'll see at the monitor.

I've seen several AMD cards that look better on paper get out performed by nVidia cards because the instructions are processed more efficiently and require fewer ticks to complete.

Even then, some closely matched cards will work better on some games, and worse on others.

This has a lot to do with Drivers and specific architecture, but it sounds like Snow is going to upgrade his CPU later on, which means, currently, the performance king is the 390, as evidenced by most benchmarks with current driver packages (Youtube is a great resource for this).

And yes, "on paper" is used as a metric to give you a ballpark, which is why I said:

The 8GB of GDDR5 should be the simplest indicator of performance between the two.

And @SPRNinja , obviously you need to download more Megabits of RAM. Your current cards are too hot, so the ram bits cool them down.

SPRNinja · Dec 2, 2015

Star Pilgrim said:
You can't run SC tripple monitors with 2x 280x overclocked.
What gave you the idea you can with 270? :D
You can run it OK with 2x 290x or 980ti.

I am speaking verry high settings etc.

I cant run it on low on one monitor... most of the time i get less that 10 frames, apart from occasionally i get 50 frames for no apparent reason... and i bought these cards before i backed

glockjs · Dec 2, 2015

Star Pilgrim said:
You can't run SC tripple monitors with 2x 280x overclocked.
What gave you the idea you can with 270? :D
You can run it OK with 2x 290x or 980ti.

I am speaking verry high settings etc.

wait wut. where are you getting your numbers? i couldn't find the 980 ti but i found a 980 and the ti is what? 20% faster?

http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2015-vga-charts/compare,3664.html?prod[7387]=on&prod[7265]=on

Wolf Lord Caldersson · Dec 2, 2015

Star Pilgrim said:
Probably more than a year from that.
They are on a 2-3 year release cycle.

780 may 2013
780ti nov 2013(6 months)
980 sept 2014 (16 and 10 months)
980ti june 2015 (25, 19, 9 months)
"1080" will release 6-9 months after 980ti with this logic. Leaving it at about dec 2015 to march 2016. Seeing how both 700 and 900 were on 28nm and this new one is on 16nm we can give it a little leeway and say Q2 of 2016 or Q3. but they are not on a 2-3 release.

390x June 15
290x October 13
7970 june 12
6970 november 2010
Amd on thenother hand has a 1-2 year release date between each card. Their next card is a brand new archetecture which may delay them as the 6000,7000, 200, 300 series all use the same archetetype.

Eiyron · Dec 2, 2015

Snowianth said:
So im going to get new GPU but now i dont know wich one to pick :confused:

MSI GTX 970 Gaming, 4GB GDDR5, PCI-E 3.0

- - or - -

MSI AMD R9 390 GAMING, 8GB GDDR5

im going to upgrade Motherboard (MSI Gaming) and CPU (intel) later when i get more money.

So at this point i just need some honest opinion if any one have experience from these cards at gaming....
I have watched Youtube previews etc.. but dont know if those are "bought" o_O

--Performance and Price Comparisons--

GTX 970: http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu.php?gpu=GeForce+GTX+970

R9 390: http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu.php?gpu=Radeon+R9+290+/+390

--Bench Point Per Dollar--

GTX 970: 27.3148 = 1 USD
R9 390: 30.9178 = 1 USD

--Wattage--

GTX 970: 145 Watts
R9 390: 275 Watts

My Opinion:
R9 390 Would be cheaper in the short run.
GTX 970 would be better on price and performance in the long run.

Downsides to the GTX 970 would be the 3.5GB + 512MB (Garbage Vram)
Once you use above 3.5GB of VRAM on the card, your rendering speed will automatically shoot down by half.
Considering Star citizen being the game played, If you dive into a large fight and populate so said VRAM above 3.5GB. it wouldnt look so pretty.

Downside to R9 390 would be the bigger, more primitive architecture that requires more energy to run, excessive heat generation and a higher electricity bill at the end of the month. (not to mention the high number of Dead on Arrival card problem that's been happening lately.)

TLDR:
GTX970 -- Better Performance, Less Energy, 100USD More expensive, Has VRAM Problems
R9 390 -- Less Performance, Needs More Energy, 100 Bucks Cheaper, Very Inefficient for its generation.

I hope the info helps

Note:
Shive Uses a GTX 970 and he's on discord almost all the time. you can ask him how the 970 feels on its ups and downs. *cough defford link cough*

Horrizons USED to have a 290X which is the closest person i know to have something close to a 390's performance. (make sure you ask him how to bake :P)

supitza · Dec 2, 2015

Kal said:
I've seen several AMD cards that look better on paper get out performed by nVidia cards because the instructions are processed more efficiently and require fewer ticks to complete.

This.

SPRNinja said:
TLDR. Fuck AMD in the ass with the worlds largest dildo while they get spanked by bill cosby and Jared from subway. NVidia 4 lyf

And this, mostly because of Catalyst.

After having used AMD GPUs all my life, I've recently bought a 970 GTX G4 (after 1 week's worth of reading reviews and asking people who work in the IT industry). It's pure magic.

rogesh · Dec 2, 2015

supitza said:
And this, mostly because of Catalyst.

catalyst is history they have a new system. i believe its caled crimson

Annitias · Dec 2, 2015

I see my expertise is needed here.

First off. What is your PSU? That will help determine your options. The AMD will chew through power as if it's free water in California.

If you are running Windows 10, a 390/390x is going to edge out the 9xx cards excluding the 980ti.

If you are on 7/8/8.1 the 970 will run more efficiently but the 390 will win in brute force by seriously 2-3% in most situations.

Personally the 390 will have the most opportunity to shine long term. The extra vram is nice but it's really the new Multi-socket implementation of DX12 where it shines.

Credentials- I help test all of the cool parts you buy long before you even hear whispers of them coming out.

Wich one to pick MSI GTX 970 G4 or R9 390 ?

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