Upgrade from an AMD HD 7790

ninja 12

Just looking for a bit of advice ,

I want to upgrade my gpu in my HTPC from an AMD 7790 and was thinking about a GTX 960 or an R9 380.

The only problem I have is that I need a small card ( case is a Silverstone LC16 )

The card I have is a GigaByte card - link , and it just barely fits in the case , so I was looking at itx cards .

GigaByte 960 ITX

Sapphire R9 380 ITX

Both are about the same price on Amazon ( the 960 comes with Metal Gear Solid V )

I use my HTPC mainly for TV , movies etc. all handled by MediaPortal , so Dolby True HD , DTS HD , hardware acceleration ( using LAV Filters ) for movie playback etc. is important , as is proper 3D playback with Power DVD (the 7790 handles all of these perfectly )


Current spec -

AMD FX 6300
GigaByte 970A-UD3
8GB Ram
AMD 7790 1GB
Corsair CX600 Modular PSU


Any thoughts / advice ?
Good choices ?

Thanks

Xenoronin

If your card is running fine, why the upgrade out of interest? Are you looking to make it more of a gaming machine also?

ninja 12

Xenoronin wrote: »

If your card is running fine, why the upgrade out of interest? Are you looking to make it more of a gaming machine also?

I do play games , I just need a card with a bit more poke .

Most games run fairly well @ 1080p with settings a mix of low / med / high , depending on the game .


Assassins Creed Unity @ 720p with all settings set to low = not as nice as I would have liked , with plenty of stuttering

( I know that my cpu is under the minimum for Unity as well , but the gpu is way under )

Jaafa

I would go with 960 given that it's a small case you're using and so you'll want the lowest possible temps. The performances seem to be similar for both cards.

Xenoronin

Ah grand so. From experience the 960 should be grand. Have a 760 myself. Granted it isn't the ITX version but they are fairly similar. Plenty of grunt to run most games at high/ultra. Do your homework on the different versions, I know MSI do a nice version from memory, but always check reviews.

ninja 12

Thanks for the replies ,

Gaming aside , are both cards the same when it comes to media playback ? As in , neither card has an advantage over the other ?

I assume the 960 supports bitstreaming Dolby / DTS HD formats ?

Although I notice that the 960 has HDMI 2 and the AMD card has 1.4

How much better would either card be over the 7790 I have now ?

The 960 is a current card isn't it ? I haven't used Nvidia since a laptop 8 years ago

sorry for all the questions

Digital Solitude

960 is a current gen card, they'll do everything the 7790 can do, and will be a fairly big upgrade for gaming.

Wright

Jaafa wrote: »

I would go with 960 given that it's a small case you're using and so you'll want the lowest possible temps. The performances seem to be similar for both cards.

More importantly IMO, AMD need to sort out their wattage. Almost 80W between the two cards you've mentioned. That's a super slim PS3 running.

960/380, its a toss up. If you're going one tier up, go AMD because the 970 has a VRAM design flaw.

Redfox25

Any reason to teplace it if its doing all you need to do already?

Wright

Redfox25 wrote: »

Any reason to teplace it if its doing all you need to do already?

Low @ 720 is not all he needs though.

Jaafa

Wright wrote: »

More importantly IMO, AMD need to sort out their wattage. Almost 80W between the two cards you've mentioned. That's a super slim PS3 running.

960/380, its a toss up. If you're going one tier up, go AMD because the 970 has a VRAM design flaw.

I don't consider wattage an issue, granted it might mean a bigger PSU but if you already have one then it's no problem. Yes you can argue it'll cost more over the year but the difference is negligible IMO.

Wright

Jaafa wrote: »

I don't consider wattage an issue, granted it might mean a bigger PSU but if you already have one then it's no problem. Yes you can argue it'll cost more over the year but the difference is negligible IMO.

Is it really though? I'm on a metered electricity connection. What would the difference be? 380 does get a few frames extra, I'm still undecided personally.

ninja 12

Redfox25 wrote: »

Any reason to teplace it if its doing all you need to do already?

The 7790 does everything I need for playing media , I need something better for gaming .

Wright wrote: »

More importantly IMO, AMD need to sort out their wattage. Almost 80W between the two cards you've mentioned. That's a super slim PS3 running.

960/380, its a toss up. If you're going one tier up, go AMD because the 970 has a VRAM design flaw.

I won't be going any higher ( 970 , etc ) the 960/R9 380 is as much as I want to spend .

Jaafa wrote: »

I don't consider wattage an issue, granted it might mean a bigger PSU but if you already have one then it's no problem. Yes you can argue it'll cost more over the year but the difference is negligible IMO.

Not too worried about a few watts , but if the 960 runs cooler , that's an advantage .

Jaafa

ninja 12 wrote: »

Not too worried about a few watts , but if the 960 runs cooler , that's an advantage .

Yes the main advantage of less wattage means it'll run a fair bit cooler.

Jaafa

Wright wrote: »

Is it really though? I'm on a metered electricity connection. What would the difference be? 380 does get a few frames extra, I'm still undecided personally.

I don't know exactly between these two cards, but I've seen comparisons in the past between cards with significant differences in wattage and the extra price over the year was something like ~10euro.

Digital Solitude

The 300 series have very low consumption compared to the 200s, in fairness to AMD they are working on it

Redfox25

Buy the 960 and get the free game. Not much between the cards and a free game, slightly cheaper and cooler is no harm either.
390 is a better gpu but maybe not for what you want to do atm.

ninja 12

So , at the moment I'm leaning towards the 960 , just trying to convince myself to change from AMD for the first time in years

Are they tied performance wise ?

Is the 960 powerful enough to use physx in games ?

What about 3D gaming on a TV , any issues ?


Thanks

TerrorFirmer

In the 380's favor while it's more power hungry it's generally a little faster. Your case has good airflow and plenty of space so you're not going to have to worry about temperatures at all. Either card will be a good choice though.

Xenoronin

I've only used Physx with Borderlands 2 and can definitely say it ran that without issue. Looked so cool, it does start to drop the fps though a tad when loads starts going on though. There is an early boss called bang and boom or something like that. Big turret that when it fires, debris flies everywhere. After about 5 of those shots, there was so much debris to toss about that the game started to lag a bit until i moved to a clearer area.

Eoinmc97

The GTX 960 is a good little card, as is the 380. Both come in 2 and 4Gb versions.
The temps are very similar under load. I have the MSI Aktiv Armour 2, and I see 68° on load and about 35° at idle. Power consumption difference between it and the 960 is 70watts (~250 vs ~180) but with your PSU, you'll be fine to run either.
HDMI 2.0 and 1.4 have no difference except for 4K resolution, and both cards should not be playing games at UHD.
Overclocking is very similar also, but why bother on a HTPC, as the noise and temps rise.
In terms of playback software, AMD always seemed to have more technologies than nVidia, such as TrueAudio for example, but all the features you're looking for have been fairly commonplace for the last 6 years or so, (most are found on Intel HD and Iris Pro graphics too) it makes no difference.
Brand is another. Currently, Sapphire are the EVGA for AMD, so their lines such as the Toxic and Vapour outperform a lot of brands. Gigabyte is an excellent brand for nVidia, but only when going higher end tbh, with Samsung memory on their 970's and 980's providing faster overclocking than others.
Price is the final factor. Depending on the use of the system, electricity bills will be about €4 in the difference per year (not €10). For gaming, the GTX 960 has good driver support to make up for it's tiny 128 bit bus. In games like AC4 and Unity, the card stutters like crazy. The R9 380's bus is 256 bit, and handles better in the minimum frame rates.

ninja 12

Right so ,
Just completed an order on Amazon ,

The winner is - GigaByte GTX 960

I couldn't decide , both cards were 50/50 until I opened my case and measured properly .

The position of the psu socket was the final decider .

On the AMD 380 it was on the end of the card , and would have made it awkward if not impossible to connect properly , due to the fact that my BluRay drive would be in the way , right at the end of the card ( thanks to the layout of the case )

On the GTX 960 (as well as my current 7790) the power connector is on the side of the card , and is easy to access .

As a bonus , I qualify for a free copy of Metal Gear Solid V ( don't know anything about it , must look it up )

Thanks to all who replied / voted

Wright

ninja 12 wrote: »

Right so ,
Just completed an order on Amazon ,

The winner is - GigaByte GTX 960

Good choice. It if had bigger bus it would be a no-brainer but as it stands its a decent card anyway.

If you could test the no spin feature that would be great. Its the card I'm looking at, wondering how much you could get away with before seeing the fans kick in.

Xenoronin

You're welcome. Metal Gear Solid V is gonna be great. Stealth game, but fairly sandbox type gameplay. Big base which you "hire" mercenaries and "supply" animals and vehicles to. The demo, Ground Zeroes played really well (main fault was it was priced fairly high for a 90min mission) so they can't go too wrong in terms of gameplay.

ninja 12

Wright wrote: »

Good choice. It if had bigger bus it would be a no-brainer but as it stands its a decent card anyway.

If you could test the no spin feature that would be great. Its the card I'm looking at, wondering how much you could get away with before seeing the fans kick in.

Just looked up about the no spin feature (knew nothing about it ) , I'll let you know how it is , and if it works on this particular card .

Xenoronin wrote: »

You're welcome. Metal Gear Solid V is gonna be great. Stealth game, but fairly sandbox type gameplay. Big base which you "hire" mercenaries and "supply" animals and vehicles to. The demo, Ground Zeroes played really well (main fault was it was priced fairly high for a 90min mission) so they can't go too wrong in terms of gameplay.

Just had a look on Steam , looks like a decent game , and Ground Zeroes has positive reviews on Steam .

Drivers downloaded and at the ready , all I need now is for Amazon to stick it in the post

Wright

Xenoronin wrote: »

You're welcome. Metal Gear Solid V is gonna be great. Stealth game, but fairly sandbox type gameplay. Big base which you "hire" mercenaries and "supply" animals and vehicles to. The demo, Ground Zeroes played really well (main fault was it was priced fairly high for a 90min mission) so they can't go too wrong in terms of gameplay.

If he enters the code before launch date does Steam give him GZ too?

ninja 12

Wright wrote: »

If he enters the code before launch date does Steam give him GZ too?

From looking at the Steam forums , everything else , just not GZ

http://steamcommunity.com/app/287700/discussions/0/541907867764056236/#c541907867764074484

Wright

ninja 12 wrote: »

From looking at the Steam forums , everything else , just not GZ

http://steamcommunity.com/app/287700/discussions/0/541907867764056236/#c541907867764074484

Still super unclear on this staff thing, and what we get for having GZ saves on the same system as TPP.

ninja 12

Can anybody guess what the postman dropped off today ?

A shiny new GTX 960


New card beside the 7790



New card in place



I had to trim a piece from the horizontal case support bar , as the new card is a little taller than the 7790 and the bar wouldn't fit (the 6 pin power cable was in the way )



I uninstalled the AMD drivers , installed the card , powered up and installed the Nvidia drivers .

Set the Windows sound settings to 5.1 , using HDMI as the default sound device .

TV , movies etc. are all playing fine as before using MediaPortal , with Dolby True HD ,DTS HD etc through my Denon receiver


I fired up Assassin's Creed Unity and set it to 1920x1080 .

I am now getting between 45-55 fps @1080p (according to the fps counter in uPlay ,I'll check properly later ), whereas before with the 7790 I was getting about 25fps @ 720p :eek:

A huge improvement , and looks much better .

Wright wrote: »

Good choice. It if had bigger bus it would be a no-brainer but as it stands its a decent card anyway.

If you could test the no spin feature that would be great. Its the card I'm looking at, wondering how much you could get away with before seeing the fans kick in.

I've installed the drivers but don't see anything about fan speed ,and at idle the fan seems to be spinning at around 700-800 rpm , and temp is 27-29 degrees .

Am I missing something ? another program ?

Edit- pics don't seem to be working properly , I'll fix them in a bit (fixed hopefully )

Wright

Those are some broken ass picture links!

ninja 12

Wright wrote: »

Those are some broken ass picture links!

Fixed (hopefully )

Wright

Regarding no spin... that 960 wont do it. I thought you were going with Gigabyte Windforce didnt know they had another model.

ninja 12

Wright wrote: »

Regarding no spin... that 960 wont do it. I thought you were going with Gigabyte Windforce didnt know they had another model.

Ah , I see .

Is it normal not to see any fan control options in the Nvidia control panel ?

The fan is silent anyway .