[Computerbase] R9 390 (X) Roundup

[flopper]

390+freesync= King of the roads
The gamer choice

 

[xthetenth]

Makes me think I should upgrade to freesync and r9 290/390.

I even prepered a lenghty PM to RussianSensation to help me make up my mind, but decided not to bother him.

I should stay strong and fight the itch...

It's a very cost-effective solution. It's currently the absolute best way to turn money into gaming experience, especially if you aren't going all in on a high end gamertastic monitor. The question is if you want to buy performance between now and Arctic/Pascal or get more then.

 

[RussianSensation]

Makes me think I should upgrade to freesync and r9 290/390.

I even prepered a lenghty PM to RussianSensation to help me make up my mind, but decided not to bother him.

I should stay strong and fight the itch...

What's your current card, CPU, PSU and what games don't run as well as you want them to? What are the current prices on new 290/290X/390/970 vs. used after-market 290/290X?

 

[Erenhardt]

What's your current card, CPU, PSU and what games don't run as well as you want them to? What are the current prices on new 290/290X/390/970 vs. used after-market 290/290X?

I Have Sapphire 7950 OCed to 1150/5250Mhz and FX8300@4.4Ghz. My PSU is 750W old trusty Chieftec (CFT 750-14C).

I was mainly focused on getting el cheapo Freesync display for 160EUR:
https://geizhals.eu/aoc-g2460vq6-a1316311.html?hloc=at&hloc=de&hloc=pl&hloc=uk&hloc=eu

My GPU doesn't support freesync in games, so I would need to change that aswell.

285/380 is not much of an upgrade and 2GB is out of the question and new 380 4GB is 240 EUR.

New cheapest cards:
290 4GB MSI Gaming - 310EUR
290X 4GB XFX BE or GB WF3 - 350 EUR
390 8GB GB WF2X (2 fans) - 330 EUR
390 8GB powercolor PCS+ - 350 EUR
970 reference - 315 EUR
970 GB mini - 320 EUR
970 Palit JetStream 345 EUR
390X XFX DD - 400 EUR

Used:
290 reference with 15 months warranty - 200 EUR
290 GB WF3X with 1 month warranty - 225 EUR
290 Sapphire Tri-X with 9 months warranty - 260 EUR
290X MSI gaming with 22 months warranty - 275 EUR
290X GB WF3X with 15 months warranty - 280 EUR
390 GB WF2X with 36 months warranty (openbox) - 320 EUR
970 Zotac (2 fans) with 13 months warranty - 260 EUR
970 EVGA ACX2 with 30 months warranty - 290 EUR

There are not a lot of used cards ATM

 

[Erenhardt]

Games run good. I can live without maxed AA settings, but other things like textures, geometry etc needs to be maxed.

7950 does a great job at 1080p. Recent games: Mad Max, RainbowSix Siege, SW BattleFront, ran all good. Wither 3 was also good, but I didn't play it. AC Unity ran like a crap no matter what settings and I didn't play it (don't like the franchise). Far Cry 4 was a blast.

I feel good when my games run > 40 fps and 7950 delivers that with everything cranked up (minus AA).

Freesync range of the display I'm looking to get is 48-75 hz, but it can be hacked to widen the range.

I don't upgrade often, but that changed lately. I went from 7870 to 7950 because of 2GB of VRAM wasn't enough. If I'm going to get something, I would rather buy a card that is not going to loose much value when the next gen comes out. I am not comfortable with 300+ EUR GPUs. There are not enough good games to justify lost value at that pricepoint.

Everything started with the news about this cheap AOC freesync display and because I'm not happy with my current 21' fullhd samsung display. It has an irritating bad pixel, and I feel it is a little too small:
1. Everything is tiny,
2. I have a wide table and my face is quite far from the panel. Because of that the panel doesn't fill my whole field of view to the peripheral vision - hurts the immersion
On top of that I started to notice tearing after this whole G-sync marketing campaign. Before I knew about it, I wasn't noticing it. Right now, I can't help to notice it every time it happens, which is distracting.

I may decide to wait for better freesync displays to come down in price, and new GPUs with better dx12, better perf and perf/$ to come out, and then upgrade to something that will be more noticeable of an upgrade.

I should really make the question in display forum asking if adaptive sync is worth it or not.

 

[RussianSensation]

I Have Sapphire 7950 OCed to 1150/5250Mhz and FX8300@4.4Ghz. My PSU is 750W old trusty Chieftec (CFT 750-14C).

I was mainly focused on getting el cheapo Freesync display for 160EUR:
https://geizhals.eu/aoc-g2460vq6-a1316311.html?hloc=at&hloc=de&hloc=pl&hloc=uk&hloc=eu

My GPU doesn't support freesync in games, so I would need to change that aswell.

285/380 is not much of an upgrade and 2GB is out of the question and new 380 4GB is 240 EUR.

New cheapest cards:
290 4GB MSI Gaming - 310EUR
290X 4GB XFX BE or GB WF3 - 350 EUR
390 8GB GB WF2X (2 fans) - 330 EUR
390 8GB powercolor PCS+ - 350 EUR
970 reference - 315 EUR
970 GB mini - 320 EUR
970 Palit JetStream 345 EUR
390X XFX DD - 400 EUR

Used:
290 reference with 15 months warranty - 200 EUR
290 GB WF3X with 1 month warranty - 225 EUR
290 Sapphire Tri-X with 9 months warranty - 260 EUR
290X MSI gaming with 22 months warranty - 275 EUR
290X GB WF3X with 15 months warranty - 280 EUR
390 GB WF2X with 36 months warranty (openbox) - 320 EUR
970 Zotac (2 fans) with 13 months warranty - 260 EUR
970 EVGA ACX2 with 30 months warranty - 290 EUR

There are not a lot of used cards ATM

Those two look decent to me. If you are looking for a cheaper FreeSync monitor, then I guess a GTX970 wouldn't even be in the mix.

Games run good. I can live without maxed AA settings, but other things like textures, geometry etc needs to be maxed.

7950 does a great job at 1080p. Recent games: Mad Max, RainbowSix Siege, SW BattleFront, ran all good. Wither 3 was also good, but I didn't play it. AC Unity ran like a crap no matter what settings and I didn't play it (don't like the franchise). Far Cry 4 was a blast.

I feel good when my games run > 40 fps and 7950 delivers that with everything cranked up (minus AA).

I think unless you can sell the 7950 to for 70-80 Euro and reduce the cash outlay towards a 290/290X, just keep waiting until the games you play no longer run to your satisfaction. Your card is close to the bottom in resale value so from now on it likely won't lose a lot more in resale value over the next 12 months while all existing GPUs will drop a lot next year when 16nm GPUs launch. What I mean by that is theoretically if your GPU drops from 70-80 Euro in resale value to say 50 Euro, the 300-400 Euro cards will drop to 200-250 Euro (just using this as an example).

Something to keep in mind is your CPU. I think this next GPU may be the last possible upgrade that CPU can handle. In some games already you would be CPU bottlenecked. IMO, 290/290X/390 could be a good last upgrade. Thing is I project that prices of 290/290X/390/390X will drop more in 2016 but I can't say with 100% certainty about how things operate in Poland. I know in Canada and the US, it's almost a sure thing. :awe:

Freesync range of the display I'm looking to get is 48-75 hz, but it can be hacked to widen the range.

Personally I think since you'll be spending say 150-300 Euro on a new display, don't make the sacrifice of 48-75Hz range. It's too limited. I would wait until you can pick up a FreeSync/GSync monitor with 30Hz low end.

These are the AOC monitors you were talking about? Seems the range is 48-144Hz.

I think I'd rather take 30-75Hz over 48-144Hz. From what I've read and heard from user feedback, A-Sync is most beneficial in the lower end of the range.

I think as competition in the 4K space heats up and more and more FreeSync/GSync monitors come out, the prices will continue dropping across the board. It's already possible to get a 28" 4K FreeSync panel for $600 US (Ya, it's TN but still).

This site along with TFT Central tend to be on top of it.

 

[brandonmatic]

Personally I think since you'll be spending say 150-300 Euro on a new display, don't make the sacrifice of 48-75Hz range. It's too limited. I would wait until you can pick up a FreeSync/GSync monitor with 30Hz low end.

These are the AOC monitors you were talking about? Seems the range is 48-144Hz.

I assumed he was talking about monitors with 34" 2560x1080 LG panels like the LG 34UM67 and 34UM57. Those were both 48-75hz freesync range initially but ones with newer manufacture dates seem to be shipping at 40-75hz - I just bought one manufactured in ISO week 4 of 2015 (Jan/Feb) and it as shipped at 40-75hz freesync range without any modding. That freesync range pairs nicely with a 290(x)/390(x).

Edit: Sorry, you're right. Just saw his link to an AOC monitor.

 

[Erenhardt]

I was thinking about to be released AOC G2460VQ6 24' 1080p 48-75 Hz freesync display for 180EUR.
http://aoc-europe.com/en/products/g2460vq6#product-detail-technical
I may take RS advice and wait for better and cheaper displays to appear and hold to my 7950 until next round of GBM2 based GPUs come out.

I hope my card will be enough for new Fallout, Deus Ex, Tomb Raider, hitman, dirt rally and whatever else is going to be released.