If you use MSI Afterburner, you can record gameplay at a touch of a button using VCE, AMD's Shadowplay if you want to call it that. If you have an Intel CPU with QuickSync, you can use that as well which is much better.

It's better to look at maximum power consumption to see the theoretical max and make sure you have the headroom to accommodate it without crashes, wouldn't you agree?

https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Powercolor/R9_390_PCS_Plus/28.html
390 max 323W
970 max 169W (154W difference)

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/sapphire-nitro-r9-390-8g-d5,4245.html
390 Furmark 323.3W
970 Furmark 180W (143.3W difference)

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2015-amd-radeon-r9-390-8gb-review
390 Peak System Draw 447W
970 Peak System Draw 277W (170W difference)

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/powercolor_radeon_r9_390_pcs_8gb_review,8.html
390 Calculated GPU Power Consumption 282W
970 Calculated GPU Power Consumption 154W (128W difference)

As they say, "compared to the GTX 970, the difference is still massive, with the GTX 970 also being 50% more power efficient in gaming." It's fair to assume (at least) a 100W difference in PSU requirements between the 970 and 390. (I imagine a decent 550W would be fine for a 390 in 95% of cases (no pun intended), but I said 600W above just to be safe!)


Other alternatives include Raptr and OBS, both of which have VCE support now - and I like having a choice of more than one utility. But did they get them working now with Mantle and DX12? (I'm out of the loop there, maybe! Three-four months ago it was limited to DX11 and still had inconsistent performance drops, as well as significant performance drops above 1080P - is that all fixed now? The advantage of Shadowplay is that it just works - the end.)

QuickSync is nice to have access to, but it does have its share of problems! It's only good for low-bitrate recording at 1080P or lower, but as long as you're on Haswell (at least) it's a decent alternative.

I use QuickSync so not sure about VCE performance, etc. It doesn't support my native resolution.

I'm running an i7 4770k with a r280x I also have a 550w Psu. Do you think I can get away with it?

I really want to get a R9 390 over a 970 but I'm starting to have second doubts... This card is 295cm and I want to move it into a miniITX build eventually, it uses a lot more power and I' m not sure my 650w PSU could handle it, also thinking the airflow would be worse in a miniITX case as it runs hotter.

Be aware it's the 12V rail amperage that matters, not the total wattage of the PSU.

I have this psu with an i5-2500k, 3 case fans, 2 HDDs and 1 HDD. Anyone know if it will be enough?

http://www.corsair.com/en/rm-series-rm550-80-plus-gold-certified-power-supply
This one

My son wants one of these for Christmas and has suggested the Sapphire Nitro which is more expensive. Does anyone who knows more than me have any insights? Thanks.

http://www.ebuyer.com/724601-sapphire-nitro-r9-390-tri-x-8gb-gddr5-dvi-d-hdmi-3x-displayport-11244-01-20g?gclid=CN3ryPiokskCFSr3wgodVsUJNw#fo_c=951&fo_k=f9aa1adb5066dc52adaf689fce45abf9&fo_s=gplauk?mkwid=s_dc&pcrid=51482416379&pkw=&pmt=

Thanks- I was just wondering if there was any specific difference in the Nitro card (other than the 3 fans) from the others. I can't see any from the specs and the review that I read said that overclocking wasn't too good as the card was already maxed out.

Sorry can't afford any more.... Just wish they would get to university and leave us in peace for a while rather than demanding food, clothes, phones, computer parts, sorting out their huge quantity of electronic gear when it goes wrong (especially when they come in at 11pm for me to sort out.........grrr).

That will be enough, but if you're considering a MicroITX future for it, I'd suggest spending a bit less and getting an ITX 970, perhaps, like this one (that's an example of a card, not a suggestion for buying at that price - I'm sure I've seen them under £250).

Yes, that will be no problem. But that's a lot of money for a relatively small boost over a 280X. Are you gaming at 120Hz+ or 1440P+?

LOL, it never ends - but I'm sure you do know that. All of our three have done the Uni, left home and had children of their own. Now they just call round to drop of theirs for us to mind. Crimbo just keeps getting more expensive.
Oh and they still bring over their broken stuff for repairs..!

I'm interested in the 970 as well, didn't realise there was an ITX version of it. Is there any difference performance wise between a full sizes 970 and the ITX one? If there is then I would just get the full sized one as it would fit regardless.

I'm only half considering it to be honest.

Yes, and the £9-10K for accommodation in the first year at university isn't going to help (single room, no food, South Ken). Then it's probably another 5 years commuting from home to save money. Joy!

Hmmm, maybe you guys can help me, I bought a MSI HD7990 a couple of years back, brilliant card but noisy... Is there anything out there today that is quieter (much quieter) energy efficient but no drop in performance? (Cheaper would be nice to) :stuck_out_tongue:

Kids these days ask for specific Xmas gifts?:confused: Just give him a toilet roll for Xmas and tell him to shut up :smile: Or at least deliver papers to buy a new card on his own.

He wants it NOW! (...........and it can be for Christmas- don't see what has gone wrong with his cross-fired 7770 OC's. Unfortunately, to get better, have to go to this level).

As an owner and user of both a GTX 970 and an R9 390 I can tell you that the 390 is by far the better card.Yes it might well use more power but it is faster overall and providing you get the right brand (I recommend the MSI one btw) it is very quiet too. As for power supplies I'm using a Corsair 520W PSU so providing you have a decent branded 500W+ PSU with good 12V rail output you should be fine even though they 'recommend' a 650W PSU.

Just got an offer of £250 from Flubit for the MSI Radeon R9 390 8GB GPU, think I'm gonna go with that!

No worries I have an i5 2500k :sunglasses:

Thought that must be a misprice, too good to be true, added it to basket and shipping is £23.93 and vat duty is £44 making it £265 total...

damn, harsh shipping fees.

Do you rate the Sapphire NITRO R9 390?

Hey hitman007 - I run a PC hardware company so get to test a lot of stuff. When the Sapphire card first came out I'm pretty sure it didn't have a backplate on it. The card didn't feel rigid and due to being extremely long (having 3 fans) it would probably not fit in inside a regular users 'standard' PC case. I went for the MSI because it looks better made and is very quiet too. Also the MSI cards come with a 3 year warranty where as Sapphire's is only 2 years. For me the MSI card feels better made and takes up less room so there seemed little reason to keep the Sapphire variation. Hope that helps :smiley:

Thanks Rev6, I appreciate the information you've provided. You're right, the Sapphire I was intersted in, one of the earlier models, doesn't have a back plate on. I noticed on the Sapphire website that they've added a back plate to the newer models. The one I've seen on offer doesn't include the back plate.
Wasn't sure how much difference the back plate made, so it's good to hear that it adds to the rigidity of the card. It's also much easier handling the cards with back plates. Length of the card wasn't an issue.
Going to be changing my msi gtx970 for a 390 to take advantage of the freesync monitor I now have. Not experienced freesync and want to be able to try it. All I need now is the black friday weekend to produce a great deal on the MSI 390. Hope it's a good weekend for your company. We'll see what happens.

I'm 45, I don't have any kids, just how life worked out, might be a bad thing when I'm older and there's no one about to care, sounds like not having any has its merits I guess.

If you're only thinking about it, it may well be worth holding off until Black Friday and/or Cyber Monday to see what GPU deals are around then IMO.

There isn't really anything great in your situation, sorry!

A 970 is almost as fast, and extremely quiet/energy efficient, with moderate value - but it is a performance drop. A 980 will be about as fast, and quiet/energy efficient - but they're not very good value for money (overclocking a 970 to hell is much more cost-effective!).

A Fury might be suitable for you - roughly 390X/980 performance... but even though it's more efficient than a 390(:laughing:, it's 100W higher than a 980.

So... not a great situation! If you're desperate, there's a Gigabyte GTX 980 for £380 or a Sapphire R9 Fury Tri-X for £408 (both at Amazon.co.uk). They're both pretty much identical performance to your card. The 980 is cheaper and far more efficient, but the Fury is adequate if you desperately want to stay AMD.

Better IMO to investigate fan controls on your card (maybe a slight underclock, too - and, hey, is your case fan airflow set up right? Got a 120mm exhaust fan on the back, for example?) and stick it out for a crazy bargain or a new wave of cards next year. It's just not a brilliant market for graphics cards right now.

Cheers, yep the flow is spot on, I've looked into aftermarket card cooling but there is none, even after contacting the main market manufacturers...The case is also filtered so there's little to no dust too... Just the card. If the card wasn't so noisy (like a jet engine about to take off) it would be great, but it's really getting my goat now, will keep waiting, was only interested this time because it was an excuse to treat myself this christmas.

In all seriousness, you need to check 3 things out before buying a 390.

1) What CPU do you have?
2) What PSU do you have?
3) How much room in the case do you have?

If you don't have at least an i5 of some sort, you are going to want to reconsider. If you don't have at least a decent 550 PSU, you will want to reconsider. And if you don't have enough space in your case... Obviously find something else!

But really, the CPU and the PSU are very important. If you don't have a good CPU, the 390 will bottleneck hard. And if you don't have a good enough PSU the GPU will suffocate (figuratively).

No problem on CPU and power supply (OSI 850W gold- previous one could not cope!); the only issue is the case. Going for the Nitro means taking a hacksaw to the hard drive rack (Antec case). The MSI or this would just about fit.

I would suggest considering the MSI 970 NVIDIA offering, but they are the same length.

Probably best to go with the one your son wants (between AMD and NVIDIA) as they are neck and neck.

He's an AMD person, so it will be the MSI version from the looks of it.

Aha! I have another idea.

Get USB extenders and a long DisplayPort cable etc... move your PC case into a different room so you can't hear it any more! Simple! :smiley:

MSI arrived yesterday and just managed to squeeze it into the case; worst problem was with the header cable, which is a bit tight. 60fps on FO4 at Ultra setting, so pretty good.

Phew! Always a good thing when it turns on after you snugly fit it in.

Snug wasn't quite the word; 5 min job turned into 45 mins having to remove the PSU to get the header back/recover screws....... get rid of the dust...... find a display port cable......

Can I ask what was the make and model of the case?

Antec 300- bit old in the tooth now, but works fine with some silent fans in there (was like a hovercraft before that).

Seems that there is an updates version available now.