Well, nVidia have been pretty damn busy with their graphics cards especially with the new Maxwell Architecture. We had a first taste with the GTX 750 and GTX 750 Ti, the latter being the base for the GTX 860M. They later released their flagship GTX 980 and their 2nd Highest tiered but very good Value-for-money GTX 970. They only did 2 GTX 900 series cards this year, their GTX 700 series lineup was establishing a stable foothold already in the GPU game. These 2 cards rocked the GPU Wars by storm when they were released in September 22. Before that they launched 2 CUDA Developer cards, the Titan Black and the freaking (and still) expensive GTX Titan Z, which I wasn't surprised to say that it wasn't popular due to cost to fulfill niche operations when heavy CUDA was needed.
AMD SUMMARY
That's not to say that AMD has been quiet either. Just to battle the GTX 700 series lineup, AMD released quite a craptonne. AMD was soft launching budget cards like the R7 250X, 265. AMD unleashed the AMD R9 295X2. This was the only card whose reference cooler is based off a Liquid AIO unit. Initially it was expensive at 1500 USD but now dropping prices drastically to combat the price of 2 GTX 970s in SLI, citing power comparisons. At least now this dual GPU Card has way much better value for money than it had way before. Now in between the high end and the budget end are the R9 280 and 285. The 280 was based off the old Tahiti 7950 which is still good today despite being almost 3 years old now. The 285 is based off the new Tonga core which is sorta the AMD counterpart to Maxwell.
MY TOP 5 CHOICES OF THE NEW 2014 GPUs
5. GTX 750 Ti
Highly Power Efficient and Budget friendly.
This was initially a taste of what is to come for later part of the year. This card was extremely power efficient for how much performance it could do. Most models do not come with a PCI-E 6 Pin connector but some do have it for overclocking Headroom. Older computers with a small wattage power Supply can breathe a new lease of life without taking out that dinky little PSU. The line of GTX 750 Tis cards are pretty small in general so these are ideal in small form factor HTPC / LAN Party / Low-budget gaming builds. For their size and performance per watt, gets the Number 5 spot from me. The only drawback is the lack of SLI connectors for Multi Way Configurations, which anyway, personally, is not the aim of any budget card.
4. R9 285
AMD's First Tonga Based GPU.
This was to supplement the 280 Series of R9 GPUs. Unlike the older 280 and 280 which were based off the 7900 series Tahiti cores, this was a power optimized Tonga GPU which is AMD's counter to Maxwell, sorta. Priced at a mainstream market, this GPU fulfills the mainstream enthusiast, whose performance is in league with the 280X but at a more power optimized envelope. Sapphire makes some of the best 285s with the mITX version being the most powerful of the mITX cards that Sapphire has made. However the cheaper models aren't any slouch either. The 285 makes a good 1080p gaming and to a strong extent 1440p too however with lack of VRAM being the bottleneck. However for a gamer who wants a strong affordable GPU, the 285 is a solid choice at Number 4.
3. R9 295X2
Enthusiast Level, power-hogging Performer
The king of AMD GPUs was an upgrade from the 7990. Now this is the first reference GPU that is has a hybrid Liquid / Fan cooling system, probably inspired by the ASUS ARES 7990 Card. Now the liquid cooling is needed for the Hawaii GPUs as these get really toasty. Their crap air blowers couldn't handle the 290Xs and 290s and they throttle down very heavily when they operate at 95 degrees all the time. So the Liquid cooling addressed the problem for this card for a more consistent core clock. Initially expensive at 1500 USD. However with the prices of the newer GPUs like the 980 and especially the 970, they had to cut it dramatically, citing power hogging requirements compared to 2 GTX 970s in SLI even though they perform at the same level. They offer the same new features like Mantle from the new GCN Architecture.
2. GTX 980
Maxwell Unleashed. Power Efficiency at its finest.
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| Palit Super Jetstream GTX 980 Owned by Darryl Leong after swapping out his R9 290X. |
If you want to see the extent, take Gigabyte's new 3x Waterforce which is 3 Way SLI 980s on Steroids, even at factory overclocks, the Power Consumption is lower than 2 R9 290Xes (Could be a reference model) and very slightly more than one 295X2 (which is expected for 3 GPU vs 2 GPU but still a good show.)
The GTX 980 is the first new DirectX 12 Card from nVidia and supports Dynamic Super Resolution which brings the fidelity of 4K resolution to a small 1920 x 1080. Maxwells are also known for insane overclocking including the GTX 970s so for enthusiasts, overclocking is a dream. Darryl, who was using a R9 290X in last year's Top 5 GPU roundup upgraded to this card. He could get a stable 1.5GHz Core and a Full 8GHz on the memory. Now Value for money isn't the best, but it's fair for 500+ USD. My Number 2.
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| My Current Configuration of Palit Vanilla GTX 970 and MSI Armor GTX 970 in SLI. |
1. GTX 970 / GTX 970 in SLI
High End Performance for Outstanding value.
All honesty, the best value for money in the high end range, with high performance per dollar value. It's not to say that the GTX 980s have bad money value but this line up generally cost as low as 5/8s the price of the GTX 980. You do have lesser Cuda Cores and Clock Speed than the 980 but these cards' insane overclocking headroom can bring these in line with GTX 980s. Power consumption is of course low. It uses 2 6-Pin PCI-E but actually this card could EASILY make do with just 1. But extra overclocking headroom, always nice to have. Back to value, if you can afford a GTX 980, splashing a bit of extra than that can give you 2 GTX 970s! In fact, this configuration is cheaper than some of the premium single GPU cards of the last generation including the GTX 780 Ti and the R9 290X. 2 Cards in SLI are possibly one of the cheapest gateways for playable 4K Experience. So for a well-rounded High End Card(s) without breaking much of a bank, GTX 970 and 2 of them in 2-way SLI earned a solid #1 Recommendation from me.
