Hello guys, this time im coming here for some advice. Im trying to decide between a R9 390X (8 Gb) and a GTX 980... ive read many reviews and seen many benches. The first benches showed the GTX to be faster overall but now im starting to see some benches where they are equal in perf (sometimes the 390x even faster). Why is this? Id like to know which of the 2 would represent a better future proof purchase, also whichone will deliver better fps overall. I game at 1080p but going to 1440p isnt entirely discarded, as i stated before i care a lot about future proofness and better overall performance. Note: Fury nano isnt discarded but atm i may be able to get the GTX 980 at around 450 bucks and the R9 390x at the same price, those extra 50 bucks id be saving from nano (or more) will help me into my future cpu upgrade (planning on going skylake) Sorry for the bad grammar, im in a kind of hurry. Thanks in advance!
If 450 bucks is what you want to spend and the 980 is avalaible at this price go and buy it. 980 is NOW a more powerful GPU than 290X or the "new" 390. Maybe in a year or two his relative performance vs 290X will be equal or even lower in some games (?¿?) but NOW 980 it's better.
Get the GTX 980. Here is a link that shows graphs for the R9 390X and GTX 980. The review was a VERY early review with very early drivers, about the R9 Fury X https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/R9_Fury_X/7.html The Fury, just released, is to compete with the GTX 980. In part, the reason sometimes one card is faster than the other has to do with drivers, and Nvidia pays people to use their code, which AMD is not allowed to use. Still, over time, drivers make games run faster.
is the 980 still faster than the 390x with the new drivers? Link: http://www.hardocp.com/article/2015...ming_vs_asus_strix_fury_review/2#.VaRsMvmqqtM Just read that and now im even more confused lol. Also, whichone has a better future with dx12?
Consider what the 390X is: a 290X with a little core OC from 1000 to 1050 and a little OC in memory (from 1250 to 1500). Nothing new under the sun from 290X apart the "default" 8GB (there are 290X who has 8 GB VRAM) The 980 has less VRAM what is not an important factor at 1080p or even 1440p because this GPUs are not powerful enough to properly use the 8 GB VRAM 390X has in single GPU usage. Here you have a 390X vs 980 review: http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2015-radeon-r9-390x-review In this review you see the less performing "old" 290X cause it uses older drivers and less core and VRAM voltages than "new" 390X using better performing exclusive drivers (series 300 launch drivers) and his little factory OC. Edit:
390x (290x) with newest drivers competes nicely @ 1050 with 980 being almost equal while 390x only clocks to maximum of 1200 which means it loses to 980 that goes well to 1500 on core. Fury is faster then 980 for sure I think even if you clock 980 to maximum it can barely beat Fury when that card is clocked to "maximum" lol that weak 100mhz oc. So 290x with modest overclock is the cheapest and best option -.-
Both cards will do fine, performance is about the same. If you are planing playing Fallout 4 with bunch of mods 8GB of Vram will come in handy. Personally i would go with 390X but thats just me.
For raw power, I would go for the 390x, especially if you can find it cheaper. The mods reason stands nicely too, if you care about things like that. If you have a cramped case or a small PSU, go for the 980.
In long term r9-390x may prove to be better card than gtx 980. But considering OP's CPU at stock clock, I am not sure if that draw calls boost from new drivers is high enough for every game. Because currently with nVidia drivers he can get quite more draw calls into hardware. Yes, Yes, if he aims at 60Hz, he is just fine for existing games and DX12 is around corner. And on 1440p both cards will be properly utilized.
Im really confused atm, because many people say 390x is faster, some others say 980 is faster... Ive seen benchmarks and some put 980 better some others put 390x even better lol. My main thing right now is, whichone has more raw power? which offer better fps in games? and which is more future proof with dx12 comming around the corner? Thanks! EDIT: Im gonna buy a skylake i7 in a few months so please disregard my current cpu.
If you have beaify enough PSU and thinking about keeping a card for quite some time like Fox above said, 390X will last you longer. Both great performing cards, cant go wrong there with each of those. I love the fact that 390X have 8GB of vram. Even if it cant effectively use all 8GB it can still use 5-6GB before it run out of GPU power, still more than 4GB on 980.
Future proof in DX12? Let's start seeing ANY DX12 games and then we can speculate. More raw power? Maybe the 390X(390X), but been the GPU with more raw power is not enough if his drivers can't use it properly to have more performance than 980. Look the benchmark i posted, there you can see how the performance is RIGHT NOW. In my book real usable performance (FPS) is more important than raw power. RIGHT NOW 980 has more performance than 390X(290X).
Right now both perform very well, if he gets up to 10% more from one or another based on title matters little. And he is aiming for quite some CPU, so I would not be afraid that GPU would be underutilized. But as for future, I do not think AMD will pull on GCN same stuff nVidia did to Kepler. And since there will not be next bigger Maxwell, but Pascal will be here in a year's time, I would be kind of afraid that history would repeat. Would be funny and sad to see GCN to outlive both Kepler and Maxwell.
That can easily happen. Just look where is 780ti now, beaten by a even R9 390 aka 290, its sad indeed.
