AMD Radeon R7 370 now or HBM2 - the next year?

Hello.
I want to buy a new graphics accelerator, since AMD HD5450 is not good anymore.
I will have some more free time, so I will be able to play some video games (GTR 2 and similar). Besides, next year DOOM 4 is coming out. That is why I need something better than a really slow card.
I don't want a top video card, though. I have read a review (on a Russian website - ixbt) that AMD 370 is the best among the main rivals. And this card is far from the top devices.
But, I have read recently that AMD adopted a new technology - the HBM (no real cards were presented, though, I mean, for real people, not for extreme enthusiasts).
This fact forced me to think twice.
So, what is better: waiting for the HBM2 and lowered power consumption, or buying a new card right now?

I am thinking about this one:
MSI RADEON R7 370 (it is slightly cheaper than on Newegg)
or similar to this one:
SAPPHIRE Radeon R7 370
(although, I am pretty much sure to buy it in a real shop)

The only cards with HBM are the Fury/Fury X and Nano. It will still have an enormous price premium in the near term so you might as well buy a reasonable card such as the 380.

I salute you for still using a 5450, that must be painful

Just get the new card now, don't wait for anything.

The 5450 was never a good card for gaming.

the hbm just leaves more headroom for more gpu power... the memory bandwidth won't bottleneck and also the power consumption of the memory will be reduced, freeing up more power for the gpu.

that being said, you can get more gpu power now, if you're worried about newer faster memory, they're pretty much paired together with memory that's fast enough for each gpu.

tl;dr gpu matters more than hbm memory, buy the one that is in your price range.

oh and also generally nvidia offers more efficient gpu's. but and offers a tiny bit more performance per dollar.

Thank you for the response

spirit said:

The 5450 was never a good card for gaming.

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Yeah, the 5450 is good only for 1080p video. I bought it since I do not like playing games. But now, it's time to change.

fade2green514 said:

oh and also generally nvidia offers more efficient gpu's. but and offers a tiny bit more performance per dollar.

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Nvidia has done a better job, that is true. But I am trying to support AMD, because customers need a competition)
I will consider this option, anyway.

beers said:

I salute you for still using a 5450, that must be painful

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Well, to test this card, I launched the first Crysis. Strangely, but my computer didn't break down:-D

if I were about to spend money on it i'd get the better card and invest some money in and instead. buy low sell high.

There's always a better technology 6 months away whenever you purchase anything. Get what you can afford now and enjoy.

fade2green514 said:

oh and also generally nvidia offers more efficient gpu's. but and offers a tiny bit more performance per dollar.

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This is not true. Efficiency and slightly more reliable drivers? Sure, but a lot of times an AMD card is going to be better performance for your money. It really just depends on the market at the time and how much you're spending. 200 bucks in May might get you more performance from an AMD card, while August with 200 bucks would be an Nvidia card. Same idea applies to different price brackets. Neither brand is always better than the other.

Okedokey said:

There's always a better technology 6 months away whenever you purchase anything. Get what you can afford now and enjoy.

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Very true. Buy what's the best for your money now and roll with it. Computers change too fast to get caught up in how much more performance you might get if you waited "just a little longer".

Darren said:

Very true. Buy what's the best for your money now and roll with it. Computers change too fast to get caught up in how much more performance you might get if you waited "just a little longer".

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Most of the time the difference between generations is quite small anyway so there's not really any point thinking about it.

spirit said:

Most of the time the difference between generations is quite small anyway so there's not really any point thinking about it.

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Especially when the vast majority of the 'new lineup' are rebrands as well

Yeah, I agree, guys. On the other hand, it seems that AMD will definitely improve the next year.

Surely, if we always wait for the latest hardware, we would never get any
But I do believe that this time it may be worth waiting.
PS: and it is always possible to buy something right now, than sell it when something new appears on the market.

beers said:

Especially when the vast majority of the 'new lineup' are rebrands as well

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Yeah exactly. Sometimes they change a few other things too and maybe give a slight overclock but most of the time the performance difference is minimal.

SviatA said:

Yeah, I agree, guys. On the other hand, it seems that AMD will definitely improve the next year.

Surely, if we always wait for the latest hardware, we would never get any
But I do believe that this time it may be worth waiting.
PS: and it is always possible to buy something right now, than sell it when something new appears on the market.

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Nobody is stopping you from waiting, nor is anybody dragging you to the shop to buy something right now. But remember that whilst you wait for a card that will be expensive when it comes out and whilst maybe slightly faster than the current generation, probably not a whole lot faster, you could have been enjoying gaming or doing whatever you want to do with a GPU that you bought months and months ago. You have a 5450 and like to game: you should upgrade soon if gaming matters to you! If you like gaming you'll be waiting months or something decent.

If you were upgrading from something decent then maybe I'd suggest waiting for another generation to see more of a difference but since you are coming from a 5450 you will notice a day and night performance increase if you upgrade to just about anything, so does waiting 6 months for a 5 FPS boost in one game between the current generation and this next generation card mean anything to you? No, because you are upgrading from a card that is so slow that even buying a card that was high-end about 7 or 8 years ago would be an upgrade from what you have now.

Nobody is stopping you from waiting, nor is anybody dragging you to the shop to buy something right now. But remember that whilst you wait for a card that will be expensive when it comes out and whilst maybe slightly faster than the current generation, probably not a whole lot faster, you could have been enjoying gaming or doing whatever you want to do with a GPU that you bought months and months ago. You have a 5450 and like to game: you should upgrade soon if gaming matters to you! If you like gaming you'll be waiting months or something decent.

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True.
My first thought is that:
- HBM is a completely new technology in graphics accelerators. If it was a less revolutionary (important) upgrade to GCN 3.0, for example, I don't think I would wait for it.
- it may be worth waiting for the first tests and see if HBM 2.0 works (much) better.
- since I wait for DOOM 4, maybe, there is no need for a new card right now. Surely, I am interested in some other games, such as Wolfenstein: The New Order, Far Cry 3/4, some Assassin's Creed, and some others. But I can survive without them for several months.

(Personally, I don't really like buying the latest things. E.g., I needed to upgrade from my old Sony Ericsson K550i. I could have bought a flagship smartphone, but I did not see any reason to pay a huge amount for that thing. So, I purchased a middle-range device and happy with it.)

If you are convinced that this new generation is going to offer a big enough leap from the current generation that it is worth waiting for then that's up to you. It boils down to that and how much longer you feel you can use your 5450 for. It sounds like you don't really play many games at the moment or you feel that you can live without games for a bit so it sounds like you're prepared to wait. Up to you!

SviatA said:

My first thought is that:
- HBM is a completely new technology in graphics accelerators.

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SviatA said:

(Personally, I don't really like buying the latest things.

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Does not compute

What budget are you looking for anyway? I don't envision HBM being on a midrange or 'more affordable' price range for a couple years.

Also keep in mind that just because a card has HBM doesn't instantly mean it's 100x faster. You can look at some Fury benchmarks for comparison.

beers said:

Does not compute

What budget are you looking for anyway? I don't envision HBM being on a midrange or 'more affordable' price range for a couple years.

Also keep in mind that just because a card has HBM doesn't instantly mean it's 100x faster. You can look at some Fury benchmarks for comparison.

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Okay, I don't always buy the latest things))
My budget is about $200.
+/- $30 - and I can get the AMD 370 or 380.