Nvidia vs AMD: who makes the best graphics cards?

If you ask a console gamer, they will talk a lot about the eternal rivalry between Xbox One X and PS4 Pro, where you should choose to play Fortnite. However, PC gamers have a similar dispute: Nvidia vs. AMD. And even if you've never heard of it, the competition and innovation resulting from this battle is simply extraordinary. However, if you don't want to commit allegiance to any of these tech giants, it can be difficult to decide which graphics card is best suited for your needs. Don't worry, TechRadar has decided to sit down and determine once and for all the true winner of the battle between Nvidia and AMD. (Spoiler alert: it never ends.) These days, the battle between Nvidia and AMD finds itself in a delicate position. Almost two years after the launch of the Nvidia GTX 10 series, the Turing architecture was released with the GeForce RTX 2080 Ti, RTX 2080, RTX 2070, and RTX 2060. All of these GPUs are much more expensive than their predecessors. However, the GTX 1660 Ti is a bit far from the trend. And while AMD released Vega in 2017 and AMD Navi is disabled, AMD's new Radeon VII competes directly with the RTX 2080. That doesn't mean it won't. It's been forgotten in the budget market: AMD continues to release new Polaris cards, like the Radeon RX 590, for the budget-driven 1080p segment. Whatever your point of view, there are plenty of graphics cards from AMD and Nvidia out there, so we've designed this guide to understand how they differ. From exclusive features to price/performance reports, including drivers and features, we'll help you find the right graphics card manufacturer for you.

Price

Anyone checking sections of Reddit or commenting on tech websites will tell you that AMD is widely recognized for its affordability and Nvidia for its high-quality performance and high prices. But are they really right? Good kind of. The Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Ti is priced at €1,199 (€1,099, AU$1,899), almost double the price of the last generation GTX 1080 Ti. This price increase continues, with the RTX 2080 at $799 (€749, AUD 1,199) and the RTX 2070 at USD 599 (€569, AUD 899). During the disclosure speech, Nvidia said that they would start at lower prices. For example, the 2080 Ti should start at €999 (roughly £760, AU$1,385), but we haven't seen any cards at these prices. Right now, the most affordable Nvidia Turing card is the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1650, which starts at $149 (about $115, AU$210). Fortunately, Nvidia finally has graphics cards that can compete with AMD in the budget market. That is, until the arrival of AMD Navi. As for AMD, you can find a Radeon RX 500 card for a pittance. However, AMD is again competing with Nvidia on the high end with AMD's Radeon VII, which will set you back $699 ($799), for almost the same performance as the RTX 2080. However, since it's Mac-compatible, something that no Nvidia card can claim, it has an advantage for professionals. In the end, the best price will depend on when you have the opportunity to find a discount.

Performance

When you're trying to build a PC more powerful than your big enemy, buying a graphics card isn't about price, it's about performance. Packing the best performance at the lowest cost is probably the most relevant factor in driving GPU sales. Currently, the RTX 2080 Ti completely destroys all other mainstream graphics cards with 6GB GDDR11 memory and premium tensor and RT cores for super-sampling and real-time ray tracing. . Right now AMD has nothing on the same stage, but does it matter? AMD has always been known to be the undisputed champion of value, while Nvidia generally has more powerful hardware. But at CES 2019, AMD revealed the Radeon VII. And, now that we have our hands on hand for testing, we can say that it's on par with the RTX 2080, at least until you turn on DirectX 12. However, with its 16 GB. AMD's HBM2, Radeon VII memory will shine for all budding designers. The lowest graphics card in the RTX family is the Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 graphics card, which beats out the AMD Vega 56 at the same price. And while the prices of these two GPUs are mostly comparable, AMD currently dominates the budget to mid-range product stack with cards like the AMD Radeon RX 580. However, Nvidia just released the GeForce GTX. 1660 Ti, directly competitive. with the AMD Radeon RX 580 processor in price and performance. In fact, with Nvidia's GeForce GTX 1660, Nvidia is entering AMD's mid-range market, offering a more affordable GPU while still handling most AAA games at a top speed of 1080p. At the end of the day, AMD and Nvidia occupy completely different positions in the market. The best option is to choose the games you try to play and at what resolution. If you're trying to play games like Assassin's Creed Odyssey in 4K, you'll want to go with Nvidia. But if you just want to play Overwatch in 1080p with a high refresh rate, go for AMD. However, this Radeon VII also looks promising for 4K performance, especially with 2 GB HBM16 memory.

Software, drivers and features

The use of Nvidia hardware on top of AMD is particularly interesting thanks to Team Green's GeForce Experience software. Offering driver updates and optimizing games while allowing you to stream gameplay and capture screenshots and videos directly from its easy-to-use interface, Nvidia GeForce Experience makes Nvidia GeForce Experience the only gaming app where you can handle everything. At the same time, AMD's new Radeon Software Adrenalin 2019 edition aims to supplant Nvidia's solution. The latest update includes features like automatic overclocking (requiring no voltage cores) and streaming games on your mobile device. The latest AMD GPU software will even let you play VR games on your phone or in a standalone VR headset. So you can harness the power of your AMD graphics card to play the best VR games without slowing down. Of course, the underlying benefit of Radeon Software is also a more consistent update of driver updates to account for each major game release. As of December 2016, you could already stream via Radeon Crimson ReLive, but now you can customize your stream with an AMD Xplit/OBS style program and multi-channel audio control.

However, GeForce Experience has the game optimization features that we are all passionate about. So when you don't know what the best settings are for your computer in The Witcher 3, Nvidia supports most of the work. AMD users can download and install the Raptr Gaming Evolved tool to optimize their gaming experience. However, this addition isn't ideal because its biggest rival's audience can do anything from the GeForce Experience. This includes using Nvidia Ansel to take super cool gaming photos at resolutions higher than 63K (16 times what a 4K monitor can display). Nvidia also has a leg up when it comes to streaming games, whether it's on other gaming PCs with at least one Maxwell-based GPU, as well as company-made tablets and set-top boxes. In addition, Nvidia also has a cloud-based gaming service call, GeForce Now, available for Windows 10 and MacOS users. And of course, you can't talk about Nvidia in 2019 without mentioning ray tracing. When Team Green announced the creation of its Turing line of graphics cards, the company launched strong claims to revolutionize gaming with real-time lighting, shadows, and reflections. Games with these features have been around for some time, and even if they look good, these effects weigh on performance, even of cards designed for them. However, it will not be long Nvidia. AMD's Navi GPUs are rumored to have the specs to support ray tracing. Soon, AMD users will no longer have to live without ray traceability.

exclusiveness

It has already been said that AMD and Nvidia were adopting a crazy tactic - "paying" game developers to give preferential treatment to one or the other. If this were the case, it would certainly explain why some games run better with GeForce graphics than Radeon and vice versa. Thankfully, aside from new technologies like ray tracing and depth super-sampling on the new Nvidia Turing cards, these PC gamer concerns are no longer around, but they are still around. Following their Capsaicin and Cream livestream event at GDC 2017, we spoke with AMD to discuss their strategy against Nvidia. The news that the company would be partnering with Bethesda Softworks to optimize its games for Radeon, Ryzen, or both was unsettling, to say the least. And that's it. At the time, the potential of games running more easily on AMD systems allowed Nvidia to fight back by teaming up with a publisher of the same size. Although this latest move has yet to be made, early Wolfenstein II performance comparisons such as TechEpiphany on YouTube have shown better performance and cooler temperatures on the AMD Radeon RX 64 compared to Nvidia's GeForce GTX 1080. We're not saying there's a bias for AMD in Bethesda's technical design decisions. However, we are not yet ready to take off our tin hats. Of course, Bethesda isn't the only company showing favoritism toward team red or team green. If you see an AMD or Nvidia splash screen in front of the title page when you start a game, you can be sure it will work best with this company's hardware.

So what is the best? or

There's so much to love and in some cases a "dislike" for Nvidia and AMD graphics. In the end, these two companies depend on competition to thrive. Suffice to say, the Nvidia vs. AMD debate requires you to understand why Radeon and GeForce GPUs are so similar in performance right now. Each company does its best to keep up with the spirit of the other, and that's good for us. They fight for our money, learn from the mistakes of others, and legislate significant improvements along the way.

It is up to you to decide who wins Nvidia's contest against AMD, although we can say this: Nvidia is unmatched in the 4K market today. If that helps, the RTX 2080 Ti is probably your best option if you want your PC to keep up with your Ultra HD display, as long as you can afford it. However, if you're on a budget, the Nvidia and AMD graphics cards will be pretty much the same, at least until the lower-end Turing cards hit the public.