14 replies to this topic

[Donnie Silveray]

So I am currently able to afford a new GPU however I'm looking at a bit of a quandry here.

The new GPU I've eyed as a baseline to upgrade to is the Radeon R9 290 4gb. Thing is this card is 2 years old and is running on fairly old stuff, and considering in a few years DX12 is coming I am a bit concerned about this.

On the AMD side there's the newer R9 390, pretty much near identical in most performance ratings but has 2x the memory at 8gb and being modern. However aside from a few performance increases and 2x the memory, the 390 is only 25 watts less intense at 275.

I have an old PSU rated at 660 watts and I've had it probably since 2008, and it's only been running at half usage since because my build never really exceeded 400 watts of power drain. However both these cards will likely spike it up to the limits, which worries me about my PSU blowing. Doing the calculations the new build will, at peak, use over 540 watts, and who knows what else is taking power from the PSU. If the PSU was brand new I'd not be too worried, but again it's definitely over 5 years old.

Lastly, I can get an R9 290 for $200. The 390 is around $300+. Money IS a big concern as I am on a paper thin budget. Would a 2 year old former cutting edge be a safer bet than a modern, newer but pricier version? How about you Nvidia guys? Got a $200-250 card that's about on par, uses less power, and has a 256 bit bus bandwidth?

Thanks for the help guys!

[Vxheous]

While the R9 390 SKU itself is "new", a R9 390 is just a rebrand of the R9 290x. So in terms of technology, they are both 2+ years old. What are you currently using, in terms of CPU, and current GPU?

[Peter2k]

In the first tests on dx12 the old AMD cards showed the biggest gain
If you have to look at the best bang for the buck and consider dx12 than I'd take the 290

VRAM shouldn't be a concern, if you have paper thin budget you won't be having a 4K display for some time :-)

I would say you're fine on the psu side as long as it is a quality one

[sukumei]

Might I advocate waiting for 14/16nm processes next year? The gains are going to be huge.

[Peter2k]

If you can wait a bit
Then wait for the new fable release and some benchmarks
It will be the first game out with dx12

sukumei, on 04 November 2015 - 05:53 PM, said:

Might I advocate waiting for 14/16nm processes next year? The gains are going to be huge.

Also what he said :-)
Though that's quite some more time, like late second quarter next year or so

Edited by Peter2k, 04 November 2015 - 05:56 PM.

[Oldbob10025]

Donnie Silveray, on 04 November 2015 - 05:11 PM, said:

So I am currently able to afford a new GPU however I'm looking at a bit of a quandry here.

The new GPU I've eyed as a baseline to upgrade to is the Radeon R9 290 4gb. Thing is this card is 2 years old and is running on fairly old stuff, and considering in a few years DX12 is coming I am a bit concerned about this.

On the AMD side there's the newer R9 390, pretty much near identical in most performance ratings but has 2x the memory at 8gb and being modern. However aside from a few performance increases and 2x the memory, the 390 is only 25 watts less intense at 275.

I have an old PSU rated at 660 watts and I've had it probably since 2008, and it's only been running at half usage since because my build never really exceeded 400 watts of power drain. However both these cards will likely spike it up to the limits, which worries me about my PSU blowing. Doing the calculations the new build will, at peak, use over 540 watts, and who knows what else is taking power from the PSU. If the PSU was brand new I'd not be too worried, but again it's definitely over 5 years old.

Lastly, I can get an R9 290 for $200. The 390 is around $300+. Money IS a big concern as I am on a paper thin budget. Would a 2 year old former cutting edge be a safer bet than a modern, newer but pricier version? How about you Nvidia guys? Got a $200-250 card that's about on par, uses less power, and has a 256 bit bus bandwidth?

Thanks for the help guys!

you could do what I do as I run a Nvidia Quadro fx 1700 and run razer cortex so I can get the good graphics

[9erRed]

Greetings all,

Reference your power supply,

The max voltage is important, but the amperage along the 12V rails is more critical for graphics cards.
- Quality internal parts, dedicated 12V rails at the Amp ratings required. (not split rails or running off standard 12V power plugs.)

Quite a few of the newer cards are now listing the Amperage requirements and the Power supply min. spec's. Pay close attention if your going to be 'pushing' high end gameplay.
- And look for a Bronze, Silver or Gold rated Ps, as they are 'certified' to preform at the rated Volts and Amps.

The R9 290 spec's list it as requiring a 750W Ps, and having 250W max power draw at full tilt. And also requiring both a 6-pin and 8-pin PCI-E power connector. (best to run that from a dedicated PCI-E power-line from the PS.) Never split off a 12v normal power line for high end vid cards. Side note here; that card is only listed as having Dx10 as it compatibility rating.

But if your not locked into ATI cards, may I suggest to also look at the GTX 970 4Gb (Dx12 edition)
- Just for high end card comparison at reasonable prices, and on what's avail. and what the newer offering of cards will arrive with, drivers and hardware reference.
- Additional side-note here; latest vid cards are starting to be offered with built-in closed loop liquid coolers, rad's and pumps.
(and about time, in my opinion.)

Good luck in your search and decision, as any upgrade of a video card normally requires updating the Ps sometimes.
- Power supplies normally last for about 5 years, and by the end of there life span your Pc's internal parts have normally advanced near or beyond the Ps's capability.

I too am looking at an upgrade for the graphics, currently running 2 x GTX 560Ti's in SLI. And looking at the 970 to take over for both of the older cards, driving 3 monitors through the Display ports outputs. (updating from DVI lines to DP as DVI will soon be rendered obsolete)

9erRed

Edited by 9erRed, 04 November 2015 - 09:12 PM.

[Flapdrol]

$200 for a 290 is a good deal.

390 is the same chip, so feature wise it's identical, slightly higher clocks and 8GB. Take note amd's top cards (fury and fury x) are also 4GB cards, should be more than enough.

As for the psu, people tend to overestimate gaming powerconsumption. A cpu while gaming is not a cpu running linpac with avx2, and if you look at techpowerup you can see a 290 uses 240W during typical gaming, peaks a little over 260. To get it to use a lot you have to do something stupid like furmark.

[Donnie Silveray]

Thanks for your input everyone! The GTX 970 looks pretty neat, averaging $350 granted but it looks to have some really well balanced specs for the power drain. I'm thinking I should probably invest in a new power supply as from the comments I am feeling not too terribly confident in my power supply's ability to deliver. As shown on say the 290, it requires a 6 pin and an 8 pin connection and a direct to PCI-E power. I think my supply is just old enough to pre-date (or at least not use frequently) such high drains from PCI-Es. I believe I have a 6+2pin and a 6 pin. I'm guessing running a GPU with insufficient power is a bad idea, eh?

[Flapdrol]

8 and 6 is what a 290 has.

what's your cpu, and what psu is it exactly?

And what is your current gpu btw?

[xWiredx]

Well, a 6+2 and 6 isn't necessarily bad. There are 2 factors you need to look at on the PSU regarding GPUs: total wattage, and amperage on the 12v rail. Most GPUs will list their requirements in this regard. The total wattage requirement does not mean the wattage the GPU itself needs, just the recommended overall for the system, and is typically overestimated. The amperage, however, is usually spot-on and you should not use a PSU that cannot supply that amount of amps on the 12v rail or better.

EDIT: this is just regarding the GPU's requirements. A total rundown of the system would help us help you greatly.

Edited by xWiredx, 05 November 2015 - 10:21 AM.

[Missing Spartan]

Donnie Silveray, on 04 November 2015 - 05:11 PM, said:

I have an old PSU rated at 660 watts and I've had it probably since 2008, and it's only been running at half usage since because my build never really exceeded 400 watts of power drain.

You will probably need to replace your PSU. As a PSU ages it puts out less and less of it's stated Wattage. Since your PSU is 7 years old it probably isn't putting out it's max Wattage anymore.

[Goose]

Graphics memory is messy to think about just now, and there's a line somewhere 'bout how memory management has been too sloppy for too long, so it's hard to say when you are spending too much for some on a card.

I think you are gon'a need this, and maybe that …

[xWiredx]

Yeah. The general rule for GPU VRAM is that for 1080p you rarely need more than 4GB and 4K hasn't seen much if anything push beyond 8GB (which there are probably only a couple cards that have that or more VRAM anyway).

I've seen MWO go over 3GB but not reach 4GB when cranking everything to very high at 1080p.

[Golrar]

You just missed a newegg sale on an EVGA GTX970 for $200 by about 4 days. They have a Zotac GTX970 right now for $289 on their Black November sale.