Seeking Advice for TANE: a GTX 970 or an R9 390

[gisa]

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the wife :hehe but it's been 5 years and it's time for me to upgrade my video card (AMD 6850) as it is seriously outdated and seemingly on it's last legs (some of my locos are starting to look a bit...odd).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

 

[gisa]

Before I forget, yes I know the 480 was recently released and will be available soon and that nVidia will release the 1060? soon. I hope to enjoy trainz more in the summer which means I'd rather not wait for these cards in the meantime (besides, I suppose one could wait forever for the best time to buy a card). Unless the 480 is equivalent/better/price appropriately to the 390, there's no point in waiting. Time is money...

 

[clam1952]

Might be better with a 1060, just released supposedly better than a GTX980 and considerably cheaper should be around the cost of a 970 and is a lot less power hungry.

Edit: GTX1060 In stock at some UK suppliers and a lot less cost than a GTX970.

 

[johnwhelan]

TANE is almost certainly optimised for nVidia cards, the GTX 1060 is just about out. Traditionally I've favoured AMD but I switched about a year ago to a GTX980. Depending on the benchmark a GTX 1060 is very close to a GTX980. I'd wait a week or two before buying as the prices will almost certainly drop and they are already cheaper than a GTX 970 on newegg.ca even if they are out of stock. Add in the savings on hydro and its the cheapest option besides being the fastest. Oh most come with 6 gigs of memory and ASUS cheapest isn't bad.

Cheerio John

 

[clam1952]

They dropped on one UK site I looked at by about £30 already!

 

[johnwhelan]

They dropped on one UK site I looked at by about £30 already!

Yes but us poor Canadians couldn't afford UK prices anyway.

Cheerio John

 

[wilts747]

While I have no knowledge of the Radeon R9 390 card I do run that particular Asus GeForce card and am very pleased with it. Strix cooling works very well and in the likes of Surveyor the fans seldom kick in making the card effectively silent, driving a session again the card is very quiet and it would take a good ear to distinguish any additional GPU fan noise from that of the CPU fans increasing speed as the CPU is loaded.

You have already done a comprehensive comparison, now perhaps you should score individual parameter for each cards out of 10 on its importance to you then divide the total score for each card by the number of parameters being considered to provide a more quantifiable assessment. If there still isn't a clear preference there is a lot to support the contention of mating nVidia with Intel and Radion with AMD processors. Peter

 

[PC_Ace]

Forget both the Radeon R9-390 and GTX 970 - the new NVidia GTX 1060 is out now and offers GTX-980 performance levels for ~US$249. Superb graphics capabilities, coupled with incredible low-power draw and thermal efficiency. 6Gb of DDR5 VRAM and boost speeds up to more than 2Ghz.
If you're still AMD-inclined/ loyal, then the Polaris-based RX-480 is a R9-390 beater for ~US$200 and also offers many other improvements over earlier AMD GPU generations.
Both of these cards will run T:ANE at higher performance settings levels than the cards you mentioned in the opening post.

 

[gisa]

Might be better with a 1060, just released supposedly better than a GTX980 and considerably cheaper should be around the cost of a 970 and is a lot less power hungry.

Edit: GTX1060 In stock at some UK suppliers and a lot less cost than a GTX970.

Not sure how I missed the 1060. I did some research and it looks like it's a better deal than either the GTX 960 / R9 390. I feel stupid for not knowing that but I guess in the video card business, things change quickly and the goal is to separate the consumer from their money. Ignorance sells?

Thank you for sharing your knowledge with me and helping to prevent me from making a mistake.

TANE is almost certainly optimised for nVidia cards, the GTX 1060 is just about out. Traditionally I've favoured AMD but I switched about a year ago to a GTX980. Depending on the benchmark a GTX 1060 is very close to a GTX980. I'd wait a week or two before buying as the prices will almost certainly drop and they are already cheaper than a GTX 970 on newegg.ca even if they are out of stock. Add in the savings on hydro and its the cheapest option besides being the fastest. Oh most come with 6 gigs of memory and ASUS cheapest isn't bad.

Cheerio John

Well put John. I hate to say it, but as a fellow Canuck (in Ontario) you know how much we pay for electricity and this is a serious consideration for me. That and the heat given off is also a factor (My 'gaming room' on the 2nd floor, facing west, is usually the hottest in the house). Even with the A/C on sometimes, it still gets warm. I suppose the extra heat is something I'll have to get used to because I can't see how a 6850 would make more heat than a 1060.

Trainz is the most demanding game I'd use my card for and if it is optimized for nVidia, then that is also a point in their favour. I think 6 GB will suit my needs fine as well.

Yes but us poor Canadians couldn't afford UK prices anyway.

Cheerio John

Amen. I suppose all our overseas friends dumping their money into housing is the only thing keeping our dollar where it is, as it is.

Thanks for your advice as well wilts747. Seems like the 1060 is a bit better, so I might as well go with that (esp. if it is the same price or near in price).

 

[gisa]

Forget both the Radeon R9-390 and GTX 970 - the new NVidia GTX 1060 is out now and offers GTX-980 performance levels for ~US$249. Superb graphics capabilities, coupled with incredible low-power draw and thermal efficiency. 6Gb of DDR5 VRAM and boost speeds up to more than 2Ghz.
If you're still AMD-inclined/ loyal, then the Polaris-based RX-480 is a R9-390 beater for ~US$200 and also offers many other improvements over earlier AMD GPU generations.
Both of these cards will run T:ANE at higher performance settings levels than the cards you mentioned in the opening post.

We posted at the same time! I am learning towards the 1060 now. It's got all I'd like and will do better than I expected.

As for AMD, I do like to root for the little guy but trainz going with nVidia holds a lot of weight. I hear that the 480s here are hard to find, and are hence more expensive than they should be? I'll take a look around and do some more research as these are both relatively new cards.

I still remember the jump in performance I noticed when I got the 6850. I can't begin to anticipate what either the 1060 or 480 will bring!

 

[johnwhelan]

Not sure how I missed the 1060. I did some research and it looks like it's a better deal than either the GTX 960 / R9 390. I feel stupid for not knowing that but I guess in the video card business, things change quickly and the goal is to separate the consumer from their money. Ignorance sells?

It was more or less released today.

Cheerio John

 

[gisa]

It was more or less released today.

Cheerio John

That explains it. I've been waiting since January for a chance to upgrade and this looks like pretty soon will be a good time to do so. I never aim for the top tier cards for obvious reasons and even if I won the lottery, I doubt my 'bank' would let me justify the thousands that could be spent there. Surprised the other cards I posted haven't dropped considerably yet.

I should rename the title of my thread to GTX 1060 vs. RX 480. Even though they are not in stock here yet, I'm noticing a noticeable price difference between the two. Because they are so new, there are few reliable resources (i.e. passmark) on them and I haven't kept up with what they can do. I did noticed that the 480 comes in a 4GB or 8GB version...I am assuming that the 8GB be more equivalent to the 1060 then?

The only other thing making me pause is that the 480 seems ready for dx12, whereas the 1060 may not do so well there in the future. Thoughts?

Gisa

 

[PC_Ace]

Yup, the GTX 1060 outperforms the RX 480 in most performance tests except for a couple of DirectX 12 games that shows the current superiority of AMD's engineering team for low-level hardware access on DX12 titles.
That will probably diminish as NVidia improves and tweaks their drivers to better suit DX12 operations.

There are a number of other reasons why (as an AMD owner at present looking to upgrade) I am leaning towards the Green Team these days.
1. They are showing more efficiency than ever before and with unprecedented output performance levels per watt of input.
2. New features such as HDR and hi-res display support, Ansel, simultaneous multi-projection and Fast-sync.
3. Better asynchronous computing capabilities than seen before in NVidia cards (AMD still probably have the edge in this department.)
4. Better thermal performance all round.

Best to wait, however for the feeding frenzy to pass and then head in to pick off the bargain, 3rd party variant that best matches your price budget.
The partner cards generally offer better cooling and overclocking capabilities - and in the case of the AMD RX 480, better power management.

 

[pdkoester]

I say pull the trigger for a 1060.

 

[gisa]

Well, after reading everyone's advice, I think it is safe to say that I'm leaning towards the 1060. Thanks again for all your input everyone! Gisa