GTX 970 or AMD RX 480?

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oodles2do

Bronze Level Poster
Hi, I've ordered a desktop from PCS which hasn't arrived yet, it's got no graphics card and I'm looking for the best graphics card I can get for relatively cheap.
I only need to be able to do a max of 1080p 60fps as that's all my monitor can do. If I was to go for the RX 480 it's about £180 for the 4GB version - I've been doing research and I don't think I'd need the 8GB for 1080p. However, I can get a GTX 970 for around the same price, if not cheaper second hand on eBay. I can then overclock the 970 when needed and it performs around the same as the 980.

Any advice?
 
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Wozza63

Biblical Poster
Hard to say at this point, I think the 480 prices will come down a little over the next couple of days but that's also not a guarantee, we've also got the GTX 1060 coming within a few weeks which I think is going to be a competitor for the RX 480 at price & performance.

As for overclocking, from what I've seen the RX 480 can be overclocked quite nicely too: http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/graphics/93932-amd-radeon-rx-480-14nm-polaris/?page=13 I would imagine the aftermarket ones in a few weeks would also improve overclocking performance.
 
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oodles2do

Bronze Level Poster
Thanks for the replies.

With memory, would I benefit from faster memory when sticking to just 1080p?

I can easily wait a little while and see how things level out with prices, especially when the 1060 comes out. I've never really had to shop GPU's before and this is a pain! I've now seen the AMD 290x that performs not too much worse than the 970, and it's a fair bit cheaper on eBay.

I still think at the moment the 970 is the best option as it provides similar performance to the 480 and you can overclock to the 980 performance.

I'd heard that the 480 doesn't overclock that well? Some people only able to overclock slightly and then it will shut down if you try and do it anymore. Things could get better with the development of drivers though.
 
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Wozza63

Biblical Poster
290X is a bit old now, wouldn't really recommend it as driver support could be dropped much sooner, it already misses out on a number of features available to the 300 series despite being very similar.

The link I posted shows decent overclocking gains and it can vary depending on the chip quality (which is more or less pot luck). And you're right, the new overclocking software from AMD is in its first version and likely to have bugs that need ironing out, a hotfix release usually comes within a few days from AMD if there are any major issues.

At this point I would definitely say its best to wait, we're mid way through a generation release, old versions are going to drop in price and new versions are going to be priced where they are currently.
 
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oodles2do

Bronze Level Poster
OK, it definitely makes sense to wait. The prices for older cards on eBay are all over the place, some really cheap and some are obviously people selling to upgrade and trying to get the best price they can.

Judging by some comparisons the 480 stands up very well against the 970 and smashes the 960 in certain games. I'll wait for the 3rd party 480's and get one that can be overclocked by myself to provide significant gains.
 
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Wozza63

Biblical Poster
oodles2do said:
OK, it definitely makes sense to wait. The prices for older cards on eBay are all over the place, some really cheap and some are obviously people selling to upgrade and trying to get the best price they can.
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Yep, it happened with me when I sold a previous card, managed to get lucky.

Another thing to note, although I think minor in this case is the value of the pound. After taking a tumble it is rising up slowly in value so prices may drop a tiny amount, however that change may not be passed on to the consumer
 
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oodles2do

Bronze Level Poster
Wozza365 said:
Yep, it happened with me when I sold a previous card, managed to get lucky.

Another thing to note, although I think minor in this case is the value of the pound. After taking a tumble it is rising up slowly in value so prices may drop a tiny amount, however that change may not be passed on to the consumer
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Yeah, I have been a bit worried about that too, I haven't seen much affect on the 480 from what I thought it would release at. I'm going to America in a few months on holiday so I might even wait until then and buy a GPU out there and bring it back. Shouldn't be any compatibility issues with that should there?
 
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Wozza63

Biblical Poster
oodles2do said:
Yeah, I have been a bit worried about that too, I haven't seen much affect on the 480 from what I thought it would release at. I'm going to America in a few months on holiday so I might even wait until then and buy a GPU out there and bring it back. Shouldn't be any compatibility issues with that should there?
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No there shouldn't be any issues, everything should be the same. You may wish to check up on the importing regulations, I'm not sure if you would be forced to pay import tax.
 
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oodles2do

Bronze Level Poster
Wozza365 said:
No there shouldn't be any issues, everything should be the same. You may wish to check up on the importing regulations, I'm not sure if you would be forced to pay import tax.
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Yeah I have, you're allowed to bring back items that have a value of less than £390 tax free :).
 
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