Which card to upgrade too - Do I stick with Nvidia...

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I currently have a 1080, which has been a great little card and lasted way longer than I anticipated, but it does struggle with the newer game on high graphics at 1080p. I'd like to also upgrade my monitor which I'm still looking into at the moment, to something 4k, so the old 1080 will not be capable at all.

I've been an Nvidia guy for around 20+ years, so I generally lean towards them, especially as back in the day Radeon were a little crap when ever I used them. Since AMD took over, they seem to have changed things around a lot, so I'm open to looking into these, as well as them being a lot cheaper it seems than Nvidia. But I wouldn't even know where to start, other than a like for like comparison of the 4080 Vs 7900xtx, which seems to get destroyed by the 4080???

Budget is enough to get a 4080, but if I don't have to spend that sort of cash, then preferably, I don't want too! I know the "ti" is imminent, but will that even effect prices these days? Im happy to go second hand too, but when I had a brief look, second hand 4080s were barely much cheaper than new, so I'd rather the warranty!

Ideally, I'd like something that will last a long time like the old 1080, if that's at all possible these days!

 

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Destroyed? Eh? Are you only looking at heavy ray tracing benchmarks? The 7900 XTX can compete with the 4090 in some games, so destroyed? No. In certain workstation apps/tasks, then sure, the 4080 is much faster.

I think I over exaggerated that. I was going off this https://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-RTX-4080-vs-AMD-RX-7900-XTX/4138vs4142 but looking again, it's not as bad as I thought

 

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Wait for the Nvidia Super cards to drop next month, at the very least we will get updated benchmarks that will show you the wider current picture about how the top end cards compare.

Has there been any speak of prices for them?

 

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I would look at other resolutions other than 4k as it still punishing in some games. Ultra wide like 3840x 1600 looks amazing and uses 2 million less pixels so is easier to drive.

I'm happy to consider that, but I also use my PC for working from home permanently, so weird resolutions can be an issue.

 

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Ultra wide for work is amazing. I can look at 4 web pages at the same time

What monitor do you use?

 

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Do the same as me, wait until the end of Jan and make a better decision then! Hopeful those supers coming in towards that date or Feb will bring the 4070/4080's down in price.
I'm going to either upgrade to a 4080 or 4070 TI Super, as my 3070 ti is lacking in games like Alan Wake RT/The Witcher 3 RT and Ratchet and Clank Raytracing

I'll probably do the same, and wait. I'm not in any particular rush! Just wanted to make sure I know what the best gang for buck would be!

 

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This is the newer version.

LG 38" 38GN950P-B 3840x1600​

I'll have a look at that. I may be able to get work to pay for it, if I can get a second hand one anyway

 

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I love the fact the people think the Super cards is going to be a gift from the Nvidia God's.

Pricing will still be above the ti and lower than next level model.

Nvidia don't do value .

I'm under no illusion Nvidia are just openly going in dry these days. Which is why I want to know if it's worth actually getting that back passage punishment, or making the switch to AMD

 

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The 7900xtx slightly outperforms the 4080at a much cheaper price point the only real deal breaker is the ray tracing performance where Nvidia excels.

So the question is Ray tracing a deal breaker for you ?

AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX vs. Nvidia GeForce RTX 4080: The Re-Review

With the release of new drivers and new games, plus the request of many readers, it's time for an updated look at the Radeon RX 7900 XTX...

www.techspot.com

I'll need to look at some reviews of both. Ray tracing isn't much of a thing on my current 1080, so I don't actually know what I'm missing out on

 

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You're missing out a lot in my experience of Raytracing...

Cyberpunk,Ratchet and Clank,Alan Wake 2

I have just reinstalled cyberpunk with the new DLC, so I'll have a look into some videos of it with RT and compare to my current setup.

 

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Just a tip, never, EVER base a comparison on that website. They are anti AMD to the point of being trolls. For evidence just compare what they think of the Ryzen CPUs vs Intel ones, then have a look at a few other sites like Techpowerup etc and see what stands out.

Good to know, thank you.

Do you recommend any other comparison sites, or unbiased reviewers?

 

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tbh I just want to know if those user benchmarks are not user benchmarks etc

Would be a hard one to figure out. I guess they could fiddle the numbers when it comes to comparisons fairly easily, but still show the correct data each user has put in...

 

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Upuntil 2017 i had Intel CPU's, because they were in every measurable way better than anything AMD.

In 2017 i got a Ryzen 1600, Intel still had the lead in many areas, Slightly higher IPC and higher clocks, the AMD CPU was much more power efficient and had many more cores, 6 vs 4, that suited me, in having been happy with the 1600 i upgraded to the newer 3600 in 2019, its was much improved over the 1600 and more in line with Intel offerings in every way.

In 2020 i got a Ryzen 5800X, my options were 10900K or that, the 5800X was much more power efficient, much faster in games, has a higher IPC and despite the 10900K having 10 cores vs 8 for the 5800X the later was at least as good if not better in Multithteading, and it was cheaper.
Userbenchmark really really hated that CPU.

I still run that CPU now, more than 3 years on, its fantastic.

Likewise i have had nothing but Nvidia for the past 9 years, because AMD had nothing that i wanted, currently running an RTX 2070S, great GPU, its been good to me, but its time to upgrade, my choices are RTX 4070 or AMD 7800XT, to me the latter is a no brainer, its cheaper, its get more VRam, its a better all round GPU, IMO, AMD have come a long way, they offer good GPU's.

As has been said in this thread its not clear cut, there are pluses and minuses to both when compared to eachother, just don't let UserBenchmark influence your decisions, they really do actively hate AMD.

Thanks for that. I think I need to open my eyes a lot more to AMD. I'm from the generation where they just couldn't touch Intel, and the same for ATI with GPUs before AMD bought them.

Within the next year, I will probably also upgrade my motherboard and CPU, so I will definitely be looking into AMD now as a viable option.

 

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I would highly advise against RDNA 3 at this budget. They are simply too weak in the top-end aspects. Stick to Nvidia for sure. And I say that as someone who has only bought Radeon GPUs since the 3dfx days.

As for RT, a fav gif of mine I've been using for a long time to show the differences (particularly for lighting):

But the really obvious difference during normal gameplay is for sure anything water related (and that applies to all games with RT reflections):

And those are regular RT examples. No Pathtracing (which tbh I'd avoid even on a 4090; too many issues imo but it's a longer discussion and a bit subjective).

Thanks, that's pretty cool. Certainly looking forward to trying it out with what ever card I end up with.

 

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I have just checked what card i have in my machine, thinking it was a 1080, but its actually a 980 . What ever i get next is certainly going to be an upgrade!