Mantle is being put on hold. I would assume at this point indefinitely since DX12 is doing the same thing Mantle did. Unfortunately there is now no real reason to buy AMD. Their drivers are not as reliable, the hardware is only slightly cheaper, and on the high end Nvidia is still better. On the mid range AMD can compete, but you have to deal with their buggy and slow to arrive drivers. I hate to say it, but unless the next generation of consoles is also AMD, I do not see them being around much longer. Which sucks because we really need good competition in the graphics and processor market. http://www.pcgamer.com/amd-halts-mantle-optimizations-for-current-and-future-graphics-cards/
Vulkan is Mantle's heir, its based on Mantle and was given to whoever the company was that does Vulkan. So yes, Mantle is on hold, but its not dead, its just in a different incarnation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulkan_(API)
Vulkan is supposed to replace OpenGL. So if Linux gaming takes off, yes it could be big. But very unlikely. Until Linux becomes the primary gaming platform DX is going to stay. So, if you want to game on Linux, yes buy AMD. Otherwise, save yourself the headache and buy Nvidia. Hopefully AMD will become a real competitor in the next generation of cards and processors. I do not bet on it, their stock is at an all time low right now.
