Ask any console gamer, and theyll likely tell you about the perennial rivalry between the Xbox One X and PS4 Pro.
However, PC gamers have their own internal feud, albeit without the headlines: Nvidia vs AMD.
Dont be fooled its a good thing.
The sheer amount of innovation and competition that has sprung forth from this tech feud is nothing short of amazing.
Still, if youre not willing to pledge loyalty to one of these tech behemoths, it can be hard to decide what the best graphics card for your needs is.Dont worry though, we here at TheIndianSubcontinent have decided to sit down and figure out once and for all the true winner in the battle of Nvidia vs AMD.
(Spoiler: it never ends)In 2018, Nvidia vs AMD are still at each others throat.
Nearly two years after Nvidia's GTX 10 series, we still barely know what the Nvidia GTX 1180 is going to look like, or whether its going to use the Volta or Turing architectures.
Either way, were expecting to see it sometime in the next couple of months.
Still, with the Titan V, we have a sneak peek of what the next generation of GeForce cards will be capable of.Over on the red team, AMD released its AMD Vega line of graphics cards back in August 2017.
AMD has also revealed its new 7nm Radeon Instinct GPUs at Computex 2018, and while these wont be consumer models, they do give us a glimpse of what we can expect from Navi.No matter how you slice it, neither Nvidia or AMD are going away any time soon, so thats why we created this guide to dive in and figure out precisely how they differ.
From their exclusive features to price-to-performance ratio, even down to their drivers.
And you cant forget all of those pesky exclusivity deals, either.There are graphics card choices for daysPriceAnyone who browses Reddit or comment sections on tech websites will tell you that AMD is widely known for its affordability, and Nvidia for its high-end performance and high prices.
But, are they actually rightWell, there are plenty of benchmarks that pretty convincingly tell us that the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56, which is available for around $400 (about 284, AU$500) MSRP, is a better performer than the $650 (about 549, AU$799) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070.
When you factor in the effect that cryptocurrency mining has on the prices, Nvidia actually has a pretty massive advantage from a pricing perspective.And, now that the crypto mining scene has calmed down, were starting to see prices on all the best graphics cards drop to reasonable prices.Go higher, and youll find that the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 is most comparable to the AMD Radeon Vega 64.
At an MSRP (manufacturers suggested retail price) level, both of these cost about the same.
This is, of course, intentional on both companies parts.After revealing its 4K-focused GTX 1080 Ti in 2017, the Green Team was keen on dropping the price of the 1080 in the process.
So, that card went from an MSRP of $599 down to $499 in the US.
Before long, AMD was putting the Vega 64 onto store shelves at the same price.Among basically every sector of the market Nvidia and AMD graphics cards cost about the same when you take price-to-performance in mind.
The best graphics card overall, the GTX 1060, is identical in price to the AMD Radeon RX 580, and for budget cards, the RX 560 is the exact same price as a GTX 1050.However, keep in mind that the GTX 11 series is incoming, and all the speculation suggests that its going to come with a hefty price increase.At the end of the day, the better price is going to depend on where youre lucky enough to find a discount.PerformanceWhen youre trying to build a PC thats more powerful than your arch-enemys, buying a graphics card isnt a matter of price but performance.
Packing the best performance for the lowest cost is the arguably the most pertinent factor in driving GPU sales.Right now, were expecting the next line of Nvidia graphics cards to launch in either August or September, bringing with them higher performance through GDDR6 memory and an absolute ton of CUDA cores.
We could be seeing a major upset in the Nvidia vs AMD war at Gamescom in August.And, even though AMD used to be praised for being the clear champions of value, Nvidia are the clear winners when it comes to price-to-performance ratio in 2018.
And as further proof that Nvidia is killing the game right now: AMD hasnt even produced a true contender to the GTX 1080 Ti, and Nvidia might be putting out the GTX 1180 soon, with better performance than that pricey behemoth.To be fair, Vega has only been available for a few months now, and there was no GTX 1080 Ti equivalent at Pascals launch either.
Still, the GTX 1080 shows the RX Vega 64 up in several different areas, such as multi-rendering and NBody calculation, whereas the RX Vega 64 is better at rendering texture details and complex shading.In other words, AMD and Nvidia are so close at this point that which is better is more of a matter of what games you play and at what resolution.
As we reported back in October, the Vega 64 is a better match for Forza Motorsport 7 at 1080p.
At the same time, Nvidias flagship GPU managed the frame rate advantage in 4K.This trend continues down the list of cheaper graphics cards from AMD and Nvidia, including the RX Vega 56, which sees higher frame rates than the GTX 1070 Founders Edition in DirectX 12-heavy games like Rise of the Tomb Raider and Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (91 fps vs 89 fps and 40 fps vs 31 fps, respectively), according to PCGamesN.Throw a Grand Theft Auto V into the mix, however, and were talking 64 fps on the RX Vega 56 vs 79 fps from the GTX 1070.Software, drivers and featuresOne key draw to using Nvidia hardware over AMD is the Green Teams GeForce Experience software.Because it delivers driver updates and optimizes games in addition to letting you broadcast gameplay and capture screenshots as well as videos directly from its easy-to-use interface, Nvidia GeForce Experience is posited as the one PC gaming application to rule them all.Meanwhile, AMDs newly announced Radeon Software Adrenalin Edition aims to overtake Nvidias solution..
Previously known as Crimson ReLive, the latest re-skinned update of AMDs graphics application is stacked with all of the features youve grown accustomed to since the UI was massively overhauled back in July, but with the benefit of more consistent updates driver updates to account for every major game release.As of December 2016, you could already livestream via Radeon Crimson ReLive, but now you can take safety measures to ensure maximum power efficiency while youre gaming.
That includes the ability to underclock memory frequencies, cap frame rates on a hardware level and enable Enhanced Sync to decrease frame stutter while it simultaneously combats screen tearing.Still, GeForce Experience has the game optimization features were all crazy for.
So when you dont know what settings are best for your computer in The Witcher 3, Nvidia takes care of the heavy lifting for you.AMD users can download and install Raptrs Gaming Evolved tool to optimize their gaming experience.
However, the add-on is less than ideal considering its biggest rivals audience can accomplish nearly everything from within GeForce Experience.
That includes using Nvidia Ansel to take way cool in-game photos at resolutions exceeding 63K (16 times that of which a 4K monitor can display).Nvidia also has a leg up when it comes to streaming games whether its to another gaming PC with at least a Maxwell-based GPU, as well as the companys self-made tablets and set-top box.
Not to mention, Nvidia also has a cloud-based gaming service call GeForce Now available to Windows 10 and MacOS users.ExclusivityIt was once rumored that AMD and Nvidia were enacting shady tactics, paying off game developers to show preferential treatment towards one or the other.
Were this the case, it would certainly explain why certain games run better using GeForce graphics than Radeon and vice versa.Fortunately, we dont see these concerns from PC gamers as much anymore, but that doesnt mean they dont exist.Following its Capsaicin Cream livestream event at GDC 2017, we spoke with AMD its to discuss its strategy in contending with Nvidia.
The news that the company would partner with Bethesda Softworks to optimize its games for Radeon, Ryzen or both was worrying to say the least.
And it still is.At the time, the potential for games operating more smoothly on AMD systems meant that Nvidia could fight back by partnering with an equally large publisher.
Although the latter maneuver hasnt happened yet, early Wolfenstein II performance comparisons, such as this one from TechEpiphany on YouTube have exhibited better performance and lower temps coming from the AMD Radeon RX 64 when pitted against Nvidias GeForce GTX 1080.Were not saying theres a bias towards AMD in Bethesdas technical design decisions, however we arent ready to take off our tin foil hats quite yet either.Of course, Bethesda is hardly the only company to show favoritism to either team red or green.
If you ever see an AMD or Nvidia splash screen ahead of the title page when you start a game, you can bet it will run better with that companys hardware.So, which is better NeitherTheres so much to love, and in some instances dis-love, about both Nvidia and AMD graphics.
In the end, both of these companies rely on competition with each other to thrive.
Suffice to say, the Nvidia vs AMD debate requires that you understand theres a reason Radeon and GeForce GPUs are so similar in performance right now.Each company is doing its best to keep up with the mindshare of the other, and thats good for us.
Theyre basically fighting for our money, learning from each others mistakes and legislating marked improvements along the way.Its up to you who wins the fiery contest of Nvidia vs AMD, although we will say this: Nvidia is unmatched in the 4K market right now.
If it helps any, the GTX 1080 Ti is your best bet if you want your PC to keep up with the likes of your Ultra HD display.
Otherwise, Nvidia and AMD graphics cards are about the same, at least for the time being.5a91b5a00d958fc3c21053d43666fc79.jpg#