Ask any console gamer, and they’ll gladly speak at length about the never-ending rivalry between the Xbox One and PS4. However, PC gamers have their own little internal feud, though it doesn’t get as many headlines: Nvidia vs AMD. It’s not a bad thing though – the sheer amount of competition and innovation springing from this tech competition is nothing short of amazing. However, if you’re not willing to pledge loyalty to one of these tech behemoths it can be hard to figure out what the best graphics card for your needs is.
That’s why we here at TechRadar decided to sit down and figure out which manufacturer will be left standing when the battle of Nvidia vs AMD is over. (Spoiler: it’ll never be over.)
At the dawn of 2018, Nvidia and AMD are still at each other’s throats as much as ever. Nvidia launched its GeForce 10 series almost two years ago now, and while it’s likely that Nvidia will replace its Pascal architecture in 2018, it really doesn’t need to. Following the launch of the GeForce GTX 1070 Ti, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang straight up told us to not expect a new generation of Nvidia GPUs until late 2018 at least. Still, we did get a bit of a sneak peek at what’s to come with the Nvidia Titan V – recently revealed for AI use cases.
And we’ve also started to hear rumblings about the Nvidia Volta line of GPUs, so be sure to stay tuned for more updates.
Over on the red side, AMD has recently released its AMD Vega line of graphics cards. Existing as the much-anticipated successor to the flawed Polaris architecture, AMD’s newest line of GPUs have only recently come out in August 2017. AMD has also come out with some driver updates that are meant to boost performance in many popular esports.
No matter how you slice it, neither Nvidia or AMD are going away any time soon, so that’s why we created this guide – to dive in and figure out precisely how they differ. From their exclusive features to price-to-performance ratio, even down to their drivers. And you can’t forget all of those pesky exclusivity deals, either.
Price
Anyone who browses Reddit or comment sections on tech websites will tell you that AMD is widely known for its affordability, and Nvidia for its high-end performance and high prices. But, are they actually right?
Well, there are plenty of benchmarks that pretty convincingly tell us that the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56, which is available for around $1,200 on Amazon (about £860, AU$1,539) at the time of writing, is a better performer than the $650 (about £549, AU$799) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070. When you factor in the effect that cryptocurrency mining has on the prices, Nvidia actually has a pretty massive advantage from a pricing perspective.
And, assuming that the rumors that Nvidia is planning on releasing cards that are aimed exclusively at cryptocurrency miners is true, we could start seeing prices fall for gaming-focused cards. But we wouldn’t exactly keep our hopes up for that.
Go higher, and you’ll find that the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 is most comparable to the AMD Radeon Vega 64. At an MSRP (manufacturer’s suggested retail price) level, both of these cost about the same. This is, of course, intentional on both companies’ parts.
After revealing its 4K-focused GTX 1080 Ti earlier this year, the Green Team was keen on dropping the price of the 1080 in the process. So, that card went from an MSRP of $599 down to $499 in the US, even though you’ll still likely find it for around $1,400 (£830, AU$1,299). Before long, AMD was putting the Vega 64 onto store shelves at the same price.
Among basically every sector of the market Nvidia and AMd graphics cards cost about the same when you take price-to-performance in mind. The best graphics card overall, the GTX 1060, is identical in price to the AMD Radeon RX 580, and for budget cards, the RX 560 is the exact same price as a GTX 1050.
At the end of the day, the better price is going to depend on where you’re lucky enough to find a discount. However, because of the boom in popularity of cryptocurrencies, the discounts are going to be few and far between, even if Nvidia says it wants to get more cards in the hands of gamers.
Performance
When you’re trying to build a PC that’s more powerful than your arch-enemy’s, buying a graphics card isn’t a matter of price but performance. Packing the best performance for the lowest cost is the arguably the most pertinent factor in driving GPU sales.
It used to be that AMD fans praised the Red Team for being the clear champions of value, but these days it’s not so simple. Due to cryptocurrency and its effect on the GPU market, right now Nvidia are the clear winners when it comes to price-to-performance ratio. And as further proof that Nvidia is killing the game right now: AMD hasn’t even produced a true contender to the GTX 1080Ti.
To be fair, Vega has only been available for a few months now, and there was no GTX 1080 Ti equivalent at Pascal’s launch either. Still, the GTX 1080 shows the RX Vega 64 up in several different areas, such as multi-rendering and NBody calculation, whereas the RX Vega 64 is better at rendering texture details and complex shading.
In other words, AMD and Nvidia are so close at this point that which is better is more of a matter of what games you play and at what resolution. As we reported back in October, the Vega 64 is a better match for Forza Motorsport 7 at 1080p. At the same time, Nvidia’s flagship GPU managed the frame rate advantage in 4K.
This trend continues down the list of cheaper graphics cards from AMD and Nvidia, including the RX Vega 56, which sees higher frame rates than the GTX 1070 Founders Edition in DirectX 12-heavy games like Rise of the Tomb Raider and Deus Ex: Mankind Divided (91 fps vs 89 fps and 40 fps vs 31 fps, respectively), according to PCGamesN.
Throw a Grand Theft Auto V into the mix, however, and we’re talking 64 fps on the RX Vega 56 vs 79 fps from the GTX 1070.
Software, drivers and features
One key draw to using Nvidia hardware over AMD is the Green Team’s GeForce Experience software.
Because it delivers driver updates and optimizes games in addition to letting you broadcast gameplay and capture screenshots as well as videos directly from its easy-to-use interface, Nvidia GeForce Experience is posited as the one PC gaming application to rule them all.
Meanwhile, AMD’s newly announced Radeon Software Adrenalin Edition aims to overtake Nvidia’s solution.. Previously known as Crimson ReLive, the latest re-skinned update of AMD’s graphics application is stacked with all of the features you’ve grown accustomed to since the UI was massively overhauled back in July, but with the benefit of more consistent updates driver updates to account for every major game release.
As of December 2016, you could already livestream via Radeon Crimson ReLive, but now you can take safety measures to ensure maximum power efficiency while you’re gaming. That includes the ability to underclock memory frequencies, cap frame rates on a hardware level and enable “Enhanced Sync” to decrease frame stutter while it simultaneously combats screen tearing.
Still, GeForce Experience has the game optimization features we’re all crazy for. So when you don’t know what settings are best for your computer in The Witcher 3, Nvidia takes care of the heavy lifting for you.
AMD users can download and install Raptr’s Gaming Evolved tool to optimize their gaming experience. However, the add-on is less than ideal considering its biggest rival’s audience can accomplish nearly everything from within GeForce Experience. That includes using Nvidia Ansel to take way cool in-game photos at resolutions exceeding 63K (16 times that of which a 4K monitor can display).
Nvidia also has a leg up when it comes to streaming games whether it’s to another gaming PC with at least a Maxwell-based GPU, as well as the company’s self-made tablets and set-top box. Not to mention, Nvidia also has a cloud-based gaming service call GeForce Now available to Windows 10 and MacOS users.
Exclusivity
It was once rumored that AMD and Nvidia were enacting shady tactics, “paying off” game developers to show preferential treatment towards one or the other. Were this the case, it would certainly explain why certain games run better using GeForce graphics than Radeon and vice versa.
Fortunately, we don’t see these concerns from PC gamers as much anymore, but that doesn’t mean they don’t exist.
Following its Capsaicin & Cream livestream event at GDC 2017, we spoke with AMD its to discuss its strategy in contending with Nvidia. The news that the company would partner with Bethesda Softworks to optimize its games for Radeon, Ryzen or both was worrying to say the least. And it still is.
At the time, the potential for games operating more smoothly on AMD systems meant that Nvidia could fight back by partnering with an equally large publisher. Although the latter maneuver hasn’t happened yet, early Wolfenstein II performance comparisons, such as this one from TechEpiphany on YouTube have exhibited better performance and lower temps coming from the AMD Radeon RX 64 when pitted against Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1080.
We’re not saying there’s a bias towards AMD in Bethesda’s technical design decisions, however we aren’t ready to take off our tin foil hats quite yet either.
Of course, Bethesda is hardly the only company to show favoritism to either team red or green. If you ever see an AMD or Nvidia splash screen ahead of the title page when you start a game, you can bet it will run better with that company’s hardware.
So, which is better? Neither
There’s so much to love, and in some instances “dis-love,” about both Nvidia and AMD graphics. In the end, both of these companies rely on competition with each other to thrive. Suffice to say, the Nvidia vs AMD debate requires that you understand there’s a reason Radeon and GeForce GPUs are so similar in performance right now.
Each company is doing its best to keep up with the mindshare of the other, and that’s good for us. They’re basically fighting for our money, learning from each other’s mistakes and legislating marked improvements along the way.
It’s up to you who wins the fiery contest of Nvidia vs AMD, although we will say this: Nvidia is unmatched in the 4K market right now. If it helps any, the GTX 1080 Ti is your best bet if you want your PC to keep up with the likes of your Ultra HD display. Otherwise, Nvidia and AMD graphics cards are about the same, at least for the time being.