When comparing AMD Radeon R9 390X vs NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960, the Slant community recommends AMD Radeon R9 390X for most people. In the question“What are the best GPUs for gaming?” AMD Radeon R9 390X is ranked 9th while NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 is ranked 14th. The most important reason people chose AMD Radeon R9 390X is:
The R9 390X performs well in recent games. [In Battlefield 4](http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/7205/sapphire-tri-radeon-r9-390x-8gb-video-card-review/index6.html) for example, in 1080 and using ultra quality settings, the R9 390X achieves an average framerate of 130 frames per second, with a minimum measured at 72 FPS. The card also [performs well in Grand Theft Auto V](http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/7205/sapphire-tri-radeon-r9-390x-8gb-video-card-review/index6.html) (maxed out settings and 1080p), where it is able to achieve an average framerate of 97 frames per second, and a minimum of 45 fps. [In Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor](http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/7205/sapphire-tri-radeon-r9-390x-8gb-video-card-review/index6.html), the R9 390X is able to achieve an average 96 frames per second, with a minimum to 42. [For Tomb Raider (2013)](http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/7205/sapphire-tri-radeon-r9-390x-8gb-video-card-review/index6.html), the R9 390X scores 98 frames per second on average and a minimum of 74 frames per second, all under 1080p and maximum settings. The R9 390X is also well-equipped with enough horsepower to handle 1440p gaming, [where it scores](http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/7205/sapphire-tri-radeon-r9-390x-8gb-video-card-review/index7.html) an average of 111 FPS for Battlefield 4, 89 for GTA V, 72 frames per second for Shadow of Mordor and an average of 67 FPS for Tomb Raider. [Gaming in 4K resolution is also a possibility](http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/7205/sapphire-tri-radeon-r9-390x-8gb-video-card-review/index8.html), albeit with lower graphical settings. The R9 390X can handle Battlefield 4 fluently on medium settings with an average FPS of 70, and 60 FPS in ultra settings with a minimum of 36 FPS. A maxed-out Grand Theft Auto V results in a minimum and average framerate of 24 and 69, and 35 and 64 FPS for Shadow of Mordor. Tomb Raider is very playable in 4K even with a high preset, with an average framerate of 76 fps and a minimum of 62.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro High FPS in games
The R9 390X performs well in recent games. In Battlefield 4 for example, in 1080 and using ultra quality settings, the R9 390X achieves an average framerate of 130 frames per second, with a minimum measured at 72 FPS.
The card also performs well in Grand Theft Auto V (maxed out settings and 1080p), where it is able to achieve an average framerate of 97 frames per second, and a minimum of 45 fps.
In Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor, the R9 390X is able to achieve an average 96 frames per second, with a minimum to 42.
For Tomb Raider (2013), the R9 390X scores 98 frames per second on average and a minimum of 74 frames per second, all under 1080p and maximum settings.
The R9 390X is also well-equipped with enough horsepower to handle 1440p gaming, where it scores an average of 111 FPS for Battlefield 4, 89 for GTA V, 72 frames per second for Shadow of Mordor and an average of 67 FPS for Tomb Raider.
Gaming in 4K resolution is also a possibility, albeit with lower graphical settings. The R9 390X can handle Battlefield 4 fluently on medium settings with an average FPS of 70, and 60 FPS in ultra settings with a minimum of 36 FPS. A maxed-out Grand Theft Auto V results in a minimum and average framerate of 24 and 69, and 35 and 64 FPS for Shadow of Mordor. Tomb Raider is very playable in 4K even with a high preset, with an average framerate of 76 fps and a minimum of 62.
Pro Supported by most high end games
Most games specifically optimize for this card (among others).
Pro Lower price point due to new GPU's
The Radeon R9 390X is an older graphics card and doesn't use AMD's new Polaris architecture such as the RX 480. As stores are trying to replace the previous generation GPU's with the new models, a lower price point is offered for the R9 390X. You can find a 390X graphics card for a little over 300 dollars, which is 100 dollars less than the recommended retail price.
Pro Excellent overclocking potential
Overclocking allows you to increase the clock speeds of your GPU for increased performance. The GTX 960 chip overclocks very well and overclock results of over 15% aren't uncommon. In this case, both the GPU base clock and memory have been overlocked 18%, which also results in a 18.3% better performance in Battlefield 3 (73.9 FPS vs 87.4 FPS).
Pro Ideal for 1080p gaming
The GTX 960 holds up well in gaming benchmarks with a 1080p resolution and all games are perfectly playable. Some of the more recent titles may require you to to use medium settings, but overall 1080p performance is great. For example, Metro Last Light runs at an average of 56.1 frames per second with maximum details. Average FPS in Alien Isolation is 89.5 FPS in 1080p, and it also performs well in 1440p with an average 56.7 frames per second. Similar results can be seen in Bioshock Infinite with 90 average FPS in 1080p and 54.1 FPS in 1440p. In Battlefield 4, a result of 48.8 FPS is reached in 1080p with 4x AA enabled.
Pro Low power consumption
The GeForce GTX 960 requires a single 6-pin PCIe power connector and is decently energy efficient. In non-gaming situations, maximum consumption for an entire system is measured at about 9 watts while the maximum power usage during full load is 140 watts. For comparison, the GTX 760 consumes 167 watts during full load - 21% more.
Cons
Con Very little new tech
Mostly, this card is just a rebranded Radeon R9 290X, a card that was released in October 2013.
Con Uses a lot of power
The Radeon R9 390X consumes a lot of power - more-so than any other GPU (other than the 290X). In total, the testing rig used 440W of power when using the R9 390X. For comparison, the GTX 980 - which is also a previous-generation GPU - only used 280W, a 36% decrease.
Con Almost end-of-life, causes availability issues
Con Is outperformed by the RX 470
Although NVIDIA has announced the succesor of the GTX 960 in the form of the more powerful GTX 1060, the price point of the older 960 remains over a hundred dollars lower. This puts the GTX 960 in direct competition with AMD's new RX 470 graphics card which is available for a slightly higher price but offers consistently better performance.
Con Previous generation chip
The GTX 960 chip has been around for a while, and both NVIDIA and AMD are introducing new mid-range graphics cards in the remainder of 2016. It's only a matter of time before a new graphics card debuts with increased performance and the same price tag, such as the RX 480 by AMD.