I would definitely not get the 970, and that's not being an AMD fanboy, that's just because Maxwell doesn't have the forward-looking hardware features of the other cards (like hardware async compute). This fact is sort of exposed in Futuremark's new DX12 benchmark Timespy released yesterday - doing tests with async compute on and off yields the same results for Maxwell cards like the 970, 980 etc. I.e, it doesn't have the capability.

As DX12 and Vulkan APIs are only going to become ever more important from here on out, the 390 and 480 are much better placed for this future. Oh and 8GB memory v the 3.5GB on the 970 helps too.

Will take 10 biased opinions over just one paid

Heat added OP :smiley: .

Quidco = 2% CB on all other purchases eBuyer plus £10 bonus running until 31st July via opt in, resulting in potentially £14.16, £208 - £14.16 = £193.84.

The 480 should have more life in it, with more VRAM and the progress over time with GCN drivers. I would not buy a reference 480.
I'll let you know once the custom 480 reviews start appearing! :smiley:

Info re: Warhammer promo Here

Basket Total: £193.00checkout
flubit bought.

Before anyone asks
http://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/AMD-RX-480-vs-AMD-R9-390/3634vs3481
Hot deal with game.

A real review is best to compare GPU's, not using synthetic benchmarks.

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/amd_radeon_r9_rx_480_8gb_review,15.html

​if you had a choice between this the RX 480 and the GTX 970 which would you opt for?

The 480 should have more life in it, with more VRAM and the progress over time with GCN drivers. I would not buy a reference 480.
I'll let you know once the custom 480 reviews start appearing! :smiley:

​Thanks rev6 you're the best

Been waiting patiently for the 480 custom cards, but since I wanted total warhammer anyway I finally buckled for this.

Why did you say more life/vram? They both have the same amount of memory.

:stuck_out_tongue:

I have always found userbenchmark to be very reliable (it's based on millions of actual samples from users). Review sites generally rely on donations from manufacturers so they all have a political bias baked in, that's why their results vary so much. Also there is no standard to compare stuff across different review sites because they all use different hardware configurations/drivers. With userbenchmark you can even run the test and see how your current setup compares.

The review was an example.

Ah Sorry.

It's a MONSTER card for the money, the issues with this one are the length (about a foot) and the amount of power this thing can draw at full tilt, about 350W :confused: You're gonna need about 50A on your pain of 12V rails that and another one for starters me CPU operation!

Hot from me! Overclockers are also running the Total War: Warhammer promotion with the 390 cards. Below is a link to the Gigabyte version for £199.99
Arguably the Sapphire Nitro is the better aftermarket cooler for the extra £8.01
However I'm based in N.Ireland and there is a £10 surcharge delivery from Ebuyer which is why I'm swaying towards the Gigabyte version.

Like many others I've been holding out for the aftermarket 480 cards but with preorder versions at £250 plus the cost of the game (£30~ assuming you were going to buy it which I am) we are talking £70-£80 difference versus one of these 390 deals.

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/gigabyte-radeon-r9-390-g1-gaming-8192mb-gddr5-pci-express-graphics-card-gx-166-gi.html

I would definitely not get the 970, and that's not being an AMD fanboy, that's just because Maxwell doesn't have the forward-looking hardware features of the other cards (like hardware async compute). This fact is sort of exposed in Futuremark's new DX12 benchmark Timespy released yesterday - doing tests with async compute on and off yields the same results for Maxwell cards like the 970, 980 etc. I.e, it doesn't have the capability.

As DX12 and Vulkan APIs are only going to become ever more important from here on out, the 390 and 480 are much better placed for this future. Oh and 8GB memory v the 3.5GB on the 970 helps too.

Heat added OP :smiley: .

Quidco = 2% CB on all other purchases eBuyer plus £10 bonus running until 31st July via opt in, resulting in potentially £14.16, £208 - £14.16 = £193.84.

Fairly tempting but going to wait and see what the 1060 brings to the table

It's not based on 'millions of reviews'. Each card sampled is based on, at most, 10s of reviews. By biased users, who may not be honest with their reviews.

Will take 10 biased opinions over just one paid

:confused:

Tyrael was a FOOL to buy old gen....

What FutureMark call Async Compute is only a very light version, which is why Pascal seems to be doing (relatively) well and actually gains despite not gaining anything in Doom, Ashes, or the latest RotTR patch.
There's a discussion in Anandtech and Overclock.net:
http://www.overclock.net/t/1605899/various-futuremark-releases-3dmark-time-spy-directx-12-benchmark/130#post_25348245
This post sort of summarises it:
http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=38360529&postcount=13
So, as usual it seems that FutureMark's bench is yet again not representative of actual games. But I guess all three will optimise heavily for it (even Intel optimise for FutureMark although the never/almost never optimise for any games). From the discussion it seems that FutureMark's bench purposefully tones down what Async can do.

Exactly why I'm leaving it alone, I'd need a new PSU whereas I should be fine with the 480. Still gonna wait for the custom cards though before I bite.

I hear flubits returns are terrible. I would probably go direct to ebayer with this one, as the savings of a few quid do not justify the headache if you do need to return a faulty card. I would only flubit on things that are consumables or cheap things, where I know that losing my money wouldn't bother me too much.

It says "actual samples" not reviews?
R9 390 8,275 User Benchmarks
RX 480 376 User Benchmarks.
Not millions, but very good representation across the board.

I'd possibly get an RX480 or R9 390 over a GTX 970. Drivers are mature on the 390 and GTX 970, depending on the games you play, there's a very limited amount of games that are quicker than a GTX980 on the RX480/390 which can utilise Vulkan/DX12. I'd wait a bit longer see how the GTX1060 is as well.

In modern games 480 is beating 980Ti while 970 is getting pressured by 7970, that was released in 2011.

Sony and Microsoft consoles will both have RX480 in them with all games adapted for GCN architecture. AMD is the only brand to buy. It £$"s all over Nvidia. AMD currently has no top card but that will be released months to come.

Would my i5 3470 bottleneck this?

Yeah I thought as much and I'm a member on Overclock.net under a different name.

Futuremark's synthetic benches (3DMark etc) for the past few years always favour Nvidia but real-world performance is much kinder to AMD cards, especially with games released in the last 6-months that seem especially optimized for AMD's GCN arch.

And you're right - the console's hardware dictates the performance of the big PC games by and large. PS4/XB1 are already running GCN-based GPUs so when these games are developed, the consoles are the lead platform usually and this GCN-optimized code is then ported to the PC, where AMD cards see these benefits. Knowing as we do that the new consoles will have custom 480 GPUs inside them, I make sure I take that into account when buying my next graphics card (so there is a bias in favour of AMD, even if the 1080 is faster than anything by some distance. But it does cost £600-700).

No.

Amazon have now price matched so free delivery to n.ireland. However i may go with the sapphire 480 Nitro+ pre-order at ocuk as means i do not need to buy a new power supply.

Nah. 1060.

Based on what? I agree wait and see but are you saying you know for definite the GTX1060 is the better card?

You are correct, they basically buy it off ebuyer so any issues tou have to bounce support via them.

Just cancelled flubit and bought from amazon, no stock but hopefully they get stock within a week or so.
Got the 5% student discount plus had a few GBP credit from prime day deals, ended up paying 185£ so win :smiley:

Absolute logic fail.

Reasoning:

I will take 10 biased opinions over one paid opinion which by it's very nature is biased. Therefore there is no difference as all reviews you are basing your purchasing decision on are biased and therefore your negativity towards paid reviews is flawed as well. There is no honesty or impartiality in bias. You seem to want 'impartial bias' which is an oxymoron.

#missionAccomplished

​Because it's Nvidia. Anything else?

I really dig this card, I almost bought it. I've the room, just about, I've a 500watt PSU much to my dissapointment and I really can't be bothered to change it. I'm a light gamer, I use just one screen and 1080p is as good as I care about. Currently I've a dated 650 1GB, I can't play even GTA5 beyond base settings. Given my limitations, one of which is laziness, any card recommendations?

I'd wait for custom versions of the RX480 8GB to come out. Uses less power and has a newer architecture than this card.

I had seen people mentioning that, not entirely sure what peeps were referring to. I'm so out of touch, I see it recommends a 500w PSU and is around the same price. I shall hang on in there! Cheers.

A custom version of a card means that it will use a fan cooler design which should be better than the reference card fan design, so each manufacturer will release a custom fan design. More about it here >

https://www.reddit.com/r/Amd/comments/4sra80/anyone_know_when_the_rx_480_custom_cards_will/

Deffo agree with the Fishmeister, only a few more days til AIB cards appear after all... Which is why e-tailers are clearing stock of these old models...

How do you get a 5% student discount?

EDIT: found it!

​Same here, let's see if the GTX 1060 is anywhere near as good as it's hyped to be :man:

What was your mission?

For those wondering how the Total War promo works. It's not referenced / advertised in the detail of the card or when you checkout etc. so I figured I would have to contact Ebuyer to redeem.
However I can confirm I got an email through the following day with the code without having to take any action - so it works!

Pondering this deal , but I cannot find the opt in :-

£10 bonus running until 31st July via opt in

Based on the opt in link provided on Page 1 , I am not eligible !?!?!

this has now expired, there is no stock left. are there any other good offers for R9 390 cards?