AMD or Nvidia?

[SomeAssemblyRequired]

I’ve seen lots of talk about which graphics company is the best to the point it’s practically a trope and I know its not a particularly cut and dry question  but in the last 5 generations who has performed best overall?

[Hinjima]

6 minutes ago, SomeAssemblyRequired said:

I’ve seen lots of talk about which graphics company is the best to the point it’s practically a trope and I know its not a particularly cut and dry question  but in the last 5 generations who has performed best overall?

Budget GPU's? Top tier GPU's?  RayTracing?  Rasterization?  Price to performance?  Power efficiency?  Least amount of lies?  Least amount of shady tactics?  I mean

[Inception9269]

This one's hard to answer.

 

If you're wanting to know which has the most powerful GPU's, it'd be Nvidia. Though AMD's cards in these last couple generations have still managed to be in spitting distance of their Nvidia equivalents.

 

For ray tracing, Nvidia would be the best. For price to performance, AMD would be better since Nvidia is stupidly expensive. Power efficiency, least amount of lies & shady tactics would also go to AMD.

 

Me personally I chose to buy a 3080 ti last year even though the next gen of GPUs was right around the corner, simply because I fukkin hate this current generation of Nvidia cards, and the attitude Nvidia has adopted for this generation. Also I just don't think they're that big of a step in comparison to higher end 30 series cards. If I was gaming at 4k maybe, but a 3080 ti does wonders for my system, with me doing 1440p @ 165hz.

 

Between the two, I think the new/current generation of AMD cards are more preferable, but I'd likely wait at least one more generation before I'd give AMD another chance. Last year before I got my 3080 ti, I bought a Radeon 6900 xt, and I shit you not the thing died in like 2 or 3 months, taking my motherboard with it, and I had to RMA the card twice before Sapphire sent me back one that worked.

[xg32]

54 minutes ago, SomeAssemblyRequired said:

I’ve seen lots of talk about which graphics company is the best to the point it’s practically a trope and I know its not a particularly cut and dry question  but in the last 5 generations who has performed best overall?

fastest gpus have been generally nvidia, and despite all the hate, the 4090 is actually the best price/performance card in multiple ways since the 1080ti for a flagship card, i refuse to use the new connector though.

 

AMD is the better bang for buck for low-mid range, i'm not really looking atm but i saw someone's link to a newegg msi 6950xt for 530usd in feb or march, literally blurted out "holy shit" in my seat.

[emothxughts]

For superior capabilities in raytracing, streaming and generative AI, on top of regular gaming performance, NVIDIA.

 

For mostly pure gaming purposes without much bells & whistles, AMD.

[starsmine]

3 hours ago, SomeAssemblyRequired said:

I’ve seen lots of talk about which graphics company is the best to the point it’s practically a trope and I know its not a particularly cut and dry question  but in the last 5 generations who has performed best overall?

That is awful framing and will lead to poor conclusions 

best is what is best for your budget and needs.
 

[WallacEngineering]

14 hours ago, SomeAssemblyRequired said:

in the last 5 generations who has performed best overall?

 

Thats an easy one - Nvidia.

 

Nvidia has the most powerful cards, the most features, and the best stability. However, they are stupidly overpriced and lacking on VRAM and so, I now own an RX 7900-XTX (See signature for build thread).

 

@Inception9269 Gave a pretty good description of what each company is good at, however with AMDs RX 7000 series, the 7900-XTX nearly matches Nvidia's counterpart in Ray Tracing, even outright matching in some titles, but in most cases loosing by 10-15%.

 

However, when it comes to Raster performance and price-to-performance ratio, the XTX walks all over its Nvidia counterpart, while also having quite a bit more VRAM.

 

But the absolute top dog os the RTX 4090 and really - nothing comes close to that. The world's first "HyperCard" as opposed to a "SuperCard", it is in a class all by itself. There is a reason that the 4090 will draw 600 watts when unlocked, it is a genuine MONSTER and nothing competes.

 

The RX 7900-XTX actually competes with the RTX 4080, both of which are very much flagship class cards capable of high frame rates at 4K Ultra Settings in gaming. The 4090 is simply something BEYOND a flagship class.

 

I will continue to buy AMD cards so long as Nvidia keeps up their anti-consumerism practices and rediculous pricing, but there are a few use cases where Nvidia is really the only option.

 

Need Cuda Acceleration or Ultra-Stable Drivers for professional work? Need the absolute best Ray-Tracing performance with money being of little concern? Well, in these cases you should probably just buy Nvidia.

 

So in my eyes, AMD has become the choice for gamers, while Nvidia has become the choice for professional work-flow. It makes perfect sense considering Nvidia is focusing so heavily on AI and science as a company.

[QuantumSingularity]

The answer to that question depends on what you want you use your system for. For some configs AMD are unrivaled, for others, it's Nvidia. What most matter to most people however is value and currently it's AMD who are the better value on every price point. The only plus of the current generation that Nvidia have is the 4090... a 600W GPU that just brute forces it's way though the benchmarks. Everything else from Team Greed sucks for the price they are asking for it. and it doesn't help to take a look back at the previous gen, because the RX 6950XT currently goes for the same price as a 3080 10GB, but destroys the 3090Ti. $600 for a top tier gaming GPU, even if it's last gen rivals the level of performance and price the GTX 1080 offered, which is something i thought i'd never see again.

[Paul17]

3 hours ago, QuantumSingularity said:

The answer to that question depends on what you want you use your system for. For some configs AMD are unrivaled, for others, it's Nvidia. What most matter to most people however is value and currently it's AMD who are the better value on every price point. The only plus of the current generation that Nvidia have is the 4090... a 600W GPU that just brute forces it's way though the benchmarks. Everything else from Team Greed sucks for the price they are asking for it. and it doesn't help to take a look back at the previous gen, because the RX 6950XT currently goes for the same price as a 3080 10GB, but destroys the 3090Ti. $600 for a top tier gaming GPU, even if it's last gen rivals the level of performance and price the GTX 1080 offered, which is something i thought i'd never see again.

"but destroys the 3090Ti." - How so?   Its main advantage is power consumption - but, it only 'performs better' in 2 games.   It is also useless in productivity compared to a 3090 even let alone a Ti version.   The 3090 and 3090 Ti can be found used - and the 6950 XT is usually around the same price now.   

 

AMD - has greed of its own - the XT and XTX are a little better than the 6950 XT but are way overpriced right now.   There's Green Greed and Red Greed.   

[WallacEngineering]

3 hours ago, Paul17 said:

AMD - has greed of its own - the XT and XTX are a little better than the 6950 XT but are way overpriced right now.   There's Green Greed and Red Greed.   

 

This is 100% true. AMD is a better value because they NEED to be a better value in order to sell. Otherwise why wouldn't you just get an Nvidia card for the extra features and Ray-Tracing performance if its entirety free? So long as you choose a card with enough VRAM that is.

 

The RTX 4070/Ti are hard to recommend to anyone because of the limited VRAM considering how powerful they are.

 

If AMD made the better cards, you better believe they would be the ones charging more, just like Nvidia is now.

 

But, I don't think AMD would be quite as bad as Nvidia if they were the ones on top. Nvidia is pulling some really shady Anti-Consumerism shit right now.

 

The RTX 4060/Ti/16GB is quite literally a scam. They purposely re-named a 50-class card into a 60-class card despite the fact that the die size and BUS width are most definitely a 50-class product, all so they could charge $300, $400, and $500 USD for 50-class cards that basically show ZERO performance uplift over last-gen's option at 1440p.

 

Its quite literally a scam that Nvidia is trying to pull off. I mean if that isn't an attempt to scam your customers, then I have no idea what would be.

 

Sure, AMD is sort-of trying to pull a "fast-one" with the 7900-XTX and 7900-XT which in reality are the 7800-XT and 7900-XT respectively because duh, of course they are.

 

However at least AMD isn't trying to literally scam you out of money. Sure, the 7900-XT was a terrible value at its original launch price of $900USD, but AMD was very quick to resolve that issue AND the XTX remains a good value in comparison to the RTX 4080 since day one.

 

So ya, overall both companies can be shady and neither of them are friends to the consumer, but I would say AMD isn't quite as bad as Nvidia.

 

3 hours ago, Paul17 said:

"but destroys the 3090Ti." - How so?

 

I believe he is referring to Price-To-Performance ratio.

 

Someone said you can find used RTX 3090-Ti's for $600 but thats simply not true at all. The cheapest I have seen them lately is $800 on eBay. They are actually a complete rip-off.

 

I was considering used cards instead of my 7900-XTX and while searching listings I would literally message people "look, you do realize that this card is worth nowhere near this, right? I know that these cards were $2000 when released and I know it sucks but if you look at what is available now, take into consideration the performance loss compared to the new generation and the fact this is a used card and I am taking a risk, unfortunately the RTX 3090-Ti is simply not worth a dime more than $600-$650".

 

I would tell each seller that if they could offer me a decent deal, I would consider picking up the card, otherwise forget it, Im not interested whatsoever at $800 considering I can get brand new cards with warranties that almost match the 3090-Ti's performance for the same price.

 

People's asking prices for used cards right now are completely stupid. I guess people forgot that original MSRP just doesn't matter in the PC Hardware marketplace because you have to look at what is currently available and then price your used option accordingly in order for it to sell.

 

When I bought my XTX, the 3090-Tis were going for a full $1000. Why in the hell would you EVER even CONSIDER a used 3090-Ti for $1000 when you can get a brand new XTX with a fair bit more performance and a warranty with no risk for the same exact price???

 

The Used market is simply a rip off right now for higher-end cards. People were selling used RX 6900-XTs for the same $600 that 6950-XTs were going for right off NewEgg. I was literally messaging sellers and not even saying anything to them, just leaving a link to a 6950-XT at newegg with a LOL face ().

[QuantumSingularity]

12 hours ago, Paul17 said:

"but destroys the 3090Ti." - How so?   Its main advantage is power consumption - but, it only 'performs better' in 2 games.   It is also useless in productivity compared to a 3090 even let alone a Ti version.   The 3090 and 3090 Ti can be found used - and the 6950 XT is usually around the same price now.   

 

AMD - has greed of its own - the XT and XTX are a little better than the 6950 XT but are way overpriced right now.   There's Green Greed and Red Greed.   

Used to be the case about a year ago or even 6 months, but thx to AMD actually improving performance with their drivers, not tanking it on purpose, the 6950XT now crushes the 3090Ti in all but the Nvidia posterchild games, but even there the performance in on par with the 3090Ti.  Show me a single PERFECTLY WORKING 3090Ti for $600 with remaining warranty, even if it's just 3 months. Not the regular 3090, the 3090Ti (Tie or Thigh whichever you like more). Even the regular non-Ti 3090s used easily go for $200 ABOVE a brand new 6950XT.

 

As for ray tracing - guys, please stop with the BS. It's AT LEAST 2 or 3 GPU generations away from being a viable feature in any game. Yes in some games currently like Cyberpunk 2077 it looks nice, but even the 4090 can barely handle it, let alone a GPU for the mere mortals. I know there are a lot more titles now that have some form of Ray Tracing and that UE5 is supposed to make it a thing, but that will be a thing in probably 4-5 years. To be perfectly honest, in 99% of the cases i can't tell the difference between ray tracing ON and OFF. Only in Cyberpunk there is a clear difference. I'd take a good priced GPU like the 6950XT and a good OLED HDR10+ monitor over ray tracing any day of the week. Idk why HDR is so underrated. It's way more atmosphere affecting and feel changing feature than Ray Tracing. Especially when it's combined with a good display. 

[PriitM]

Nvidia is using the big marketshare to push for AI features. AI features that require good CPU support to pull other duties like decompression, asset transfer etc. Also, with that marketshare, Nvidia can strong arm developers into optimizing for Nvidia ecosystem. Its a plus, but also a giant red flag for planned obsolescence. Nvidia is already locking out RTX20 series cards from modern game RT support.

 

AMD id more tech agnostic. Cards still do lots of graphic related stuff on the card itself, not so much dependent on the CPU. And AMD drivers have a track record of aging like fine wine.

Id say, at this point: NVidia is for flexing the shiny and AMD is for good investment

[Paul17]

12 hours ago, WallacEngineering said:

 

This is 100% true. AMD is a better value because they NEED to be a better value in order to sell. Otherwise why wouldn't you just get an Nvidia card for the extra features and Ray-Tracing performance if its entirety free? So long as you choose a card with enough VRAM that is.

 

The RTX 4070/Ti are hard to recommend to anyone because of the limited VRAM considering how powerful they are.

 

If AMD made the better cards, you better believe they would be the ones charging more, just like Nvidia is now.

 

But, I don't think AMD would be quite as bad as Nvidia if they were the ones on top. Nvidia is pulling some really shady Anti-Consumerism shit right now.

 

The RTX 4060/Ti/16GB is quite literally a scam. They purposely re-named a 50-class card into a 60-class card despite the fact that the die size and BUS width are most definitely a 50-class product, all so they could charge $300, $400, and $500 USD for 50-class cards that basically show ZERO performance uplift over last-gen's option at 1440p.

 

Its quite literally a scam that Nvidia is trying to pull off. I mean if that isn't an attempt to scam your customers, then I have no idea what would be.

 

Sure, AMD is sort-of trying to pull a "fast-one" with the 7900-XTX and 7900-XT which in reality are the 7800-XT and 7900-XT respectively because duh, of course they are.

 

However at least AMD isn't trying to literally scam you out of money. Sure, the 7900-XT was a terrible value at its original launch price of $900USD, but AMD was very quick to resolve that issue AND the XTX remains a good value in comparison to the RTX 4080 since day one.

 

So ya, overall both companies can be shady and neither of them are friends to the consumer, but I would say AMD isn't quite as bad as Nvidia.

 

 

I believe he is referring to Price-To-Performance ratio.

 

Someone said you can find used RTX 3090-Ti's for $600 but thats simply not true at all. The cheapest I have seen them lately is $800 on eBay. They are actually a complete rip-off.

 

I was considering used cards instead of my 7900-XTX and while searching listings I would literally message people "look, you do realize that this card is worth nowhere near this, right? I know that these cards were $2000 when released and I know it sucks but if you look at what is available now, take into consideration the performance loss compared to the new generation and the fact this is a used card and I am taking a risk, unfortunately the RTX 3090-Ti is simply not worth a dime more than $600-$650".

 

I would tell each seller that if they could offer me a decent deal, I would consider picking up the card, otherwise forget it, Im not interested whatsoever at $800 considering I can get brand new cards with warranties that almost match the 3090-Ti's performance for the same price.

 

People's asking prices for used cards right now are completely stupid. I guess people forgot that original MSRP just doesn't matter in the PC Hardware marketplace because you have to look at what is currently available and then price your used option accordingly in order for it to sell.

 

When I bought my XTX, the 3090-Tis were going for a full $1000. Why in the hell would you EVER even CONSIDER a used 3090-Ti for $1000 when you can get a brand new XTX with a fair bit more performance and a warranty with no risk for the same exact price???

 

The Used market is simply a rip off right now for higher-end cards. People were selling used RX 6900-XTs for the same $600 that 6950-XTs were going for right off NewEgg. I was literally messaging sellers and not even saying anything to them, just leaving a link to a 6950-XT at newegg with a LOL face ().

Haha, good reply, man!   I am satisfied with my 3080 - but, I should have waited for a 12gb or Ti - or even saved up an additional $200 and got a 3090.   The 3090 is a power hog, though, right?  Not as bad as the Ti but still?    I am waiting to see how the XT and XTX does with Blender - which should have more changes at the end of the month.    I can wait.   I also would like the price to come down.   I feel fairly confident that I can sell my card - although, I dunno what the used value on the used market will be then.    I know that Nvidia has the CUDA/gpgpu crown but the AMD card 7900 series clicks all the boxes - sufficient at video editing, Blender ok (maybe), gaming - and sufficient VRAM - I think the 4080 would be a better card for me - but, not at the additional $300 I'd need!

 

The 4080 and the rest of the 40 series are overpriced.   The 4070 Ti is gimped and the 12gb VRAM - that decision annoys me!   It's expensive but the price is doable if I sell my card - and it performs okay but it's still gimped (imho!)!!!   I'm glad youtubers/content creators are really bashing both Nvidia and AMD - but, I'm afraid they won't care much.   They would only care if most customers had enough willpower to stop buying cards and that won't happen!   Nvidia/AMD are content with current sales, obviously, because the prices have stayed pretty stable except for AMD dropping their cards for about $50-$100?   Also, the price decreases are mostly in the USA!   Yeah, I agree with your post, 100%   

It is difficult for me to decide what to do because of all these intangibles.  

My card is for Blender, Davinci Resolve/Premiere Pro & gaming (prefereably at 4K due to my 4K TV).   

[Paul17]

4 hours ago, QuantumSingularity said:

Used to be the case about a year ago or even 6 months, but thx to AMD actually improving performance with their drivers, not tanking it on purpose, the 6950XT now crushes the 3090Ti in all but the Nvidia posterchild games, but even there the performance in on par with the 3090Ti.  Show me a single PERFECTLY WORKING 3090Ti for $600 with remaining warranty, even if it's just 3 months. Not the regular 3090, the 3090Ti (Tie or Thigh whichever you like more). Even the regular non-Ti 3090s used easily go for $200 ABOVE a brand new 6950XT.

 

As for ray tracing - guys, please stop with the BS. It's AT LEAST 2 or 3 GPU generations away from being a viable feature in any game. Yes in some games currently like Cyberpunk 2077 it looks nice, but even the 4090 can barely handle it, let alone a GPU for the mere mortals. I know there are a lot more titles now that have some form of Ray Tracing and that UE5 is supposed to make it a thing, but that will be a thing in probably 4-5 years. To be perfectly honest, in 99% of the cases i can't tell the difference between ray tracing ON and OFF. Only in Cyberpunk there is a clear difference. I'd take a good priced GPU like the 6950XT and a good OLED HDR10+ monitor over ray tracing any day of the week. Idk why HDR is so underrated. It's way more atmosphere affecting and feel changing feature than Ray Tracing. Especially when it's combined with a good display. 

I don't know where you are getting info that the 6950 XT 'destroys the 3090 Ti' in performance - I was surprised at the claim so I watched some youtube videos of gaming benchmarks - and 'head-to-head' the 6950 XT was better in approx. 2 games.   Yes, the power consumption is way better but that's it.   If you argue price - yes, it's better there, too - I found a few 6950 XT cards for sale in my area - $869 CAD - whereas the 3090 Ti is only available at 'scalpers' prices' or used - and even then, ppl are asking outrageous prices - I can't imagine they are selling any and there's very few out there.    Same with used 6950 XT cards - they were about $800-$900 CAD used, and I could find 3 or 4, perhaps but now there's none.   

 

So, NEW - 6950 XT - $870 PLUS TAX

NEW 7900 XT - $1025 (OPEN BOX); $1100 (Retail)

NEW 7900 XTX - $1270 (OPEN BOX) $1300 (Retail)

 

The 6950 XT is a good deal if you only want gaming - it's not very good at Compute or video editing - it's a better 'deal' than the 3090 Ti - but, I found it was 'pretty even' in gaming with the 3090 Ti although it did out perform in a few titles - also, the power consumption is way lower.   That's my findings - dunno what you look at.   

 

Edit:  I understand the US market is different - better deals and the price of the 7900 XT has since dipped under $799 USD?