Graphics Card. (OPINIONS)

[Hodarit 43]

Opinions on the 960 4GB MSI vs R9 380 4GB MSI? Which one do you prefer? NVIDIA or AMD? And what are your experiences with AMD/NVIDIA so far?

[Mino 312]

I am not an expert on graphic cards, but my experience and my knowledge based on my readings taught me this :

 

Memory is not THE most important thing on a graphic card (it is mostly for marketting purposes). 2 or 3 GB for most games is sufficient. 4GB is only useful if you have large 4K screen, or triple screens. The important things to look are :

 

 - Type of memory and bandwith : for example two graphic cards with the same processor, one  with 4GB DDR3 and one with 1GB GDDR5. The second one will be way faster. Memory Bandwith is also very important. The same GC but different bandwith will have a large decrease in performance

- The second important thing to look is the clock speed of the GC processor.

 

So the first advice i would give you, is take the 2GB version. You'll pay less for the same performance. Unless you plan to buy a 4K screen...

 

That in mind, you'll see that both cards are similar, though the R9 380 is a bit more powerful. Here are the specific performance benchmark : 

http://gpuboss.com/gpus/Radeon-R9-380-vs-GeForce-GTX-960

 

You'll see that the R9 has a way better processor (performance x2), but poor memory bandwith. In result, 3D Mark tests are similar ! You see it confirms what i told you above.

 

To choose, you'll have to look at other aspects of the GC. The choice can be done on details, such as reliability, consumption, silence, environment, etc ...

 

The GTX 960 is much quieter than the 380, due to lower power consumption (120W  against 180W).

Reliability seems fine for MSI releases.

You'll need to know if your computer has the power to run your GC. Maybe it can take 120W but can it take 180W ?

 

Besides 960 has a better HDMI port.

 

 

I would advise you to take the GTX960 2GB MSI !

[Hodarit 43]

 

I am not an expert on graphic cards, but my experience and my knowledge based on my readings taught me this :

 

Memory is not THE most important thing on a graphic card (it is mostly for marketting purposes). 2 or 3 GB for most games is sufficient. 4GB is only useful if you have large 4K screen, or triple screens. The important things to look are :

 

 - Type of memory and bandwith : for example two graphic cards with the same processor, one  with 4GB DDR3 and one with 1GB GDDR5. The second one will be way faster. Memory Bandwith is also very important. The same GC but different bandwith will have a large decrease in performance

- The second important thing to look is the clock speed of the GC processor.

 

So the first advice i would give you, is take the 2GB version. You'll pay less for the same performance. Unless you plan to buy a 4K screen...

 

That in mind, you'll see that both cards are similar, though the R9 380 is a bit more powerful. Here are the specific performance benchmark : 

http://gpuboss.com/gpus/Radeon-R9-380-vs-GeForce-GTX-960

 

You'll see that the R9 has a way better processor (performance x2), but poor memory bandwith. In result, 3D Mark tests are similar ! You see it confirms what i told you above.

 

To choose, you'll have to look at other aspects of the GC. The choice can be done on details, such as reliability, consumption, silence, environment, etc ...

 

The GTX 960 is much quieter than the 380, due to lower power consumption (120W  against 180W).

Reliability seems fine for MSI releases.

You'll need to know if your computer has the power to run your GC. Maybe it can take 120W but can it take 180W ?

 

Besides 960 has a better HDMI port.

 

 

I would advise you to take the GTX960 2GB MSI !

 

 

 

I've heard people say the 128 bit bus can't fully utilize 4GB on the 960, however i'm not too sure about this... 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". I'm stuck for sure that i will have use of the 4GB version (Example GTA V and Skyrim with alot of mods), so i don't plan on turning the 4GB version down for the 2GB one. I don't either care about the 960 being much quieter than the 380, neither it being lower power consumption. But i will absolutely take your comment to note. 

[Mino 312]

I've heard people say the 128 bit bus can't fully utilize 4GB on the 960, however i'm not too sure about this... 

 

Yes, it's true. But not a problem.

 

Can your computer take the 180W power of the card ? Be sure to check ;)

 

If you intend to play ultra with a lot of mods, maybe you will exceed 2GB, but I am not even sure...

 

If you're looking at pure performance, R9 seems a little bit ahead, but for the reasons I explained above, I'd still choose Nvidia. Maybe also because i had an AMD before my nvidia card and I had problems with AMD (had to change it twice). So maybe I'm not a good judge, but I never had problems with nvidia...

[Doge 704]

I had nothing but trouble with the AMD R7 (R9's younger brother) bluescreens, fuzzy screens, failures in general. I would image the R9 is a better card but now that I bought myself a Nvidia GTX 750Ti (A cheap, powerful entry level card) I'm never going back to AMD. 

 

I think all my AMD problems were just bad luck :P However I heard a rumor that the 900 series Nvidia cards are failing to take use of all of their power in these modern games. Sounds crazy! Sorry for being useless lol, I thought I would point out the bad things! 

[Hodarit 43]

I had nothing but trouble with the AMD R7 (R9's younger brother) bluescreens, fuzzy screens, failures in general. I would image the R9 is a better card but now that I bought myself a Nvidia GTX 750Ti (A cheap, powerful entry level card) I'm never going back to AMD. 

 

I think all my AMD problems were just bad luck :P However I heard a rumor that the 900 series Nvidia cards are failing to take use of all of their power in these modern games. Sounds crazy! Sorry for being useless lol, I thought I would point out the bad things! 

That's weird... from what I've heard Nvidia is only optimizing the games for them... while AMD have had worse performance in those games than Nvidia cards. Ex. The Witcher 3. But then Nvidia had worse performance in Tomb Raider 2013 than AMD.

[Hodarit 43]

Yes, it's true. But not a problem.

 

Can your computer take the 180W power of the card ? Be sure to check ;)

 

If you intend to play ultra with a lot of mods, maybe you will exceed 2GB, but I am not even sure...

 

If you're looking at pure performance, R9 seems a little bit ahead, but for the reasons I explained above, I'd still choose Nvidia. Maybe also because i had an AMD before my nvidia card and I had problems with AMD (had to change it twice). So maybe I'm not a good judge, but I never had problems with nvidia...

Yes it can handle it, Seasonic G-550W Semi-Modular ATX12V and +12V - 45A (Ampere). Yeah, i'm not too unfamiliar with AMD problems either... they release their drivers late and have some issues with AMD Catalyst Control Center... Currently i'm running on a Q8300 CPU and a AMD 5570 HD Silent card which i haven't had any problems with yet. (I'm planning to build a whole new computer, not to pair the 960/380 with the Q8300 :P)

[Doge 704]

you might get a "bottleneck" with that cpu, strong graphics card limited by weaker cpu i think this is what happens on my pc because my AMD Quad Core 4.2ghz APU is awful. 4 cores & 4.2ghz sounds good but it is complete crap my laptops' i3 2.3 ghz dual core is way better

[Hodarit 43]

you might get a "bottleneck" with that cpu, strong graphics card limited by weaker cpu i think this is what happens on my pc because my AMD Quad Core 4.2ghz APU is awful. 4 cores & 4.2ghz sounds good but it is complete crap my laptops' i3 2.3 ghz dual core is way better

"Might" Yes i know xD

[Doge 704]

"Might" Yes i know xD

even with a bottle neck, you will have more performance! goodluck

[Acea 370]

http://www.hltv.org/forum/996392-gtx960-or-r9-380-2gb-or-4gb-gaming-mobo

[QuickBreakdown 1948]

I've a mixed experience. I've had both NVIDIA and ATI cards: GeForce GS 7600 (you know, the old AGP one), EVGA GTX 560, Radeon HD 5770 and R7 260x.

I'll list the pros and cons.

 

Nvidia

-------

Pros

- Great driver support

- Great performance

- Draws less power, apparently

 

Cons

- Expensive, depending on type of card you want to get

- Stock fan sounds like a jet engine (GTX 560). I can imagine this has changed over the years, but I actually had to replace it because of the noise.

 

ATI

------

Pros

- Performance is OK

- Budget price, cheap

- Stock fan isn't that loud, especially when you have stock twin fans. Haven't had problems with both of my cards.

 

Cons

- Draws more power

- Driver support was sub-par when I first got the R7 card, but I must say that the latest drivers (13.12 Crimson) are really stable.

 

I paid around 200 EUR at the time for my GTX card, and it eventually broke down with the famous "pink screen of death", just like my GF7600.

I've had it for around 2 years back then. I now have an R7 260x with dual fan (already installed), which is really silent.

It cost about 125 EUR, and actually has equal if not better performance than the GTX 560 as far as I've seen.

 

About the video memory, 2GB is indeed sufficient but it depends on what you're planning to do with it.

Some games use the 'extra' VRAM to load and buffer ultra HD textures. Those are the cases where 3-4GB comes in handy.

 

It also doesn't matter whether you mix AMD with NVIDIA (i.e. AMD Processor, NVIDIA card) or Intel with AMD, I've seen and done both in the past.

AMD and ATI are more 'budget' choices, thus drawing more power but often giving equal performance.

 

The best way is to compare benchmarks of the games you are planning to play and some generic benchmarks.

 

Good luck :-)

 

PS. Jet engine: https://youtu.be/su6nKlTq1k0?t=26

[Hodarit 43]

I've a mixed experience. I've had both NVIDIA and ATI cards: GeForce GS 7600 (you know, the old AGP one), EVGA GTX 560, Radeon HD 5770 and R7 260x.I'll list the pros and cons.Nvidia-------Pros- Great driver support- Great performance- Draws less power, apparentlyCons- Expensive, depending on type of card you want to get- Stock fan sounds like a jet engine (GTX 560). I can imagine this has changed over the years, but I actually had to replace it because of the noise.ATI------Pros- Performance is OK- Budget price, cheap- Stock fan isn't that loud, especially when you have stock twin fans. Haven't had problems with both of my cards.Cons- Draws more power- Driver support was sub-par when I first got the R7 card, but I must say that the latest drivers (13.12 Crimson) are really stable.I paid around 200 EUR at the time for my GTX card, and it eventually broke down with the famous "pink screen of death", just like my GF7600.I've had it for around 2 years back then. I now have an R7 260x with dual fan (already installed), which is really silent.It cost about 125 EUR, and actually has equal if not better performance than the GTX 560 as far as I've seen.About the video memory, 2GB is indeed sufficient but it depends on what you're planning to do with it.Some games use the 'extra' VRAM to load and buffer ultra HD textures. Those are the cases where 3-4GB comes in handy.It also doesn't matter whether you mix AMD with NVIDIA (i.e. AMD Processor, NVIDIA card) or Intel with AMD, I've seen and done both in the past.AMD and ATI are more 'budget' choices, thus drawing more power but often giving equal performance.The best way is to compare benchmarks of the games you are planning to play and some generic benchmarks.Good luck :-)PS. Jet engine: https://youtu.be/su6nKlTq1k0?t=26

That's some awesome cards back in the day you had right? However i think some things might have changed. Example that Nvidia performs better than AMD? I'm not really sure what you meant by this but if you compare the R9 380 against the GTX 960, the 960 performs better on some games and (The Witcher 3) AMD better on some other games (Tomb Raider 2013). And Nvidia being more expensive isn't the case between the 960 and the 380... at least not here in Finland, they're pretty equally priced. Yes i have heard many people talk about the driver support issues with AMD. And i'm aware that it doesn't make a huge difference whether it's a AMD processor paired with a AMD card or a Intel processor (Same performance as the AMD processor) paired with a AMD card (Same thing Nvidia). And yep... you're completely right, the best way is to compare benchmarks of the games i'm going to be playing. Sorry if i have some bad English here.

[TheXsky 30]

Nothing more or less than 980ti xd