HD6970 Replacement

[xPrISM]

Hello, been out of the loop for quite awhile now and I want to upgrade my HD6970 that's starting to struggle these days. I'm looking for something in to just hold me over for another year or so, so I don't need anything high end. I run an OCed i5-2500K on an old MSI P67A-GD65 mobo (for the moment) and do single monitor 1080p gaming.

EVGA GeForce GTX 960 4GB
MSI Radeon R9 380 R9 380 4GB
XFX Radeon R9 290x 4GB

I'm certain any of those are a significant upgrade from what I have, but do I have the right idea? That's the relative price range I'd like to stay within. Thanks!

 

[lehtv]

Definitely buy the 290X, it's an amazing card for the money and will easily hold you over for a year. It's 50% faster than GTX 960, or almost twice the speed of your 6970.

Plus you get lifetime warranty with XFX 290X which is a nice bonus.

Just make sure your PSU is up to the job. 290X uses about 250W, and with an overclocked CPU, you'll want at least a good quality 600W unit.

 

[Donanza]

I would personally suggest the GTX960. Or 970 if you wish.

 

[xPrISM]

Just make sure your PSU is up to the job. 290X uses about 250W, and with an overclocked CPU, you'll want at least a good quality 600W unit.

Ah yes forgot to mention my PSU...CORSAIR Professional Series Gold AX850

 

[.vodka]

Out of these alternatives, the 290x is what you want. Cheap, and crushes the other two in performance, and has enough to easily do 1080p at ultra settings. If you can get a good 290 (non-x) for cheaper, then do so. Price/perf is even higher there.

Provided you have a power supply to support it, it's a no brainer.


edit: with that PSU, then yeah, 290/290x.

 

[IEC]

Radeon 290X @ $253 shipped after $30 rebate + free game:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150696&Tpk=N82E16814150696

AnandTech Bench (6970 vs 290X reference - you'll get better performance and MUCH quieter fans with the XFX I linked):
http://anandtech.com/bench/product/1061?vs=1059

You can go to PCGH and play around with their "Indexbench" tool here to get an idea of performance:
http://www.pcgameshardware.de/AMD-Radeon-Grafikkarte-255597/Specials/Radeon-R9-390X-Test-1162303/

290X will be ~ Radeon 390/GTX 970 performance for less $$.
It also SPANKS a 960

 

[RussianSensation]

Radeon 290X @ $253 shipped after $30 rebate + free game:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150696&Tpk=N82E16814150696

This is easily the best deal in all videocards right now:

1. Lifetime warranty within 30 days of registration
2. True 4GB of fast GDDR5
3. 10% faster at 1440P and still faster at 1080P against $350-400 GTX960 2-4GB SLI.

4. $400-450 cards like GTX980/R9 390X are barely faster for $150-200 more.

5. Based on the fact that GCN is in all the consoles and AMD has so many generations with GCN going back to HD7000, it's a safer bet for driver support than GTX970, if we judge how NV treated Kepler after Maxwell came out. DX12 performance is also looking good in the first game that uses it.

GTX960 4GB and R9 380 4GB are horrible for the $. R9 290X absolutely destroys them.

 

[happy medium]

at 1080p how much faster is the 279$ 290x than the 200$ 4gb gtx960 in this chart? 21%?. is that how you read it?
just askin? and does that mean the 289$ EVGA gtx970 is faster? 3%?
chart from Sept 1st...
https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Colorful/iGame_GTX_980_Ti/30.html

How about this chart? @ 1080p , the op's resolution....

how is the gtx970 doing here vs the 56fps 290x?

hows the 35% cheaper gtx 960 2gb doing here? 42fps? vs (see above chart) 56 fps for the 290x? my math is not so good what % faster is the 290x? 25%?

I suggest you guys update your cherry picked charts and and resolution.

 

[lehtv]

at 1080p how much faster is the 279$ 290x than the 200$ 4gb gtx960 in this chart? 21%?. is that how you read it?

21 percentage points, yes. 21 percent, no. If you want percent difference, you need to do:

66 % / 45 % = 1.4666... = 147%, where GTX 960 = 100%. This makes 290X 47% faster.

 

[happy medium]

21 percentage points, yes. 21 percent, no. If you want percent difference, you need to do:

66 % / 45 % = 1.4666... = 147%, where GTX 960 = 100%. This makes 290X 47% faster.

thank you.

 

[tg2708]

Yea I recently upgraded from a 770 to a 290 for 195. Very nice card never goes above 75 while gaming same with the 770 but do note I leave my case open. But to add I do not have AC and for a room like mine which gets very hot around the pc area it maintains its temps very well. Card is adequately quiety even when fans are fool blast. Also it always seems to peak out at 75 no matter how cool or hot the place is in some games while with others it is like 61-69. Being able to max textures as well as have decent 1440p performance in new games it was a worthwhile step up.

 

[RussianSensation]

I suggest you guys update your cherry picked charts and and resolution.

Why are those charts cherry-picked -- they portray average performance:

66% / 45% = 47% faster. R9 290X has lifetime warranty, is that worth $0 to you?

Also, TPU uses a reference 290X, not an after-market one so it makes the 290X look worse than it is because normal operating frequency for a reference 290X is not 1Ghz because of throttling.

Computerbase has simulated an after-market 290X and a 960:

1080P HQ
290X OC is 50% faster than 960 OC

290X (Uber = 1Ghz fixed clocks) shows excellent performance against cards like GTX980 and 390X in AT's most recent GPU review.

290X also comes with Dirt Rally but 960 4GB has no games bundled with it as far as I can see. I cannot find a new GTX970 for $253, can you?

It's funny how you accuse me of cherry-picking when I am actually low-balling 290X's performance advantage over the 960.

"NVIDIA simply cannot get the pricing of its sub-$300 lineup right and continues to offer nothing compelling until the $310 GeForce GTX 970. The company may yet make a ton of money with their mid-range line-up, but that's only because of its better sales-force. The Radeon R9 290 TurboDuo from PowerColor is a gem.

At just $249, the Radeon R9 290 TurboDuo offers current-gen tech. Our tests show that the R9 290 is a whopping 52 percent faster than the $50 cheaper GeForce GTX 960 at 1920 x 1080 pixels, our target resolution. " ~ TechPowerup

Looks to me like the after-market R9 290X is at least 47-52% faster than the GTX960 based on 3 different reviews at 1080P, but at $253 it costs just 26.5% more than the $200 960 4GB. That makes it a far better deal and a much cheaper long-term upgrade path over the GTX960.

Any questions?

 

[happy medium]

TPU uses a reference 290X

I used them because you did, but not at the op's resolution 1080p.

 

[Headfoot]

Absolutely get the 290x. I can't believe that XFX DD version is selling for ~$250 still. Incredible deal considering the card and the warranty. I can't imagine this deal will last all that much longer

 

[xPrISM]

Thanks guys. Went ahead and picked up that 290X!

 

[RussianSensation]

Thanks guys. Went ahead and picked up that 290X!

Perfect timing as that particular sale has ended and the card is now $340.

Congrats! That's a really solid deal. Make sure to register within 30 days of purchase to lock in the lifetime warranty. Also, you might want to test the card out for a couple of days before sending in the rebate in case it fails; so that way you can do an exchange with Newegg. This card will probably last you for the remainder of your entire PC. For your next upgrade, chances are you'll be doing a full CPU/mobo/DDR4 overhaul and a new 16nm HBM2 GPU (or something along those lines).

 

[kawi6rr]

Thanks guys. Went ahead and picked up that 290X!

Good choice, I have a Trixx 290 and have had no complaints, congrats!

 

[xPrISM]

Perfect timing as that particular sale has ended and the card is now $340.

Congrats! That's a really solid deal. Make sure to register within 30 days of purchase to lock in the lifetime warranty. Also, you might want to test the card out for a couple of days before sending in the rebate in case it fails; so that way you can do an exchange with Newegg. This card will probably last you for the remainder of your entire PC. For your next upgrade, chances are you'll be doing a full CPU/mobo/DDR4 overhaul and a new 16nm HBM2 GPU (or something along those lines).

Yeah I just noticed the higher price today. Definitely perfect timing and I think I got an incredible deal on it.

My build has pretty much lasted me since I originally built it in 2011 and it's worked well for me in most games I've been playing. My overall plan is to do a big upgrade just before Star Citizen releases as I intend on playing that heavily. A little off the topic of my original post but I've been starting to get back into the CPU world and the idea to keep my 2500K with a good OC as the core of my new build has definitely occurred to me.

 

[RussianSensation]

Yeah I just noticed the higher price today. Definitely perfect timing and I think I got an incredible deal on it.

My build has pretty much lasted me since I originally built it in 2011 and it's worked well for me in most games I've been playing. My overall plan is to do a big upgrade just before Star Citizen releases as I intend on playing that heavily. A little off the topic of my original post but I've been starting to get back into the CPU world and the idea to keep my 2500K with a good OC as the core of my new build has definitely occurred to me.

When is the release date for that game? Supposedly 2016 but I've read some rumors of it being pushed to 2017?

Anyway, I think if you can overclock your 2500K to 4.4-4.6Ghz or higher, it'll easily last you for another 1-2 years (i.e., in time for you to build a new rig for Star Citizen). Although, the next 2-3 years of CPUs do not look particularly interesting until we reach 2018 when Intel is supposed to give us a 10nm + new Icelake architecture. In 2016 we just get Skylake refresh (Kaby Lake) and then in 2017 a 10nm shrink called Cannolake. I suppose if you do decide to do a major overhaul, a 6-core Skylake-E in 2017 could be the 5-year set it and forget it CPU platform ticket.

 

[xPrISM]

Sadly I think I may have gotten a DOA card. The fans and lights on the card work, but I get nothing but a black screen (no signal when I remove the monitor cable). Before I RMA this, can anyone think of something else that maybe be a problem? I updated all of my motherboard drivers and reset CMOS.
I also connected a separate PCI power connector to my PSU for the GPU.

Could there be an issue of compatibility with my motherboard or PSU?

 

[Shmee]

I think the 290X you have requires both a 8 pin and 6 pin PCIE connector from the PSU. Just to check, you connected both of these?

 

[xPrISM]

My PSU has 2 12-pin PCIE connectors that split into 2 6+2 pin connectors.

 

[.vodka]

You've plugged one of these 6+2 as an 8 pin, and one as a 6 pin, and you only get power to the card but no output?

Does the computer POST? (hear a single, short beep as usual or other sounds?)
Have you tried other display connectors/cables?
Other PCIe slots in your motherboard?
Flipped the switch on the card if there is one? (some 290/Xs have a UEFI bios, and a legacy BIOS that you can select with the BIOS switch, this has been repurposed from the reference models)
Tried the card in another computer?

 

[xPrISM]

My old card works so I know the PCIe slot and display connectors are good. I also switched the BIOS switch on the card. I connected two separate cables for power; one 6+2 for the 8 pin and one for the 6 pin on the GPU.

 

[Headfoot]

See if you can't try it in another computer to rule out motherboard incompatibility issues