I'm really really new here so I apologize if I ask a stupid question not worthy of an answer.
Before Christmas, I built my first ever PC. I've had a PC before but this one has been built from the ground up (console gaming before). Today a friend of mine told me about compatibility trouble between AMD and NVidia. I got a GeForce GTX 950 (dirt cheap for the bang and the power consumption) and an AMD processor. I think I'll update some time this year, but it still bugs me. Did I make a bad choice? It runs very well, but if there are any advantages to having AMD/Radeon or Intel/NVidia combo, I'll give that a shot in my upgrade.
It really doesn't matter overall. Some people think AMD/AMD or Intel/nVidia are the only two ways to go, but I, nor anybody I know, has ever had issues with AMD/nVidia or Intel/AMD.
Poor drivers and/or user error are usually what causes issues with graphics cards.
Well not sure who has exaly told you that. But its basicly totaly nonsense.
Your GTX950 will work totaly fine in your AMD system. You can totaly use a Nvidia videocard with an AMD system for example. Or an AMD videocard on an intel system. It realy does not matter.
The only thing that will matter, is if you want to go with a higherend video card in the futere, something like a GTX970 or R9-390 and up. With an AMD cpu, you might run into some scenario´s in which the AMD cpu starts to slightly bottleneck the gpu in certain games. But again that also realy depends from game to game and at what res you play them, if its realy noticable or not.
Also, questions are basicly never stupid. No matter how easy the aswer might be. There are people who realy dont know much about todays hardware. And we are here to help them making the right decissions.
In the future till you learn a little more go to forums first and ask questions before you build.
For instance what Amd cpu did you get.
Second did you know for just a little more you could have gotten a 960 which is a more powerful gpu.
There really no such thing as graphics card compatibility the graphics card will perform the same regardless of amd or intel cpu as long as the cpu is not a bottle neck. Which you have nothing to worry about with a 950.
Nobody is born with knowledge so we all asked basic questions and being ignorant at some point so don't worry about your question. Then, on the subject of your question, there isn't any compatibility issue between AMD and nVidia parts due to the different branding of things. If the graphic card you want to use needs a different BUS than your CPU can deliver you could have problem, no matter what brand the videocard or the processor is made by, but this is on a whole different level. You didn't make any mistake if your PC works very well and eveything is fine. Ask is better than show knowledge you don't have!
That's true, but it was a little over my budget at the time (it cost 50 % more than the 950). In my first update, I'll get a better graphics card and give this one to my GF (she has a 750MB graphics card in her case, all other components are top notch, just the graphics). So it's not that much of a problem. I'll go here in the future, surprisingly good attitude. I was only on 4chan/g/ before, so it's a huge leap forward.
ASUS A88XM-A motherboard (upgraded from an A86HM-K because of the 4 RAM slots) AMD Athlon X4 860K Black Edition Kaveri Kingston 8GB KIT DDR3 1600MHz CL11 Seagate Barracuda 7200.14 1000GB with Advanced Format ASUS GTX950-OC-2GD5 (it fits my case with plenty of space to spare)
I got a Silentium M50 Alea as a case, since the huge venting space is great.
I was shooting for a sub-500$ build, so it fit the budget really nicely. My power source is a 520W Corsair.
Oh, and one more question: How can I recognize the strength of the card I'm choosing? @Streetguru talks about 390s, I would've thought that they progress with the numbers, which doesn't seem to be the case. I just wanted to play the new Hitman game when it comes out. Also, I'm not in it for 1440p, I've only got a 1080p monitor.
Each gpu manufacturer has there own series, nvidias current series is the 900 series and AMD are using the 300 series, these are only for branding, but within those series you can determine a card performance relative to other cards in the series.
For example the nvidia 980ti>980>970 and so on down the line and the same for AMD's line of gpus.
Well then you'd be fine with like a 380 and saving money unless you wanted to push like max settings for every game for some reason, the 960 is Nvidia's option at that price point, but the 380 is a decent amount faster, and has potentially better DX12/Vulkan Support
Basic breakdown right now, for me at least is
Entry 1080p 360=750ti (Slight edge to the 360 due to nvidia's apparent trouble with DX12) 950>370(if price is the same)
I've taken a look at both of the 1080-1440p group, and as the 390 and 970 cost almost as much as this whole build cost me, I jumped to compare the 380 and 960. Both would fit my case (max. 30 cm space for graphics card) and it seems that the 380 is more power-consuming, but also has more punch. I think I'll get the ASUS STRIX R9 380 DC2 OC 4GB. I actually want to build the PC to play games on 1080p high detail, so it's a biggie. I built the PC in order to be able to play Hitman: No subtitle on 1080p and at least mid-details when it comes out. I've tested my PC with Unreal Tournament in UT Engine 4, and it's running very well in high details, so I'm not too scared about running Hitman. That was my benchmark, Hitman. I'll work on it some more after Hitman comes out to get to high or even ultra settings.
Thank you guys so much, this is really helping me a lot.