Nvidia | AMD

[DryzonDigital]

So I've been AMD my whole life in terms of GPUs. Not by choice or anything but they just happened to fit my budget/knowledge of GPUs (I know it sounds dumb). The area in computer tech I lack the most is Nvidia GPUs. I really don't know which is an equivalent to which AMD card, which series is the better etc. Can a Nvidia enthusiast please show me the ropes here? I've been really wanting to jump the boat recently and I want some background story on Nvidias GPUs.

 

Side note: I'm putting together a brand new Intel rig (http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/353730-intel-rig-thoughts/). I have not yet picked a GPU/PSU upgrade since I will be waiting for the AMD 3xx series to drop so I can have more options. If I were to go Nvidia right now, what would you suggest? I'm thinking 970 2-way SLI or a single 980, thoughts?

 

Thank you all in advance

[Altecice]

Always go for one stronger card over two weaker cards, no scaling issues or SLI profiles to worry about. 

[Comessy]

Well I know that :

 

290x = 970

280 = 960

 

and that's it

 

The Titan X and 980 destroy any single card AMD has right now

[GzeroD]

Well I would go for the 970's in SLi  a lot more power behind it; and there isn't much that a 980 will run that you wont get playable on the 970.

[GzeroD]

Always go for one stronger card over two weaker cards, no scaling issues or SLI profiles to worry about. 

That is far from true. With second tier cards SLI is a very viable option. for less than a 20% loss (generally) in games with absolutely no SLI scaling you gain quite a bit more for games with average SLI scaling.

 

Edit: source of my reasoning http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_970_SLI/20.html

[DryzonDigital]

Well I know that :

 

290x = 970

280 = 960

 

and that's it

 

The Titan X and 980 destroy any single card AMD has right now

 

That is EXACTLY how much I know as well lol 

[GzeroD]

I'd wait too see how the pricing is effected when the next gen AMD cards and the 980Ti drop and make a choice then. Assuming your r9 280 is still running strong I would just use it as a hold over until June/July.

 

How is the pricing on parts over there? I haven't tried helping pricing out a build in Greece for a while.

[DryzonDigital]

I'd wait too see how the pricing is effected when the next gen AMD cards and the 980Ti drop and make a choice then. Assuming your r9 280 is still running strong I would just use it as a hold over until June/July.

 

Exactly my plan! Keep my 280x until July and make my pick then.

[Thedudely1]

Here this might be what you're looking for. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-7.html

[Altecice]

That is EXACTLY how much I know as well lol 

 

Its not quite true either.

 

At 1080p yes that is correct but once you go higher your 970/980's loose out to the 290X at resolutions like 4k.

[incarnate]

980 > doesn't have an amd equivalent until the 300 series

970 > r9 290X

960 > is between the r9 280 and r9 285

750ti > is between the r7 260X and r7 265

 

that's all of nvidia's current gpus.

 

780ti > a bit higher than the r9 290X

780 > a bit better than the r9 290

770 > just ahead of the r9 280X

760 > just a bit ahead of the r9 280

 

and that is last gen's

[AliveGhost13]

980 > doesn't have an amd equivalent until the 300 series

970 > r9 290X

960 > is between the r9 280 and r9 285

750ti > is between the r7 260X and r7 265

 

that's all of nvidia's current gpus.

 

780ti > a bit higher than the r9 290X

780 > a bit better than the r9 290

770 > just ahead of the r9 280X

760 > just a bit ahead of the r9 280

 

and that is last gen's

 

I believe the 280X is slightly ahead of the 770 with more vram, and the same story with the 290 vs 780

[Zulkkis]

Pretty much. There are plenty of used R9 290's around, they're going for good prices... and it's not like AMD isn't competitive with their old offerings with current pricing, depending on your location. The Maxwells didn't really do that much, GTX 980 was a minor performance improvement, 970 is equal to older gens but launched at a good price, and Titan X is too expensive for most people to consider. It all boils down to energy-efficiency pretty much, which is nice but the performance gains are what people are looking after in desktops.

 

But dunno, the only worthwhile new cards are really the 970 and Titan X at this point, and the latter won't make sense for most pockets or "regular gamers". 980 at this point is at a pretty awkward position, it's not really that much faster than the GTX 970, and the VRAM caps out at 4GB which isn't exactly stellar considering the pricing.

 

AMD is probably going to have plenty of issues with 300-series yields due to HBM problems, launch has been delayed already. Who knows, maybe they pull a GTX 480 and get a card that in some respects is impressive but nothing that anything really needs at that point. The real crux is though that nVidia isn't really under any pressure, the OEM / other system-sellers are favoring the GTX 960 currently, and the high-end enthusiast market is being capitalized on with both GTX 970's and Titan X's. Don't even get me started with the mobile market.

 

Long story short, nVidia won't release a GTX 980 Ti unless the GTX Titan X sales slow down too much, or AMD actually finally manages to launch the 300-series. That said, it could be a 800$ card easily where you are basically giving up half the VRAM for less restricted BIOS / cooling solutions. I'd guess in that case a cut-down GM200 would be a better option, but who knows when that comes out. If you want something good to come out at a price better than what we have now, we all got to hope that AMD really pulls the bunny out of the hat this time around.

[DryzonDigital]

Pretty much. There are plenty of used R9 290's around, they're going for good prices... and it's not like AMD isn't competitive with their old offerings with current pricing, depending on your location. The Maxwells didn't really do that much, GTX 980 was a minor performance improvement, 970 is equal to older gens but launched at a good price, and Titan X is too expensive for most people to consider. It all boils down to energy-efficiency pretty much, which is nice but the performance gains are what people are looking after in desktops.

 

But dunno, the only worthwhile new cards are really the 970 and Titan X at this point, and the latter won't make sense for most pockets or "regular gamers". 980 at this point is at a pretty awkward position, it's not really that much faster than the GTX 970, and the VRAM caps out at 4GB which isn't exactly stellar considering the pricing.

 

AMD is probably going to have plenty of issues with 300-series yields due to HBM problems, launch has been delayed already. Who knows, maybe they pull a GTX 480 and get a card that in some respects is impressive but nothing that anything really needs at that point. The real crux is though that nVidia isn't really under any pressure, the OEM / other system-sellers are favoring the GTX 960 currently, and the high-end enthusiast market is being capitalized on with both GTX 970's and Titan X's. Don't even get me started with the mobile market.

 

Long story short, nVidia won't release a GTX 980 Ti unless the GTX Titan X sales slow down too much, or AMD actually finally manages to launch the 300-series. That said, it could be a 800$ card easily where you are basically giving up half the VRAM for less restricted BIOS / cooling solutions. I'd guess in that case a cut-down GM200 would be a better option, but who knows when that comes out. If you want something good to come out at a price better than what we have now, we all got to hope that AMD really pulls the bunny out of the hat this time around.

 

To be honest, I'm sitting here thinking of going SLI 970s or even 2x 980s and shit, when in fact I could just buy a titan x for the price and be done with it. 

[Zulkkis]

2 x 980 makes pretty much no sense right now, tbh. It's too much higher than a 970 / 290 / 290X in terms of pricing, and if you really care so little about value, you wouldn't go for any of the cards, you'd get a Titan X. If the 980 was a 8GB card I would perhaps think a little bit differently about it, but now? Just no. Not to mention that nVidia's non-Titan-X cards start losing the advantage at higher resolutions when compared to AMD and well, 295x2 exists.

 

It's just a carbage market full of uninteresting cards if you had anything remotely powerful before. 280x is still a pretty good card, and it has aged well... especially considering how it's essentially a 7970. GTX 980 was just made a little bit faster than the 780 TI with 1GB more VRAM. The only real new-gen card right now is Titan X, coupled with a silly price tag and nVidia board-partner restrictions (no deviating cooling solutions).

 

Can't really blame them for trying to sell cheap 256-bit-4-GB-cards in 2015 (launched last year though) since their purpose is to make money, and the competition isn't up to par right now. Especially in OEM market where things like power consumption does actually matter.

[Whorax]

Would never recommend SLI 970s. Can't recommend a 980 right now either.

I would recommend waiting for the 3xx series from AMD.

[sgloux3470]

260x-750TI

270(x)-760

280/285-960

280x-770

290(x)-970, 780, 780Ti

980 is slightly above 290x, about ~10-20% depending on resolution.

295x2- ~10% Better than a TitanX.  50% better than a 980.

 

For you, the only Nvidia upgrades would be a 970, 980, a TitanX, or a SLI config.  (Oh and I guess the 780/780Ti, but I don't think you can find them new anymore.)

 

 

The most cost effective high end GPU solution you can get right now is a 290 Crossfire, which will perform on par with 980 SLI at 1440p and 4K for much less money.

[AlexWJD]

Off topic, but change that SSD. The V300 is horribly slower than any other good SSD (Crucial, Samsung). 

 

https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/comments/2yfbno/psa_get_an_ssd_just_not_kingston_v300/