Video Card Conundrum

[fuzlogic]

I'm putting together a new gaming machine.. Here's the system so far:

 

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/jr2ZdC

 

The CPU Cooler with either be the OEM or my current Rosewill RCX-Z5-Ultra (Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835200037)

 

The issue is I don't know much about AMD/ATI cards. I've been mainly Nvidia since I can't remember when, but I'm open to trying one. The Cards I'm looking at are as follows:

 

Sapphire Radeon R9-290 4gb Tri-X OC version: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202143

XFX Black Edition Double D R9-280x 3gb: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150690

Asus Strix GTX960 4gb: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121928

 

Or...

 

Stick with my dual GTX550ti 's in SLI mode.

 

Games I play:

Neverwinter Online

Guild Wars 2

Shadows of Mordor

Dragon Age Inquisition

 

I'm looking in the price range of less than $300.

 

Thank you,

Edward

 

 

 

 

 

[Aytex]

any 290x that fits your budget

[Ganz]

any 290x that fits your budget

Pretty much this.  Looks like you have a black and red theme so find a black and red 290x and you'll be good to go.

[CoolaxGaming]

What they said

[fuzlogic]

Is Powercolor a good brand??.. I've never heard of 'em.. 

[Aytex]

Is Powercolor a good brand??.. I've never heard of 'em.. 

IT may be but i highly recommend the other popular and mainstream brands

[fuzlogic]

IT may be but i highly recommend the other popular and mainstream brands

Silly me didn't scroll down through Neweggs list..

[DeViLzzz]

fuzlogic I guess it depends on what card you are looking at from PowerColor. It seems that the PowerColor PCS+ AXR9 290 4GBD5-PPDHE Radeon R9 290 4GB 512-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card had some real issues and even with a bios fix from the manufacturer it can still be a card that does not work out well for many. http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131549 

Now hey maybe they have other 290s that work better but I haven't hard searched for any information on that so yeah.  Now as for 270s and 280s I see loads of 4 out of 5 ratings so it is possible for them to make cards that people are happy with.

Information about the company -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PowerColor

Oh and as for choosing between the 3 cards you listed yeah definitely go with the 290 for that.
 

[fuzlogic]

I think I'm going to go with this:

 

Sapphire r9-290x Tri-x OC: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202145

 

I'm not that big keeping a color scheme as I'm going to Tint the case window and stencil the ROG logo. and if it's too much I'll paint the shroud..

[StainlessSR]

Shadows of Mordor

Dragon Age Inquisition
 
Neverwinter Nights more cpu bound

Until Zen is here and benchmarked/proven I would suggest an Intel build in all honesty. An R9-290 like this one by Gigabyte

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($259.86 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($28.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: MSI Z97-GAMING 5 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($125.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Mushkin Chronos 480GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($159.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($119.70 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 w/Window (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: FirePower ZX 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply
Total: $894.50
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-05-11 10:41 EDT-0400

[fuzlogic]

Thank you all for the advice.. Here is the final system:

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core Processor  ($168.99 @ SuperBiiz) 

Motherboard: Asus Crosshair V Formula-Z ATX AM3+ Motherboard  ($214.99 @ SuperBiiz) 

Memory: G.Skill Trident X Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR3-2400 Memory  ($139.99 @ Newegg) 

Storage: Mushkin Chronos 480GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($159.99 @ Newegg) 

Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($119.70 @ Newegg) 

Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 290X 4GB Tr-X OC Video Card  ($299.99 @ Newegg) 

Case: Fractal Design Define R5 w/Window (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($99.99 @ Newegg) 

Total: $1193.65

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-05-11 11:17 EDT-0400