Hardware & Technical Question on AMD cards.

Lost Cipher · Oct 28, 2014

Right now I am sporting an Nvidia GTX 570, needless to say its starting to show its age.

I am looking to get a new card by the 22nd of November, however I am still determining which card to get. I have never used AMD before, which I guess is a shame... So I wanted to know if anyone is sporting the R9 290 and if it works well with Elite Dangerous.

Or are the 980's rocking ED?

Thanks for your time and replies.

Asp Explorer · Oct 28, 2014

I don't have one of the newer cards, I'm running a couple of years-old 7950 3Gb boost. It's an old, midrange card. The 290 would beat it to a fine pulp.

There are sometimes strange visual artefacts with AMD - banding on planets and black "snow" for lack of a better word. They are not always present, and usually disappear after a few seconds. This card is pushing three screens though, 5670x1080, and the only time it struggles is in some of the asteroid belts - and that is a new phenomena for me.

Nvidia make great cards, although I had some really bad problems with them in the past - and AMD have had some howlers too - but I'm pretty sure it would be a fine purchase.

Having said that - I have never run nor owned one, so hopefully someone better experienced will be along soon to give you the real deal on it

Lost Cipher · Oct 28, 2014

Thanks for the info ASP, I like Nvidia to, but the price differential is too good to ignore. So I'm trying to do my research before I spend my cash. Plus why is it that AMD is using 512 and Nvidia still uses 256 interface?

The 512 should be better right? Or is Nvidia trying to leverage their PhysX integration?

Joe nose · Oct 28, 2014

R9 290 runs the game extremely well, you'll be able to max out all settings at 1080p. I've just come from a Sapphire 290 Tri-X.

Some right bargains to be had on them on eBay also...just make sure you get one of the ones with an aftermarket cooler (like the Tri-X), as the original reference cooler runs rather loud.

Surfinjo · Oct 28, 2014

I use a GTX 760. I find it acceptable.

Frankly I'll be very wary if Frontier start suggesting we need to upgrade to even higher. The quoted specs should be the level they work for and I hope we are tolerent only because the game is still in Beta.

I have only a little experience with AMD but others have said it suffers the same problems as NVIDIA, namely it comes with so much bloatware.

When loading the drivers, make sure you remove the previous lot using this: http://www.wagnardmobile.com/DDU/ Then choose custom install and don't select GeForce Experience.

I have only loaded the basic driver personally.

Tiggo · Oct 28, 2014

i would recommend you Nvidia, the drivers and software is so much better.

Davevti · Oct 28, 2014

Do you have a budget? Also when do you plan on buying one?

Aleksej · Oct 28, 2014

Take into account that current Radeon generation is rebranded HD 7-Series. So with the limited budgetd I would wait for the new Radeon GPUs or some cheaper NVidia Maxwell GPUs (something like GTX960?).

cpbtrading · Oct 28, 2014

I run a R9-290 and cap it at 120fps, it makes short work of ED. Also the heaviest games I play, Arma series A2CO & A3, TOH, TOM etc, runs them all with ease.
ED is really pretty lightweight, I've found, lowest I have seen in ED is 85'ish fps, normally remains at the cap. That of course may change for full release, but I doubt it will really be that heavy a game to run, on any good card (provided of course, you have a decent cpu to back it up).

Lost Cipher · Oct 31, 2014

Davevti said:
Do you have a budget? Also when do you plan on buying one?

As to a budget, not really, I can make the money it just takes time. I would like to buy one in and around the next two months, good deals pop up now and then.

I am mostly looking for a good card to play the game well, at a good price. I really only plan on playing Elite, Star Citizen, and MGS5 into the future. Probably pick up a few small games every once in a while, but nothing right now outside those three. Aside from that, I will be using the card for graphics and programming. Trying to make my own game...

Hootmon · Oct 31, 2014

I have an R9 290. I can maintain 60FPS with maxed graphics and SMAA @ 1920x1200

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Aleksej said:
Take into account that current Radeon generation is rebranded HD 7-Series.

That's true of the R28x cards, but not the R29x ones, AFAIK.

cpbtrading · Nov 1, 2014

Lost Cipher said:
As to a budget, not really, I can make the money it just takes time. I would like to buy one in and around the next two months, good deals pop up now and then.

I am mostly looking for a good card to play the game well, at a good price. I really only plan on playing Elite, Star Citizen, and MGS5 into the future. Probably pick up a few small games every once in a while, but nothing right now outside those three. Aside from that, I will be using the card for graphics and programming. Trying to make my own game...

Maybe look at the R9-295x2, if your working the card as well as gaming.

Cmdr Andy B · Nov 1, 2014

I'm running 2x ASUS 7950 3gb cards in crossfire on a 3 screen setup with all settings at max, the frame rates are not perfect but the lowest i've had is around 25 fps in a crowded station so its still a good play experience.

you can pick up a pair if 7950's for under £200 on ebay but unless you have a massive case and board I'd stay well clear of the direct CUII cards like i have (they take up 3 slots) as even with a crosshair formula V mobo and a full tower they only just fit.

Lost Cipher · Nov 1, 2014

Again guys, thanks for all the advice. And to cpbtrading, interesting card, basically just two 295's put together with liquid cooling right. That is quite insane.

skyraze · Nov 4, 2014

Lost Cipher said:
Again guys, thanks for all the advice. And to cpbtrading, interesting card, basically just two 295's put together with liquid cooling right. That is quite insane.

Actually thats the name. its two 290X's on one card big enough to fit in a 300MM PCIE X16 slot, but requires at least a 1000W power supply with a dual power rail with dedicated 6 Pin plugs. makes short work of the titan-Z.
I sport a crossfire 270X, one card isn't powerful enough to push the game to 120 FPS, two cards can do it easily, though the game isn't set up for crossfire yet. Best bet is to go with the R9 290, or the R9 285X(the newest card in their line up actually)

Also, little Tip, this whole "AMD's drivers are crap" thing is because of a hiccup that they had almost a year ago. When they released the R9 series cards, there were two different driver sets, one for the HD series, one for the R9(R7) series. People who switched used the same driver set from the HD series thinking it would work (since the driver set is universal across all AMD cards) but ended up either frying cards or constantly bluescreening them. that is a thing of the past. However, points to Nvidia with shadow play, AMD's gaming evolved (run by raptr) still has yet to show its teeth. though i like the prize reward with raptr for playing games (gain points that you spend on perks or even new video cards)

dagdriver · Nov 30, 2014

I have used AMD cards for some years now, currently running on an HD7870, I have never had troubles with any games related to graphics.