OP, get the newest card and chose a GTX 970 (efficiency, price/performance and drivers are great for a recent card (still 28nm but still). Or get a a R9 290x if you can find it really cheap.
Both cards are good, actually, they are both VERY good.
A R9 290 for $250 or less is a good option too. The GTX 970 is an excellent option. I would personally go for the GTX 970 right now since AMD needs to sort their recent driver issues out. It also seems that their performance regressed a little as well on the newer driver releases.
What issues are you talking about?
I think you need to provide more info to the OP. I'm also interested about the issues you are talking about. If you are referring to 14.9 installation issues, the issues has been addressed a week after the release and everything got fixed in 14.9.1 beta.
Also 14.9.2 will be releasing soon.
I agree the GTX 970 is a very good card and I would probably consider it beside the R9 290, but saying AMD has driver issues is
very very WRONG.
I'm running triple monitors of 1440p with Quad GPUs (R9 290x), I think I have a very complicated system and I have actually NO , I repeat, NO issue at all with 14.9.1.
People are comparing AMD R9 290x DirectX drivers with GTX 980 directX drivers. They are comparing them like if the R9 290x was equal in performance as the GTX 980. People forget that the
R9 290x was release exactly a year ago. Sorry but I don't compare Apple to Pineapple. Even if they both have the word "apple" in them just like "DirectX" in
AMD R9 290 DirectX and
Nvidia GTX 980 DirectX. (But they both have directx in their name )
Thank you.
Get the 970 and skip AMD's terribad drivers.
Dammit (Facepalm)
GTX970 also got better future DX support if you wish to keep it for several years. Not to mention more features.
LOLLLL
I wish I was able to see in the future too. Wow.
Please explain what is more
FEATURES, to the OP? He needs to know.