So here's the thing. I bought my GTX 960 for around $300 [Damn Taxes]. So recently I came across this site - gpuShack.com It appears to be selling the R9 280X only for $199. If I convince my father I can sell the GTX 960 for around $250, as users in my country would consider that cheaper than $300. Is it worth it? Or stay with my 3 Month old GTX 960?
If you want to go AMD in that price range, get maybe 4GB version of r9-285. Or wait a month for equivalent in r9-300 series with GCN 1.2 architecture. Because r9-280x is HD-7970 (GCN 1.0) and that is missing many features which will come handy in near future.
Alright then. I'll wait. I bet Pascal would be much better than the 300 series. And yeah, my mom really cares about the electricity bills, so that counts as one reason.
Wait. The thing is, I just don't have a loss in buying a R9 280X but a profit of around $50 too. What about electricity bills? Will they rise alot? If not, I'm getting it today. After an year, I'll get NVIDIA 1000 series. So, I don't care if it lasts for just an year, I'll get R9 280X, then later sell it, then get a GTX 1070.
I'm done with the deciding stuff. Decided. I'm gonna sell my GTX 960 and buy a refurb. R9 280X with profit and then wait for Pascal. Done!
Dont do it. Right now gamework is the biggest problem for AMD so i wont recommend AMD until they sort out how to deal with gamework.
280X is a capable card. Mine got me through some new games with no problems and decent performance. 3GB Vram and high memory bandwidth also come in handy. I still think you should just keep that 960 if you already have it.
It's a slight upgrade, nothing major. I'd wait for something better. Tho, the extra GB of RAM will come in handy.
From 960 to 280x there is barely a big difference. You will be disappointing with the results, I'd suggest you aim for at least a 290, if power bill isn't an issue.
It's definitely a terrible time to buy a 280X. If you can hold on to the money for 3-4 weeks, in June we'll have the R9 300 series, where the 3-year-old Tahiti from the 280X will be replaced by the much more recent Tonga (current 285) but with unlocked shaders and memory controller. This 280X successor (let's call it 380X) should have the same execution units, memory bandwidth and VRAM amount, but newer technologies such as color compression, TrueAudio, FreeSync, over twice the geometry output, etc. should make it a much more compelling card, with better performance.
Hope you did not get an overworked mining card, that would be in the back of my mind when buying used.
Do what I did and go 960 sli! Ok ok don't. No one (other than myself) should go 960 sli. Scaling in Witcher 3 is excellent at least.
A 960 is exactly half a 980. Games with excellent sli scaling will run into single 980 territory, Games with 0 sli support will be a 960. This is why I always recommend getting 2 much stronger cards if you want sli. Just in case of no multi gpu support or bad scaling.
Getting 2 x $200 2GB GTX 960 next to $330 3.5/4GB GTX 970 should be in a dictionary. Under insanity! And cheapskate! Even $550 GTX 980, which is not exactly the king in perf/$$ looks great next to 960 SLI. Namely, for only 1/3 more you get 4GB card with 100% perfect scaling. (2x960=980 as already mentioned)
i would stay with the 960 despite more or less the same firepower the AMD began to be old... so: -if you want to get AMD get a R9 290 at a minimum, the R9 280/280x are just 7950/7970 rebadged card... not bad but... go R9 290 . -just for info MSI OC version is at 120$ so it is not a too good deal -GTX960 can OC better and is pretty powerfull. -AMD driver... :banana: but i will not put gazoline on fire...