Contemporary AMD GPU's: Which mid level cards deserve serious consideration?

[Treading_Water]

Buying a graphics card is hard when you only check in every few years or so. There's so much stuff on the market (all listed without release dates), it's nearly impossible to compare different cards and capabilities.

My last card really sucked so I find myself returning to the market early (after only 2 years).

I'm looking for a new card. I'm leaving Nvidia; going to AMD. Just built a system on AMD's 8-core unlocked CPU.

If you bought a great mid level GPU I would love to hear your positive or negative experiences.

Primarily however, I am trying to understand what the criteria is for buying a performance card on a budget as of 2014.

Uses: * I'm not going to be playing the most graphic intensive games on the market. MMO's, if anything.

* Primarily I am looking for a card that can handle multiple (2 or 3) monitors with ease, running multiple windows at a time, in multiple applications.

My Board: Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD7

Supports newest AMD AM3+ FX/AM3 Phenom™ II series processors
Advanced 8+2 phase CPU VRM power design for AMD high-TDP CPU support
6 PCI-E 2.0 interfaces for 4way AMD CrossFireX and SLI multi-graphics support
AMD SB950 provides 6 native SATA3 ports with superfast 6Gbps link speed and RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 support
Supports USB 3.0 with superfast transfer rates of up to 5 Gbps
GIGABYTE 3x USB Power with On/Off Charge USB ports
Ultra Durable 3 Technology with copper cooled quality for lower working temperature
Turbo XHD technology accelerating hard drive performance with ease
Revolution energy saving design with Easy Energy Saver technology
Hi-def 108dB Signal-to-noise ratio Blu-ray DVD audio playback
Patented DualBIOS with Hybrid EFI technology for 3TB HDD support
Supports Dolby Home Theater audio

 

[herrwizo]

This is a good read. Hope it helps!

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107.html

 

[i7Baby]

For all the new cards, I like the R9 290 best. Its in the same realm as the GTX780.

Though its the Asus gtx 780 I like best; it's the Gigabyte R9 290 I like of the Radeon cards

 

[Treading_Water]

* The hardest thing for me to figure out is when anything was manufactured - I don't expect to find a solution to this.

* Not sure which versions of DirectX capabilities are acceptably current - assuming DirectX 11.1 or above.

* Profile is not an issue

* Quadruple Crossfire is a possibility but I will only be considering single cards that would be good to double up on.

* Not clear to me: whether GDDR3 is still viable. (Just a guess, but I don't think non-GDDR types of GPU memory is a current thing)

* Not clear to me: What memory interface designation is actually viable for semi-intensive continuous use. Example: 128-bit | 256-bit | etc.

^ Not really even sure what those bit-numbers entail; would like to know.

* Obviously more RAM is better; but I really thought I would be okay at 1GB. I have no way of telling if there is a slight mechanical aberration with my current card, or if the card is just a poor design, or if 1GB is simply not enough.

 

[Treading_Water]

Thanks Herrwizo (reading now)

Thanks i7Baby7 I will check out that card. I am going towards AMD because I have an AMD board but those look fantastic. A bit pricey for me, but great.

 

[i7Baby]

In 2014, the talk is of 4K eg http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-r9-295x2-crossfire-performance,3808-4.html

Who can afford the gpu power to get into 4K? Not me! Not for $1500 just for the gpu.

So those interested are on the edge of their seats waiting to see what happens with the next line ups from nVidia and Radeon. More power for fewer dollars and less Wattage?

 

[Treading_Water]

I should clarify, I'm looking for 2014 answers, but I would be good with what's good for 2013, if you know what I mean. I just don't want any cards that are actually outdated.

 

[i7Baby]

Then any current desktop gpu in the top 20 of - http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html