I just want to know what people think, lack of availability on newer cards and also pricing fluctuation is turning into an annoying scenario, as for sub $150 cards most are not worth the money since the price / perf and longer term value are kinda crap for cheaper cards. Hence this has resulted in me thinking that really in their own class there are two cards that meet the price performance sweet spot without breaking the bank at all and these are the two I think are where budget builders can really get some value for upgrading older rigs.
I am trying to decide myself if I should get one of these, right now the Asus strix 380 4gb model is priced very nicely on newegg and I cant help but be somewhat drawn to it for fairly good 1080p gaming, but whilst it is sexy on paper and reviewers seem largely divided about which of these two models from opposing vendors is best, I feel like before I commit any money on anything I need an opinion.
Please do not discuss upcoming gpus in this like the RX470/460 since realistically right now we do not know when the ETA is on these cards or stock levels or performance... so with current information in mind these are the two choices I have boiled it down too.
I could be playing overwatch next week with a 380 or 960 vs waiting potentially several weeks on getting a newer better 480/470/1060 whatever... So here is a poll I want to see what people really think of these two cards, please don't vote with bias give genuine votes and if need be explain in a response why you feel your selection is the better option.
I would like too wait but this upgrade of mine has been pending for sometime now and I am gonna need a functional PC a bit more powerful than my 10year old laptop to do some work on in the very near future so waiting for a newer better card at that price point may not be feasible if the delivery on newer cards is unknown due to stock being so variable.
Again I would like to stress that I am not in the market for a higher end card, this rig I am building right now is not an enthusiast build (targeting the 1070/1080 range), and even the RX480 is a stretch for what I want to spend here right now, its an upgrade to basically get me through till end of next year when I expect Zen and Vega to come out and competitor variants of different products too.
I am also grabbing and 8320e for my upgrading since it really is the best type of cpu for the tasks I need to do, and since I use linux based software to do a lot of video editing (blender), and also my programming and design work this PC is gonna be a productive purchase,
additionally on the side I do want to play a few games like witcher 3 and overwatch too after my work day so pc has to handle that, sadly I havent played any games for over a year, so its like an itch I want to scratch now lol
Trust me I am really really trying to be patient right now and hold out for this but if it turns out that stock is bad then I may not have a choice but to make a more prompt decision.
960 user here, overall its kinda meh for the 960 , i had it for about 6 months or so it's doing alright but recently i'm having some overclocking issues. I boost the memory clock to 600 Mhz and core clock to 155 mhz before crash but now its just clocking at 3004 mhz and not going any higher or lower, im guessing i locked it. Hopefully i find a way i can get it out of the lock situation because this card is doing pretty well till recently
Hmm just a question not about the card but are you happy with your PSU? I am asking cos I was looking at a similar one by Corsair and wondering if it was a good buy.
Definitely its a pretty good psu i love it , its not too loud and provides pretty good power , if your more of an enthusiast it's easy to match certain colors with this PSU, also the sleeves are braded and comes with it (in pic)
Thank you that is good to know. I do like corsair cases and power supplies I have owned a few and had a good experience with them overall. Think I will put this on the amazon wishlist and compare it to the evga psu i currently had looked into.
Due to overwhelming support for the R9 380 from votes by users here I finally purchased one for my old rig, and managed to get it at around $150 brand new from amazon which I thought was a great deal.
If I am right about performance this should only be a little behind the RX 470 or maybe even on par I am not sure at this stage however the RX470 does boast more memory which is likely what gives it the advantage, sadly I could not wait another few months for 3rd party stock to arrive on e-tailer lists for the newer cards and so for now the 380 was definitely the best bang for buck purchase I could get.
With GCN architecture and support for Vulkan and DX12 this card should provide me with a good experience for gaming at 1080p which is all I can do on my current hardware, should I ever get a 1440p monitor or something then the card will handle that as well on medium settings so from my budget builder point of view I am now set at least until Zen and Vega hit the market (another 18months at least before my next upgrade).
Since amazon takes a few weeks to ship me parts cos I live in hobbit land, I will discuss the build / upgrade of my pc in my 'GET CRACKIN AUGUST' thread which currently has photos of my old pc case on it which I am in the process of sanding and painting right now. Next week I expect some air cooling gear to arrive for the case from performance-pcs and in 2 weeks my 380 should arrive from amazon.
Watch the forums for photos and updates of this build I thank the community for all their help in voting and hope you guys like the end result when I post photos.
