Because I have come to the conclusion that I will need to replace my hardware more often I decided to replace my Nvidia 560 Ti with an AMD R7 265 made by MSI. By buying the AMD 265 I stayed with a mid to low range video card in terms of performance, price and electrical power consumption. Compared to the Nvidia 560 Ti the AMD 265 is a little more powerful, uses less electrical power consumption and is still affordable. With tax I spent about $160 at Fry's for the AMD 265. I have seen improvements in performance while playing Skyrim (the most performance demanding title I play), I don't have the flaky playback issues that I did before, and I didn't spend $500+ for some high end video card. I am very happy with the AMD 265 so far. It was a close choice between the AMD 265 and the Nvidia 750 Ti. I liked the Nvidia 750 Ti since it didn't require any external power connector but I thought the AMD 265 was a little better for me and I just wanted to try an AMD product for a change. I switch between Nvidia and AMD all the time. It seems that when I want to replace an old card from one manufacturer their competition is usually offering something a little better in my price range when I want to change.
If Nvidia and AMD are listening here are my purchasing plans for the future. Going forward I will never buy a video card that costs more than $250, that needs more than a 650 watt power supply and can't fit in a regular size tower case. I will be looking for cards that give me more processing power while using less electrical power and hopefully start costing less. I don't care which manufacturer I buy from since I have had successes and problems with both Nvidia and AMD. I generally buy Intel CPU's but would totally consider buying a GPU (video card) integrated with a CPU if it meant cost savings, lower power consumption and adequate video processing power for games. I could see myself building an AMD APU system in a small form factor if it became practical. Since I feel the need to buy hardware more often price and mid range performance are my new priorities. In the past I used to try to buy the best components I could and upgraded a component at a time. Now that operating systems, software and drivers are changing faster and high end components are ridiculously priced I have been forced into the low to mid range in terms of hardware purchases. I think that Nvidia, AMD, Intel and other manufactures will find more users will be like me. I am happy with my AMD 265 but will AMD and Nvidia be happy in the long run?
Right now many computer gamers and other computer users have just payed what they had to in order to have a computer that worked with their software. One of the reasons that I have been on the fence about replacing hardware is that prices have gone up sharply but performance hasn't. It used to be that performance doubled and prices stayed the same or lowered. The last three years have seen products "re-branded" with new names and prices very slowly coming down. It is ok, I have plenty of old games that I bought cheaply on Steam and GOG.com that play just fine on slower and cheaper hardware. While the hardware and game reviewers on the internet chase the latest games that can't even be played on the latest and expensive hardware users like myself will just wait them out. If AMD and Nvidia don't offer cards like the 265 and the 750 Ti they will go out of business. I know that and I think they know that. What I don't understand is the internet press that is still chasing the "fantastic" products and not what people need. I also wouldn't be surprised if AMD and Nvidia would rather make all their video cards mid range cards. Video cards and CPUs that cost between $500 and $1000 each must be a much tougher business to be in than a business based on a price point under $200. Hopefully AMD and Nvidia will be as happy with my AMD 265 purchase as I am and won't have to waste time and money playing the publicity wars of high end product reviews.
If I were advising Intel, AMD and Nvidia I would encourage them to emphasize their mid to low range products and ignore the reviewers. If I had a friend building or buying a system I would advise them to buy a mid to low range system and just expect to upgrade in two years or replace in three. I would also advise a friend to buy some of those older games that are cheap and don't need a lot of power to run and let the high end games wait to catch up to you and not you try to catch up to them. I would also advise software developers to start coding software that can run on lower end hardware. I think the future of computing will be a little slower paced than what we are used to. Unless there is a major break through that boosts performance AND reduces costs I think everyone needs to take a step back and be a little more patient.
