Graphics card pick

[Craig234]

OK, I made an early buy - Nov 2015, maybe I'll want to put together this PC soon, caught up in black friday pricing, decided to get an R9 390 8GB card for $320 ($340 after rebate was rejected for no good reason).

Still haven't built it.

So now, with Pascal out, and seeing the scary warnings about things like 'if you want to use 4k' (I might at some point) or 'if you want to use VR' (I might at some point) you need a really good card.

Makes me consider: should I buy something like this:

GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1070 Founders Edition GV-N1070D5-8GD-B $380 for two more hours.

Should I get a card like that and sell the 390 for whatever it's worth? Use the 390 and upgrade later?

Main reason to upgrade now, is to save the further price drop when it's a used card.

 

[Bacon1]

Wait have you not put the computer together yet? Don't buy another video card if its still not built. The FE 1070/1080 are junk don't buy those. Buy an custom fan version. But wait until you are actually putting the rest of the computer together!

 

[Craig234]

Well I'm thinking about doing it now, and deciding whether to use the 390 or get a new card.

You have at least bought some time saying not to get the FE deal.

 

[mohit9206]

Keep the 390. Should last you atleast 2 more years.

 

[ElFenix]

i saw a 1070 for $330 the other day, lemme look around

edit: that was a refurb

newegg is selling a zotac on ebay for $350

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ZOTAC-GeFor...&afepn=5335869999&afepn=5335869999&rmvSB=true


edit2: if you're not at 4k now don't bother. the 1070 is just a bit short for 4k (though way better than that 390), but you're going to lose a lot dumping that 390 atm.

 

[tential]

The 1070 will work for 4K. However, so will the 390. This is a SETTINGS game. IMO, 4K resolution is so worth it that even low settings are better than a resolution drop.
Would I go the 1070?
Yes.
But you already have the 390, that's my problem. Since I have a 290 and I play at 4K, I'd build your PC, play with the 390 at medium/low settings at 4K resolution and enjoy it. Then upgrade to Vega or the 1080Ti.
Another month or two of saving should get you to those cards.

Since the 1080Ti doesn't have a "cheap" version of it, you may also want to check out the Vega cutdown card and see where that comes in price. That may save you some dollars and still give a great 4K experience.

I do NOT like dropping your 390 now after you just got it and never even used it. Build your PC and play at 4K first.

Other thing,
Do you even have a 4K monitor or VR set yet?

 

[Mopetar]

If you don't already have a 4k monitor or a VR system, just stick with the 390. By the time you do actually get either of those things you can upgrade to whatever is best at the time. Otherwise just sell the 390 now before it loses too much more value and stick with whatever you've currently got until you actually do get a new monitor.

 

[tential]

Ya, like he needs to try out his current system with 4K. I like my 290 with 4K now with settings turned down. I'm fine waiting for my Big Vega GPUs. He may find he likes the 390 and is fine waiting for Big Vega or a 1080Ti or whatever he chooses.

 

[littleg]

If you're not already at 4k i'd echo tential and just stick with the 390 for now. Better stuff will be coming out soon and that should drop the price for your upgrade when you do make the switch. Can always put the 390 to work mining for a while too and put that towards the next card.

 

[Mezzanine]

Ditch the hot power hungry 390...they're junk. A 1070 would be a great choice.

Please do not troll/flaimbait. -Shmee

 

[Craig234]

I do NOT like dropping your 390 now after you just got it and never even used it. Build your PC and play at 4K first.

To be clear, I bought it Nov 2015 and haven't used it yet.

Do you even have a 4K monitor or VR set yet?

No, deciding what to do about that. I could repair an old 1080p 65", buy a new lower end, buy a new nicer tv, not sure.

 

[crisium]

The 390 at 4K offers roughly the same performance as RX 480 8GB or GTX 1060 6GB. Graphics will have to be reduced, but it's not out of the realm of possibility.

Even new-in-box, you may have trouble selling the 390 in the market with sub $150 RX 470 4GB cards which are not much slower than the 390 (at 1080p anyhow, at 4K the 390 has a stronger lead).

I'd keep the 390. I take it you have some level of price sensitivity since you keep coming to the sub $400 cards. If you demand really good 4K performance, you could always say f-it and get a GTX 1080 or Titan X P. But otherwise...

If you get the cheapest 1070s, you will spend about the same you did for the 390 that is already sunk costs. At 4K, where GPU grunt matters more, the 1070 is only around 35% faster than the 390. That’s a smaller upgrade than most users seek. I know you have not installed it or used it yet, but that’s more a mental thing than anything, unless you think new-in-box will really give you legs on the used market.

So $340 + ~$380 – resell value of 390 ($100-$160 range perhaps?) = ~$560-$620 on total GPU money spent for you for ultimately a GTX 1070. As time goes on the used 390 will lose even more value, but hopefully we’ll have much stronger sub $400 cards in a year or two and you can reevaluate then.

 

[Headfoot]

Why are you stressing about 4k and VR when you dont have a 4k monitor or a VR headset?

 

[kawi6rr]

Stick with the 390 it's a great card then when you're ready for 4k upgrade hopefully you'll have more upgrade options by then, AMD will be putting out new high end cards.

 

[tential]

To be clear, I bought it Nov 2015 and haven't used it yet.



No, deciding what to do about that. I could repair an old 1080p 65", buy a new lower end, buy a new nicer tv, not sure.

Yup I saw that you bought it November 2015. Doesn't really change anything I said. Because you don't have a 4k display I'm completely loath to telling you to get a new gpu.

Finally at 4k, you basically need gsync or freesync to give the best experience possible. That again is what makes me say keep your 390 til you get a display.

For me, the main reason I am going amd is the display cost I can buy an extra gpu or two jf I don't pay the gsync cost.
But on the flip side, not being with Nvidia means you don't get the best current day performance. Nvidia will always have a new fastest chip out suited for 4k while amd is months, even a year behind.

So that's the trade off there.

If I was you, I'd get a 4k freesync monitor and use it with the 390 just like I'm doing currently and wait to see how it plays out.

If you have the money though and love gaming, Nvidia high end gpu + gsync is the way to go.

I love gaming enough to spend amd high end money because I don't actually play video games. I just own a "high" end setup.

But you may find you love gaming enough to pay the Nvidia tax. If that's the case I really commend 4k gsync and the 1080ti. If you can't afford that, go with amd.

 

[Craig234]

unless you think new-in-box will really give you legs on the used market.

Ya, I was. But I guess I'll give up that value, and use the card for who knows how long to get the value instead of coming price drops.

 

[Craig234]

Why are you stressing about 4k and VR when you dont have a 4k monitor or a VR headset?

Two reasons - looking at comparison charts seeing bigger numbers for less money, and the idea I met get those at any time. But ya, I guess I'll wait.

 

[Craig234]

Yup I saw that you bought it November 2015. Doesn't really change anything I said.

I was responding to your saying 'you just got it'. Appeared you thought I'd got it in Nov 2016. Hopefully it'll be fine for 2-3 years... even if I get 4k.

 

[Headfoot]

Yeah 4k is $400 to start, and VR is $800 to start. You're going to want to do a full system reevaluation when you go to either one of those in any case at that time. Don't buy computer hardware in advance of needing it, because it just gets obsolete in the meantime.

 

[Craig234]

Yeah 4k is $400 to start, and VR is $800 to start. You're going to want to do a full system reevaluation when you go to either one of those in any case at that time. Don't buy computer hardware in advance of needing it, because it just gets obsolete in the meantime.

Well, I'm interested in VR but feeling it's probably worth waiting for next gen.

The rest of the system should be ok for years to come, i7-7700k IIRC.

 

[Sonikku]

If I could live life over again I would buy a 290x and an i5 2500 with a "k" at the end of it instead of the one I got.

 

[ZGR]

My 290 struggled a lot at UHD in Nvidia sponsored titles. So I got got a 1070 for 3840x2160 60hz gaming. It can't do Ultra, but it does medium-high very well, often down clocking as 60 fps is very easy to achieve.

It struggles to hit 50fps in watch_dogs 2 at high settings, and star citizen is quite choppy. Every other game I play can do high settings, even Crysis 3.

If you have a big backlog of games to play, stick with the 390 and see how it goes. The big problem is Freesync and gsync. I got a 4k gsync for really cheap which made the 1070 an easy choice, but my 290 has tons of problems with using that gsync monitor.

Try up scaling your games at 4k and see how the 390 handles it. Just don't blow a fortune on an overpriced gsync monitor. I got mine factory refurbished from Best Buy for $350. If you aren't afraid of going used or refurbished, nvidia can be a good deal. Otherwise, a cheap Freesync 4k monitor paired with your 390 can be quite a nice combo. Just don't exceed your expectations in Nvidia sponsored games.

I got a Samsung 28" Freesync $380 that works great for my iGPU which makes it far more versatile than than my Gsync which only can accept Nvidia cards.

I would suggest Freesync unless you can find a gsync equivalent for a suspiciously low price.

 

[SteveGrabowski]

Wow the 290/390 is that much better than the 970 that you guys can play AAA games on it at 4k? When I play Witcher 3 at 4k medium on my 970 at 1418 MHz and with about a 300 MHz bump to memory clock I can pull about 27 fps. Witcher 3 isn't a big vram hog either, so I'd be surprised if the 512 MB of turtle memory is a huge factor here.