AMD or Nvidia: Between a Rock and a Hard Place?

[Confused Stu]

I always preferred AMD since they are the king for bang per buck but now I can't stand either of them.

AMD:


+ better bang per buck especially when they do the AMD gold game award voucher things
+ love their open source policy and I do believe that mantle was the kick up the backside that microsoft needed for DX 12, bf 4, PVZ and bfh are the smoothest games on my system by far and the fps boost I get in bf 4 is night and day
- their driver support and just general attitude has gone down the drain big time in the last 6 months, "when it's ready" answers etc. just aren't good enough
- initial freesync monitors have limited freesync ranges/problems (although I think this is more down to the monitor manufacturers, however, at the same time, AMD should be monitoring/testing these screens as well)

Nvidia:

+ seem to be quicker with driver updates and better optimisation in dx11 + they get more sponsored games
+ generally better overall software/driver "experience" i.e. shadow play, dynamic vsync (yes I know radeon pro can do this but it doesn't work for every game and you need to install that on top of CCC)
- don't like how closed source they are especially with gameworks, every gameworks game runs crap for me (micro stutters, doesn't matter if I turn the gameworks features off, batman AO is probably the best gameworks title but it still isn't micro stutter free) on my 290, it has to be one of the worse things for the pc gaming industry imo
- don't like their attitude especially regarding the 970 and the vram issue
- always over priced imo, the 970 was spot on for pricing but we all found out soon after why that was...

Overall, neither companies are particularly problem free when it comes to drivers and anyone who thinks otherwise is just blinded by their loyalty, you just need to look in each thread and see that each side has plenty of problems.

I thought AMD would have been the better cards overall for the next few years due to both consoles using AMD GPU's but nope.... although looking at the similarities in mantle and dx12/vulkan, who knows, maybe we will see a big difference when dx12 titles arrive???

I wish there was a 3rd party GPU brand.

You, sir, just saved me a good few minutes typing a response - this is exactly my feelings on the two companies at the moment. Thanks.

 

[KillBoY_UK]

ahh the old lines, Nvidia = Evil empire that will eat your babys, AMD = We are the Buddhists of the tech world, do no wrong or evil and the light shines out of our ass.

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

ahh the old lines, Nvidia = Evil empire that will eat your babys, AMD = We are the Buddhists of the tech world, do no wrong or evil and the light shines out of our ass.

Or just enjoy your cards and stop being so worried about what other people think?

Plus seriously, Boomstick has probably bought £1000s of Nvidia and AMD cards in the last year - I don't think he really cares about what brands he buys like Kaapstad.

 

[JamesM]

They are both as bad as each other and have been ever since the beginning.

Yes we are stuck but what other option do we have?

Lately i've owned 7950, 780, 290, 970 and 980 and quite frankly i've had much more grief with AMD stuff than Nvidia.

Yes i'd love to support AMD more but currently, at this moment in time, their cards don't have the performance/watt of Nvidia and AMDs driver support was horrid.

No doubt things have changed since I last used them and I hate throwing money at Nvidia when they clearly charge for the air their employers breathe but rather the devil that I know than the one I don't.

I hope the new line of AMDs stuff comes out and rocks the boat but I have a horrid feeling Nvidia are jus sitting back and waiting to counter release it.

Ignoring what I paid for my 980, i've not had a single issue with drivers or the card. Everything runs perfectly at the settings I want and the resolution I use and if I had to pay a bit extra to get that then so be it.

 

[KillBoY_UK]

Or just enjoy your cards and stop being so worried about what other people think?

Its more about the BS/misinformation/opinion taken as fact/as well as the "continently forgetting the past, that both AMD and Nvidia fans do. This has gotten much worse the past couple of years eps when PR bots are allowed to freely start threads and post.

It sickens, frustrates and annoys me. It not a graphics card forum more a flame war battle pit where little proper discussion can be had.

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

TBF,Boomstick, most of the popular games will run fine on sub £200 cards,its only if you want to Max out the more graphically intense titles that people are paying more and more.

Plus after Crysis what modern PC games have really been a massive jump forward graphically?

I mean there are games released since which needed more hardware,but nothing has really been that revolution. At least for me its kind of put a damper to invest in higher end cards from either company.

Hopefully, DX12 will fix that.

 

[TaKeN]

I just want to full truth on the situation!

Do Nvidia gimp their own older tech cards (780 Ti) using gameworks? do they do the same for AMD cards?

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Its more about the BS/misinformation/opinion taken as fact/as well as the "continently forgetting the past, that both AMD and Nvidia fans do. This has gotten much worse the past couple of years eps when PR bots are allowed to freely start threads and post.

It sickens, frustrates and annoys me. It not a graphics card forum more a flame war battle pit where little proper discussion can be had.

Yeah,its got worse recently - I even remembered the Kepler pre-release thread being fun,but I suppose that shipped has sailed. But the thing is both Nvidia and AMD are trying to actively encourage E-PEEN now. Its not like their PR is hiding the fact.There was an attempt a while back, but it did not have the results you have now.

 

[Stanners]

I just want to full truth on the situation!

Do Nvidia gimp their own older tech cards (780 Ti) using gameworks? do they do the same for AMD cards?

What problems are you having with your Ti, is it the heavily tessellated new games?

 

[llamadal]

Nvidia, because it works.

The 970 issue sucked, they should have been clear on it from the beginning but a bigger issue was made of it (mainly by people who had and cards lol), its still an outstanding card at the price point.

People need to take off the tin foil hats

 

[Arcane]

I've genuinely never cared what is inside the PC as long as it's fast and does what it's supposed to do and lets me game with as little hassle as possible.

When I first got into PCs it was a lot more involved and overclocking, setting up windows etc was far more difficult to get right. Now (for the main part) it's far, far easier to get up and running and do what I really want....game.

with that in mind I always use nvidia as SLI is painless the vast majority of the time, the drivers are usually excellent and now with G-Sync I can play at 2540x1440, 144hz, tear and lag free.

My experience with AMD was soiled by 5850 crossfire, it was awful compared to the 470gtx SLI I replaced it with, even though hardware wise the AMD setup was quieter and cooler.

For me, AMD if you're on budget and want to use a single card, nvidia if you've got the cash and want to go Multi-GPU.

 

[Phixsator]

Nvidia, because it works.

The 970 issue sucked, they should have been clear on it from the beginning but a bigger issue was made of it (mainly by people who had and cards lol), its still an outstanding card at the price point.

People need to take off the tin foil hats

I rather have tin foil hats and a more skeptic crowd than nothing but yes men.

 

[~>Dg<~]

i think generally most people like AMD more as a company than nvidia. thats because they are not a cold business front in grey suits.

the thing is when it comes to products people just want something that works and does what they want it to do with as little fuss as possible.

this is why Nvidia is the clear front man. not liked by many but just make gpus that work generally without any fuss.

thats where AMD slip up.

i love AMD stuff.id prefer to buy from them every time but for eg my last purchase at the time the AMD option didnt work. it couldn't do what i wanted to so i had to choose Nvidia. even though i preferred AMD.


AMD seem to be happy content with where what they are. i guess the fun family type scenario works for them to a extent. as said people like them but are obviously not choosing them over nvidia due to this.

as mentioned its great to be liked more but...the final decision is whos card works the best.mostly its nvidia.that's just being honest and sales don't lie !

 

[teppic]

AMD's difficulty is that by not doing vendor lock in like Nvidia, they only really have price as an advantage. That limits competition, benefits Nvidia at the expense of us. Perhaps this will change a bit with the 390X and DX12/Vulkan.

 

[TwsT]

In the past 5-6 years I've owned

GTX 260
GTX 460 SLI
GTX 680
GTX 780ti
285x
290
295x2

I have to be honest I'm really excited about both the 390x and the 980ti

I think however for me the ti will win out.

because of the drivers and software functionality Raptr I have tried to use it so many times but I just give up it's a disfunctional poorly supported heap of junk which creates more problems than it resolves.

That Said I have a 295 x2 I'm in no hurry to change gpu performance wise but I would like to switch back to a single gpu solution it's less hassle in the long run.

 

[llamadal]

You say people like amd more, but why?

Someone saves to make a purchase, expecting a certain level of support and they don't get it - it's not a one off occurrence, it's a blatant FU to the ones that buy the products but people seem to lap it up and accept it?

I've owned both but in recent years i've always gone nvidia because I don't have any issues or problems, I know that driver updates are done quickly, I won't have long to wait for SLI profiles and I can be fairly confident I will enjoy trouble free gaming.

I've nothing against AMD but they need to change approach, less PR guff and deliver to it's existing userbase.

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

What problems are you having with your Ti, is it the heavily tessellated new games?

More the case,he might be commenting on things like this:

http://i.imgur.com/KOZkYrE.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/h6bDtEQ.jpg

Even with Gameworks switched off,the Kepler cards are doing very badly when compared to the Maxwell or even the oldest GCN based cards(!) in the Witcher 3. Until late last year,those Kepler cards were the current Nvidia line-up too.

 

[Aurhinius]

Good post.

I have had both nvidia and amd fairly recently. Nvidia generally works all of the time. AMD got a lot better but they tend to either work really well or have issues that take a delay in fixing via driver. They seem to have a lack of middle ground though to be fair that seems to be like 2% of the time now. Crossfire is not as reliable as sli though again that seems to have changed recently.

My biggest issue these days is gsync. Having got a gsync display which i like 4k. Gsync is worth its weight in gold i hate being tied in to having to then always buy nvidia if i want to use it. So now i am buying a gpu and monitor combo. Less freedom of choice annoys me. If i now want to switch i have to think twice as i need to get a new monitor for freesync and an amd card. Switching becomes much more of a problem. I guess that is my biggest issue. Also the increasing trend to drive up prices for gpus out of reach of the average consumer. Games are made for the average consumer because they sell most. The average consumer can still only afford to play at 1080p due to gpu prices. We need to drive that average bar higher without the crazy prices.

 

[Aurhinius]

More the case,he might be commenting on things like this:

http://i.imgur.com/KOZkYrE.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/h6bDtEQ.jpg

Even with Gameworks switched off,the Kepler cards are doing very badly when compared to the Maxwell or even the oldest GCN based cards(!) in the Witcher 3. Until late last year,those Kepler cards were the current Nvidia line-up too.

yeah the kepler gpus seem a bit gimped you do have to wonder if nvidia are no longer optimising for that architecture anymore. Would not surprise me as it makes you want to buy a 970 when it performs better than a 780ti which has a large amount more gpu shaders. A 970 should not bebbeating a 780ti but benchmarks suggest it is and that makes me skeptical nvidia are putting any effort in to kepler optimisation any more

 

[TwsT]

the g-sync freesync issue is a big gripe for me too it's new monitor time soon I don't like that my choice will remove choice at a later date.