Need quick advice on a trade. 390 for gtx 960.

[thatbonokid]

I have the MSI R9 390, Running on a 500wat evga psu.

I just got offered a 4gb GTX 960, 2 days old, with the receipt + 100$ for my r9 390 that is a month old.

Heres the GTX 960 with an in store receipt for micro center.

http://www.microcenter.com/product/...ing_4GB_GDDR5_Video_Card_w-_WindForce_Cooling



And here is my r9 390

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127874&cm_re=msi_390-_-14-127-874-_-Product





I have a 4690k and have absolutely no money. I cant afford a new power supply.. It runs okay as is, but i dont think its healthy to run a z97-g45 and a 390 on a 40$ 500 wat evga PSU.

I only play Counter Strike GO.

How much of a difference are these cards? Is this a bad Idea to take the 960 and 100 bucks for my 390? I also am not familiar with ATI.. I had regrets over not getting a 970 instead, but it seems like everyone absolutely loves these 390s though.. What would you do in my situation? I once in a while get a coil whine in my PSU when i launch CS. Its not permanent, but it happens sometimes(really weird).. Is the 960 up to par? Am I getting a good deal? how would you compare the 2.. I also want a new motherboard because this gimmick z97-g45 "GAMING" has a horrible ethernet port that sometimes runs with zero upload.. seen alot of threads and no fixes.. but as of now its running fine.. I just want to make sure im not going to regret this. Please tell me ANYTHING you can about this trade and how i should be looking at it. Maybe Ill get into a new game in the future? things like that. Thank you for your time and please, all the responses in the world would be much appreciated.

 

[Johan45]

You will be losing on performance that's for certain. Is that worth the $100? Will you be happy with 25% less card? That's what it comes down to IMO.

 

[EarthDog]

It runs okay as is, but i dont think its healthy to run a z97-g45 and a 390 on a 40$ 500 wat evga PSU.

Its just fine. R9390 is a 250W card max at stock, while your CPU is 88W. overclock them both, say 325W and 125W, that is 400W. Give 50W or so for the rest of your rig... and you hit 450W. Now, that does seem a bit close, until you realize that the only way you will hit those loads is if your CPU and GPU are running 100%... which it does NOT do outside of stress testing. You will pull 350W-400W on that machine.

Performance difference on these cards are pretty big (see reviews). 960 is a decent 1080p card, but nothing more than decent. THe 390 walks it all day long.

No need for bold...

 

[Janus67]

Agreed with Johan and ED, the 390 is a much better card and your PSU should be sufficient.

 

[thatbonokid]

Another big reason is that I really cant get into ati. It seems nvidia has counterstrike mastered. Is the 960 better than my 770? does the 4 gig version make a difference? I can always return the 960 for 239, plus ill have 100.. and thats more than the 390 cost... Plus the 60 in my pocket. Im just curious about this 960.. It seems like it will have a long life. is it another 2/4/560? or is it solid? does it compare to the higher end cards at all? I play counterstrike. No other games are installed. Also have you guys heard of the z97-g45 gaming killer e2200 just NOT uploading.. 0 upload, or .01.. haha.. thats been happening. I just dont want to see MSI ever again. I loved my windforce 770. I just hope this card is at least a little better than the 770.

Also, I really, really want an acrylic case... What happened to those? can you still get em for 50 bucks? I HATE this coolermaster case.. Very chinsy. lopsided stripped motherboard spacer screws. i just want it to go away. I want a nomal lil cute firm case.. or acrylic.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ..._re=cooler_master_case-_-11-119-265-_-Product

 

[EarthDog]

Check out some reviews on the 960 to see how it compares to other cards. I reviewed one on the front page in fact. ACTUALLY, we reviewed at least 3 of them...: http://www.overclockers.com/?s=GTX+960

I have never heard of that issue with the killer NIC, no...

I loved my HAF XB!!! Didn't find it 'chinsy' at all, actually. My screws were all fine, and I swapped mobo's pretty frequently too...

 

[NZKshatriya]

Only way to strip all the included mobo screws is to use too much force on install imo.
That said, I do have a 500pc bag of replacement screws.....save everything you disassemble.

 

[thatbonokid]

Check out some reviews on the 960 to see how it compares to other cards. I reviewed one on the front page in fact. ACTUALLY, we reviewed at least 3 of them...: http://www.overclockers.com/?s=GTX+960

I have never heard of that issue with the killer NIC, no...

I loved my HAF XB!!! Didn't find it 'chinsy' at all, actually. My screws were all fine, and I swapped mobo's pretty frequently too...

Look up killer e2200 no upload speed.... sometimes it just wont have any upload. Im forced to get a 960 in order to get a new motherboard... but it also comes in the form of 339$+ tax. So, what would you do in the situation? I can sell this motherboard because It seems fine, but id only sell it for 50 dollars. Its 3 weeks old and has been working 100%... Im just so confused.. I wish I had money. Ive never had a PC this nice, though I wish it was Nvidia due to being counter strike is the only game i play.. The 960 may run CS better TBH.

 

[Janus67]

why do you need to buy a new motherboard, why not RMA it if it is having issues? Have you tried reinstalling your OS or loading up a linux live cd and see if your NIC is failing there too?

 

[EarthDog]

Id do what Janus is saying well before I look into buying a GPU and motherboard and......?

 

[caddi daddi]

if you are eating and everyone in the house is eating just keep the 970, if money is that tight sell the 970 and throw in the 770 if it's laying around. my 4 gig 770's are wonderful cards, I just have to watch the graphics settings.
try reinstalling the motherboard drivers and nic, you don't need another motherboard and cpu and the 970 should play most games fine at highest graphics settings at 1080p.

 

[sobe]

For CSGO even a 750 Ti is more than fine, but the 390 is a great little card, since you already have it, what would be the point of selling? Even the low-end EVGA units are far better than several lower-end units from other companies, so I wouldn't worry so much about the PSU.

I stick to NV for my primary machine for a few reasons, but AMD vid cards are neck and neck with NV as a whole, you can't go wrong with them.

 

[caddi daddi]

I have a couple of 7970's and 280x's great cards, do everything very well, bought used for $100 or so, still glad i bought them and your 390 is even better.

 

[grumperfish]

Strip out the 'Killer' software and just use the stock qualcomm drivers. No need to RMA the board as it's not the chipset itself that's the problem. I think the drivers are even available from Windows Update but if not you can just match the chipset on qualcomm's driver site.