Upgrading a GTX 670

[SleepyBear92]

Hi guys, my system specs are as follows:

CPU: Intel Core i5 3550
RAM: 8gb RAM (2x 4gb)
GPU: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 670 OC 2GB
PSU: Antec HCG 750m
Motherboard: ASRock H77M Motherboard

I am looking to upgrade my GTX 670 to perhaps a R9 390 or a GTX 970, something that is around the AU $500 range. Would these video cards be compatible with the rest of my system? Which one would you recommend? I have a 1080p monitor and don't plan on upgrading anytime soon.

Thanks in advance!

 

[ShintaiDK]

Both is fine.

The GTX970 will use ~100W less tho.

 

[SleepyBear92]

Would there be any bottlenecking with my CPU and any of these cards?

 

[ShintaiDK]

Not really no.

With a GPU upgrade you should be set for the next 2-3 years.

 

[FearfulSPARTAN]

Gtx 970 is good, uses less power, r9 390 is a bit faster in most games and has more ram but consumes considerably more power, both are good cant really go wrong with either.

 

[RussianSensation]

I am looking to upgrade my GTX 670 to perhaps a R9 390 or a GTX 970, something that is around the AU $500 range. Would these video cards be compatible with the rest of my system? Which one would you recommend? I have a 1080p monitor and don't plan on upgrading anytime soon.

Thanks in advance!

If you do not mind, I'd look in the used market for an after-market R9 290/290X cards as that's an unbeatable value, especially if you get a solid one like Sapphire Tri-X or Vapor-X version.

Between R9 390 and 970, 390 is faster in both stock and overclocked scenarios against the 970. On top of that 390 has more VRAM as a bonus, has more raw GPU horsepower and so far has shown superior DX12 performance in 2/2 DX12 benchmarks so far, which makes it a slightly safer bet for next gen DX12 games.

Ashes of Singularity - 390 beats 970 by 15-16%.

In Fable Legends, R9 290X ~ 390 beats 970 by 13%.

Also, even though you are playing at 1080P, future games will be more demanding and 390 beats 970 at 1440P which means it has more raw horsepower for future games OR should you decide to turn on MSAA/SSAA/VSR in older games on 1080P.

The main reasons to get a 970 is if you want NV specific features like PhysX or TXAA or specifically play games that favour NV such as World of Warcraft and Project CARS.

The power usage difference between an i5/i7 system with a GTX970 and 390 is nowhere near 100W difference as the previous poster alluded:
http://www.techspot.com/review/1019-radeon-r9-390x-390-380/page7.html
https://tpucdn.com/reviews/Powercolor/R9_390_PCS_Plus/images/power_peak.gif

Personally, I would consider a used after-market 290/R9 290X instead as the image of those cards is very tarnished so it should be pretty easy to upgrade on the cheap after reselling our 670.

In summary,

390 has more GPU horsepower, bonus VRAM, better DX12 support, better 1440P performance and more grunt for MSAA/SSAA/VSR at 1080P. The 970 uses less power and has some unique NV specific features like PhysX or TXAA.

 

[SleepyBear92]

Thanks for the replies. I guess I'll go with the R9 390 considering it is a bit faster and I have a PSU to support it. Any particular cards you would recommend?

These are the prices I am getting. These are AUD so they are a bit more expensive than USD.

 

[RussianSensation]

Between those two, pick the Sapphire Nitro if you want a cooler and quieter card.

Pick the Gigabyte if you want 1 year longer warranty (Gigabyte usually has 3 vs. 2 for Sapphire).

 

[SleepyBear92]

Thanks again guys. I was just about to purchase the R9 390 but was wondering if my current motherboard or CPU were OK or would you recommend they be upgraded as well?

Motherboard: AS ROCK H77M
CPU: Intel Core i5 3550

Cheers.

 

[Arachnotronic]

Thanks again guys. I was just about to purchase the R9 390 but was wondering if my current motherboard or CPU were OK or would you recommend they be upgraded as well?

Motherboard: AS ROCK H77M
CPU: Intel Core i5 3550

Cheers.

IMHO, they're just fine.

 

[AtenRa]

Thanks again guys. I was just about to purchase the R9 390 but was wondering if my current motherboard or CPU were OK or would you recommend they be upgraded as well?

Motherboard: AS ROCK H77M
CPU: Intel Core i5 3550

Cheers.

No need to upgrade the CPU for now.

 

[RussianSensation]

Thanks again guys. I was just about to purchase the R9 390 but was wondering if my current motherboard or CPU were OK or would you recommend they be upgraded as well?

Motherboard: AS ROCK H77M
CPU: Intel Core i5 3550

Cheers.

No need to upgrade the CPU. Either the 970 or the 390 are a good match for your CPU. In all honesty you can probably get away with 1 more GPU upgrade that's 2X faster than the 390/970 before you would benefit strongly from a faster CPU. If you have spare GPU horsepower, just crank MSAA/AA/VSR/super-sampling.

 

[SleepyBear92]

Hi guys,

The Sapphire R9 390 (AU $489) is out of stock unfortunately. The cards in stock are:

Asus 8GB R9 390 STRIX OC - AU $523 (http://www.msy.com.au/new-products/...aming-8gb-r9-390-strix-oc-pci-e-vga-card.html)

Asus 8GB R9 390X - AU $589 (http://www.msy.com.au/new-products/15938--asus-r9390x-dc2-8gd5-8gb-r9-390x-pci-e-vga-card.html)

I could possibly get the MSI or Gigabyte R9 390 around AU $520 but that will be a long drive to another store which I don't mind if they're worth it. Thanks again!

 

[.vodka]

The Asus 390s tend to run hot under load (85-87°C) due to a less than optimal heatsink design. If I were you I'd make the drive for 10-15°C less load temperatures.

 

[RussianSensation]

I could possibly get the MSI or Gigabyte R9 390 around AU $520 but that will be a long drive to another store which I don't mind if they're worth it. Thanks again!

I'd get the MSI Gaming. How much is the GTX970 though, Asus Strix, MSI Gaming, Zotac extreme models?

Also, what specific games you are playing on the 670 that are giving you trouble? If you waited this long to upgrade, have you considered waiting until Q2 2016 and grabbing a 16nm HBM2 8GB card?

 

[SleepyBear92]

I'd get the MSI Gaming. How much is the GTX970 though, Asus Strix, MSI Gaming, Zotac extreme models?

Also, what specific games you are playing on the 670 that are giving you trouble? If you waited this long to upgrade, have you considered waiting until Q2 2016 and grabbing a 16nm HBM2 8GB card?

I called them up again to confirm their stock. They have the Gigabyte and ASUS 390 and 390x models in their main store. They may possibly have limited stock of the Sapphire R9 390 in another store. They definitely don't have the MSI Gaming model.
My other consideration was whether the Sapphire 390 will fit in my Antec 300 two case. The Antec website says the case can support a 318mm card while the Sapphire card is 308mm so I'm not sure if thats cutting it too close.
What about the Gigabyte R9 390? Does that run too hot as well?

The GTX 970 in stock are:
Gigabyte N970-G1-GAMING (AU $549)
Asus STRIX-GTX970 ($509)

 

[Silverforce11]

Prices are really bad for AUS market now, exchange rate got neutered.

Suggest grab a second hand 290/X or 970, it will last awhile, tie you over til real next-gen arrives at 16nm.

 

[SleepyBear92]

Prices are really bad for AUS market now, exchange rate got neutered.

Suggest grab a second hand 290/X or 970, it will last awhile, tie you over til real next-gen arrives at 16nm.

That's true however the 970s are generally a bit more expensive than the 390s at the moment. Would you still say go with the 970?

 

[Silverforce11]

I wouldn't get the 390/X or 970 new with those prices. I recently got a new Asus R290X for ~$400, 25% less than 390.

Performance at stock is a bit faster than 970. Unless you can't find any, it's silly to pay $550 for that performance level. Seems wasteful to pay so much this late in 28nm gen when heaps better stuff is around the corner.

 

[Head1985]

No need to upgrade the CPU. Either the 970 or the 390 are a good match for your CPU. In all honesty you can probably get away with 1 more GPU upgrade that's 2X faster than the 390/970 before you would benefit strongly from a faster CPU. If you have spare GPU horsepower, just crank MSAA/AA/VSR/super-sampling.

Ehm nope.His cpu will bottleneck him.
http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=37684080&postcount=4726

 

[crisium]

That's not a bottleneck. That's a demonstration of marginally faster CPU IPS.

 

[RussianSensation]

Ehm nope.His cpu will bottleneck him.
http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=37684080&postcount=4726

All games are always CPU+GPU limited, the question is how much and does it matter.

Does the OP have a 120-144Hz 1080P monitor? Plans to play with 0XMSAA?

That's reflect on your own data.

Only 2 / 8 tests (Crysis 3 and Skyrim+Mods) show that the 2500K had trouble approaching 60 fps.

Now imagine taking a GTX970/390/290X and swapping it down for a GTX960/380 videocard. The performance hit is going to be massive. In other words, while the i7 6700K OC does provide better performance than 2500K, the performance hit of going down a tier in GPU horsepower will result in a far more detrimental hit on performance.

Obviously the minimums are also higher on the 6700K OC but you gotta take into account how much slower the 380/960 cards are vs. the 970/390.

So while his CPU will limit his GPU no doubt, the greater bottleneck would still be in the GPU if we are talking about i5 3550 + GTX960/380 vs. 290/390/970.

Also, there are plenty of games where his CPU will be sufficient for great perfomrance but a lower tier card like a 960/380 will hold him back more:

If we are going to use the argument of low minimum frames in games that are heavily CPU-dependent (Skyrim, Crysis 3), it's only fair then to discuss GPU-limited games where lower-tier 960 card bombs in minimums against a 390/290X/970 style card.

but 2500K stock is almost at 60 fps

or

So I agree that you are right in correcting me that the CPU won't bottleneck the 970/390, it will and thanks for pointing that out with data. I still would recommend a 970/390/290/290X level card for the OP though.

 

[RussianSensation]

That's true however the 970s are generally a bit more expensive than the 390s at the moment. Would you still say go with the 970?

What games do you actually play? Can you list 3-5 games you require more performance from your existing GTX670? For example, GTA V, The Witcher 3, BF4? Are you unhappy with the perfomrance of the 670 or really need extra GPU power? The choice between 970 and 390 can become easier depending on the performance of the games you actually play.

Take 10 min to browse this review by looking on a game-by-game basis instead of the averages. Write down which games you play perform faster on the 390/970 and count how many of those games are faster on the 390 vs. the 970 out of the entire list.

Would you be open to buying a used after-market 290/290X as Silverforce suggested? That could be a good deal given how expensive the 390/970 cards are in Australia at the moment.

 

[Head1985]

Most websites dont know how test cpus.They test it in GPU demanded scenes.Its useless those results.
I tested it cpu demanding/bottleneck scenes.

Btw dont look only at fraps fps.Fraps is crap.Look at frametimes and comparable Fps.With better Cpu there is much less stuttering and better gameplay/comparable Fps.

I also tested it with 2500k at 4.5Ghz.That cpu is much better than 3550 stock

 

[SleepyBear92]

Thanks again for the replies guys. I am mainly looking to play the GTA, Fallout 4 and Star Wars Battlefront. I'd like to play Dragon Age Inquisition as well without getting frame rate drops now and again too.
There is a Sapphire R9 390 available for $489 and that sounds like the best deal at the moment. My only concern is whether it will fit in my case or not. My antec 300 two case says it has a maximum of 318mm graphics card space and the Sapphire is 308mm so I'm not sure if thats too close. What do you think?