I'm sorry but those are not the only reasons to go nvidia. I have crossfire 290x setup and I am sick of it. I have to deal with so many weird ass random ass problems with drivers that it's just infuriating. 2 monitors plugged in + using audio over hdmi port? LOL my sound is screwed every time I play a game and have something else on my 2nd monitor.
It is a known bug for years now and AMD still hasn't fixed it. Hell I'm also having CF problems in tomb raider right now. For some reason my CF only works half the time in tomb raider and I know it has something to do with some combination of pc settings I have going on.
Fuck amd. I'll never do it again. EVER! and my gf feels the same way. Her 290 will be her last amd card. In fact she still give me crap because I'm the one who talked her into buying it. We are the only 2 out of our circle of friends that even have amd cards and they all laugh at us because of the random problems we have all the time. ;(
No, it's a good card that's brand new and is priced pretty well for its performance.Wait.... should I not have bought the 970? I thought for the price I'm getting decent performance :/ 1080p with anything over 60 is what I aim for.
Wait.... should I not have bought the 970? I thought for the price I'm getting decent performance :/ 1080p with anything over 60 is what I aim for.
There are issues with crossfire and SLI on both sides, and driver issues are no longer a plus for Nvidia as AMD's drivers are actually more stable lately than Nvidia's.
Your point is understandable if you've been having issues but the things you are complaining about do not apply to single GPU set ups like the example I used in my post. The 390 is a better buy than the 970 unless you want low power/heat/noise over the actual power of the card or the game pack-in pushes you over to Nvidia's side. Anyone that has done extensive testing of both cards would tell you the same thing.
Wait.... should I not have bought the 970? I thought for the price I'm getting decent performance :/ 1080p with anything over 60 is what I aim for.
There is a reason why you hear more QQ about amd drivers than nvidia. Just because nvidia has a bit of egg on their face right now doesn't mean they are all of a sudden just as bad as amd.
The reason for this is actually confirmation bias. I've owned plenty of both cards and both have no shortage of issues, it's just trendy to shit on AMD.
Well that's not normal at all. I've never seen that happen on a myriad of driver versions. Somethings probably fucked up with your OS.I love how it also takes 40 seconds for my sound properties window to open because lol amd random driver problem that is magically fixed as soon as I disable the amd HDMI in device manager.
Well that's not normal at all. I've never seen that happen on a myriad of driver versions. Somethings probably fucked up with your OS.
nope, if you google it you'll see I'm not the only one. It's a crossfire problem. I only found out how to bandaid it because I got so annoyed with it I looked it up. Didn't take me long to find out it was an LOL amd driver problem.
nope, if you google it you'll see I'm not the only one. It's a crossfire problem. I only found out how to bandaid it because I got so annoyed with it I looked it up. Didn't take me long to find out it was an LOL amd driver problem.
I love how it also takes 40 seconds for my sound properties window to open because lol amd random driver problem that is magically fixed as soon as I disable the amd HDMI in device manager.
Yea confirmation bias. When I have 2 people in the same house that run into problems I have to look reality in the face.
Oh I also have the bug where you get the black screen at login on windows 10 when you have crossfire. It's so annoying, I have to wait an extra 30+ seconds to type in my password making my speedy pc not so speedy anymore.
I see guys like you trying to jump on nvidia
Titan 1 actually made sense because it had crazy VRAM for when it came out and worked really well as a value workstation card. Like it was a "budget alternative" to Quadro cards. But they were primarily marketing it to the ultra high end enthusiasts.
Titan 2 and Fury don't have this advantage. Titan still has arseloads of Vram (12gb!) so it being expensive isn't crazy. It's a damn high margin part, but if you're a Saudi prince or Smokey it could still make some sense when you're planning to SLI these puppies and the framebuffer is limited by what each card has (not additive).
Fury is stuck in the worst possible place, the HBM memory that it was banking on being the new hotness isn't quite ready for prime time yet, so only comes in 4GB. And it wasn't so stunning in perf that it outpaced the 6GB 980ti. So they had to price it on par with that, instead of up at 750-1000 which is where they were probably secretly hoping to be able to put it.
If I had an R9 290 and then AMD came out with the R9 390X if I wasn't privy to how this game works I would no doubt think that the R9 390X is better. Since I am privy to the game I would be skeptical. But this chart has taken all the guess work out. I just pull it out and see okay R9 290 and R9 390X on the exact same tier. It's basically the same card. End of deliberations.
This thread and especially the video in the OP is so fucking confusing to me. I don't know much about AMD cards, borderline clueless, but what does "basically the same card" really mean? I think people should be more careful with using "rebranding" and "the same", at least clarify the context and facts.
As I said, I have no clue, but after a quick search I found these differences:
290x vs 390x:
memory 8,192 MB vs 4,096 MB
memory clock speed 6,000 MHz vs 5,000 MHz
clock speed 1,050 MHz vs 1,000 MHz
memory clock speed 1,500 MHz vs 1,250 MHz
TDP 275W vs 300W
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzqsT1nzSkw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYQT8udtuWM
So they are not really "rebranded", and they are not really "the same", not even the performance appear to be the exact same? AMD obviously did some redesign on the internal workings. However, they may have similar type performance in certain scenarios, especially if it's in context with an upgrade and you already have a similar type card.
Why didn't at least the author of the video clarify this?
Also since this is attracting people who are looking to upgrade for cheap, keep this page on hand: http://www.evga.com/Products/ProductList.aspx?type=8
EVGA's B-Stock list is pretty great. You can, right now, buy Geforce 970s there for $254, 960s for $160 (it's rightful price), and 750tis for $80.
The 390X is basically an overclocked 290X, which was also available in an 8GB version. You could buy a factory overclocked 290X with the same specs as the 390X and it would perform identically. They both use the same chipset, just with higher default speeds in the 390X.
Interesting, how did they manage higher clock speeds with a lower tdp on the exact same chipset? Magic ?
The 390X is basically an overclocked 290X, which was also available in an 8GB version. You could buy a factory overclocked 290X with the same specs as the 390X and it would perform identically. They both use the same chipset, just with higher default speeds in the 390X.
While I don't expect to build my PC anytime soon, I do have a 1GB GTX 460. How would that run things at 1440x900? I don't particularly care for the shiniest graphics, so I guess that helps.
I had an R9 290 and I hated my time with it.
It was insanely loud and hot. Really, my better half couldn't sleep upstairs at night when I put in a nightly gaming session on my PC downstairs. I could only game with headphones because of how loud that thing was. How ridiculous is that? And then games like GTA 5 and Assetto Corsa ran like crap on it, with huge stuttering issues and widely fluctuating framerates.
I sold it and got a 970, the card the R9 290 was supposedly almost equal to, and it's a world of a difference; GTA and AC run much much better at higher settings, no stuttering, perfect. I don't have a single complaint about the 970, and I really doubt I'd buy another AMD card, unless I got a chance to test it myself and it were in another league as the R9.
I had an R9 290 and I hated my time with it.
It was insanely loud and hot. Really, my better half couldn't sleep upstairs at night when I put in a nightly gaming session on my PC downstairs. I could only game with headphones because of how loud that thing was. How ridiculous is that? And then games like GTA 5 and Assetto Corsa ran like crap on it, with huge stuttering issues and widely fluctuating framerates.
I sold it and got a 970, the card the R9 290 was supposedly almost equal to, and it's a world of a difference; GTA and AC run much much better at higher settings, no stuttering, perfect. I don't have a single complaint about the 970, and I really doubt I'd buy another AMD card, unless I got a chance to test it myself and it were in another league as the R9.
You're results doesn't surprise me at all.
I tend to think that the only reason why folks buy AMD GPU's is because they think they will get nVidia performance cheaper.
Aftermarket coolers for the R9 200/300 series do wonders. You can get a nice and quiet 390X if you know which brand to go for. Sapphire has a very good reputation but this is just one example.
After I sold the 290, I got a supposedly refurbished Asus R9 290x with twin fans because I snatched it off eBay at a seemingly good price, but it was dead on arrival, so I sent it back and finally got the 970. A 290 plus Rajintek cooler and two fans costs more than a 970, and is not worth it imo.
You're results doesn't surprise me at all.
I tend to think that the only reason why folks buy AMD GPU's is because they think they will get nVidia performance cheaper.
A Sapphire R9 390 would have cost you about as much and they're very quiet, on top of having excellent cooling.
I just bought a new GPU last week and went with a 970. Just because I said the only reasons to go with a 970 over a 390 is power/noise/heat and game pack-ins doesn't mean those things are minor. The 390 just offers more power for the price, if you don't care about those other things it offers more power is all.
Problems with AMD drivers aside. I would say you have very unfortunate luck honestly, I owned an AMD gpu for 6 years without issue but I know how stuff like that can be sometimes, and I would have a similar perspective given the issues you have had.
Though I will admit I have had really annoying W10 issues with my new 970, far far far more than I had in 6 years on AMD. I still think the card is fantastic however.
I don't really consider building a gaming PC because to me spending 700 dollars on a build that'll last me 5 years is not as worthwhile of a decision as buying a $300 console that will last me 5 years (even if you're getting better graphics with the PC). Also I don't like the headache of always wondering how well your computer will run a game before you buy it (yes I know theres websites for that but if it tells you you can run it at minimum settings but not recommended its hard to tell exactly what that means, for example 20 FPS at low or 30 FPS at medium, etc) it also doesn't help that demos are becoming less and less common since that's the only way to really know for sure
After I sold the 290, I got a supposedly refurbished Asus R9 290x with twin fans because I snatched it off eBay at a seemingly good price, but it was dead on arrival, so I sent it back and finally got the 970. A 290 plus Rajintek cooler and two fans costs more than a 970, and is not worth it imo.
Unless you have a low end rig you really don't have to worry about a game running sub-console standards unless you've gone 2-4 years without upgrading
Don't let people obsessing over performance scare you off ... it's a good investment
I'm sorry you had a poor experience but you should of done more research before you bought those 290s. The reference 290 has a very inefficient cooling system with a high chance of throttling and the Asus 290 used a goddamn Nvidia heat sink at first before they revised the design. Any other (aftermarket) 290 would of been better than those two.
Here is some more info on the Asus cooler:
Overclock.net
Tom's Hardware
This post doesn't surprise me at all coming from you. I'm not sure why you are acting like Nvidia is the better choice in all situations. There a ton of factors that go into what card a person chooses. I recently bought a sapphire R9 280 and it has performed excellently within my sff case. Runs very quiet and cool too within the case (idles at 30c and have only seen hit 70C max).
I'm so glad I decided to do some extra research and took my cousins advice to consider an AMD card rather to blindly listen to a bunch of fanboys that pledge allegiance to a company. An R9 280 at $150 brand new W/ Dirt Rally included was a no brainer. I'll likely buy new card in a couple of years when VR is more established, but for now, this was a great buy.
I thought the 970 was comparable to the R9 390. Not the 290?
Have said this for a few years now.
People talking about how long 28nm has gone are missing the point although it doesn't help over a long period.
The shit started with the 7970, the first 28nm card. AMD's previous top end card 6970 launched at around $360, it was competing with the GTX 580 and priced below it and the 580 was also a DP card like Titan GK110 is, the 580 is the GF110, the last true top end card released for a reasonable price.
AMD didn't do a good job in moving to 28nm. We should've had 4870 to 5870 performance jump but all we got was a small bump. 5870 launched at $400 and had huge gains thanks to moving to 40nm.
AMD priced the pathetic 7970 above the old gen 580. $499 was the ceiling price that Nvidia had with its huge DP card the 480 and 580. AMD with their midrange 28nm effort priced it at $550 and people were paying gladly $600-650 despite it being a poor effort. AMD didn't price it like they did with the 5870. 5870 had the performance crown but wasn't priced silly over old gen crap. It actually replaced old crap instead of slotting in front like you expect.
Nvidia were unimpressed with the 7970, so they quickly brought in the midrange card, GK 104, they saw with some GPU boost it could match the 7970 in some benches and beat it in others. 7970 being so poor was further highlighted when they shown huge gains months later in driver updates, that are not typical.
When the 5870 launched, NVidia waited 6 months to launch the 480 and were forced to use the GF110. They usually wait to see what AMD can do. If AMD had done the job right and the 7970 was the expected speed then we would've seen NVidia wait 6 months and bring out GK110 to slightly beat it. NVidia said themselves were expecting 7970 to be much better.
Nvidia had the GK110 to launch later and decided not to destroy the market and price it accordingly with current gen. SInce AMD want to price a midrange card above an old gen 580, then NVidia's actual high end card has to slot in front of that price wise and we start to see cards being slotted ahead instead of replacing. Nvidia had too much of a performance advantage and sadly people ran out an bought 7970s for $650. Nvidia seen an opportunity to release different cards up to a $1000 that wipe the floor with AMD's efforts.
The gains on 28nm from NVidia have been great actually despite being disappointingly long, just look at the OG titan to a titan x. It's the performance advantage NVidia had in 28nm over AMD and AMD pricing their poor efforts too high.
The true successor to my 580 was under the guise of a OG titan, not a GK104 680 but Nvidia could relax and not bother hurrying GK 110 since AMD released the 7970, on par with Nvidia GK 104 midrange.
Anyway, I bought a 580 then bought a GTX 970. I didn't fall into the trap of buying new midrange cards over and over or fall for $700 cards. Perhaps I've been lucky but most of the 28nm run was pure bullshit to me and the 970 is a nice stop gap but still has a caveat. 970 was a blessing after that awful run, cheap and powerful, been a great buy almost a year on. 780ti was perhaps the biggest joke of the 28nm run.
So yes you can dodge most of it. 580 and 970, two cards over a 5 year span and I'm still on my i7 930 which has not give me any problems so far. No need for new rigs all the time if you buy at the right time. there's always new stuff around the corner but with each GPU gen you usually get a big bump, 28nm didn't have a good start so you avoid it.
Should say I've no problem with people buying $1000 cards, that's your income. Just saying the upgrade nonsense can be dodged if you just look at the market.