R9 380X or R9 390X

rojoArcueid

As the title says, which one is a better deal? This is all i need to finish my computer that i expect to not upgrade again for at least 5-6 more years unless something breaks.

380X looks good for $220,

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202183&cm_re=radeon_r9_380x-_-14-202-183-_-Product

but i found one particular 390X for $390 although i noticed this one says its a UEFI card. I checked my bios and it says both legacy+uefi so it should be fine.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202185&cm_re=r9_390x-_-14-202-185-_-Product

Now here is my dilemma... 

- If i get the 380X, then the new cards come out and the 390X drops significantly in price, i'll feel i wasted money on a slower card.
- If i get the 390X, then the new cards come out and only the 380X drops significantly in price, i'll feel ripped off.

I'm a very indecisive person and i only buy hardware en i know it will last me a very long time and is really worth the money. 
I'm still using my old Radeon HD 6950 1GB i bought in 2010. I need to change that.


My current system:
- Windows 10 (64-bit)
- XFX-650W-3XS power supply (80 plus bronze)
- Z97 PC Mate mobo
- 8GB RAM
- i5 4690 (3.5GHZ)
- hyper evo 212 cooler (haven't installed it, running stock cooler while waiting for a new hard drive and gpu to install everything in one go... me being lazy)
- 250GB samsung 850 evo SSD (will get a 500GB when i find a good offer to dual boot windows and linux)


I appreciate the input. One thing to notice, even if the new cards come out, i would still get one of these too at a lower price. I don't plan to any higher than a 390X any time soon because that would be too expensive for me.

Thanks.

SomethingUnusual

Up to you really. Both cards are good for their cost. 

The 390x would have more longevity and would guarantee higher resolutions as the V-RAM requirement for 4k is pretty high and 8gb will cover it at good frame rates. This would be where the 380x lacks as it only has 4gb of V-RAM. At 1080 resolutions you won't see any difference. This is a "futureproofing" current standards you will see the exact same performance at 4k. 

Like I said, up to you really and what type of monitor you are using or upgrading to in the not too distant future.

rojoArcueid

I forgot to mention i game at 1080p and that will not change for as long as my current monitor is working fine. 

rpmcmurphy

Any reason for not middle-roading it and getting the R9 390?

SomethingUnusual

rpmcmurphy said:

Any reason for not middle-roading it and getting the R9 390?

Not a bad suggestion. But it's not exactly middle road in price, mind as well spend the extra 20 on the X. 

rojoArcueid

SomethingUnusual said:

rpmcmurphy said:

Any reason for not middle-roading it and getting the R9 390?

Not a bad suggestion. But it's not exactly middle road in price, mind as well spend the extra 20 on the X. 

exactly. I skipped the 390 because the 390x i posted is close in price. Also i noticed Newegg seem to be bundling the better 390  brands they have in stock with other components recently and i only want the card.

Panther2103

rojoArcueid said:

SomethingUnusual said:

rpmcmurphy said:

Any reason for not middle-roading it and getting the R9 390?

Not a bad suggestion. But it's not exactly middle road in price, mind as well spend the extra 20 on the X. 

exactly. I skipped the 390 because the 390x i posted is close in price. Also i noticed Newegg seem to be bundling the better 390  brands they have in stock with other components recently and i only want the card.

I have the 390x and I love it. It's running everything great, and the temps aren't awful. 

rojoArcueid

t0nyd said:

Wait for deals. I got  an msi r9 390 for 280$. If you don't want to wait a 280x or 380x will do you just fine at 1080p. Imo 390 and greater are for 1440p or higher res.

Yeah i missed that $280 deal for the r9 390 during black friday because i needed a tv and only had enough money to one item. Should have bought the 390 lol.... but oh well, Im a little inclined towards the 380x only because of the price.

Bastor

I'd recommend the R9 390 - best performance per buck card. You won't be breaking the bank getting it and it's VR ready, has nice 1440p performance and great 1080p performance - let's face it if you wait for AMD's ne launch they might slash prices a bit.

But then why not wait for nVidia's next launch? And then black friday? Postponing an update to wait for the next generation usually takes a few generations/launches...I would not recommend.

But yeah if you go with a r9 390 or r9 390x - go for a sapphire or msi one. Sapphire have done a really good job with the 390s - incredibly quite, both have backplates to cool the vram, cards are VERY cold compared to my previous 7900 series cards and they are built like a tank.

Avoid Gigabytes and if you can't get sapphire - go for MSI.

But yeah - waiting for the next generation would just lead to more waiting. Honestly if you have the money - buy a 390 or 380x - I don't think the 390x is worth it too much.


Cheers and best of luck.

rojoArcueid

Amazon and Newegg seem to be increasing the prices on the R9 390 (MSI and Sapphire) for some reason. They used to be priced in the low $300's and now they are getting into the $400's....

They probably want me to go for the cheaper 380X instead.

GladDog

I have a rule I have followed for 20 years.other than one lame experiment with SLI.  Never ever spend more than $300 on a video card.  If you spend a lot more, you only add a year or two to the longevity.  And then save the extra.  In 3 years you can use that extra with a little personal spending cash to buy another video card that will put the over $300 card to shame.  And a $300 video card, whether from AMD or nVidia will do everything you want it to very, very well.

Usually I wait for super deals and spend a lot closer to $200.  And the $220 card I bought 4 years ago is running ESO at max graphics without a single problem.  It ran BDO at max graphics as well during the beta.  Both were at 1080p, btw.

If I decide to invest in VR (probably, but I will wait for the price to drop a bit) I will need to upgrade my video card, but until then I am very happy with my AMD Radeon HD 7870, equivalent to an R9-270, but only DX11 capable.

Quizzical

I'll throw out the GeForce GTX 970 as an intermediate option to consider:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500362

People mentioned the Radeon R9 390, and a couple months ago, it was a good value.  Not so much today, as it's too much more expensive than the GTX 970 and not cheaper than the 390X by a large enough margin.

Out of those three cards, what to get is really just a question of what you're willing to pay.  Any of them would be worthy upgrades from your current card and fit nicely with the rest of your current rig.

rojoArcueid

Quizzical said:

I'll throw out the GeForce GTX 970 as an intermediate option to consider:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500362

People mentioned the Radeon R9 390, and a couple months ago, it was a good value.  Not so much today, as it's too much more expensive than the GTX 970 and not cheaper than the 390X by a large enough margin.

Out of those three cards, what to get is really just a question of what you're willing to pay.  Any of them would be worthy upgrades from your current card and fit nicely with the rest of your current rig.

The price in that 970 is very tempting, but i'm trying to avoid the 3.5GB debacle with that particular Nvidia card. While I really want the performance gain of something like the 390X, the price tag on the 380X is really calling my name right now. Like you said, the 390 right now is not really appealing in price, which makes it more difficult to decide between the cheaper one or the more expensive one.

Malabooga

If your 6950 still works you might hold off buying a GPU because new generation GPUs are just around the corner and you might get 390x performance for quite a bit cheaper very soon (along with some other perks). Dont really see the reason to buy previous generation GPU unless its some great deal (and those might happen too)

Quizzical

Malabooga said:

If your 6950 still works you might hold off buying a GPU because new generation GPUs are just around the corner and you might get 390x performance for quite cheaper very soon (along with some other perks)

It's hardly a given that the launch of the initial Pascal and Polaris cards will drop prices quickly.  It wouldn't be surprising at all if the Fury X and Titan X are still the top of the line at the end of 2016.  The next generation should drop power consumption, and will eventually be cheaper for the same level of performance.  But it's not automatic that the price drop will happen soon after launch.

Malabooga

300$ for 390/390x performance at launch is quite realistic (followed by a drop to 250 over time) That would be R9 480.

And in the meantime, while you wait, you might keep an eye on 380x and stumble on some nice deal.

Well, thats my advice anyway

Kilrane

rojoArcueid said:

The price in that 970 is very tempting, but i'm trying to avoid the 3.5GB debacle with that particular Nvidia card. While I really want the performance gain of something like the 390X, the price tag on the 380X is really calling my name right now. Like you said, the 390 right now is not really appealing in price, which makes it more difficult to decide between the cheaper one or the more expensive one.

FWIW, the whole 3.5GB debacle was totally overblown.  I have a 970 and I play several big name titles that push my memory usage close to 4GB with no noticeable issues (Grand Theft Auto V, Witcher 3, Dying Light, etc...).  I have a decent overclock on my GPU using PrecisionX, so I've used the OSD monitor when I toy around with the settings for a specific game.

I would also probably pony up and get a 390x if I were in your shoes at the moment.

Quizzical

I'd also like to toss out there, look what you can get a Fury for:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125835

I'm not saying you should.  But $470 is down considerably from the launch price, and at that price, the GeForce GTX 980 is a completely irrelevant card.

rojoArcueid

One thing i should also consider (totally forgot about that) is that whatever video card i end up getting will have an additional sales tax added to it because Newegg has a physical warehouse here in New Jersey. That's bout $24 extra dollars for something like a video card priced at around $300 dollars.

EDIT: The 380x that cost $220 has an extra $15.40 in sales tax.

Taking that into account i'll either have to go for the 380x or wait for a bigger price drop.

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GladDog

I think you will be very pleased with that 380X.  The price is very good, and even if you aren't planning on getting an Occulus Rift, that is one of only about a half dozen cards currently on sale that can support it.

Gdemami

R9 380(no "X") or GTX 970....