Seeking Advice for TANE: a GTX 1060 or an RX 480?
Hi All,
I had to pull some strings with financing (a.k.a. the wife :hehe
but it's been 5 years and it's time for me to upgrade my video card (AMD 6850) as it is seriously outdated and seemingly on it's last legs (some of my locos are starting to look a bit...odd). I've got a set budget (about $400 CAD) and I'm looking for some advice on which card to buy. It's sad that, for this amount, I'll be getting something that isn't mid-line, but my rant aside...based on my budget, I've settled on either the GTX 970 or the R9 390. I've read several reviews on both cards and I'm honestly deadlocked on which to get. I was hoping for some advice from some folks here who either run one card, the other, or both?
As far as I can see (with two brand cards I'm thinking of):
GIGABYTE Radeon R9 390 G1 1025MHZ 8GB 6.0GHZ GDDR5 DVI HDMI 3xDisplayPort PCI-E Video Card
or
ASUS GeForce GTX 970 Strix OC 1253MHZ 4GB 7.0GHZ GDDR5 2XDVI HDMI DisplayPort PCI-E Video Card
I compared them on gpuboss - see link here: http://gpuboss.com/gpus/Radeon-R9-390-vs-GeForce-GTX-970 ):
GTX 970 Pros:
- almost guaranteed to work better in Trainz (I have heard and read trainz is optimized for nVidia stuff)
- better passmark score
- better TDP and energy usage (unfortunately, electricity is expensive where I live and I predict that the heat the 390 will pump out will turn my room into a summer furnace!)
- higher clock rate (1253 vs 1050)
- Higher effective memory clock speed (7.0 GHZ vs 6.0 GHZ)
- Better particle simulation score
- Apparently, pretty quiet, even under load
- If I ever get brave enough and try overclocking, I might be able to squeeze a bit more out of this card later?
Cons:
- Still overpriced (well, that's nVidia...)
- really only 3.5 GB on the card (the other 0.5 runs much slower apparently)
- not optimized for dx12? or so I've read?
R9 390 Pros:
- slightly cheaper
- MUCH more memory (4GB more!)
- Better floating-point performance
- More shading units
- More texture mapping units
- Slightly more render output processors
- Slightly wider memory bus
- Better for DX 12 (eventually, trainz will move to that right?)
Cons:
- Uses more electricity/pumps out more heat (my case has ample fans and should be able to pump out the heat)
- Not optimized, per se, for trainz
- many reviews say it's loud
- not that I plan on overclocking but apparently this is harder to do with this card
I have read many reviews (from many fanboys lol) and I suppose you could consider myself more towards the AMD camp (since money doesn't grow on trees). I've owned both nVidia and AMD cards but I am trying to get the best bang for my buck and for the future, since I won't likely get another card for 3-4 years after this one.
Thoughts, opinions, advice? Would love to hear some relevant advice from both 970 and 390 owners...
Gisa
Hi All,
I had to pull some strings with financing (a.k.a. the wife :hehe

As far as I can see (with two brand cards I'm thinking of):
GIGABYTE Radeon R9 390 G1 1025MHZ 8GB 6.0GHZ GDDR5 DVI HDMI 3xDisplayPort PCI-E Video Card
or
ASUS GeForce GTX 970 Strix OC 1253MHZ 4GB 7.0GHZ GDDR5 2XDVI HDMI DisplayPort PCI-E Video Card
I compared them on gpuboss - see link here: http://gpuboss.com/gpus/Radeon-R9-390-vs-GeForce-GTX-970 ):
GTX 970 Pros:
- almost guaranteed to work better in Trainz (I have heard and read trainz is optimized for nVidia stuff)
- better passmark score
- better TDP and energy usage (unfortunately, electricity is expensive where I live and I predict that the heat the 390 will pump out will turn my room into a summer furnace!)
- higher clock rate (1253 vs 1050)
- Higher effective memory clock speed (7.0 GHZ vs 6.0 GHZ)
- Better particle simulation score
- Apparently, pretty quiet, even under load
- If I ever get brave enough and try overclocking, I might be able to squeeze a bit more out of this card later?
Cons:
- Still overpriced (well, that's nVidia...)
- really only 3.5 GB on the card (the other 0.5 runs much slower apparently)
- not optimized for dx12? or so I've read?
R9 390 Pros:
- slightly cheaper
- MUCH more memory (4GB more!)
- Better floating-point performance
- More shading units
- More texture mapping units
- Slightly more render output processors
- Slightly wider memory bus
- Better for DX 12 (eventually, trainz will move to that right?)
Cons:
- Uses more electricity/pumps out more heat (my case has ample fans and should be able to pump out the heat)
- Not optimized, per se, for trainz
- many reviews say it's loud
- not that I plan on overclocking but apparently this is harder to do with this card
I have read many reviews (from many fanboys lol) and I suppose you could consider myself more towards the AMD camp (since money doesn't grow on trees). I've owned both nVidia and AMD cards but I am trying to get the best bang for my buck and for the future, since I won't likely get another card for 3-4 years after this one.
Thoughts, opinions, advice? Would love to hear some relevant advice from both 970 and 390 owners...
Gisa
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