So long as you get a motherboard that works with your CPU, and you get a name brand and not some cheap crap from a decent retailer with a good return/RMA policy, the worst thing you can do with a motherboard is pay too much for features you will never use.
Originally posted by Bloodaxes Thing is the MSI Z97 G55 Board is cheaper than the Asus Z87-A.I am trying my best to search on which is the best but there's slim to none reviews on that msi board which makes me a little worried.
This is not the same motherboard, so I acknowledge that.
However, the Z97 is pretty new, and there isn't a lot of reason for people who are running Z87's to upgrade to it - that's why you aren't seeing a lot of reviews.
Here is a review of the MSI G55 line (this is a 1155 socket, but it should be fairly similar).
It got a silver award from HardOCP - which is pretty darn impressive, that site loves to slam hardware if it has faults and they love to run hardware through grueling conditions (inside an oven for 48 hours, for instance).
Thing is the MSI Z97 G55 Board is cheaper than the Asus Z87-A.
I am trying my best to search on which is the best but there's slim to none reviews on that msi board which makes me a little worried.
All those Z97 boards will have few to no reviews. They are new.
Add to the fact that online reviews are usually worthless. Like Ridlynn said, as long as you buy from a reputable company with a decent return policy it does not matter.
Dont think that buying Asus automatically ensures a perfect defect free product. It does not. If I remember correctly a few years back Asus had some big issues with a model of Mobo, many were DOA and many people had issues with that model. You seem to think Asus is the messiah of motherboards. I assure you they have issues as well. Nothing wrong with Asus per se, but just like every other manufacturer a certain % of the product produced is faulty.
If it makes you feel better to buy asus over MSI then go ahead. Personally I think either brand would be fine.
If anything I want the best from my current budget hehe.
If that MSI board is better I'll get that since it's cheaper than the Z87-A. I just wanted to find some reviews since I'm not an expert on motherboards to see if it's around the same level of the Z97 Hero of Asus for instance.
If it is then we found a winner I guess.
(The MSI board being blue would be nice too since my case is black and lights blue)
If anything I want the best from my current budget hehe.
If that MSI board is better I'll get that since it's cheaper than the Z87-A. I just wanted to find some reviews since I'm not an expert on motherboards to see if it's around the same level of the Z97 Hero of Asus for instance.
If it is then we found a winner I guess.
(The MSI board being blue would be nice too since my case is black and lights blue)
There is not really a " better " motherboard. You need to pick one within the budget with features that you want / need. Any of the major brands will do, Asus, MSI, Gigabyte, ect. One is not "better" per se than the other. They all make low end, mid, and high end products.
If you want a review then I will give you one. I have an MSI motherboard running my 2500k in it. I can get an easy 4.5ghz OC on my cpu. It has ran like a champ under hard use for about 3 years now. That MSI board was bought after the ASUS board I had failed. Prompting me to buy new hardware.
On my 2nd computer I am using an Asus motherboard. Which is about 4-5 years old and has never had an issue. This PC gets used daily by me, my wife and daughter. Many many hours on this PC and never a single issue with hardware.
See how that works? There is no " better " . I bought both motherboards at the time with the budget I had in mind and the features I wanted. Both have done everything and more I need. I would buy either of that brand again, even tho I had an asus board that went bad.
I am starting to agree with Gdemami . Not sure if you really wanted advice or will even listen.
By review I meant on that specific board unless you have that one then thanks I'll get that one.
Well apart that the other guy is blocked since he keeps on insisting on getting an expensive GPU and cheap motherboard instead of getting the Motherboard/Ram/CPU and save afterwards for the GPU. After telling him twice a swap of the GPU is easy while to swap a motherboard I need to swap even other parts he tried to make me sound dumb.
Sorry if I keep on prolonging this thread but it's a big sum of money and since buying those parts will make me kinda poor until my next work salary I don't want to get screwed up.
By review I meant on that specific board unless you have that one then thanks I'll get that one.
Well apart that the other guy is blocked since he keeps on insisting on getting an expensive GPU and cheap motherboard instead of getting the Motherboard/Ram/CPU and save afterwards for the GPU. After telling him twice a swap of the GPU is easy while to swap a motherboard I need to swap even other parts he tried to make me sound dumb.
Sorry if I keep on prolonging this thread but it's a big sum of money and since buying those parts will make me kinda poor until my next work salary I don't want to get screwed up.
You are over thinking this in the extreme. I get not wanting to waste money, I really do as most of us are on a budget of some kind.
The motherboard will either work or it wont. Brand wont matter. The difference only being the features on the board, thats the driving force in cost. A top end motherboard with Tri sli, thunderbolt, ect. will naturally be more expensive. But has a bunch of shit you wont use vs a motherboard thats cheaper, has one PCI E slot, no thunderbolt port, but has everything you need.
One is not " better ", one just has more shit on it.
Every remotely modern motherboard has a 24-pin power connector that delivers power from the power supply to the motherboard. The motherboard then distributes that power to the chipset, PCI Express slots, and various other things on the board that have need of power.
But the CPU needs a lot of power and it needs special voltage regulation for it, so it gets its own power cable. That's what the 8-pin power connector is for: there will be an 8-pin power connector (typically split as 4+4-pin, so that it can fit either a 4-pin or 8-pin plug) that goes from the power supply to the motherboard right near the CPU. The power that it delivers is used to power the CPU and probably (though I'm not entirely certain on this) system memory, but nothing else on the motherboard.
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If deciding between several reasonably good parts, sometimes the cost of dithering on making a decision (time isn't free, you know) exceeds the cost of making the "wrong" decision.
That's a judgment call, but you should be aware that Microsoft will end support for Windows 7 in 2019, while Windows 8 will get an additional three years. On a new computer, I'd go with Windows 8.1, but if you hate the Windows 8 interface, I wouldn't criticize choosing 7.
I heard microsoft will be releasing a new user interface akin to windows 7 for windows 8 after so many complaints.
If that is true.
True or not, the majority of Windows 8 can be made to feel exactly like using Windows 7. There are plenty of third-party programs out there to customize the behavior of Win8, or to make it feel more like Win7. My favorite one (which was free last time I checked) was from ClassicShell.net.
I already ordered the parts so no changing thoughts. (Apart of GPU)
Anyway considering the CPU coolers aren't that much expensive, if I considered changing my freezer pro rev 2, what would be the best improvement? (Price is still to be considered but list all coolers you think are best and I'll check them out)
Cooler Master Hyper 212 is what I usually go with in builds - dirt cheap, works well enough for the price (way better than stock coolers, not far off from coolers costing 2-3x the price), and the option to install push/pull fans for better performance.
Although, it doesn't look that different from your Arctic model you have picked out - either one will probably perform about the same.
Just wanted to bump this thread as I might finally get a new GPU in January or earlier depending on the cost.
I am estimating around 200-300 I can cope in spending but if it's close just put it anyway! (Even 50 more)
My GPU is starting to get a bunch of driver crashes while playing some games and the windows 10 upgrade is bugging me every couple of days to upgrade, so..... I guess I'll swap a new GPU before formatting and going windows 10 from 8.1 if it's a good time to upgrade.
Currently I have a pretty old card (GTX 460 SE), Z97-G55 socket 1150 motherboard and a Corsair tx 650W power supply. Now that is out of the question let's talk about the GPU.
I was initially tempted on going for the GTX 960 but I guess some people don't like the card (tomsharedhardware) when you could get the GTX 970. I would go for the 970 but it's almost double the cost! Then I took a look at the discussions on tomsharedhardware and people where suggesting the R9 290 card.
Now, I never used an amd card so I'm kinda scared on switching sides considering I like Physx, better compatibility with games and such features nvidia card have. With that aside, the R9 290 is so much stronger than a GTX 960! I heard that it heats up a bit and that worries me. I got a Corsair Hydro Series H55 Quiet CPU Cooler but that doesn't help the GPU temperature and I know the R9 290 costs more than the GTX 960 but here's hoping for a christmas discount on amazon or maybe R9 280x or something.
290 and 280x were best buy cards because they were dirt cheap at some point, but thats drying up fast. Theres still some left. Not much though.
290 has a cooler. It doesnt run hotter than other cards (they all have fan profile to keep them around 70 degrees). And if you dont overclock its 0 issue.
for asus strix. And thats one of the worst 290 coolers (MSI gaming, Gigabyte windforce, Powercolor PCS+, XFX DD all had better, ).
And i dont really know what compatibility with games? Theres 0 compatibility issues and i play games as far as Fallout 1/2 and Baldurs gate 1/2. Even played Battle Isle not that long ago (thank you GoG)
GTX 960 is one of worst choices.
The list of GPUs atm goes like this:
R9290/R9280x if theres some cheap ones you can find (instead 390/380x/380)
R9 390 R9 380x R9 380 GTX 950
all in their respected brackets. Of course, if you can get your hands on some dirt cheap GTX970 or 960 go for it. But if they cost same or even 10% less than AMDs, nope.
With the Radeon faster than the GeForce and also letting you skip the rebate, I think it's a clear better value if all you care about is price/performance.
They're basically the same price, with the Radeon faster and with more memory, so it's again a better value if all you care about is price/performance.
Performance will be not far shy of the fast option, but it's a lot cheaper.
On cards running hot, it's important to distinguish between high temperature/noise and lots of hot air coming off of the card. On the former, AMD cards will be fine so long as the manufacturer gave it a decent cooler. For the latter, yes, AMD cards do put out more heat than Nvidia for comparable performance, at least apart from the Fury Nano. That won't mean the card is noisy or high temperature unless they screwed up the cooler, as heat output is still well within the range that isn't too hard to cool. But it does mean you have more heat pouring out of the case and into the room. Even so, if that bothers you, then getting anything in the GeForce 400 series was a huge mistake.
For the cheaper or more expensive options, the Radeon card will be fine on temperature and noise. For the clearance option, it might not be. This is my speculation, but what may have happened is that AMD made a bunch of reference Radeon R9 290 cards, then vendors didn't want them because the cooler wasn't very good. And then AMD had a bunch of cards that they just wanted to get rid of, so they sold them off at a huge discount that Sapphire and VisionTek will pass along to you. That means you get an awesome deal on a price/performance basis, but I wouldn't be surprised at all if the cards have temperature or noise problems. I'm not saying that they will have such problems; they might be fine. But I am saying that there's a considerable risk.
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On PhysX, I'd say don't worry about it. The overwhelming majority of games that use PhysX run it on the CPU, in which case, it doesn't matter what video card you have. A handful of Nvidia sponsored games use PhysX on the GPU, but you can readily turn it off and play the game just fine.
If you're a huge fan of some particular game that uses GPU PhysX and you love the effects, then okay, I could understand buying Nvidia on that basis. But otherwise, from a societal level, I'd be loathe to reward companies for bribing developers to go out of their way to make portions of their game incompatible with other vendors' hardware.
AMD GPUs can handle physics effects just fine, and likely better than Nvidia, even. And the APIs to code it once and run it on both vendors have been available for years. Even apart from compute shaders long being available in DirectX 11 and OpenGL 4.x, OpenCL is massively nicer to work with than CUDA, especially for graphics developers who already know how to do GPU programming and aren't having to learn an entirely new paradigm.
I'd LOVE to buy my computer parts from newegg but sadly I'm from europe (Malta) and they don't ship here My best bet is by amazon and maybe (Have never actually bought any parts from it) ebay, unless I buy it from some store where I live.
Quizzical, I see you didn't mention the R9 280x, people say it's better than the R9 380 and the price difference while not small it's not out of my budget potentially. Do you feel the 380 is better? Or you suggested the 380 cause it's cheaper?
Just wanted to bump this thread as I might finally get a new GPU in January or earlier depending on the cost.
I am estimating around 200-300 I can cope in spending but if it's close just put it anyway! (Even 50 more)
My GPU is starting to get a bunch of driver crashes while playing some games and the windows 10 upgrade is bugging me every couple of days to upgrade, so..... I guess I'll swap a new GPU before formatting and going windows 10 from 8.1 if it's a good time to upgrade.
Currently I have a pretty old card (GTX 460 SE), Z97-G55 socket 1150 motherboard and a Corsair tx 650W power supply. Now that is out of the question let's talk about the GPU.
I was initially tempted on going for the GTX 960 but I guess some people don't like the card (tomsharedhardware) when you could get the GTX 970. I would go for the 970 but it's almost double the cost! Then I took a look at the discussions on tomsharedhardware and people where suggesting the R9 290 card.
Now, I never used an amd card so I'm kinda scared on switching sides considering I like Physx, better compatibility with games and such features nvidia card have. With that aside, the R9 290 is so much stronger than a GTX 960! I heard that it heats up a bit and that worries me. I got a Corsair Hydro Series H55 Quiet CPU Cooler but that doesn't help the GPU temperature and I know the R9 290 costs more than the GTX 960 but here's hoping for a christmas discount on amazon or maybe R9 280x or something.
Anyway what is your suggestion people on the GPU?
Thanks
It is really only about how much you want to spent on GPU.
$180 - GTX 960 $230 - R9 380x $300 - GTX 970
R9 390(290) cost as much as GTX 970 and the performance is about the same, no point going AMD when there is an Nvidia alternative.
I'd LOVE to buy my computer parts from newegg but sadly I'm from europe (Malta) and they don't ship here My best bet is by amazon and maybe (Have never actually bought any parts from it) ebay, unless I buy it from some store where I live.
Quizzical, I see you didn't mention the R9 280x, people say it's better than the R9 380 and the price difference while not small it's not out of my budget potentially. Do you feel the 380 is better? Or you suggested the 380 cause it's cheaper?
I'm not sure I'll get it from amazon but their prices are comparable with my where I live so better than nothing.
More memory is useful for very high resolutions or AA but then the GPU won't usually keep up anyway. There is not really a point in having more than 2GB memory unless you are looking at high end graphics cards. 2GB is fine for GTX 960 range card.
Don't ask rapid AMD supporters if AMD products are better...
Well I always sticked to nvidia cards but you can't deny some of their cards surpass the GTX 960 by quite a margin. That's why I am giving them a chance this time around.
Well I always sticked to nvidia cards but you can't deny some of their cards surpass the GTX 960 by quite a margin. That's why I am giving them a chance this time around.
R9 380x also cost more than GTX 960.
If you compare the cards within their price range, they deliver about same performance - R7 370 vs GTX 950, R9 380 vs GTX 960, R9 390 vs GTX 970.
The exception is r9 380x I noted above because there is no counterpart from Nvida at that price range.
Comments
Also, I agree with Gdemami to some extent.
So long as you get a motherboard that works with your CPU, and you get a name brand and not some cheap crap from a decent retailer with a good return/RMA policy, the worst thing you can do with a motherboard is pay too much for features you will never use.
This is not the same motherboard, so I acknowledge that.
However, the Z97 is pretty new, and there isn't a lot of reason for people who are running Z87's to upgrade to it - that's why you aren't seeing a lot of reviews.
Here is a review of the MSI G55 line (this is a 1155 socket, but it should be fairly similar).
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/11/19/msi_z77agd55_lga_1155_motherboard_review/7#.U5Mioxb80ds
It got a silver award from HardOCP - which is pretty darn impressive, that site loves to slam hardware if it has faults and they love to run hardware through grueling conditions (inside an oven for 48 hours, for instance).
All those Z97 boards will have few to no reviews. They are new.
Add to the fact that online reviews are usually worthless. Like Ridlynn said, as long as you buy from a reputable company with a decent return policy it does not matter.
Dont think that buying Asus automatically ensures a perfect defect free product. It does not. If I remember correctly a few years back Asus had some big issues with a model of Mobo, many were DOA and many people had issues with that model. You seem to think Asus is the messiah of motherboards. I assure you they have issues as well. Nothing wrong with Asus per se, but just like every other manufacturer a certain % of the product produced is faulty.
If it makes you feel better to buy asus over MSI then go ahead. Personally I think either brand would be fine.
If anything I want the best from my current budget hehe.
If that MSI board is better I'll get that since it's cheaper than the Z87-A. I just wanted to find some reviews since I'm not an expert on motherboards to see if it's around the same level of the Z97 Hero of Asus for instance.
If it is then we found a winner I guess.
(The MSI board being blue would be nice too since my case is black and lights blue)
There is no help to someone who does not listen, or in fact does not want to be helped in the first place...
There is not really a " better " motherboard. You need to pick one within the budget with features that you want / need. Any of the major brands will do, Asus, MSI, Gigabyte, ect. One is not "better" per se than the other. They all make low end, mid, and high end products.
If you want a review then I will give you one. I have an MSI motherboard running my 2500k in it. I can get an easy 4.5ghz OC on my cpu. It has ran like a champ under hard use for about 3 years now. That MSI board was bought after the ASUS board I had failed. Prompting me to buy new hardware.
On my 2nd computer I am using an Asus motherboard. Which is about 4-5 years old and has never had an issue. This PC gets used daily by me, my wife and daughter. Many many hours on this PC and never a single issue with hardware.
See how that works? There is no " better " . I bought both motherboards at the time with the budget I had in mind and the features I wanted. Both have done everything and more I need. I would buy either of that brand again, even tho I had an asus board that went bad.
I am starting to agree with Gdemami . Not sure if you really wanted advice or will even listen.
Either way good luck to you.
By review I meant on that specific board unless you have that one then thanks I'll get that one.
Well apart that the other guy is blocked since he keeps on insisting on getting an expensive GPU and cheap motherboard instead of getting the Motherboard/Ram/CPU and save afterwards for the GPU. After telling him twice a swap of the GPU is easy while to swap a motherboard I need to swap even other parts he tried to make me sound dumb.
Sorry if I keep on prolonging this thread but it's a big sum of money and since buying those parts will make me kinda poor until my next work salary I don't want to get screwed up.
You are over thinking this in the extreme. I get not wanting to waste money, I really do as most of us are on a budget of some kind.
The motherboard will either work or it wont. Brand wont matter. The difference only being the features on the board, thats the driving force in cost. A top end motherboard with Tri sli, thunderbolt, ect. will naturally be more expensive. But has a bunch of shit you wont use vs a motherboard thats cheaper, has one PCI E slot, no thunderbolt port, but has everything you need.
One is not " better ", one just has more shit on it.
One last thing then.
What does this mean on the MSI Z97 G55:
1 x 24-pin ATX main power connector
1 x 8-pin ATX 12V power connector
Every remotely modern motherboard has a 24-pin power connector that delivers power from the power supply to the motherboard. The motherboard then distributes that power to the chipset, PCI Express slots, and various other things on the board that have need of power.
But the CPU needs a lot of power and it needs special voltage regulation for it, so it gets its own power cable. That's what the 8-pin power connector is for: there will be an 8-pin power connector (typically split as 4+4-pin, so that it can fit either a 4-pin or 8-pin plug) that goes from the power supply to the motherboard right near the CPU. The power that it delivers is used to power the CPU and probably (though I'm not entirely certain on this) system memory, but nothing else on the motherboard.
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If deciding between several reasonably good parts, sometimes the cost of dithering on making a decision (time isn't free, you know) exceeds the cost of making the "wrong" decision.
Ok thanks for the explanation.
I guess that's it.
One last thing not regarding any parts. Should I stick with windows 7 or opt for windows 8?
I heard microsoft will be releasing a new user interface akin to windows 7 for windows 8 after so many complaints.
If that is true.
Some more test on CPU and games:
http://www.legitreviews.com/intel-pentium-g3220-processor-review_137016
Or new unlocked Pentium G3258
http://www.digitalstormonline.com/unlocked/intel-pentium-g3258-gaming-benchmarks-idnum299/
True or not, the majority of Windows 8 can be made to feel exactly like using Windows 7. There are plenty of third-party programs out there to customize the behavior of Win8, or to make it feel more like Win7. My favorite one (which was free last time I checked) was from ClassicShell.net.
I already ordered the parts so no changing thoughts. (Apart of GPU)
Anyway considering the CPU coolers aren't that much expensive, if I considered changing my freezer pro rev 2, what would be the best improvement? (Price is still to be considered but list all coolers you think are best and I'll check them out)
Thanks
Cooler Master Hyper 212 is what I usually go with in builds - dirt cheap, works well enough for the price (way better than stock coolers, not far off from coolers costing 2-3x the price), and the option to install push/pull fans for better performance.
Although, it doesn't look that different from your Arctic model you have picked out - either one will probably perform about the same.
I am estimating around 200-300 I can cope in spending but if it's close just put it anyway! (Even 50 more)
My GPU is starting to get a bunch of driver crashes while playing some games and the windows 10 upgrade is bugging me every couple of days to upgrade, so..... I guess I'll swap a new GPU before formatting and going windows 10 from 8.1 if it's a good time to upgrade.
Currently I have a pretty old card (GTX 460 SE), Z97-G55 socket 1150 motherboard and a Corsair tx 650W power supply. Now that is out of the question let's talk about the GPU.
I was initially tempted on going for the GTX 960 but I guess some people don't like the card (tomsharedhardware) when you could get the GTX 970. I would go for the 970 but it's almost double the cost! Then I took a look at the discussions on tomsharedhardware and people where suggesting the R9 290 card.
Now, I never used an amd card so I'm kinda scared on switching sides considering I like Physx, better compatibility with games and such features nvidia card have. With that aside, the R9 290 is so much stronger than a GTX 960! I heard that it heats up a bit and that worries me. I got a Corsair Hydro Series H55 Quiet CPU Cooler but that doesn't help the GPU temperature and I know the R9 290 costs more than the GTX 960 but here's hoping for a christmas discount on amazon or maybe R9 280x or something.
Anyway what is your suggestion people on the GPU?
Thanks
290 has a cooler. It doesnt run hotter than other cards (they all have fan profile to keep them around 70 degrees). And if you dont overclock its 0 issue.
http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/asus_radeon_r9_290_directcuii_oc_review,10.html
for asus strix. And thats one of the worst 290 coolers (MSI gaming, Gigabyte windforce, Powercolor PCS+, XFX DD all had better, ).
And i dont really know what compatibility with games? Theres 0 compatibility issues and i play games as far as Fallout 1/2 and Baldurs gate 1/2. Even played Battle Isle not that long ago (thank you GoG)
GTX 960 is one of worst choices.
The list of GPUs atm goes like this:
R9290/R9280x if theres some cheap ones you can find (instead 390/380x/380)
R9 390
R9 380x
R9 380
GTX 950
all in their respected brackets. Of course, if you can get your hands on some dirt cheap GTX970 or 960 go for it. But if they cost same or even 10% less than AMDs, nope.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161470
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127844
With the Radeon faster than the GeForce and also letting you skip the rebate, I think it's a clear better value if all you care about is price/performance.
Next is the faster, more expensive option:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131672
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127833
They're basically the same price, with the Radeon faster and with more memory, so it's again a better value if all you care about is price/performance.
And then there's the clearance option:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814129316
Performance will be not far shy of the fast option, but it's a lot cheaper.
On cards running hot, it's important to distinguish between high temperature/noise and lots of hot air coming off of the card. On the former, AMD cards will be fine so long as the manufacturer gave it a decent cooler. For the latter, yes, AMD cards do put out more heat than Nvidia for comparable performance, at least apart from the Fury Nano. That won't mean the card is noisy or high temperature unless they screwed up the cooler, as heat output is still well within the range that isn't too hard to cool. But it does mean you have more heat pouring out of the case and into the room. Even so, if that bothers you, then getting anything in the GeForce 400 series was a huge mistake.
For the cheaper or more expensive options, the Radeon card will be fine on temperature and noise. For the clearance option, it might not be. This is my speculation, but what may have happened is that AMD made a bunch of reference Radeon R9 290 cards, then vendors didn't want them because the cooler wasn't very good. And then AMD had a bunch of cards that they just wanted to get rid of, so they sold them off at a huge discount that Sapphire and VisionTek will pass along to you. That means you get an awesome deal on a price/performance basis, but I wouldn't be surprised at all if the cards have temperature or noise problems. I'm not saying that they will have such problems; they might be fine. But I am saying that there's a considerable risk.
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On PhysX, I'd say don't worry about it. The overwhelming majority of games that use PhysX run it on the CPU, in which case, it doesn't matter what video card you have. A handful of Nvidia sponsored games use PhysX on the GPU, but you can readily turn it off and play the game just fine.
If you're a huge fan of some particular game that uses GPU PhysX and you love the effects, then okay, I could understand buying Nvidia on that basis. But otherwise, from a societal level, I'd be loathe to reward companies for bribing developers to go out of their way to make portions of their game incompatible with other vendors' hardware.
AMD GPUs can handle physics effects just fine, and likely better than Nvidia, even. And the APIs to code it once and run it on both vendors have been available for years. Even apart from compute shaders long being available in DirectX 11 and OpenGL 4.x, OpenCL is massively nicer to work with than CUDA, especially for graphics developers who already know how to do GPU programming and aren't having to learn an entirely new paradigm.
I'd LOVE to buy my computer parts from newegg but sadly I'm from europe (Malta) and they don't ship here
Quizzical, I see you didn't mention the R9 280x, people say it's better than the R9 380 and the price difference while not small it's not out of my budget potentially. Do you feel the 380 is better? Or you suggested the 380 cause it's cheaper?
Just for clarification on price:
R9 280x: http://www.amazon.co.uk/XFX-Express-Graphics-2xDVI-2xm-DP/dp/B00FSC5N66/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1449390751&sr=8-2&keywords=r9+280x
R9 380: http://www.amazon.co.uk/MSI-R9-380-Gaming-Graphics/dp/B00ZPOBI0M/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1449390825&sr=8-1&keywords=r9+380
GTX 960 (Wouldn't getting the 4GB version be better tough?): http://www.amazon.co.uk/MSI-Nvidia-960-Gaming-Graphics/dp/B00SKTY6PS/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1449390969&sr=1-1&keywords=gtx+960
I'm not sure I'll get it from amazon but their prices are comparable with my where I live so better than nothing.
$180 - GTX 960
$230 - R9 380x
$300 - GTX 970
R9 390(290) cost as much as GTX 970 and the performance is about the same, no point going AMD when there is an Nvidia alternative.
Don't ask rapid AMD supporters if AMD products are better...
If you compare the cards within their price range, they deliver about same performance - R7 370 vs GTX 950, R9 380 vs GTX 960, R9 390 vs GTX 970.
The exception is r9 380x I noted above because there is no counterpart from Nvida at that price range.