I was a fan of the AMD R9 release, but now that Litecoins have become popular, people who don't know the first thing about gaming are snatching up all of the good cards. AMD's price/performance arguement is completely gone now with the price hike, seeing as I would have to buy a non-reference cooler as well (which are mostly out of stock). I don't have a problem with virtual currencies, but it is a little late to jump into them as a "get-rich-quick" scheme, people telling themselves that they are going to make tons of money are desperately delusional.
Ah well. I'm just angry because I'm going to have to wait to upgrade now. Any idea on when the prices will settle back down??
Can't verify as I haven't had my hands on them, have heard mostly postives about the drivers this go around though.
I might just settle for grabbing a 780 as I don't see the prices dropping anytime soon with AMD's next shipments already being sold off to backorders and whatnot. Might be nice getting a card that's already fully supported with good drivers.
Yep, crypto currency mining has really pushed the prices on AMD cards. From what I've seen prices should be back to "normal" and cards should be in stock in 1 - 3 months depending on where you live. I've also heard very good things about AMD drivers lately, which is really nice. If you decide to get an Nvidia card be aware that they had some issues with the trainwreck that is BF4 right now. Otherwise Nvidia drivers are fine as of now.
BF4 has been awful on all cards they really botched that one. I thought the beta was just a tease but it's almost like they fixed nothing in the beta and released it.