AMD Is Almost Done With Their Radeon 300 Series

The last Radeon Series to hit the market was AMD's 200 series having the R9 290x as their flagship card. Ever since the release of NVIDIA's 900 series cards, AMD fans have waited eagerly to see what the 300 series has to offer. With NVIDIA's GTX 970 card being able to beat the R9 290x in almost all scenarios, AMD fans were let down that they invested into a card the became obsolete so soon.

As an NVIDIA fan myself who owns a GTX 970, I can say the purchase was definitely worth it and I am excited to see what AMD has to offer, although I don't like the thought of their cards beating mine, it would be nice to see their cards perform well so that NVIDIA will try to offer higher performance cards.

Building Your Own PC

Getting into PC gaming is easy as ever with new hardware nowadays. It's become so easy, I child could do it with a little bit of knowledge on the subject. There really is no use to pay top dollar for pre-built machines from Alienware or CyberPC because it's so easy to just do it yourself. Not only easy, but also incredibly cheap if you're looking to invest in a small starter rig.

With a small bit of researching, anyone can build their own rig. With helpful sites like pcpartpicker.com and tomshardware.com, picking up some knowledge on computers is easy as can be. Although intimidating at first, computers are easy to understand and like a puzzle to put together. With a low end cpu and mid range gpu, you'll be gaming at 1080p easily.

My PC Specs

    Just for anyone wondering what I'm running in my rig. Here's what I got.

CPU: i5 4690k ( OCed to 4.2 ghz)
GPU: Asus GTX 970 Strix
Motherboard: Asus Maximus VII Hero
PSU: EVGA 1000w P2
RAM: Corsair Vengeance Pro 16GB 2400 mhz
CPU Cooler: Corsair H80i
HDD: 2x Seagate 1tb Hard Drives
SSD: Samsung Evo 240gb
Case: NZXT Phantom Full Tower

    This whole build was custom built and every component was bought separately. If your wanting to get your own PC, do yourself a favor and build one, don't buy a pre-built one. Especially not from Alienware.

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Mouse: Corsair Vengeance M65
Keyboard: Corsair Gaming K70 RGB
Mouse Mat: Corsair MM600
Headset: Astro A50s

Controller vs. Keyboard and Mouse

     Controller versus keyboard and mouse has been a wide spread discussion for years. For the most part, PC players have always said that even an average PC player could take out any hardcore console player in a 1v1 situation. While on most accounts, this is true, sometimes this is not the case because of consoles players unfair auto aim assist that PC players cannot use as it would be too much of an advantage because of the, already superior, keyboard and mouse. Because of aim assist, controller players can sometimes get an unfair advantage which leads to a misconception over which one is better.

     As a veteran PC player that has migrated from consoles over to PC, I can say that keyboard and mouse is a much more accurate and precise form of game style. Using a mouse can deliver a level of pin point accuracy that even pro console players can't acquire. Although some PC do not use the full potential of a keyboard and mouse because of lack of skill, in most cases, keyboard and mouse will triumph any console player. For beginners using a keyboard and mouse, some might see the play style uncomfortable and revert back to their controller, but after only a few hours of playing and they should have no problem ruining their competition. As an ex console player myself, I too experienced discomfort, but with a due upgrade of hardware and a little practice, I now have no problem destroying competition in any FPS game.

GTX 900 Series 8GB Landing In November

     With Nvidia's new 900 series card being such a hit because of the bang for their buck, many consumers are still iffy on the purchase because of the small amount of VRAM. While most games do not utilize 4GB's at 1080p, when pushed further at higher resolution, many low memory cards begin to struggle. Though most PC gamer's don't have the hardware to achieve such high resolutions, it leaves those that do unable to get the full affect. Nvidia has made the decision to roll out a fresh set of 8GB 970 and 980 cards to make up for the 4GB models and to counter any variant that AMD throws at them.

     Though I don't play at 4K resolution, I plan to in the near future. With a 4GB, the amount of titles that your are able to play at 4K with a reasonable fps is very low. Though Nvidia will be making 8GB models, the price of these models will be on the high end side of things and will most likely start at around $400. For some people, this much is not seen as a problem, but for more casual players and people that can't afford the price, they are let down and have to settle for the lower end model. 

AMD Makes Big Price Cuts On R9 Series Cards After GTX 900 Series Release

     After the very successful launch of Nvidia's GTX 970 and 980 graphic cards, AMD has made the executive decision to slash prices to keep up the competition. With Nvidia's new maxwell architecture, 900 series cards perform better with lower power consumption, heat, and lower core and boost clock. With skyrocketing sales and much lower prices to AMD's R9 series cards, cutting the prices was seen as the only way to keep up with sales and not fall too much behind in the competition.  Even with higher prices of AMD's cards, the 970 and 980 have beat almost all benchmarks against AMD's cards and with new drivers on the way, that margin is expected to increase even more.

    As an owner of a Asus Strix GTX 970, I can say myself that these statements are true and there is no reason to buy an AMD series card unless you're going for an all AMD build. Because of such a low price to performance ratio, these new cards are a true bang for the buck. At a price of $330, you're getting GTX 780ti speeds at half the cost and better power consumption and heat output. If you're looking for a mid range budget, but high end performance card, I definitely recommend these new cards.

PC vs. Console Gaming

Why PC Gaming Is Better Than Console Gaming

     While the PC market is going down, it is still twice the size of console market share today. Although the big upgrades that both Microsoft and Sony have made in the past few years to help benefit console gaming, the power of these systems are mid range at best compared to a well built gaming PC. While console fans are fighting over 900p vs. 1080p, PC has been able to achieve this level of graphics for years and has even started to introduce 4K (4x 1080p).

     In my opinion, I will always consider PC's a much more superior system to game on. Although the initial price of a high end gaming PC can be much higher than a next gen console, over the long run, it's a different story. PC games cost much less than consoles games in most cases and that's not even considering massive Steam sales that occur daily. Not to mention, games will always run better on a PC, no matter what. Games are developed and tested first on PC's before being ported onto consoles which gives them quite the edge against consoles, plus the fact how much farther PC graphic cards like the GTX 900 series, or 5th generation core i7 processors from Intel have come. If you're a true gamer and you really want a lot of power in your system that you can be proud of, then I strongly suggest building a PC.


Chiappetta, Marco "The Console War Is Over: The PC Already Won" Forbes, 17 September 2014, http://www.forbes.com/sites/marcochiappetta/2014/07/14/the-console-war-is-over-the-pc-already-won/