AMD vs. NVIDIA (tailored to my needs)

[BrapYeah]

So I plan on making a enthusiast level PC (watercooled, keep in mind). I plan on starting off with one GPU, then in the near future, upgrading to an SLI/CrossFireX setup. For my monitor, I plan on getting the Asus VG248QE (144Hz) to game on.

 

Now, with this monitor, you can abuse NVIDIA's "lightboost hack" to basically eliminate motion blur from games.

 

That is leading me toward the GTX 780.

 

But at the same time, I like the idea of supporting AMD, I'm aware they are a little better off than they were 6-12 months ago, but that being said, most places I look, I see AMD's horsepower trumping NVIDIA (I don't want this to be discussed, it's off topic, slight differences really don't matter). Now say AMD's 9000 series cards come out and they perform as they are expected to (spectacularly judging by die-size). This is very relevant as it will roughly be around October/November when this computer gets built.

 

I guess overall it comes down to: Would having something along the lines of a lightboost hack and the very gimmicky addons NVIDIA offers, would it outweigh sheer horsepower?

 

Does anyone currently use the lightboost hack, and if so, can you try to give me an explanation of the difference without embellishing it.

 

 

As is known, these debates can be answered if you have enough info about the buyer, so if I missed anything pertinent or just minor, feel free to ask, as I really want to iron out this detail.

 

Edit: Clarified build date details

[Vbgf]

Well if you want to support AMD with two GPU's keep in mind the frame timing. The drivers will come soon i hope but still is a thing to keep in mind.

[Kuzma]

For AMD and if you're planning to crossfire don't worry about frame timings because RadeonPro has you covered (A puppy dies every time someone mentions AMD frame timings without mentioning RadeonPro).

I'm not too sure how light boost works xD but I'm sure you could get used to it just like in real life.

[QwasJ]

Not sure if it's matters to you,

but nvidia will be releasing Shadowplay, which i personally think is just awesome :D

And i don't think AMD is working on something similar, at least didn't heard of it. And if you like 3D gaming, i would recommend you Nvidia, AMD is not doing good on their 3D system :D But if you're not Let's Playing and don't want to

play in 3D, then I would the most powerful that fits in your Budget :D

[BrapYeah]

If you noticed I mentioned AMD's 9000 series being released, their release is roughly around the time I will be building, I am just addicted to researching computer components and it bugs me not knowing what I want to do. I should have stated more clearly this is what you could call pre-planning haha.

 

I will make the initial post more clear.

[BrapYeah]

Not sure if it's matters to you,

but nvidia will be releasing Shadowplay, which i personally think is just awesome :D

And i don't think AMD is working on something similar, at least didn't heard of it. And if you like 3D gaming, i would recommend you Nvidia, AMD is not doing good on their 3D system :D But if you're not Let's Playing and don't want to

play in 3D, then I would the most powerful that fits in your Budget :D

I have no problem using Camtasia/Fraps/DXTory so to me Shadowplay isn't very special, I will definitely agree it is cool that it can record up to 20 minutes of past gameplay (makes me think it could be a resource hog) but it's not really anything I'm all too interested in.

 

I have yet to try 3D gaming so I don't know what it is like, but typically I'm not a fan of 3D (judging by movies (real 3d) and my Nintendo 3DS)

 

Thanks for the opinions :)

[beefalo]

If you're someone who is really bothered my motion blur then using lightboost would be the only way to complete get rid of it.

[xAcid9]

Not sure if it's matters to you,

but nvidia will be releasing Shadowplay, which i personally think is just awesome :D

And i don't think AMD is working on something similar, at least didn't heard of it. And if you like 3D gaming, i would recommend you Nvidia, AMD is not doing good on their 3D system :D But if you're not Let's Playing and don't want to

play in 3D, then I would the most powerful that fits in your Budget :D

 

IMO, the only thing that awesome about ShadowPlay is hardware encoding, other than that is just an over hype software. I've been using Msi Afterburner with x264 encoder to record gameplay for awhile now. It keep my game at 60fps or in case of Crysis 3, it didn't drop the framerate that much. It also keep the file size small while maintaining good video quality.

[QwasJ]

IMO, the only thing that awesome about ShadowPlay is hardware encoding, other than that is just an over hype software. I've been using Msi Afterburner with x264 encoder to record gameplay for awhile now. It keep my game at 60fps or in case of Crysis 3, it didn't drop the framerate that much. It also keep the file size small while maintaining good video quality.

 

 

Agreed to that.

The hardware already exists, but I really like the idea of just starting the recording "backwards" (Linus talked about that on one of his streams.)

[Lays]

IMO nvidia has more "features"  IE: gpu boost 2.0, shadow play, the whole new shield thing, 3D light boost+ their 3d tech is really great from what I hear, I want to try it but im to lazy to buy the 3d kit even tho i have 3 3d monitors lmao.

 

I've never dealt with AMD, only Nvidia, but I've had zero issues whatsoever, except for some stupid issue with surround, but it doesn't effect my games or usability so its w/e

 

but for downright performance to price AMD is usually the better option. 

 

 

Edit: seeing as I have 3 of the monitors you're looking to buy, I'll tell you this:

 

Seeing as you wanted 1 780 and maybe to upgrade later here:

 

sli 780 keeps almost EVERY game out there at well over 100 fps, so you should be able to use the monitors to their full potential.

 

1 screen 780 SLI you'll get literally 140+ fps on everygame, 3 screens you should still manage well over 80 fps at 5760x1080.

[BrapYeah]

IMO nvidia has more "features"  IE: gpu boost 2.0, shadow play, the whole new shield thing, 3D light boost+ their 3d tech is really great from what I hear, I want to try it but im to lazy to buy the 3d kit even tho i have 3 3d monitors lmao.

 

I've never dealt with AMD, only Nvidia, but I've had zero issues whatsoever, except for some stupid issue with surround, but it doesn't effect my games or usability so its w/e

 

but for downright performance to price AMD is usually the better option. 

 

 

Edit: seeing as I have 3 of the monitors you're looking to buy, I'll tell you this:

 

Seeing as you wanted 1 780 and maybe to upgrade later here:

 

sli 780 keeps almost EVERY game out there at well over 100 fps, so you should be able to use the monitors to their full potential.

 

1 screen 780 SLI you'll get literally 140+ fps on everygame, 3 screens you should still manage well over 80 fps at 5760x1080.

 

 

Thanks, this actually was helpful, I actually don't plan to game on more than one monitor, I am just too used to general use with multiple displays (at work) and want the luxury. I don't plan to use lightboost as it's intended, but to reduce motion blur. To be honest I'm not even sure I'll notice it, but I don't really enjoy motion blur, and I play a lot of FPS games, which I've heard it's most useful.

 

Also, I'm only getting one VG248QE, the other is a VG23AH which is an IPS monitor that will be used for media and the like (the girlfriend is into photo editting and stuff, and she wants to get more serious into it). I wanted those two because they have the same mount, if only they were the same size :(

[Lays]

 

IMO nvidia has more "features"  IE: gpu boost 2.0, shadow play, the whole new shield thing, 3D light boost+ their 3d tech is really great from what I hear, I want to try it but im to lazy to buy the 3d kit even tho i have 3 3d monitors lmao.

 

I've never dealt with AMD, only Nvidia, but I've had zero issues whatsoever, except for some stupid issue with surround, but it doesn't effect my games or usability so its w/e

 

but for downright performance to price AMD is usually the better option. 

 

 

Edit: seeing as I have 3 of the monitors you're looking to buy, I'll tell you this:

 

Seeing as you wanted 1 780 and maybe to upgrade later here:

 

sli 780 keeps almost EVERY game out there at well over 100 fps, so you should be able to use the monitors to their full potential.

 

1 screen 780 SLI you'll get literally 140+ fps on everygame, 3 screens you should still manage well over 80 fps at 5760x1080.

 

 

Thanks, this actually was helpful, I actually don't plan to game on more than one monitor, I am just too used to general use with multiple displays (at work) and want the luxury. I don't plan to use lightboost as it's intended, but to reduce motion blur. To be honest I'm not even sure I'll notice it, but I don't really enjoy motion blur, and I play a lot of FPS games, which I've heard it's most useful.

 

Also, I'm only getting one VG248QE, the other is a VG23AH which is an IPS monitor that will be used for media and the like (the girlfriend is into photo editting and stuff, and she wants to get more serious into it). I wanted those two because they have the same mount, if only they were the same size :(

 

 

@ 144hz the images are so smooth you won't notice any sort of motion blur unless you actually enable it in the game, I love these monitors to death lol.

 

And yea, no problem :]  depending on which 780 you want, I'd say the Evga ACX/ Gigabyte 780. both have amazing cooling, and great OC potential

[I'm Batman]

Here is the thing im not a fan of both sides i use nvidia cards myself though. for me AMD is more wallet friendly with those bundles and stuff and has ''gaming envolved'' thing that makes amd faster than nvidia first 1-2 weeks of a game realse (if the game is supported by gaming evolved)

but if you are looking for high end pc hardware thats not cheap at all thats when nvidia shines nvidia's flagship cards outperform AMD s flagship cards  but the thing is nVidia is not wallet friendly at all my advice would be if you are looking for a performance pc go for AMD if you are looking for a ultimate pc that will hurt your wallet a bit but i would say go for nVidia. and if you are going to use a single 1080p screen you dont need a power of a titan or 780 atm amd will be the choice if you plan on low res. gaming but if you are a maniac like me that has 3 screens i use dual Titans my self and they destroy every game i throw at them  :) if you want to get all of that 144 hz you might want to get a GTX780-690 or amd 7990.

[BrapYeah]

Here is the thing im not a fan of both sides i use nvidia cards myself though. for me AMD is more wallet friendly with those bundles and stuff and has ''gaming envolved'' thing that makes amd faster than nvidia first 1-2 weeks of a game realse (if the game is supported by gaming evolved)

but if you are looking for high end pc hardware thats not cheap at all thats when nvidia shines nvidia's flagship cards outperform AMD s flagship cards but the thing is nVidia is not wallet friendly at all my advice would be if you are looking for a performance pc go for AMD if you are looking for a ultimate pc that will hurt your wallet a bit but i would say go for nVidia. and if you are going to use a single 1080p screen you dont need a power of a titan or 780 atm amd will be the choice if you plan on low res. gaming but if you are a maniac like me that has 3 screens i use dual Titans my self and they destroy every game i throw at them :) if you want to get all of that 144 hz you might want to get a GTX780-690 or amd 7990.

Price isn't a huge factor, but i'm not going to throw money away. Yes AMD is less expensive and they offer games that I WOULD be buying, but in the end it comes down to performance.

I feel your saying NVIDIA cards are better simply because their flagship is faster and they cost more. Forgive me but that seems rather flawed. I want to run games at over 60fps minimum (when possible, looking at you minesweeper :P ) I will be water cooling right away so brand isn't too important, and not something I a worried about.

Part of me is scared that if AMD does happen to go out of business, NVIDIA will own the market, and that REALLY scares me. Hence why I want to support AMD if it is feasible.

[I'm Batman]

yes i said nvidia is better but even if i own nvidia cards if amd come up sometin new thats more powerful than (for ex.)the titan i would of said amd is better at highend but since there s not a card that outperforms it i sounded like i like nVidia more but thats not the thing i like both companys and i will be getting the one thats best not go with the one thats worse but its nVidia for ex. i can help you picking your card but i need the res. you will be playin at :)

[brownninja97]

Maybe you should try Sli with the gtx 760 or hopefully the 760 ti comes our soon. If you can then sli 770 as the scaling is great and everyone is happy. Time for some milk and cookies.

[Dragontail]

Price isn't a huge factor, but i'm not going to throw money away. Yes AMD is less expensive and they offer games that I WOULD be buying, but in the end it comes down to performance.

I feel your saying NVIDIA cards are better simply because their flagship is faster and they cost more. Forgive me but that seems rather flawed. I want to run games at over 60fps minimum (when possible, looking at you minesweeper :P ) I will be water cooling right away so brand isn't too important, and not something I a worried about.

Part of me is scared that if AMD does happen to go out of business, NVIDIA will own the market, and that REALLY scares me. Hence why I want to support AMD if it is feasible.

 

Thb at the moment its a no brainer, 780 reference card is what you are looking for, got 2 EVGA 780 myself clocked at +200 on core and +330 on mem, loving them!!!!, It is in its own league(not consider titan though) and is truly a next gen card. As for "upcoming" AMD cards, well playing the waiting game is not a good way of building a computer and I am alsmot certain that the NM will be 28 on the new 9000 series cards and the flagships performance will be around the 780.

 

If you are going to SLI/CF plan it now, dont plan for something that "might" come even though the drivers for CF fix is rumored to be released on the 30th of july, they might also not be... RadeonPro helps a great deal but it is still not offically supported and not all are comfortable in tinkering with things they dont understand(or dont want to learn it either).

 

This whole AMD going out of bussiness is just not happening, MS and Sony has to much at stake for that to happen, remember they got all three consoles, but this is abit offtopic.

 

Short story, I bought the 680 from day one and I had a hell of time getting a hold of a waterblock, it took me almost a month before one was available for order. So my advice, buy two 780 and WC them you wont regret it.

[BrapYeah]

I don't want to start with SLI as I'm going to get the switch 810, use a 360mm and thick 240mm so I'm not sure I want to SLI with this case, I will probably upgrade to a 900D or a different case when it's time to SLI, I will probably give the switch to a friend as a bday present.

To Batman, i'm aware the Titan destroys anything AMD can offer, i'm just saying it's irrelevant.

I will be building the PC in November-December (actual building in December, ordering parts will start in September).

[I'm Batman]

I don't want to start with SLI as I'm going to get the switch 810, use a 360mm and thick 240mm so I'm not sure I want to SLI with this case, I will probably upgrade to a 900D or a different case when it's time to SLI, I will probably give the switch to a friend as a bday present.

To Batman, i'm aware the Titan destroys anything AMD can offer, i'm just saying it's irrelevant.

I will be building the PC in November-December (actual building in December, ordering parts will start in September).

it was a example.