I have an old and trusty HD 5850. So yeah, I need an upgrade .

I'll be honest here, with the silly line up that AMD has, I treat the X and non-X variants as the same, so I take the 390 and 390X as the same thing and the 380 and 380X also as the same thing. That's why I used the 480 as their second best design.

I know that it's not the proper way or the best to talk about them, but let's face it: AMD has too many cards on the market. Let's look at the cards now on the market, shall we?

(Note that I haven't listed the Titan because it's an halo product designed for those with more money than brains, so it doesn't really count).

That's 10 cards to compete against 5. And the worst of all is that some of those cards compete with each other, not only in price but also in performance. Just look at the 390X, Fury and Fury Nano, all of them fighting the same spot that the 980 occupies but with price differences of up to 200 $/€ betwen them. It's simply stupid.

So, going back to our discussion, when I say that the future R9 480 should be faster or on par than Fury, I mean that the 480X should be on par or faster than the Nano and Fury with a chance to beat the Fury X. And the same goes for Nvidia's 1070, which will easily beat the 980 and should come close if not beat the 980Ti.

I know that comparing the number of transistors doesn't translate into actual performance, that doesn't even work with the TFlops battle that console users have embraced this gen (otherwise the 7970 and 290X should have destroyed their competitors, and they didn't).

But the combination of a lor more transistors (the never trustworthy rumors say that both Nvidia and AMD's high end chips will have around 15-18 billion), the improvements from new architectures and the use of HBM2 with up to 1Tb/s of bandwidth should provide a nice and hefty bump in performance.

And I've got a 5770, even worse

Not listing Titan but listing Fury due to the initial pricepoint is silly imo. Also, NVidia has put the lower Maxwell chips into the GeForce 700 lineup for some reason, so you would have to add 745, 750 and 750Ti. As a result, AMD only would have 1 card more than NVidia, and imo that's the Nano, as it caters for a very special market (powerful mini PCs) where NVidia has no equivalent card.

We're both in need of an upgrade.

I forgot about the 7x0 seris Maxwell cards, it's true and I admit my mistake, but that doesn't change anything because I also haven't listed the R5 230, R7 240 and R7 250, and the main problem still remains: AMD still has too many cards in the mid to high end of the market. They should get rid of the non-X variants and simplify its lineup.

And if I haven't listed the Titan X is for its price and because they are refered as a prosumer card. And I don't know what Fury has to do with it as it's priced as the 980Ti, which is its main competition.

Well unlike the Maxwells (not sure about the 745 though) the Oland cards are all OEM only, dunno how they count. NVidia also has their old Kepler/Fermi entry chips for OEM only purposes, mostly because companies still rarely use the iGP and prefer have a cheap graphics card.

I could agree with the 360/370(X), as they are very close performance wise. I'm pretty sure Tonga will replace them as 470(X), and Bonaire might possibly become OEM only. The 380s and 390s however each fill their niches, as do the Furys and Nano (it's not called Fury Nano btw, just Nano).

What does needs to end is the endless variants (2GiB, 3GiB, 4GiB, 8GiB, Ghz edition...), there only shall be one for each chip. This would clean up AMDs lineup already quite a bit.

Well, I can find those AMD cards on different stores. Either they aren't OEM only, or it happens the same as the Windows OEM licences.

Also, rumors say the AMD will launch the new cards during the next Summer. Let's hope they listen to us.

I'm already thinking of getting a new CPU, I;m sprting an i5-4670k but I'm thinking of going for an i7 for my own video editing purposes, already ordered myself 16gb kit since RTS titles like Planetary Annihilation are now asking for 12gb RAM and Ashes of a Singularity. Also going for another 980 enxt year since I quite fancy the whole SLI steup.

@Basil: I woldn't go with dual cards, Basil. There's always problems with the drivers as well as other things (noise, power usage, etc).

It's better to get a single, more expensive and powerful card than two lower end ones.

@Chazore: Hey, we have the same CPU! Lucky me I don't edit videos, so I don't need a new one.

The news:

The Tech Report co-creator and Editor-in-Chief Scott Wasson is leaving the site to join AMD

http://techreport.com/blog/29390/into-a-new-era

AVALANCHE DETAILS DIFFERENCES BETWEEN MAD MAX & JUST CAUSE 3 ENGINES

http://www.dsogaming.com/news/avalanche-details-differences-between-mad-max-just-cause-3-engines/

With the release of Just Cause 3, a lot of gamers wondered why the game performs so horribly on both the PC and current-gen consoles, especially when Mad Max was a top-notch title. Was it because the game was developed by the New York studio of Avalanche (and not the Stockholm one that was responsible for Mad Max)? Or is it more of a technical issue? And why was Mad Max supporting SLI but not Just Cause 3? Well, Avalanche Studios has detailed the differences between the Mad Max and the Just Cause 3 engines.

FALLOUT 4 – NEW BETA PATCH AVAILABLE, FIXES “STUCK ON TERMINAL” ISSUE, BRINGS PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENTS

http://www.dsogaming.com/news/fallout-4-new-beta-patch-available-fixes-stuck-on-terminal-issue-brings-performance-improvements/

One of the most annoying things in Fallout 4 is when the players gets stuck on terminals. That’s a really awful bug that passed Bethesda’s Q&A. Thankfully, the team has released a new beta patch on Steam that fixes this issue. Moreover, this beta patch brings general memory and stability improvements.

STEAM REPORT – MORE THAN 35 MILLION COPIES OF GAMES WERE SOLD IN NOVEMBER 2015

http://www.dsogaming.com/news/steam-report-more-than-35-million-copies-of-games-were-sold-in-november-2015/

SteamSpy has revealed the November sales numbers for Valve’s distribution service, Steam. According to the stats, more than 35 million copies of games were sold last month. Contrary to our previous report, this one focuses only on the sales that were generated by priced titles (in other words, it does not include free-to-play titles or free weekends sales).

Comparing November’s sales stats with September’s stats, we can see that the figure was raised from 28 million copies of games to almost 36 million copies.

Here are some initial stats:

Total copies sold: 35,943,283
Average price: $5.83
Average discount: 53.34%

DRAGON’S DOGMA: DARK ARISEN – PC GRAPHICS OPTIONS REVEALED

http://www.dsogaming.com/news/dragons-dogma-dark-arisen-pc-graphics-options-revealed/

Gamestar has shared a video, showcasing the PC version of Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen. Thankfully, this particular video also revealed the in-game graphics settings for Capcom’s upcoming action RPG, giving us a glimpse at what PC gamers will be able to adjust/tweak in order to enjoy it.

PARAGON – FIFTH CHARACTER REVEALED FOR EPIC’S UPCOMING PC TITLE

http://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/paragon-fifth-character-revealed-for-epics-upcoming-pc-title/

Epic Games has released a new teaser trailer for its upcoming PC title, Paragon, revealing a new in-game playable hero called Drux. Paragon is coming to the PC in early 2016 and will feature five playable characters. And at least from what we’ve seen, we can safely say that it will feature highly detailed in-game characters.

>>Yes, that's a pic of me. But don't judge me, it was early morning and I had a bad night.

Why do you want a Titan X when a 980Ti is just a tiny bit slower but costs a lot less? And there's no AMD counterpart for the Titan X, the Fury cards "compete" with the 980Ti and, given that they only have 4GB of VRAM, a 980Ti is the better option.

But that's if you want to upgrade now. If you plan to upgrade next Christmas, everything will have changed.

VERMINTIDE BUFFED WITH FREE SIGMAR’S BLESSING DLC

http://www.pcgamer.com/vermintide-buffed-with-free-sigmars-blessing-dlc/

I dabbled in the Warhammer: The End Times: Vermintide beta, but being bad at things with strangers on the internet has never been my bag. Ian, however, loved it. Like, 90-score, Editor’s Choice loved it, and apparently 300,000 of you did too, because today developer Fatshark is releasing some free DLC to celebrate.

>>Follow the link to see the trailer of this free DLC.

THIS WEEK'S HEARTHSTONE TAVERN BRAWL HAS BEEN DELAYED

http://www.pcgamer.com/this-weeks-hearthstone-tavern-brawl-has-been-delayed/

The latest Hearthstone Tavern Brawl, "Decks Assemble!" sounds like a good one. You'll begin with a small deck and hand of preset cards, and will discover a new card at the beginning of each turn. When you play a card, a copy of it is shuffled into your deck, and at the end of your turn, your whole hand is returned to the deck and replaced with four randomly-drawn cards.

POINT BREAK DLC COMES TO PAYDAY 2 TOMORROW

http://www.pcgamer.com/point-break-dlc-comes-to-payday-2-tomorrow/

Last year, Overkill released John Wick DLC for Payday 2 that brought the Keanu Reeves action-thriller into the game with a new playable character, weapons, and three—three!—pairs of sunglasses. Now the studio's got something very similar in the works for Point Break. Unlike its predecessor, however, this DLC is not based on the Keanu Reeves action-thriller, but rather the upcoming, entirely unnecessary (and probably dreadful) remake that will feature Luke Bracey in the Reeves role of Johnny Utah.

>>Again, follow the link to see the trailer.

BLACK DESERT ONLINE CLOSED BETA REGISTRATIONS ARE NOW BEING TAKEN

http://www.pcgamer.com/black-desert-online-closed-beta-registrations-are-now-being-taken/

The upcoming fantasy MMO Black Desert Online is now taking registrations for its first closed beta, which will run from December 16 to December 22. The beta promises a number of improvements over the alpha test that wrapped up last month, including greater character customization options, improved class balance, and better weather cycles.

STANLEY PARABLE CO-CREATOR TEASES INCOMING GAME

http://www.pcgamer.com/stanley-parable-co-creator-teases-incoming-game/

How do you move on from a game like The Stanley Parable? It's hard not to typecast indie devs who suddenly find a breakout game to their name, but Stanley co-creator William Pugh's new studio, Crows Crows Crows, looks to have something... different in the works. Different how I couldn't tell you.

INDIVISIBLE, THE 2D ACTION-RPG BY SKULLGIRLS DEVS, HAS BEEN FUNDED

http://www.pcgamer.com/indivisible-the-2d-action-rpg-by-skullgirls-devs-has-been-funded/

After one of the most effective marketing campaigns in recent crowdfunding memory, Indivisible has reached and exceeded its $1,500,000 IndieGogo asking price. That means if you enjoyed the playable prototype – which is still available on the IndieGogo page – you can expect more in 2017.