R9 390(Non-x) vs GTX 970

Hello , I am new to this forum , I know there are a lot of people asking this lately , so I am sorry if this is kinda annoying. I am planning to buy a new gaming PC this month , but I can't decide what GPU to get between the R9 390 and GTX 970 . I am planning to play games at 1080p , and I know they're very similar in performance , and since I would get the MSI version for both of them , I would like to OC them (Even though I haven't OCed anything before ) , as I know the 970 is a better OCer than the 390 . But my biggest concern is that the R9 390 will pull ahead with better drivers and the higher amount of VRam in the future , as I plan to keep the card for 3 years , and I fear that the 3.5 gb out of 4 that are used at maximum speed of the 970 won't be enough in the future ? What do you think ?

The 390 performs slightly better and will be better in future expenditures

Even if I OC the 970 , as I heard it can be OCed very close to 980 performance at 1080P?

You need to go read reviews of the card. The first review I read was the COMPLETE opposite of what the other person is saying. The 970 won in every benchmark/game. I haven't read any since but read up and make a decision.

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970 is better, better drivers, better performance. 390 runs really hot, and I think 8GB is useless at least for a few years

No it won't.

970 can overclock well past a 980

Well people on other forums (I have no idea how they came up with what I am about to say ) said in 2 years or so you would need more than 4 gb even at 1080p ... so that's what my concern is with the 970 , as the 390 has more than double the VRam...

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It can overclock over the 980 and still be stable ? I mean not blow up ?

Try rendering with 3.5gb of VRAM... Or using CryEngine. It isn't fun. In the future things will use more memory. As it stands, the 390 performs better even with Nvidias mature drivers... Even more so with future drivers.

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I will be using this PC only for gaming

4gb will be well saturated in 2 years. Games such as Star Citizen will use more than 4gb once maxed out. Even at 1080

The 970 is better until you hit the 3.5GiB VRAM limit then the card just slows itself down once you go above it. Like every Graphics card launch, drivers tend to be bad. however, for the future you're better off with the 390. the card isn't going to slow down once you go above 3.5GiBs on the VRAM, WHICH games are getting close to already. plus it just does better at higher-resolutions. which is something to consider if you get a 1440p monitor in the future.

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Thank you :)

Absolutely. AMD did some voo-doo magic, cause the old 200 series 290 series were poor overclockers the 390 series are really good at overclocking.

on a sidenote: there's nothing wrong with choosing a 970. but if you aren't going to upgrade in a year or so, and you want a card that will last, the 390 is just the overall better choice. the problem with the 970 is strictly that 3.5GiB VRAM issue. it's not good in the long term, games are getting dangerously close to 3GiBS of VRAM already.

People just don't realize how much more intense games are getting. 3.5gb is better for now, but like I said earlier the 970 won't do well with SC maxed out... Even at 1080p. The 390 is fantastic. It's a tried and true architecture that's been used since late 2013, and it could very well last you 3 to 4 years from now depending on what games you play :)

It's irritating that some people say that 3.5 gb is enough for 2-3 years for 1080p while others say it's not , and I am getting confused as I don't know who to trust , but right now I am leaning towards the R9 390 , I will need a better PSU though ... so if they're getting close to 3gb that means I won't be able to keep it 3 years will I ? ...

Well that's how long I plan to keep it 3 years ... since I won't be able to get a new one next year as I will lack the funds to do so ... so I ma looking for something to last , but drivers are still in beta right ? so that means when the drivers come out that card will be much better ?

Drivers are always in beta. just like Nvidia's. full blown drivers take months to produce. it took half a year for Catalyst Omega to come out for AMD graphics cards.

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But once they come , they will make the card much better than it is now , right ? I mean , will there be a significant difference ?