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[The Llama]

Pretty similar. Sometimes the 780 wins, sometimes the 290 wins. Unless you want the Nvidia specific features, it's not really worth it to spend an extra $100 for the 780.

 

[kharma45]

If you define "value" as "average FPS in most games".

I don't.

I was going by what was found in the reviews on PC Per and Tech Report where it's not purely on FPS.

Edit - Or are you getting at the Nvidia extras like Shadow Play etc. as being value adds?

 

[Genio88]

Why R9 290 instead of a 780?

They're pretty much the same in performance, but you get more vram in the r9 290, 4gb vs 3gb, and last but not least it's about 100$ cheaper.

 

[Durante]

Edit - Or are you getting at the Nvidia extras like Shadow Play etc. as being value adds?

I'm getting at the same thing I'm always getting at when discussing GPU value, that for me at least average performance is only part of it.

For most people, the software ecosystem and the features it offers are another part, and consistency (particularly day 1 consistency) in performance is yet another part (e.g. Wolfenstein is a recent example). The latter is why I would never suggest a multi-GPU system (regardless of vendor) to anyone unless they absolutely need more performance than the fastest single GPU offers.
On top of these, which are interesting for everyone, there are special requirements depending on more specific use cases, e.g. suitability for OpenGL development, or driver support for non-Windows OSes.

 

[kharma45]

I'm getting at the same thing I'm always getting at when discussing GPU value, that for me at least average performance is only part of it.

For most people, the software ecosystem and the features it offers are another part, and consistency (particularly day 1 consistency) in performance is yet another part (e.g. Wolfenstein is a recent example). The latter is why I would never suggest a multi-GPU system (regardless of vendor) to anyone unless they absolutely need more performance than the fastest single GPU offers.

Ah I get you know. It's is a good point that pure performance is only one measure of 'value' and that Nvidia's GeForce Experience and Shadow Play are well established, mature bits of software at this stage that do add to their overall package. Day 0 drivers are generally better with Nvidia too but AMD are usually fairly quick to sort stuff and it's not a major issue imo.

Whether that's worth the extra $80-100 or not I guess depends on the buyer.

 

[Durante]

Ah I get you know. It's is a good point that pure performance is only one measure of 'value' and that Nvidia's GeForce Experience and Shadow Play are well established, mature bits of software at this stage that do add to their overall package. Day 0 drivers are generally better with Nvidia too but AMD are usually fairly quick to sort stuff and it's not a major issue imo.

Whether that's worth the extra $80-100 or not I guess depends on the buyer.

Absolutely.

 

[helloiamgary]

Don't bother with the K chip since you didn't buy a Z board. You also don't need the water cooler since you aren't overclocking.

Thanks, I was thinking this but was considering a board upgrade down the line. I figure the processor might hold up longer than the board, or could swap it into a full size case if needs be. Still, I probably won't over clock anyway so likely won't need the K.

Ditch the water cooling, forget the 750 Ti and get an R7 265 or better. Lastly see if you can get both an SSD and a HDD, you're going to want both realistically. If you can't afford both, prioritise the SSD and just be careful with how many games you're playing at any one time.

Thanks, I haven't a huge steam library so SSD should be fine in the mean time. Not sure if i can return the 750 but I'll definitely look into the R7 now, or possible the R9 270x which doesn't look that much dearer. Cancelled the water cooler and I'll funnel that money into a better CPU and SSD.

 

[The Llama]

Try a system restore point?

Thanks, I'll try that later. Really hoping it works because besides that, I'm completely stumped.

 

[bob page]

Anyone have an AMD A10 for sale? PM me!

 

[tarheel91]

Why R9 290 instead of a 780?

Because an R9 290 can be had for under $400, whereas a 780 is closer to $500 than $400. They offer similar performance at 1080P. The general trend seems to be that the higher the resolution, the better the R9 290 does.

If you define "value" as "average FPS in most games".


This is from a very recent summer 2014 GPU comparison with the latest drivers for all cards.

That comparison uses the stock R9 290/290X which is thermally constrained. That's hardly a good comparison when there is literally no price difference between stock and custom coolers and when no one is actually using the stock cards (unless you're going the water route).

http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/video-card/#c=136,152&sort=a8

In addition, at 1440P+ the R9 290 starts to outperform the 780, and at 4K, it's not even close (all this with a stock cooler). While I agree that software ecosystem and day one driver performance are important, there seems to be increasing parity in these regards. Both options have their own unique perks (Mantle/TrueAudio/Freesync vs. G SYNC and CUDA physics) that are useful in different situations. I don't think you can use niche use cases as a recommending factor unless the buyer explicitly points out a need. AMD and Nvidia cards have their own specific strengths. CUDA vs. OpenCL is going to be application dependent, but I would say that AMD's consumer cards are definitely more general purpose than their Nvidia equivalent.

Outside of a special application, I don't see how you can justify $100 and 25-30% more for similar if not worse performance given the parity in the intangibles.

 

[fifasnipe2224]

So for a $300 - $400 price range what cards should I consider for 1080p with a 120 or 144hz monitor?

 

[tarheel91]

So for a $300 - $400 price range what cards should I consider for 1080p with a 120 or 144hz monitor?

Again, R9 290 is really your best option at $370-400. A 780 runs $460-500 for near equivalent typical performance at 1080p. In the $300-400 your other options are the 770 ($310-340) and 280x(~$280-300), which as seen in the graph above are significantly weaker.

You can knock ~10% off these prices if you your keep your eyes out for a week or so looking for sales.

 

[Genio88]

So for a $300 - $400 price range what cards should I consider for 1080p with a 120 or 144hz monitor?

As we already said a few posts ago, r9 290 custom or GTX 780 if you care about nvidia stuff such as physiX.

 

[lostsupper]

...

Outside of a special application, I don't see how you can justify $100 and 25-30% more for similar if not worse performance given the parity in the intangibles.

To be clear, there's no parity with Shadowplay. And the continued Day 1 jank of AMD's driver's aren't really intangible.

 

[mkenyon]

I'm getting at the same thing I'm always getting at when discussing GPU value, that for me at least average performance is only part of it.

For most people, the software ecosystem and the features it offers are another part, and consistency (particularly day 1 consistency) in performance is yet another part (e.g. Wolfenstein is a recent example). The latter is why I would never suggest a multi-GPU system (regardless of vendor) to anyone unless they absolutely need more performance than the fastest single GPU offers.
On top of these, which are interesting for everyone, there are special requirements depending on more specific use cases, e.g. suitability for OpenGL development, or driver support for non-Windows OSes.

100% in agreement. I think, though, that the instances when those sorts of things would be a significant benefit, the buyer would already be aware of it. They're pretty niche and specific needs.

Ah I get you know. It's is a good point that pure performance is only one measure of 'value' and that Nvidia's GeForce Experience and Shadow Play are well established, mature bits of software at this stage that do add to their overall package. Day 0 drivers are generally better with Nvidia too but AMD are usually fairly quick to sort stuff and it's not a major issue imo.

Whether that's worth the extra $80-100 or not I guess depends on the buyer.

FWIW, I've been using AMD's Shadowplay equivalent over the past couple of weeks, and it works awesome. I still prefer the NVIDIA ecosystem a bit more on my other system, especially because of Raptr's annoying social networking component, but it's still good.

So for a $300 - $400 price range what cards should I consider for 1080p with a 120 or 144hz monitor?

R9-290, unless you are one of the people that we're talking about above that has a need for NVIDIA features.

As we already said a few posts ago, r9 290 custom or GTX 780 if you care about nvidia stuff such as physiX.

No need for that kind of tone, nothing but rainbows, happiness, and unbiased consumer advice in this thread

To be clear, there's no parity with Shadowplay. And the continued Day 1 jank of AMD's driver's aren't really intangible.

This is extremely untrue. You can even use the Shadowplay-esque features on NVIDIA cards through AMD's software. I kid you not.

 

[tarheel91]

To be clear, there's no parity with Shadowplay. And the continued Day 1 jank of AMD's driver's aren't really intangible.

AMD's Game DVR does literally the same thing. Both companies have issues with specific games day one. I'd agree that Nvidia does better, but the difference is not massive (although it might have been a few years ago).

 

[mkenyon]

Maybe I haven't played much of the day 1 stuff these days, but I don't remember the last time I had issues with a game on my AMD system. Brink, I think was the last one. Same for the NVIDIA system, outside of multi-GPU configurations anyway.

 

[garath]

I don't know if I could justify a full $100 increased cost for an nvidia card but I have historically paid more for an nvidia card even when faced with a better performing AMD card for a similar or lower price.

Of all the new games I've played over the years, I have never had game breaking issues with nvidia day 1. I have not observed the same with AMD. That said, AMD is still a solid line and they seem to be very good right now.

Maybe I haven't played much of the day 1 stuff these days, but I don't remember the last time I had issues with a game on my AMD system. Brink, I think was the last one. Same for the NVIDIA system, outside of multi-GPU configurations anyway.

Last two day 1 games I played that I saw widespread AMD issues were Deus Ex and Rage. I don't play that many day 1 games these days either.

 

[The Llama]

Maybe I haven't played much of the day 1 stuff these days, but I don't remember the last time I had issues with a game on my AMD system. Brink, I think was the last one. Same for the NVIDIA system, outside of multi-GPU configurations anyway.

Yeah, I feel like if a game has day 1 issues these days, its generally for both nVidia and AMD, not just 1 of them (like with Watch Dogs). But I don't really game a lot of stuff day 1 anyway.

 

[fifasnipe2224]

Thanks guys! R9 290 seems to be the way to go...
(1) Will I notice anything different with AMD? I have only used nvidia
(2) What is the difference between these two cards? GV-R929OC-4GD or the GV-R929WF3-4GD

 

[Nostremitus]

Thanks guys! R9 290 seems to be the way to go...
(1) Will I notice anything different with AMD? I have only used nvidia
(2) What is the difference between these two cards? GV-R929OC-4GD or the GV-R929WF3-4GD

Clock speed is the first difference I notice.

 

[Ether_Snake]

I feel like I should clarify some of the things here to give you some peace of mind.


Most likely, those USB slots were not initialized yet. Most motherboards come with just a couple of "internal" (for lack of better word) USB connections and extra chips to enable the other 4-6 USB slots that need to be activated or initialized before use.

Second part about mouse/keyboard not working: It's because you just installed a new motherboard. Windows probably didn't recognize any of the USB ports (after searching for the old ones) and had to install the correct/generic drivers before it could detect your device.


Sounds like one of the hard drives wasn't connected. Just in case, I recommend unplugging and replugging the wires for the hard drives again from both ends.
The endless blinking is probably the computer trying to read/boot the hard drives but were unsuccessful.

...Either that or your hard drive is dying.

Once again, could be your hard drive is not connected or dying.


Sounds normal. If you have a SSD, sometimes Windows will boot faster than your monitor as it tries to auto-rotate between connections and detect a signal. Most of them try DVI first, then HDMI, then VGA/Displayport (not necessarily in that order).
On a normal boot-up, the loading screen is usually displayed on all monitors connected.

Also, BIOS (for any device) are not automatically installed or updated by Windows. You will need to visit the manufacturer's website to download and install it through a specific method as outlined by your manufacturer's manual or instructions.
(It doesn't matter how "new" you think your motherboard is, the BIOS is probably a few revisions behind after a couple of months of being produced.)

Ok thanks for the detailed info, I'll look into making sure the BIOS is updated tonight.

 

[Hawkian]

The temperatures they monitor (unless they have a USB interface) are going to be sensors that you manually place.

Budget? Current motherboard?

But yes, when I say motherboard, I mean have the motherboard control the fan speed through BIOS. It's way easier, and you set it once. Lots do fancy fan curve, some have specific PWM %'s, it all depends on the motherboard you have.

Oh, that's absolutely the plan. I should have clarified from the start, fan controller wasn't the phrase I should've used at all.

I'm looking for a cool-looking digital display of some sort to put in a 5.25'' bay, something that at least shows a temperature reading. Fan control isn't necessary or even desirable really. Anyone have any suggestions?

 

[tarheel91]

Thanks guys! R9 290 seems to be the way to go...
(1) Will I notice anything different with AMD? I have only used nvidia
(2) What is the difference between these two cards? GV-R929OC-4GD or the GV-R929WF3-4GD

Judging by the name, the R929OC is factory overclocked whereas the other is not. Normally, I'd say just go with the cheaper one since you can overclock it yourself. However, they're the same price so you might as well get the factory overclocked one. Who knows, maybe Gigabyte bins the cards and the OC ones will OC better?

The only other thing I'd add is that the Sapphire Tri-X performs notably better. It usually goes on sale once a week in the $370-$380 range.

 

[mkenyon]

Oh, that's absolutely the plan. I should have clarified from the start, fan controller wasn't the phrase I should've used at all.

I'm looking for a cool-looking digital display of some sort to put in a 5.25'' bay, something that at least shows a temperature reading. Fan control isn't necessary or even desirable really. Anyone have any suggestions?

What motherboard?

*edit* the reason I ask is that the ASUS RoG boards support this.

Othewise, the Aquaero 6 would be what you want to look at, but it does tons more oriented around watercooling that you wouldn't use.

 

[fifasnipe2224]

Can I power that with a Rosewill Hive 650W?

 

[kennah]

Can I power that with a Rosewill Hive 650W?

No problem.

 

[Robohasi]

I've been working a summer job to earn money for a gaming PC, and was hoping to buy something like this, but I have a few questions. It will be for gaming almost exclusively, as I have a powerful laptop that I will be using for other PC stuff.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (€207.99)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 EXTREME4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (€127.99)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (€69.50)
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (€113.00)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 290 4GB WINDFORCE Video Card (€360.00)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro ATX Full Tower Case (€100.00)
Power Supply: SeaSonic M12II 850W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (€107.00)
Other: PACKARD BELL VISEO 273DBMD 27'' MONITOR
Total: $0.00
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-08-06 13:54 EDT-0400

I'm from the Netherlands but live in Greece. I'm looking to buy the Motherboard, CPU, RAM, GPU and PSU in the Netherlands and bring them with me on the plane because that will save me around 150-200 euros. Is this possible?

Will this power supply power a second 290 when I decide to upgrade, along with overclocking the CPU and GPU?

I have a 2TB external HDD (This one) that I want to take out of its case and put in the rig as a drive for steam and movies to save money, will this be possible or will it be too slow?

Does anybody have experience with this monitor or this brand? It seems like a good deal for that price to me.

For 5 euros more I can get the Sapphire Tri-X OC 290, which some people recommend. The Gigabyte one has a higher clock speed though. Which one should I get?

 

[DirtyLarry]

Many thanks for this thread.

Will be compiling my new build over the next day or two, my approximate budget is around $1500-$1750 not including a new monitor, and I also plan on sticking with the brands that have always done good by me the past 10 years, mainly Asus, MSI & EVGA, then sharing it just to verify all is good.

I will then put all of l the components through The Camelizer and set some price alerts based on their pricing history. I am fine taking a month or two to collect everything, which actually helps with the overall cost not hitting all at once. As such, will make the CPU & GPU the two last parts I purchase unless either show up with an amazing deal too good to pass up.

Truly a great resource here.
Thanks again, and I am psyched for my new build. My last build minus upgrading the GPU(s) is going on 6 years old now, so it is definitely time.

 

[fifasnipe2224]

How do these two CPUs compare?
Pentium G3258
Intel E8400 Core 2 Duo

 

[Robohasi]

How do these two CPUs compare?
Pentium G3258
Intel E8400 Core 2 Duo

This review by Tom's Hardware shows that the Pentium you have is an absolute beast when it comes to overclocking. I don't have any experience with that specific model but if you are willing to invest some time in it that is definitely the better pick.

Also check out this article on the same site:
Best Gaming CPUs For The Money: August 2014

Edit: Reading up I see that you are investing about 400 dollars in a Graphics card. I would not combine that with a cheap processor like that. Generally you should spend about half or the same amount of money on your CPU as your GPU in a gaming build. For a 290, I would look at a i5 4590 or an i5-4690(k)

 

[kennah]

This review by Tom's Hardware shows that the Pentium you have is an absolute beast when it comes to overclocking. I don't have any experience with that specific model but if you are willing to invest some time in it that is definitely the better pick.

Also check out this article on the same site:
Best Gaming CPUs For The Money: August 2014

Edit: Reading up I see that you are investing about 400 dollars in a Graphics card. I would not combine that with a cheap processor like that. Generally you should spend about half or the same amount of money on your CPU as your GPU in a gaming build. For a 290, I would look at a i5 4590 or an i5-4690(k)

That Pentium is solid. As fast as an i5 in most games when overclocked.

 

[fifasnipe2224]

Thanks!
The R9 290 is for my build. The CPU is for my girlfriend.
I plan on getting her this: http://pcpartpicker.com/user/fifasnipe2224/saved/WdZzK8
With an addition of my current NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 1.2GB.
I was wondering if her new CPU will be holding her back.

 

[mkenyon]

In some games, yes. In others, no.

It's hard to wrap your head around, but there's no such thing as a CPU bottlenecking a video card, or vice versa. The bottlenecks exist on both parts at the same time and to varying degrees depending on the game in question.

 

[Smokey]

What motherboard?

*edit* the reason I ask is that the ASUS RoG boards support this.

This is what I use. Came with my board. Looks nice and is handy. Didn't know they sold it for 100 bucks as a stand alone ...seems kind of high.

 

[mkenyon]

I've been working a summer job to earn money for a gaming PC, and was hoping to buy something like this, but I have a few questions. It will be for gaming almost exclusively, as I have a powerful laptop that I will be using for other PC stuff.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (€207.99)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 EXTREME4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (€127.99)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (€69.50)
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (€113.00)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 290 4GB WINDFORCE Video Card (€360.00)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro ATX Full Tower Case (€100.00)
Power Supply: SeaSonic M12II 850W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (€107.00)
Other: PACKARD BELL VISEO 273DBMD 27'' MONITOR
Total: $0.00
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-08-06 13:54 EDT-0400

I'm from the Netherlands but live in Greece. I'm looking to buy the Motherboard, CPU, RAM, GPU and PSU in the Netherlands and bring them with me on the plane because that will save me around 150-200 euros. Is this possible?

Will this power supply power a second 290 when I decide to upgrade, along with overclocking the CPU and GPU?

I have a 2TB external HDD (This one) that I want to take out of its case and put in the rig as a drive for steam and movies to save money, will this be possible or will it be too slow?

Does anybody have experience with this monitor or this brand? It seems like a good deal for that price to me.

For 5 euros more I can get the Sapphire Tri-X OC 290, which some people recommend. The Gigabyte one has a higher clock speed though. Which one should I get?

I'd be a lot more comfortable with one of the better PSUs in the OP. A 850W plat/gold or even a 1000W would be a lot more accommodating.

This is what I use. Came with my board. Looks nice and is handy. Didn't know they sold it for 100 bucks as a stand alone ...seems kind of high.

Yeah, it is. There just isn't much competition for it.

 

[Hawkian]

What motherboard?

*edit* the reason I ask is that the ASUS RoG boards support this.

Ohh, I see, I have the MSI Z97-645 Gaming, so that's a no go. It is admittedly glorious and the exact kind of thing I was looking for... damn. What a cool feature set to have on your case.

Othewise, the Aquaero 6 would be what you want to look at, but it does tons more oriented around watercooling that you wouldn't use.

Hm, that looks awesome (poking around a little it looks like anything with LCDHype support would be amazing), but that's a lot more than I'm hoping to spend especially considering how few of the the features I'd be taking advantage of. Any ideas around or below the $100 mark?

This is what I use. Came with my board. Looks nice and is handy. Didn't know they sold it for 100 bucks as a stand alone ...seems kind of high.

Oh, really? That looked like a good price for what that does... do you have any suggestions in the vein of what I'm looking for below that price point? I see tons of options at like every possible $10 interval from $30 up... I have never heard of any of these manufacturers though.

 

[mkenyon]

Anything lower than that is nothing more than a fan controller pretty much.

http://www.bitfenix.com/global/en/products/accessories/recon/

That's the only one that isn't junk. Steer clear of Aerocool stuff, which is probably what you're seeing a lot of.

Lamptron makes great fan controllers, but they don't have features outside of being fan controllers. Even that Recon though, doesn't do much other than be a fan controller.

 

[Hawkian]

The price is right on that thing at least, thank you Surprised how much.. junk there is out there

You'd think there would be more stuff like this that just shows some basic information (date and time) in addition to speed/temp in a clean layout: http://www.frozencpu.com/products/8...sor_Fan_Controller_-_Black.html?tl=g34c17s286

 

[WarpathDC]

Looks like it's an ATX case. And currently there's a microATX mainboard inside. So you should be good to keep your case.

Thanks that's great news!

 

[mkenyon]

New X99 teaser:

DDR4HYPE

 

[Tablo]

RED USB PORT HYPE

Spoiler

stock blue USB port master race tho

 

[garath]

New X99 teaser:

DDR4HYPE

Ooooooh.

 

[The Llama]

New X99 teaser:

DDR4HYPE

I unironically love how good mobo's look these days.

 

[Nikokuno]

I unironically love how good mobo's look these days.

Windowed case or nothing

 

[The Llama]

Windowed case or nothing

Amen to that!

 

[Durante]

This is extremely untrue. You can even use the Shadowplay-esque features on NVIDIA cards through AMD's software. I kid you not.

AMD's Game DVR does literally the same thing.

"Parity" is a strong word, and so is "literally". E.g. does AMDs Shadowplay-alike support background Desktop capturing? That's my main use case for Shadowplay, since that way it also supports background capture in both borderless windowed mode and OpenGL.

While I agree that software ecosystem and day one driver performance are important, there seems to be increasing parity in these regards. Both options have their own unique perks (Mantle/TrueAudio/Freesync vs. G SYNC and CUDA physics) that are useful in different situations.

You mention a standard here on the AMD side which isn't supported by any HW right now (Freesync), and you don't mention PhysX (unless you mean that by "CUDA physics", which would be confusing since there are actually games with custom CUDA physics that don't use PhysX) which is integrated in at least 40 or so games. And of course, the more advanced driver features like HBAO+ and SGSSAA profiles.

CUDA vs. OpenCL is going to be application dependent, but I would say that AMD's consumer cards are definitely more general purpose than their Nvidia equivalent.

NV supports both CUDA and OpenCL so I really don't see how AMD is "more general purpose" in this regard.

Outside of a special application, I don't see how you can justify $100 and 25-30% more for similar if not worse performance given the parity in the intangibles.

I just hate reading threads about how shitty PC gaming is because someone's AMD stuff doesn't work right. And, admittedly, I hate getting bug reports because AMD randomly changed their interpretation of the OpenGL standard.

Of course, as I said earlier in the thread, how much someone is willing to pay for features, convenience and stability absolutely is their own decision. Just be prepared for an "I told you so" from my side when you make a thread complaining that OpenGL game X doesn't work well for you

 

[Bucket-o-roadkill]

Having troubles with CCLONLINE.COM currently, anyone else had any problem with them?

I basically contacted them to ask if the Benq XL2411Z monitors they have are firmware v2, I had an email back Monday saying that they are indeed v2 firmware. That was enough for me to bite and order one.

On Tuesday I had a confirmation email to say the monitor had been dispatched in the morning. At lunch time I had another email from a different member of staff saying that the monitors they had were actually NOT v2 and were the original firmware.. Not cool. I specifically ordered this BECAUSE of the previous confirmation email... I rang them and after lots of transfers and wating around, I found out that they think there is a mixture of v1 and v2 monitors and that if I recieve a v1, refuse the delivery and ring them back.

Fast forward today and of course, the monitor was v1. I refused to sign, sent it back and rang them. After more waiting around I was told that they are not sure now whether the stock they've got even has ANY v2 models (what) and they are going to contact Benq directly in order to get a v2 sent to me for Friday... They said they would ring me back by the end of the day to confirm either my refund or if they managed to secure a v2 to send me.

I heard nothing back.

I am furious about this, had the original email come back saying that they didnt have any v2's (or weren't sure) I would have ordered elsewhere from someone who COULD confirm they had v2's. Really pissed off with this hassle and basic lack of understanding about this whole situation. Entire week wasted basically. I would NOT recommend these guys even though they have somehow found themselves in the list in the OP of this thread.

 

[mkenyon]

"Parity" is a strong word, and so is "literally". E.g. does AMDs Shadowplay-alike support background Desktop capturing? That's my main use case for Shadowplay, since that way it also supports background capture in both borderless windowed mode and OpenGL.

You mention a standard here on the AMD side which isn't supported by any HW right now (Freesync), and you don't mention PhysX (unless you mean that by "CUDA physics", which would be confusing since there are actually games with custom CUDA physics that don't use PhysX) which is integrated in at least 40 or so games. And of course, the more advanced driver features like HBAO+ and SGSSAA profiles.

NV supports both CUDA and OpenCL so I really don't see how AMD is "more general purpose" in this regard.

I just hate reading threads about how shitty PC gaming is because someone's AMD stuff doesn't work right. And, admittedly, I hate getting bug reports because AMD randomly changed their interpretation of the OpenGL standard.

Of course, as I said earlier in the thread, how much someone is willing to pay for features, convenience and stability absolutely is their own decision. Just be prepared for an "I told you so" from my side when you make a thread complaining that OpenGL game X doesn't work well for you

Download Raptr to try it out. It works with NVIDIA cards.

In regards to the OpenCL comment, AMD cards typically have much higher comparative compute performance, so they'll almost always outperform cards way above the relative price bracket from NVIDIA. In a way, NVIDIA doubling down on CUDA is the reason why their OpenCL performance is low. So if you squint really hard, you can kind of see this as an AMD "feature".

But yeah, NVIDIA features are good. G-Sync has been enough for me to be a big proponent. Whenever I recommend AMD cards, I do always add the caveat "unless you want NVIDIA features". I think Haz is of the same mindset as well.

 

[Durante]

In a way, NVIDIA doubling down on CUDA is the reason why their OpenCL performance is low.

This is true, NV's OpenCL support has certainly been a bit half-assed, especially over the past year or two.
I guess it's like AMD doubling down on Mantle making their OpenGL implementation and DX11 CPU performance comparatively shitty.