Video Card

st4t1ck

Its about that time when i get the itch to upgrade a few parts in the machine.  Im getting a new case as the one I have has lost use to the front usb and having a few other problems.

But this question is about a new video card.   I currently have a raideon hd 7800 series,   I believe a 7870 but i can't remember exactly,  its been a  while.

Ive done some research but was wondering if you guys could help out.   What would be a few good suggestions for decent upgrade in performance.. In the $200-$300 range.

Current build is
AMD FX 8320 8 core 3.50
250 Samsung evo ssd
Raideon hd 7870
corsair hx 750 Power supply
16 gig ram (8 gig corsair vengeance and 8 gig generic kingston)   4 4 gig sticks 

Any and alll help appreciated 

Quizzical

I'd advise against spending the money to upgrade a previous card unless you're willing to at least double your performance.  That would put you in Radeon R9 390 or GeForce GTX 970 territory.  That's up against the top end of your desired price range, but it does fit:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131672
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127833

The Radeon R9 390 is a little faster than the GTX 970, but it will use a lot more power.

The rest of your build looks like you should be able to drop in and benefit from a new video card without having to replace everything.  I'm assuming that you've got a decent gaming case (ample airflow and physical space) that can handle a high-powered gaming GPU, but I'd be very surprised if you didn't, given the rest of your build.

st4t1ck

Quizzical said:

I'd advise against spending the money to upgrade a previous card unless you're willing to at least double your performance.  That would put you in Radeon R9 390 or GeForce GTX 970 territory.  That's up against the top end of your desired price range, but it does fit:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131672
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127833

The Radeon R9 390 is a little faster than the GTX 970, but it will use a lot more power.

The rest of your build looks like you should be able to drop in and benefit from a new video card without having to replace everything.  I'm assuming that you've got a decent gaming case (ample airflow and physical space) that can handle a high-powered gaming GPU, but I'd be very surprised if you didn't, given the rest of your build.

Thanks for the response, yea my case isnt bad, but i am in the market for a new one. when i change the video card out ill probably change that also

Quizzical

I'd be surprised if your current case isn't fine, as it's very unusual for someone to shell out for an SSD and a nice power supply, and then stick it in a $30 case.  Usually people who are going to cut corners get some awful power supply, and you obviously didn't.  The other common problem is when someone gets some cheap case as part of a cheap prebuilt that only has one case fan and can't fit long cards, and then wants to put a high-powered gaming rig inside.  The main things you'd need are 2+ case fans at 120 mm or larger, and a deep enough case to fit whatever card you get.  But if you want to replace your case, I'm not going to stop you.

st4t1ck

Quizzical said:

I'd be surprised if your current case isn't fine, as it's very unusual for someone to shell out for an SSD and a nice power supply, and then stick it in a $30 case.  Usually people who are going to cut corners get some awful power supply, and you obviously didn't.  The other common problem is when someone gets some cheap case as part of a cheap prebuilt that only has one case fan and can't fit long cards, and then wants to put a high-powered gaming rig inside.  The main things you'd need are 2+ case fans at 120 mm or larger, and a deep enough case to fit whatever card you get.  But if you want to replace your case, I'm not going to stop you.

Yea it was a good case. had 4 fans, but the front usb dont work any longer, so i was actually thinking about getting a new one.

 Is there a big difference between the manufactures of the video cards,  

Hrimnir

Id slap a 970 in it and call it a day.  As quiz said, the 390's are an option but you're gonna spend 10 to 20 a year more in power usage.  So, over the long run i do think you're better off with the 970.  I wouldn't recommend a 960.

As to your last question.  No, unless you're getting one of the manufacturer specific cooling options, then all the reference cards are basically identical.  I personally like EVGA, they've treated me right in the past on warranty stuff.  But, honestly any of the major manufacturers would be fine.

Quizzical

If by "manufacturers" you mean AMD versus Nvidia, then yeah, they're totally different architectures.  A Radeon R9 390 is typically a little faster than a GeForce GTX 970 for graphics purposes, but much faster if you move to non-graphical compute tasks, which you probably won't.  The R9 390 also uses a lot more power than the GTX 970.  Both will clock way down at idle, so it's not a big deal on your power bill.  An extra 50-100 watts under gaming loads usually isn't a big deal in a consumer desktop (as opposed to a laptop, where I'd say buy Nvidia and ignore discrete AMD cards at the moment because of energy efficiency), but it can be an issue if you're really sensitive to heat output for some reason.  The R9 390 also has 8 GB of video memory, as compared to 3.5 GB on the GTX 970 (which has 4 GB physically present, but some of the hardware to use part of it is disabled, so you only get the full use of 3.5 GB).

If by "manufacturers" you mean Asus, Gigabyte, EVGA, MSI, PowerColor, Sapphire, or other board partners, then those differences don't matter so much.  They get the same physical chip from AMD or Nvidia, but commonly stick a different cooler on it.  It's also a different company that you deal with for warranty service if it comes to that.

At the same price, I'd lean toward an R9 390 over a GTX 970 because it's a little faster, but it wouldn't be completely ridiculous to get the GTX 970 instead, especially if you have some reason to have a strong preference for Nvidia (e.g., happening to already own a G-sync monitor).  I do think that the fanboys who recommend that everyone completely dismiss either AMD or Nvidia out of hand and only look at the other vendor's lineup are nuts, though.

Quizzical

Hrimnir said:

Id slap a 970 in it and call it a day.  As quiz said, the 380's are an option but you're gonna spend 10 to 20 a year more in power usage.  So, over the long run i do think you're better off with the 970.  I wouldn't recommend a 960.

As to your last question.  No, unless you're getting one of the manufacturer specific cooling options, then all the reference cards are basically identical.  I personally like EVGA, they've treated me right in the past on warranty stuff.  But, honestly any of the major manufacturers would be fine.

I'd question what you're doing with your life if you play games so much at the electricity cost difference approaches $20/year.  Any modern GPU will use little power at idle outside of the occasional bug like the one that caused crazy power consumption on Nvidia at 120 Hz or higher.  Only under heavy gaming loads will the card burn a lot of power, and even then, you're probably looking at 100+ hours of heavy gaming to make a $1 difference in your power bill.

st4t1ck

Quizzical said:

If by "manufacturers" you mean AMD versus Nvidia, then yeah, they're totally different architectures.  A Radeon R9 390 is typically a little faster than a GeForce GTX 970 for graphics purposes, but much faster if you move to non-graphical compute tasks, which you probably won't.  The R9 390 also uses a lot more power than the GTX 970.  Both will clock way down at idle, so it's not a big deal on your power bill.  An extra 50-100 watts under gaming loads usually isn't a big deal in a consumer desktop (as opposed to a laptop, where I'd say buy Nvidia and ignore discrete AMD cards at the moment because of energy efficiency), but it can be an issue if you're really sensitive to heat output for some reason.  The R9 390 also has 8 GB of video memory, as compared to 3.5 GB on the GTX 970 (which has 4 GB physically present, but some of the hardware to use part of it is disabled, so you only get the full use of 3.5 GB).

If by "manufacturers" you mean Asus, Gigabyte, EVGA, MSI, PowerColor, Sapphire, or other board partners, then those differences don't matter so much.  They get the same physical chip from AMD or Nvidia, but commonly stick a different cooler on it.  It's also a different company that you deal with for warranty service if it comes to that.

At the same price, I'd lean toward an R9 390 over a GTX 970 because it's a little faster, but it wouldn't be completely ridiculous to get the GTX 970 instead, especially if you have some reason to have a strong preference for Nvidia (e.g., happening to already own a G-sync monitor).  I do think that the fanboys who recommend that everyone completely dismiss either AMD or Nvidia out of hand and only look at the other vendor's lineup are nuts, though.

Thanks yea i meant between asus, gigabyte and the such.  I dont really have a preference between nvidia and amd. I currently run an amd system.

I am thinking about my next upgrade being intel though, so im not sure if that should impact the decision on the video card or not Hrimnir said:

Id slap a 970 in it and call it a day.  As quiz said, the 390's are an option but you're gonna spend 10 to 20 a year more in power usage.  So, over the long run i do think you're better off with the 970.  I wouldn't recommend a 960.

As to your last question.  No, unless you're getting one of the manufacturer specific cooling options, then all the reference cards are basically identical.  I personally like EVGA, they've treated me right in the past on warranty stuff.  But, honestly any of the major manufacturers would be fine.

 Thanks for the response, luckily i havent had to use the warranty on any of my computer parts except the samsung ssd, and they took care of me pretty quickly

Quizzical

st4t1ck said:

I am thinking about my next upgrade being intel though, so im not sure if that should impact the decision on the video card or not

If buying a new CPU today and you have the budget for a Core i5-6600 or better, then yeah, you'd want Intel.  AMD's current CPUs are much slower, even at the same clock speed.  AMD is a nice budget option if you're only willing to spend $100 on a CPU, but it's really a question of budget.

The upcoming Zen architecture that AMD is set to release late this year should change that.  I don't know if AMD will catch Intel, but they should at least be a lot more competitive.  If Zen is a disaster like Bulldozer was, AMD will go out of business and someone will buy up their GPU unit.

But the choice of CPU really has nothing to do with the choice of GPU in a gaming desktop, unless you want a severe budget system that is going to use integrated graphics.  Some people say you should always go Intel/Nvidia or AMD for both, but I say they're nuts.

st4t1ck

Quizzical said:

st4t1ck said:

I am thinking about my next upgrade being intel though, so im not sure if that should impact the decision on the video card or not

If buying a new CPU today and you have the budget for a Core i5-6600 or better, then yeah, you'd want Intel.  AMD's current CPUs are much slower, even at the same clock speed.  AMD is a nice budget option if you're only willing to spend $100 on a CPU, but it's really a question of budget.

The upcoming Zen architecture that AMD is set to release late this year should change that.  I don't know if AMD will catch Intel, but they should at least be a lot more competitive.  If Zen is a disaster like Bulldozer was, AMD will go out of business and someone will buy up their GPU unit.

But the choice of CPU really has nothing to do with the choice of GPU in a gaming desktop, unless you want a severe budget system that is going to use integrated graphics.  Some people say you should always go Intel/Nvidia or AMD for both, but I say they're nuts.

Been along time since i had some integrated video,  even my laptop had a 630m in it.   Im not sure when im going to buy the video card but i think im going to go with the  390.  Most of my cards have been radeon and havent had any trouble so far.

Malabooga

Quizzical said:

st4t1ck said:

I am thinking about my next upgrade being intel though, so im not sure if that should impact the decision on the video card or not

If buying a new CPU today and you have the budget for a Core i5-6600 or better, then yeah, you'd want Intel.  AMD's current CPUs are much slower, even at the same clock speed.  AMD is a nice budget option if you're only willing to spend $100 on a CPU, but it's really a question of budget.

The upcoming Zen architecture that AMD is set to release late this year should change that.  I don't know if AMD will catch Intel, but they should at least be a lot more competitive.  If Zen is a disaster like Bulldozer was, AMD will go out of business and someone will buy up their GPU unit.

But the choice of CPU really has nothing to do with the choice of GPU in a gaming desktop, unless you want a severe budget system that is going to use integrated graphics.  Some people say you should always go Intel/Nvidia or AMD for both, but I say they're nuts.

No, AMDs CPUs aint much slower. In fact FX-6xxx/8xxx are looking better and better by each day passing now that we get properly threaded games. It took some while to get to that point, but now that you need to pay 2 times more to get same performance out of Intel its ridiculous to buy it. Outside of games there wasnt much difference, in fact AMD was better buy from teh start.

And another thing is that non k Intel CPUs are always a waste of money. Even if yo bought 2nd gen k CPU you have nothing to upgrade to today.

Changing FX-8xxx for i5 is worst waste of money i ever heard of. And i7 isnt worth it in these range of GPUs.

Some of the new games:

http://imgur.com/a/O8v7t

http://gamegpu.ru/action-/-fps-/-tps/assassin-s-creed-syndicate-test-gpu-2015.html



and some older ones:

http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Systems/Quad-Core-Gaming-Roundup-How-Much-CPU-Do-You-Really-Need

And with dx12 (which pretty much includes proper threading).....yeah

On the GPU side, GTX970 is falling considerably behind R9 390. If youre not aiming on swapping your GPU in near future, 390 is really only choice (at the same price point)

yaminsux

I'm glad I saw this thread. My card just died recently (gtx 680) and looking for replacement.

I'm debating on R9 390 vs 970. Yes I'm in budget for both cards, but will not go further than that.

My question is, 800w psu is enough for 390 (tdp 275w)?

Rig specs:
- i5 3xxx (non-k) 3.4ghz
- Intel ssd
- WD blue 1TB
- Coolermaster Trooper casing (six fans total).

Vrika

yaminsux said:

I'm glad I saw this thread. My card just died recently (gtx 680) and looking for replacement.

I'm debating on R9 390 vs 970. Yes I'm in budget for both cards, but will not go further than that.

My question is, 800w psu is enough for 390 (tdp 275w)?

Rig specs:
- i5 3xxx (non-k) 3.4ghz
- Intel ssd
- WD blue 1TB
- Coolermaster Trooper casing (six fans total).

R9 390 vs GTX 970: Go for the one that's cheaper. R9 390 is a little faster, but so little that it's offset by higher power bills caused by its higher power usage. Just purchase the one that the store sells cheaper, or maybe the brand you like better if they're both for sale at same price.

800W power supply should be enough, but check that you have enough power connectors on your PSU before making a purchase. 2 hard disks and 6 case fans don't use a lot of power, maybe 50W or less, but they might use up all your available power connectors.

Vrika

st4t1ck said:

Quizzical said:

I'd be surprised if your current case isn't fine, as it's very unusual for someone to shell out for an SSD and a nice power supply, and then stick it in a $30 case.  Usually people who are going to cut corners get some awful power supply, and you obviously didn't.  The other common problem is when someone gets some cheap case as part of a cheap prebuilt that only has one case fan and can't fit long cards, and then wants to put a high-powered gaming rig inside.  The main things you'd need are 2+ case fans at 120 mm or larger, and a deep enough case to fit whatever card you get.  But if you want to replace your case, I'm not going to stop you.

Yea it was a good case. had 4 fans, but the front usb dont work any longer, so i was actually thinking about getting a new one.

 Is there a big difference between the manufactures of the video cards,  

Have you considered something like this instead of buying a completely new case:  http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-Port-USB-3-0-Aluminum-Front-Panel-3-5-Drive-Bay-Hub-with-20-Pin-Connector-fro-/301520031402

It's a lot cheaper than buying a new case, plus you'd avoid the risk of accidentally breaking something when you detach all your computer components from old case and attach them to new case.


The difference between different manufacturer's video cards is normally just cooling system. All the cards used are identical, but manufacturers use their own cooling systems. Some of them are quieter, some of them are more effective and allow manufacturers to add some slight factory overclock to their GPU, and some cooling systems are just done as cheaply as possible.

Unless you plan to overclock, or care about the noise your computer is generating, you can just purchase the card from any manufacturer and it'll do well enough. But if you want to do some overclocking, or would prefer the computer to be quieter, then there are large differences between manufacturers.

Malabooga

Vrika said:

st4t1ck said:

Quizzical said:

I'd be surprised if your current case isn't fine, as it's very unusual for someone to shell out for an SSD and a nice power supply, and then stick it in a $30 case.  Usually people who are going to cut corners get some awful power supply, and you obviously didn't.  The other common problem is when someone gets some cheap case as part of a cheap prebuilt that only has one case fan and can't fit long cards, and then wants to put a high-powered gaming rig inside.  The main things you'd need are 2+ case fans at 120 mm or larger, and a deep enough case to fit whatever card you get.  But if you want to replace your case, I'm not going to stop you.

Yea it was a good case. had 4 fans, but the front usb dont work any longer, so i was actually thinking about getting a new one.

 Is there a big difference between the manufactures of the video cards,  

Have you considered something like this instead of buying a completely new case:  http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-Port-USB-3-0-Aluminum-Front-Panel-3-5-Drive-Bay-Hub-with-20-Pin-Connector-fro-/301520031402

It's a lot cheaper than buying a new case, plus you'd avoid the risk of accidentally breaking something when you detach all your computer components from old case and attach them to new case.


The difference between different manufacturer's video cards is normally just cooling system. All the cards used are identical, but manufacturers use their own cooling systems. Some of them are quieter, some of them are more effective and allow manufacturers to add some slight factory overclock to their GPU, and some cooling systems are just done as cheaply as possible.

Unless you plan to overclock, or care about the noise your computer is generating, you can just purchase the card from any manufacturer and it'll do well enough. But if you want to do some overclocking, or would prefer the computer to be quieter, then there are large differences between manufacturers.

Thats not true, theres quite a bit of GPUs with custom PCBs nowadays (and ever since both brands gave manufacturers free hands, so to speak, which were very rare before that).

Good 550w PSU is enough to run any single GPU setup.

Malabooga

Vrika said:

yaminsux said:

I'm glad I saw this thread. My card just died recently (gtx 680) and looking for replacement.

I'm debating on R9 390 vs 970. Yes I'm in budget for both cards, but will not go further than that.

My question is, 800w psu is enough for 390 (tdp 275w)?

Rig specs:
- i5 3xxx (non-k) 3.4ghz
- Intel ssd
- WD blue 1TB
- Coolermaster Trooper casing (six fans total).

R9 390 vs GTX 970: Go for the one that's cheaper. R9 390 is a little faster, but so little that it's offset by higher power bills caused by its higher power usage. Just purchase the one that the store sells cheaper, or maybe the brand you like better if they're both for sale at same price.

800W power supply should be enough, but check that you have enough power connectors on your PSU before making a purchase. 2 hard disks and 6 case fans don't use a lot of power, maybe 50W or less, but they might use up all your available power connectors.

You dont really connect fans directly to PSU, theres quite a few extension cords available for various purposes. Just your mobo should have 3+ fan headers.

For instance:

https://www.arctic.ac/eu_en/pst-cable.html

For PWM sharing so your case fans speed up/down depending on CPU temperature (or case temperature if you connect it to sys PWM fan header). And yes, you can connect 3-pin fan to 4 pin header, you just wont get PWM.

Also AC PWM PST fans come with built in PWM sharing feature with which you can connect unlimited fans in series (you dont need the cable above) on single CPU/mobo fan header.

https://www.arctic.ac/eu_en/f12-pwm-pst.html


The thing with GTX970 and r9 390 is that 390 will age much much better than 970.

Quizzical

yaminsux said:

I'm glad I saw this thread. My card just died recently (gtx 680) and looking for replacement.

I'm debating on R9 390 vs 970. Yes I'm in budget for both cards, but will not go further than that.

My question is, 800w psu is enough for 390 (tdp 275w)?

Rig specs:
- i5 3xxx (non-k) 3.4ghz
- Intel ssd
- WD blue 1TB
- Coolermaster Trooper casing (six fans total).

Exactly what power supply do you have?  Give the exact brand name and model.  A good 800 W power supply will handle either card fine, but a fire hazard that will explode if you try to pull 400 W from it might not, even if it says 800 W on the label.

st4t1ck

Vrika said:

st4t1ck said:

Quizzical said:

I'd be surprised if your current case isn't fine, as it's very unusual for someone to shell out for an SSD and a nice power supply, and then stick it in a $30 case.  Usually people who are going to cut corners get some awful power supply, and you obviously didn't.  The other common problem is when someone gets some cheap case as part of a cheap prebuilt that only has one case fan and can't fit long cards, and then wants to put a high-powered gaming rig inside.  The main things you'd need are 2+ case fans at 120 mm or larger, and a deep enough case to fit whatever card you get.  But if you want to replace your case, I'm not going to stop you.

Yea it was a good case. had 4 fans, but the front usb dont work any longer, so i was actually thinking about getting a new one.

 Is there a big difference between the manufactures of the video cards,  

Have you considered something like this instead of buying a completely new case:  http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-Port-USB-3-0-Aluminum-Front-Panel-3-5-Drive-Bay-Hub-with-20-Pin-Connector-fro-/301520031402

It's a lot cheaper than buying a new case, plus you'd avoid the risk of accidentally breaking something when you detach all your computer components from old case and attach them to new case.


The difference between different manufacturer's video cards is normally just cooling system. All the cards used are identical, but manufacturers use their own cooling systems. Some of them are quieter, some of them are more effective and allow manufacturers to add some slight factory overclock to their GPU, and some cooling systems are just done as cheaply as possible.

Unless you plan to overclock, or care about the noise your computer is generating, you can just purchase the card from any manufacturer and it'll do well enough. But if you want to do some overclocking, or would prefer the computer to be quieter, then there are large differences between manufacturers.

That's not a  bad option,  There's enough  space to put something like that in my rig,  I'll look at a few cases, just to see if there's one i like a whole lot more, but if not i will throw that in there and call it a day

Vrika

Malabooga said:

Vrika said:

yaminsux said:

I'm glad I saw this thread. My card just died recently (gtx 680) and looking for replacement.

I'm debating on R9 390 vs 970. Yes I'm in budget for both cards, but will not go further than that.

My question is, 800w psu is enough for 390 (tdp 275w)?

Rig specs:
- i5 3xxx (non-k) 3.4ghz
- Intel ssd
- WD blue 1TB
- Coolermaster Trooper casing (six fans total).

R9 390 vs GTX 970: Go for the one that's cheaper. R9 390 is a little faster, but so little that it's offset by higher power bills caused by its higher power usage. Just purchase the one that the store sells cheaper, or maybe the brand you like better if they're both for sale at same price.

800W power supply should be enough, but check that you have enough power connectors on your PSU before making a purchase. 2 hard disks and 6 case fans don't use a lot of power, maybe 50W or less, but they might use up all your available power connectors.

You dont really connect fans directly to PSU, theres quite a few extension cords available for various purposes. Just your mobo should have 3+ fan headers.

For instance:

https://www.arctic.ac/eu_en/pst-cable.html

For PWM sharing so your case fans speed up/down depending on CPU temperature (or case temperature if you connect it to sys PWM fan header). And yes, you can connect 3-pin fan to 4 pin header, you just wont get PWM.

Also AC PWM PST fans come with built in PWM sharing feature with which you can connect unlimited fans in series (you dont need the cable above) on single CPU/mobo fan header.

https://www.arctic.ac/eu_en/f12-pwm-pst.html

Sorry my post wasn't clear: I meant it's best to check the power connectors in advance, and buy also possible extension cables in advance.

Nothing is more irritating than getting your new 300$ GPU for the weekend, then noticing you can't play at all this weekend because you're missing a 5$ cable.

Vrika

Malabooga said:

Vrika said:

The difference between different manufacturer's video cards is normally just cooling system. All the cards used are identical, but manufacturers use their own cooling systems. Some of them are quieter, some of them are more effective and allow manufacturers to add some slight factory overclock to their GPU, and some cooling systems are just done as cheaply as possible.

Unless you plan to overclock, or care about the noise your computer is generating, you can just purchase the card from any manufacturer and it'll do well enough. But if you want to do some overclocking, or would prefer the computer to be quieter, then there are large differences between manufacturers.

Thats not true, theres quite a bit of GPUs with custom PCBs nowadays (and ever since both brands gave manufacturers free hands, so to speak, which were very rare before that).

Good 550w PSU is enough to run any single GPU setup.

Yes, you're correct about the custom PCBs.

550W PSU is not enough to run all single GPU setups. For example a setup with Radeon 390 (275W) and AMD FX 9590 processor (220W) would not run with just 550W PSU.

p3oma3er

for amd r9 390 u can go with Seasonic G-650, it is 650W PSU,
nvidia gtx 970 seasonic G-550 - 550W PSU

Iselin

Hrimnir said:

Id slap a 970 in it and call it a day.  As quiz said, the 390's are an option but you're gonna spend 10 to 20 a year more in power usage.  So, over the long run i do think you're better off with the 970.  I wouldn't recommend a 960.

Like Quiz said, the $ savings on power consumption are so trivial as to not be worth mentioning.

The real benefit from the significantly lower power requirements of the current generation Nvidia cards is in less heat and the lower overall card and case fan speed and noise that flows from that. Everything else being equal, a case with a 970 in it will be much quieter than one with a 390.

I've bee an AMD fan for decades and usually go with the comparable AMD cards. But not this last time. My new found quiet with the 980 is much appreciated after many years living with loud cards.    

Malabooga

Iselin said:

Hrimnir said:

Id slap a 970 in it and call it a day.  As quiz said, the 390's are an option but you're gonna spend 10 to 20 a year more in power usage.  So, over the long run i do think you're better off with the 970.  I wouldn't recommend a 960.

Like Quiz said, the $ savings on power consumption are so trivial as to not be worth mentioning.

The real benefit from the significantly lower power requirements of the current generation Nvidia cards is in less heat and the lower overall card and case fan speed and noise that flows from that. Everything else being equal, a case with a 970 in it will be much quieter than one with a 390.

I've bee an AMD fan for decades and usually go with the comparable AMD cards. But not this last time. My new found quiet with the 980 is much appreciated after many years living with loud cards.    

Nonsense. Pretty much all non referent GPUs will be equally quiet. And if you OC they will be equally loud.

Cooling has advanced significantlty from the last decade youre talking about.

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/powercolor_pcs_radeon_r9_380x_myst_review,7.html

Malabooga

Vrika said:

Malabooga said:

Vrika said:

The difference between different manufacturer's video cards is normally just cooling system. All the cards used are identical, but manufacturers use their own cooling systems. Some of them are quieter, some of them are more effective and allow manufacturers to add some slight factory overclock to their GPU, and some cooling systems are just done as cheaply as possible.

Unless you plan to overclock, or care about the noise your computer is generating, you can just purchase the card from any manufacturer and it'll do well enough. But if you want to do some overclocking, or would prefer the computer to be quieter, then there are large differences between manufacturers.

Thats not true, theres quite a bit of GPUs with custom PCBs nowadays (and ever since both brands gave manufacturers free hands, so to speak, which were very rare before that).

Good 550w PSU is enough to run any single GPU setup.

Yes, you're correct about the custom PCBs.

550W PSU is not enough to run all single GPU setups. For example a setup with Radeon 390 (275W) and AMD FX 9590 processor (220W) would not run with just 550W PSU.

And thats still 495w (math...) in LEAST favorable situation, which wont happen unless for some reason you stress test your whole rig 24/7.

In normal use that rig wont draw more than 400w.

The only label that matters on PSU is this one:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/images/cases/psu-400w-520w/p10.jpg

and what it says on +12v.

This particular PSU is actually 276w PSU even if they named it "400w" PSU.

Vrika

Malabooga said:

Vrika said:

Malabooga said:

Vrika said:

The difference between different manufacturer's video cards is normally just cooling system. All the cards used are identical, but manufacturers use their own cooling systems. Some of them are quieter, some of them are more effective and allow manufacturers to add some slight factory overclock to their GPU, and some cooling systems are just done as cheaply as possible.

Unless you plan to overclock, or care about the noise your computer is generating, you can just purchase the card from any manufacturer and it'll do well enough. But if you want to do some overclocking, or would prefer the computer to be quieter, then there are large differences between manufacturers.

Thats not true, theres quite a bit of GPUs with custom PCBs nowadays (and ever since both brands gave manufacturers free hands, so to speak, which were very rare before that).

Good 550w PSU is enough to run any single GPU setup.

Yes, you're correct about the custom PCBs.

550W PSU is not enough to run all single GPU setups. For example a setup with Radeon 390 (275W) and AMD FX 9590 processor (220W) would not run with just 550W PSU.

And thats still 495w (math...) in LEAST favorable situation, which wont happen unless for some reason you stress test your whole rig 24/7.

In normal use that rig wont draw more than 400w.

You need to get a power supply that will supply enough power in all situations, even the least favorable. During multi-hour gaming sessions with modern games there will be something that gets close to least favorable situation sooner or later, and if the computer can't get enough power in that situation, it'll crash or have other errors. Power fluctuations can also damage the computer.

You need to have enough power also for motherboard, RAM, hard disk, DVD drive, fans and USB devices attached to the computer. That's why 550W PSU would not be enough for my example configuration.