R9 280 vs GTX 960 - better choice?

[Enigmoid]

Maxwell's colour compression does NOT affect objects in memory. Doing so could lead to errors (if a pixel changes colour then all of a sudden new data is created when the compression must be reversed - where is that pixel placed in memory?). Maxwell's compression affects the reading out of memory; less data is read out of memory, compressed during the transfer.

 

[Udgnim]

I would love to see some proof of this. Every game review I've read shows Maxwell (compression) and Hawaii (none) using very similar amounts of VRAM. I'm of the opinion that besides some write-backs colour compression mainly saves GPU-Memory bandwidth and has a negligible effect on VRAM usage. Prepared to be wrong but all I've seen is people assuming this is the case with no data to back it up. If Nvidia's 2GB cards were equivalent to 2.5GB (even best case) I'd have expected some mention/promotion of that fact. That would imply the GTX 980 effectively has 5GB compared to a card without compression. Again I'd assume that would have rated a mention.

To the OP good choice, that will have a much longer useful lifespan than a GTX 960.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/nvidia-geforce-gtx-980-970-maxwell,3941.html

Regardless of Maxwell’s more efficient graphics architecture, the GeForce GTX 980 suffers a 33% drop in peak memory bandwidth compared to the GeForce GTX 780 Ti. Nvidia mitigates this deficit by implementing an improved memory compression scheme. GM204 sports an improved third-generation delta color compression mode that provides more options to the hardware. Using 8x8 blocks of 64 pixels, compression analysis is performed on 2x4 blocks in order to achieve the best compression possible in 8:1, 4:1, and 2:1 steps. If 2:1 compression isn't doable, that block isn't compressed. Successfully compressed blocks save even more bandwidth every time the memory is read. Nvidia claims that this increases effective memory bandwidth from 224 GB/s to approximately 300 GB/s compared to the GeForce GTX 680 Kepler-class cards. We'll see if this is enough to allow GeForce GTX 980 to stay competitive with the formidable GeForce GTX 780 Ti.

Maxwell compression increases theoretical memory bandwidth transfer

it has no affect on a Nvidia GTX 9XX card being able to use more VRAM than what is physically on the card

people saying it does got it through hearsay from other people that don't know what they are talking about