Hello everyone, recently my GPU died (XFX R9 270X) which I've had for about three and a half years. A little over a year ago I was upgrading my PC with a new CPU and MOBO and I was recommended the R9 390 if I ever end up getting a different card. Specs: Rosewill Challenger U3 I5 4460 H97-Plus mobo EVGA 600B PSU 8GB GDDR3 RAM Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo I've had my sights on the R9 390 since I first started researching it. However, I have a few questions. What's the best brand to go for on the 390? I've been looking at XFX since they've served well in the past, but I've also heard Gigabyte and Powercolor make good cards. If I were to get an XFX R9 390 for example, would it be worth forking over the extra cash for the 390X? Obviously I'll have to get a new PSU and I'm wondering if the EVGA 750W G2 would suffice? (Warning, noob question) I see that it says that the R9 390 has GDDR5 memory but I have GDDR3 on my motherboard... does this matter at all or do I need to get a GPU with the same type of RAM as my mobo? Final question. Is there another card that anyone could recommend to me (just to see what's out there). Thanks.
you dont have GDDR3 on your motherboard, you have DDR3. GDDR is graphics card exclusive (technicalities asides). And no the GPU vram type does not have to match the system ram type on the motherboard. 390 is an outdated card not particularly recommended unless you get one at bargain price. AMD current offerings are RX480 for 1080p gaming, with vega on the way to rival NVidias GTX1080 though not out yet. NVidia currently have the GTX1060 as the 1080p card, 1070 as the 1440p card and 1080 for 4K.
Ah, I see. The RX480 seems to be a lot more bang for your buck than the 390. Would you expect similar frame rates from the 480 as from the 390 or a little less?
You will get about 10% more on the RX 480 than you would with an R9 390, the 480 is pretty much the same performance wise as an R9 390x.
I knew that the 390 had some issues with the drivers, so how good are the drivers on the 480? Also how big of PSU would you recommend.
I've never had a problem with the drivers on my 390 as long as I've owned it. The RX 480 has a slightly more advanced control panel than it. Overall the AMD drivers in general have got really good in the last year or so. 500 watts is the minimum for the RX 480 so something like a 650w would be more than enough for any future upgrades too.
That's great to hear. I'm really interested in the XFX RX480, but what's the difference of all these different versions. I'm assuming the 1338Mhz Black Edition is the best? https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150774&cm_re=rx480-_-14-150-774-_-Product
Yeah it probably has a slightly better over clock and by the looks of it a slightly different cooler, for the little difference it will make its really up to how much you have to spend and if the extra few dollars is something you can cover. You should also consider the R9 Fury at that price as it is a good 5-10% faster than the 480 and around the same price, however it does have a bit higher power usage and in turn heat output if that's something you're weary of but will still be fine with a 600w or greater PSU.
The "XFX RX 480 GTR Black-Edition" have quite a lot of very high overclocking reports, way better temps and power usage than any out of RX 480s. It's the same model JayzTwoCents made video about: And for RX 480 you don't have to change that PSU - actually it's more than enough for that GPU+CPU combo, as it have very strong 12V support ( http://www.evga.com/products/product.aspx?pn=100-B1-0600-KR ). If I'd have to suggest you choice - get that XFX RX 480 GTR Black-Edition, and oveclock it - you won't regret it.
Considering the current sale on Newegg, I'll definitely seriously consider the R9 Fury. In your opinion, what would you choose if you were in my position? Also the RX480 has a larger memory and higher core clock than the R9 Fury. Basically what I'm asking is how does the R9 achieve better framrates. --- Post updated --- Thanks for sharing that video. The sale on the R9 Fury ends tonight so if I don't end up getting a card by tonight it will probably end up being the 480
I would go with the fury for sure, its just a faster card overall. The larger memory is nice but 4GB is still enough for pretty much all the games you will ever play at 1080p at least. While the clock speed isnt as high its a much more high end card and was last years flagship AMD card so has more shader cores, compute units etc that make it faster in games by 5-10 FPS at least.
I was just about to pull the trigger on the Fury and then I checked the room I have in my case: (Sorry for the hideous cable management, planning on fixing that when I install the new GPU) (Sorry for the hideous cable management, planning on fixing that when I install the new GPU) My previous 270x was 10.28" long to be exact. The Fury is about 12" long and as you can see I run out of room at around eleven and a half. Also, a tighter space like that is obviously not the best for a hotter card like the Fury. That pretty much leaves me with the RX480 which is 11" unless you have some suggestions to get the Fury to fit? I don't feel like getting a whole new case just to get a card to fit that gets a slightly better framerate.
Ah, well in that case unless you can remove the hard drive cages, as 6677 says then you are going to have to stick to the RX 480 then.
Well the cage is riveted. Any ideas on how to remove them without hurting anything? I have a dremel and can probably find a small drill laying around
Update: I got the hard drive cage removed even though it was a bitch. Going to get the R9 Fury, I'll tell you guys what I think when I get it up and running!
Good news! The card came in today which was surprisingly quick considering I ordered it on Wednesday. All hooked up and runs fantastic! A little bit cramped in the case, but I'll probably end up getting a newer one anyway. Thanks everyone!
