Hi guys, My GPU died some time ago, i´m using an old hd7770 i had lying around but it sucks major time; it´s driving me insane. I want to buy a new GPU but i have a very strict budget of 250€ max, and don´t forget the prices in Portugaland are a bit higher. I want it to play at 1080p for the next 3 years, and i don´t mind turning off some eye candy from time to time. I have the following options: ASUS GTX960 STRIX - 236€ (and some other brands about the same price) SAPPHIRE DUAL-X R9 280(non-x) 3GB GDDR5 OC WITH BOOST - 218€ (MSI Gaming variant for 230€) then there´s some more expensive GPUs than are above my budget but maybe i´m willing to spend the difference if it really pays off MSI RADEON R9 280X TWINFROZR GAMING 3GB GDDR5 - 269€ and if i choose to loose my mind SAPPHIRE TECHNOLOGY R9 290 Tri-X - 4 GB GDDR5 - ~300€ So, i´ve been thinking quite a bit on which to choose, but opinions from my fellow gurus are always welsome. Help me out on this, leave your opinion. Thanks.
280x or 280. 960 and 7950 boost are about equal with the boost one being slightly superior in some games. Or thats me being bias because thats the exact card I have.
Try to lose your mind and go for TriX R9-290, 50€ extra is not thaaat much, imho well worth investment. EDIT: 280 vs 290 http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1332?vs=1068
nah i don´t really want to spend much. I game less than i used to, and i dont care much for ultra settting, as long i can make the game look nice with good frames.
7950s/280s hit 7970GHZ/280X levels pretty easily if you overclock it a little, it would be a much better bet than the 960 (unless the games you play favor Nvidia, or Power/Temp is your preference).
Ok at this point i´m pretty much torn between the 280 and 280x. Prices for the 280 start at ~220€ and for the 280x at ~250€. I think i´ll pull the triguer on a 280x, then overclock it and then forget and enjoy 1080p gaming for quite some time. What do you think?
I think you should abandon the 280 and the 280x because they are just renamed variants of the 7950 and 7970 with a little higher clock speed and memory speed but otherwise they are the same. In my opinion you should go with the 290, yeah its more expensive I know but it's also better. -It has upgraded powertune technology allowing for better turbo and power efficiency. -also true audio (which is sadly irrelevant at the moment but who knows) better Mantle support(look up mantle games, usually gcn 1.1 cards perform better with mantle) bridgeless crossfire(just for show) - also vsr only really works with the 290 series if Im not mistaken ( but this is not sure ) - 4Gigs of Vram ( thats 33% more then the 280s which is significant even for FullHD) - And ofcourse so much more power! As for the nVidia cards, yes maxwell is pretty good in terms of technology but the GTX960 is just not powerful enough.
Difference between 280 and 280X at the same clocks is 5%. They will both overclock about the same, so both cards are about to reach 1200mhz or less. I have one modded and overclocked 280 DD in my second machine, 7700 in firestike and mostly same performance as my 280X Vapor-X.
But you still want to spend more on X version for 30€ more, even though you can OC to that level? Makes sense, not.. 290 will last for a lot longer then 280 ever will, even if you don't game as much. 290 is a long term investment + you get 1gb extra vram.
You guys are confusing me. So 280x not worth the price difference over 280 once 280 overclocked? And r9 290 way more powerful and futureproof?
No, Tahiti cards will overclock the same. Performance wise isnt much of a difference like i said. I agree with Tj. 290 is alot better choice and prices are silly this days. Spend little more it will pay off very soon.
It depends on the game really. http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/asus_geforce_gtx_960_strix_2_way_sli_review,18.html
The stock clocks on a 7950 are low, overclocked its on par with a 770. OP, if you can afford the 290 then get it, otherwise get the 280.
The gtx960 is dx12 ready don't no about AMD cards but as windows 10 is going to be a free upgrade from windows 7 and 8 that would be important for me. also the 960 is current generation I always think that driver support is better. Than older generation cards
Ok lets see a wide array of games and resolutions. http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_960_SLI/23.html OP I would spend the extra for a 290. Those other cards are really old now. Either in original form or refresh.
I have quite a found for maxwell for it´s power efficiency, and i like to jump between red team and green team when i buy a new gpu, but i dunno if 2gb vram with 128bit bus is going to serve me for 3 years. I read articles regarding this, and there seems to be no bottleneck with the bus width, nor problems using a 2gb at 1080p. Still it´s hard to swallow such low specs. I´m not going to buy a r9 290 because i don´t feel the need for it, plus i´ve been having quite the expenses lately. Between the r9 280 and r9 280x, i´ve done some more research and it seems a 280 with a nice overclock serves my needs and won´t break the bank. Honestly i think i´ll buy a MSI r9 280 Gaming for 225€. I´ll read some more opinions and think a bit, then i´ll order it tomorrow.
