noiseredux wrote:well the OP selected this post as best answer:
In your case I would go with the 4gb 960. Particularly the EVGA 960 4Gb. Ive noticed lots of people saying the 960s 128 bit bus cant fully utilize 4gb vram. That may be true with past video cards with 4gb vram and 128bit bus, but is NOT true for the 900 series as maxwells color compression technology gives
more bandwith one a smaller mem bus. GamersNexus tested this to find the 960 4gb could use nearly the full 4gb when pushed to it. I've tested this my self since I have a EVGA 960 4GB SSC and a 1440p monitor. In some games my 960 is utilizing 3gb+ just fine. So I am very glad I got the 4gb version. It even overclocks very well. I got my 960 running 1475gpu(boost) and 8000vram on stock voltage. Bumping the voltage up a bit I've gotten 1625gpu(boost) and 8200vram. With fans set at 50% its very quiet and has never broke 65c. Also mine has a quite low ASIC score of 67% so really it shouldnt be considered a good overclcker but Its managed to impress me. My last card was a Powercolor 270x DEVIL and this EVGA 960 4gb SSC+ has blown it out of the water. The 380 is a great card for the price but I believe the 960 4gb is a better card overall.
But again - personal preference. I own a 970. I wouldn't trade that for a 290 personally.
That's true but I think the OP in that thread had a relatively weak PSU.
Is it just me or is there just an unusually big gap between the 960 and the 970? It really feels like there should be something in between those cards...
Have: Sega Genesis, SNES, Atari 2600, Atari 7800, Atari 800XL, PC, N3DS XL, Wii U, GBA, Xbox One, Switch
marlowe221 wrote:
Is it just me or is there just an unusually big gap between the 960 and the 970? It really feels like there should be something in between those cards...
marlowe221 wrote:What do you think about a used aftermarket R9 290? Dangerous to go used???
ugh, your call. I did it once in the past. But I had no other PC. I was literally building the only PC I could afford. Once I had the $ to upgrade to a good PC and still have the Frankenstein to play on, I would never touch used stuff. Maybe I was being overprotective, but for the investment (both time spent researching, planning building - and real money) I much preferred the peace of mind of buying brand new parts.
noiseredux wrote:
ugh, your call. I did it once in the past. But I had no other PC. I was literally building the only PC I could afford. Once I had the $ to upgrade to a good PC and still have the Frankenstein to play on, I would never touch used stuff. Maybe I was being overprotective, but for the investment (both time spent researching, planning building - and real money) I much preferred the peace of mind of buying brand new parts.
Yeah, I don't really want to go used but I am thinking about it.
Honestly, either the 4 GB version of the 960 or the 380 is probably going to be a pretty good upgrade over what I have now.
Have: Sega Genesis, SNES, Atari 2600, Atari 7800, Atari 800XL, PC, N3DS XL, Wii U, GBA, Xbox One, Switch
You've probably seen all these, but I figured I'd just point out these deals as MSRP is $240, but just looking around you can get for about $200 without resorting to used market.
