GPU Upgrade

[Fluffygong]

Hello!

I've been blue screening quite a bit recently and have a feeling it's down to my old 6950 2gb going over 100c after some use and it's just old.
I game at 1440p which I think is a strain for the 2gb vram. I've been reading around about upgrades and am thinking the 390 is probably the best upgrade path for me, I know 8gb vram is somewhat overkill but at £260 for the MSI version it seems like a no brainer.

Now for my question, I was just curious if this was my best option of GPU for my set up? Also, what brand should I look at?

i5 2500k at 4.6ghz, p67 mobo, 8gb ram. <-- May upgrade once Skylake comes out if still have issues with a new GPU.

Any opinions would be greatly appreciate, I use Uk sites.

Thanks for any feedback!

[Denpepe]

B4 we can advise you anything, it would be important to know what power supply you have to see if it can handle the new GPU

[Fluffygong]

I'd have to double check but I'm pretty sure it's an XFX gold 650

Seasonic X-Series 650w '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply

I was close

[mrgreenthump]

If that is your price range, R9 390 or GTX 970 is indeed the choice.. Unless you want a discounted 290/290x. And ye the MSI r9 390 Gaming has gotten pretty good reviews. Just make sure your PSU is indeed the 650W.

[Denpepe]

That should be fine if not too old, also check the 290 or 290x, they are more or less the same as 390 but cheaper, the 8Gb of vram on the 390 are mostly overkill and not needed but there is also something to be said to buy the latest version of a card especially with AMD who seem to be able to squeeze some extra performance out of their hardware if you can wait long enough for them to do so.

[Fluffygong]

I can push the budget if I need to, if it is warranted for a real upgrade on current games, but I mainly play Rift which is heavy on the CPU so the GPU doesn't need to be some £600 top of the market thing.

[Gaidax]

If you are aiming at 390, then better buy 290 while they are still selling. It's literally the same GPU, but 290s are cheaper because you are not paying premium for useless extra 4GB VRAM and they are the "old" cards so are discounted by sellers who are dying to be rid of those, because hype.

That said, I suggest taking good look at 970, it's very capable too.

1440 is no joke, I got 290X and on ultra I drop all the way down to 35FPS in garrison, raids are nice and smooth though only garrison and big hubs are shit due to all the props.

Though by dropping settings a bit does boost FPS tons, but fuck this, Ultra4lyfe.

[Fluffygong]

Doesn't the 970 only have 3.5gb VRAM?

[Lathais]

If you are aiming at 390, then better buy 290 while they are still selling. It's literally the same GPU, but 290s are cheaper because you are not paying premium for useless extra 4GB VRAM and they are the "old" cards so are discounted by sellers who are dying to be rid of those, because hype.

That said, I suggest taking good look at 970, it's very capable too.

1440 is no joke, I got 290X and on ultra I drop all the way down to 35FPS in garrison, raids are nice and smooth though only garrison and big hubs are shit due to all the props.

Though by dropping settings a bit does boost FPS tons, but fuck this, Ultra4lyfe.

If you do get the 290, I think I have heard of people using 390 BIOS on it and it getting better performance. However, if you get the 970, it OCs better. Any of them are solid choices, though personally, I would go for the 970. I'm partial to nVidia though.

- - - Updated - - -

Doesn't the 970 only have 3.5gb VRAM?

No, it has 4, but the last .5 is separate and slower. This does not affect it's performance though. If you look at benchmarks, at 1080p, it's about equal to the 390. At 1440p and 4K the 390 starts to pull ahead. Not by much though and that's not counting any OCing, which the 970 does better at. If you mainly play Rift, Rift does favor nVidia, so that's something to consider.

[Kagthul]

Doesn't the 970 only have 3.5gb VRAM?

Even if that were true (which it isn't, as covered by Lathais) - neither the 970 or 390 will deliver what id consider playable framerates at a resolution that requires a full 4GB frame buffer, rendering the point almost entirely moot.

Its rather like the lower-end cards (GTX 960, R9 280X, etc) shipping with 3-4GB of VRAM - its pointless, since the cards cant perform at the resolutions that would need the extra VRAM anyway.

[Fluffygong]

If I go the nividia route, is the increase to the 980 worth it or would I not feel a noticable increase in performance for the cost?

[Lathais]

If I go the nividia route, is the increase to the 980 worth it or would I not feel a noticable increase in performance for the cost?

I would get a R9 390/390x before a 980, even being a partial nVidia fanboy. The 980 would be better performance, but not worth the extra cost IMO. Especially for Rift, which is not that heavy on the GPU, as you said, it's mostly hard on the CPU.

[Fluffygong]

Ah okay, so it's really 970 vs 390, and as you said the 390 pulls ahead at 1400p at stock clocks, I think I may go for that. I think it's about £20 cheaper too. That's a lot of beer! Unless ofc, that's a drasticly bad idea but from the sounds of it it comes down to personal preference between those 2 for what I'm doing?

[Zephyr Storm]

I'd personally go with the GTX 970. It is super easy to overclock and get that much more extra performance out of it. Also, the Maxwell cards will support more features of DX12 when it releases if I recall correctly (I believe the 390 won't support as many)....which allows you to take advantage of said features in future gaming titles that will utilize them.

So, the 970 is more "future proof" in regards to the fact that it is newer architecture that supports more features of DX12. Maxwell architecture is also more efficient than the rebranded shit of the 390.

[Lathais]

Ah okay, so it's really 970 vs 390, and as you said the 390 pulls ahead at 1400p at stock clocks, I think I may go for that. I think it's about £20 cheaper too. That's a lot of beer! Unless ofc, that's a drasticly bad idea but from the sounds of it it comes down to personal preference between those 2 for what I'm doing?

Yeah, the 390 starts to puill ahead very slightly at 1440p, without OCing either card. With an OCed 970, it will pull ahead and as Zephyr pointed out, it supports more DX12 features so will be better than the 390 in a the coming years. I'd get the 970 myself.

[Fluffygong]

Well, that's 2 votes for 970 vs 0 for 390, do MSI still do decent coolers or shoul I look for a specific brand?

[Lathais]

Well, that's 2 votes for 970 vs 0 for 390, do MSI still do decent coolers or shoul I look for a specific brand?

The ASUS Strix is what I wish I had gotten. Good passive cooling system, fans stay off until load temps are hit. They are pretty quiet too.

I googled this up as well:
http://www.overclock.net/t/1516121/g...vs-gigabyte-g1

[Zephyr Storm]

Well, that's 2 votes for 970 vs 0 for 390, do MSI still do decent coolers or shoul I look for a specific brand?

MSI makes good cards. I personally get EVGA because their quality is some of best around and their customer service is top notch. ASUS is decent as well.

[Deleted]

I would personally go for the 390 at 1440p.

As for the whole DX 12. If I remember correctly the 970 doesn't support 11_2, whereas the 390 doesn't support 12_1. These numbers indicate feature levels of DX12.

Neither card fully support DX12, and both have something what the other doesn't have. I also have no idea how that will pan out when DX 12 is here, I think no one does. As performance is still all speculation.

[Remilia]

MSI makes good cards. I personally get EVGA because their quality is some of best around and their customer service is top notch. ASUS is decent as well.

EVGA video cards aren't known for their quality and coolers but for their customer support.

970 and R9 290/390 support different feature sets on the hardware level. Some things don't work on the 970 while some on the 390, it's a gigantic cluster of stuff that DX12 introduced. Ones that aren't supported on the hardware level gets emulated on the software level. Will take the next generation probably to comply to all the DX12 stuff.