Hey guys,
I'm on a rampage lately and I've decided to keep on spraying and get a 390 today.
So the consensus is that Sapphire make the best AMD cards ? But I've seen people say on the 390 that the Gigabyte has a lot more stream proccessors, only to then see other people say this is false and a miss-print. Also, a slightly higher stock clock speed counts for shit right ?
Just thought I'd check this over before the funds leave my wallet xD
Cheers guys !
Surely all 390 models have the same number of stream processors etc. The manufactures would differentiate on clock-speed, cooler, PCB design etc.
People may be confused by misprints or by comparing 390 vs 390X for example - this sometimes happened with the Sapphire 290 cards because they had the Tri-X cooler on them!
I rate both brands so I'd go with the card that was best priced or in stock with my favourite store. Others may disagree...
But Sapphire doesn't have backplates on their cards. Also, neither can use a full water block, if you plan on going that route in the future. You would want to go with XFX for that. Anyway, I would likely go with either Asus Strix of MSI myself. Both have backplates. Both stay pretty cool.
I don't plan on using a water block.
My choices in the price range are.
1) Sapphire
2)Gigabyte
3) XFX
4) Powercolor
5) Vtx3d
The Asus and MSI are £30+ more than the rest. With the Sapphire being the cheapest of the above. I've read from several sources that has really low temps and idles at next to nothing, which is why I was leaning towards it.
I'd personally get the Gigabyte model. I have all the love in the world for sapphire, but there's excuse anymore why they don't offer a backplate on their GPUs. considering every other manufacturer like Gigabyte, ASUS, and even freakin' Powercolor (of all people) offer a backplate at the EXACT same price.
I agree with Kat on Sapphire and the back plate, and more so their 290 series had a back plate and not the 390?
I would take a good look at the XFX for their warranty and great CS. Also the Powercolor unit is usually the least expensive and has good reviews and support as well.
Hello mate,
What is the function of the backplate other than aesthetics ? Google says it makes it more sturdy but is it really needed ? Will be my first gpu so I have nothing to reference one against.
There was only 3 of Sapphires GPUs that had a backplate, of course the Vapor-X edition of the 290 and the 290x. the TOXIC edition of the 290x/290 (Which was only available in Europe and I believe had 8GiB of VRAM model LONG before people in America got an 8GiB card) and of course the TRI-X 8 GIB model of the 290X. (the original 290x and 290 4GIB models didn't have one)
ON a similar derail note, EVGA has no excuse either. They sell people backplates instead of offering them with the GPU to begin with. (Which doesn't make sense considering their GPUS are like 20 or 30 dollars more than reference.)
+1 XFX for warranty and customer service.
+1 Sapphire for being the closest and largest partner with ATI directly, and having very low level knowledge of the underlying architecture.
+1 Gigabyte for honestly making a badass cooler with the Windforce and because my lead card is a Gigabyte :)
Honestly though it comes down to what you're looking for... what your price point is... what exactly you intend for the future of the card, and the rig it's going into.
But Sapphire doesn't have backplates on their cards. Also, neither can use a full water block, if you plan on going that route in the future.
I think we owe the absence of backplates/waterblocks coming stock to the general blind ignorance to the watercooling community that most of the board partners tend to show, also maybe due to thermal reasons and the way that the cooler models on those cards dissipate heat.
They spend alot of time and money designing these cooling solutions, so its no wonder they want you to use them when you buy one of their cards.
Manufacturers that use a custom PCB and cooler are assuming that you intend to use the product the same way it was shipped, and as advertised. Companies that specialize in watercooling parts are going to cost themselves a fortune trying to produce parts for every different PCB layout that every different manufacturer uses.
Currious which people claim that, because they have no clue what they are talking about then.
Its totaly false.
Every 390 / 290 has the same amount of stream processors.
The Hawai PRO chip has 10 activated compute units per shader engine, which means that they have a total of 2560 stream processors.
The 290X / 390X. Hawai XT chip, has 11 activated compute units per shader engines, which makes it a total 2816 stream processors.
According to which 390 to grab.
i would personaly grab the Sapphire Nitro, because the cooling unit on there is very decent.
Pretty much every single search on various forums all picked either the Sapphire or the MSI (so far)
Also I think for a while a few of the larger retailers (newegg was one) had the specs listed incorrectly, so a few people thought the gigabyte had more stream processors, but it was a typo.
At this stage I think I'm gonna get the Sapphire because it's a little bit cheaper than the rest and a fair bit cheaper than the MSI (like £50!!!!) Plus I like the look of the cooler.
I will probably order it later tonight, just watching the league of legends now Kappa xD
Yeah thats most likely because the Msi comes with the highest stock clocks out of the box.
But the Sapphire has a better cooling unit on them.