Although the GPU market is split between AMD and Nvidia, it is not evenly split. Since a very long time, Nvidia has dominated the market, benefiting from stronger brand awareness while AMD lags far behind.
Although AMD may not be doing well financially, it still produces some of the greatest graphics cards, so it shouldn’t be disregarded. Here are several reasons to think about upgrading your next GPU from Nvidia to AMD.
1.Price
When debating the entire “AMD vs. Nvidia” debate, it is hard to avoid mentioning price. In truth, this is one of the main arguments in favour of AMD, but in order to come to that conclusion, we need to look beyond the simple statement that “Nvidia is expensive and AMD is cheap,” as that statement is untrue.
The reality is that these days, both sides of a battle are often pricey. Even before the GPU crisis, really inexpensive GPUs ceased to exist. However, the scarcity that caused graphics card prices to rocket to previously unheard-of heights (often over 300% over the suggested retail price) appears to have opened the floodgates and unleashed a concerning trend in GPU pricing.
While I wouldn’t describe AMD’s most recent generation of graphics cards as “cheap,” it is unquestionably less expensive than Nvidia, which this generation adopted a very absurd pricing scheme. Let’s compare the AMD RX 7900 XTX and RX 7900 XT with the RTX 4080 and RTX 4070 Ti, which are their Nvidia equivalents.
RX 7900 XTX costs $980 on Newegg, while RX 7900 XT costs $800.
RTX 4080 costs $1,200 on Newegg, while RTX 4070 Ti costs $800.
Let’s speak about it for a second because price is one thing, but it’s useless if you don’t include performance.
2.AMD holds up well
The RTX 4080 outperforms the competition in our own 1440p gaming tests, although there isn’t much of a difference in terms of frames per second (fps) between it and the RX 7900 XTX (159 vs. 155 fps). Many of us would prefer to save $200 over losing 4 frames per second, but it is obviously an oversimplification of the performance difference between AMD and Nvidia.
AMD lacks Nvidia’s better ray tracing and DLSS, which it possesses. To be more precise, DLSS 3 only works with RTX 40-series graphics cards and creates whole frames as opposed to just individual pixels. Since FSR 2.0 is also available on Nvidia cards, AMD’s FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) can’t completely compete yet, making this technology irrelevant for users of Nvidia cards.
DLSS 3 and enhanced ray tracing make the RTX 4070 Ti less obvious a choice even while it is slower than the RX 7900 XT. It’s not going to be unplayable, by any means; AMD’s RDNA 3 GPUs still perform ray tracing better than the previous generation.
Long story short, AMD has cheaper GPUs in this generation if you don’t mind the ray tracing issue and the lack of DLSS. If you move down to last-gen devices instead of the RX 7900 XTX and RX 7900 XT, this is much more true.
3. AMD’s last-gen cards are a solid choice
Everyone is thrilled by the idea of strong current-gen GPUs, but you won’t need an RTX 4090 in 2023 or for many more years to play AAA titles. Shopping last-gen is actually a pretty feasible alternative for both manufacturers, and at the moment, this is where AMD really thrives.
With the RTX 4060 Ti and RTX 4060 releasing to address some holes in its 40-series portfolio, Nvidia’s RTX 30-series is starting to make less and less sense. But AMD’s RX 6000 graphics cards are still widely accessible and may easily outperform some Nvidia GPUs while being less expensive.
A excellent illustration of this is the RX 6950 XT. Despite being a 4K gaming GPU, it is only $630 on Amazon. You would need to spend at least the RTX 4070 Ti or the RTX 4080, which are $800 and $1,200, respectively, to achieve reliable 4K gaming performance from an Nvidia card. In the previous generation, you required an RTX 3080 or above, which now range from $830 to well over $1,000.
Alternatively, the RX 6800 XT is a wise pick. It costs about $540 at the moment and is capable of playing several 1440p and some 4K games. And if you’re assembling a PC on a tight budget, you can always pick up the RX 6600 XT for $230, which offers incredible performance for the money when compared to many other GPUs.
4. VRAM
The quantity of VRAM in some of the most recent graphics cards has recently been a hot issue, and AMD is doing particularly well in this area.
Although recent years indicate an upward tendency, it just doesn’t appear to be rising quickly enough to keep up with the expanding needs of the gaming industry. Nvidia’s GPUs are short in VRAM. This is gradually turning into an issue.
Modern AAA games are more likely to need more VRAM than Nvidia includes in its GPUs, according to recent trends. Don’t get me wrong, the limited quantity of VRAM is nothing new for Nvidia; it’s just that it hasn’t lately been a problem on such a massive scale, and it will only grow worse.
You must get some of the more costly Nvidia cards if you want a lot of VRAM. Although the RTX 4090 costs $1,600, it has 24GB of VRAM. The RTX 4080 costs $1,200 and has 16GB of memory.
Undoubtedly, Nvidia will soon provide a less expensive alternative with lots of video memory — the RTX 4060 Ti variant, which has 16GB. The unicorn of the Ada Lovelace series, though, is an unannounced model that won’t be available until July. In contrast, the regular RTX 4060 Ti has 8GB, while the $800 RTX 4070 Ti has just 12GB.
For a very long time, AMD has been stockpiling VRAM. Although the RX 6950 XT has 16GB of RAM, so do the RX 6900 XT, RX 6800 XT, and the RX 6700 XT, and at least some of those will outperform Nvidia’s $500 RTX 4060 Ti. If you need even more VRAM, AMD’s RX 7900 XTX has 24GB, the same amount as the RTX 4090, but it is $600 less expensive.
No matter how you spin it, AMD is the manufacturer that gives the quantity of VRAM more consideration than Nvidia if it matters to you. You’ll want to have a good quantity of video memory the more complicated the games get.
5. Don’t be afraid of AMD
Although AMD and Nvidia are frequently contrasted, each GPU manufacturer now targets a distinct market segment.
The market leader in terms of performance, product variety, and name awareness is Nvidia. The perennial underdog AMD is making an effort to overtake Nvidia, but it has distinct long-term objectives. Being the greatest is not as important as being able to draw in more potential customers.
Sadly, it occasionally seems as though AMD is letting Nvidia win. A portion of it is due to the outmoded public view of AMD; although there are still complaints about malfunctioning drivers all over the internet, these issues are now far less frequent and farther between. Since AMD has made such rapid advancements, it is currently the superior option for general customers. It’s a difficult choice since, of course, there are benefits to choosing Nvidia.
AMD bears some responsibility for its generation’s decreased presence. After all, AMD is silent while Nvidia continues to release new GPUs (hey, three variations of the RTX 4060). It doesn’t currently have the same momentum as Nvidia because there are only two cards available and a third is in the works.
AMD is still strong, momentum or not. It is more affordable than Nvidia, more effective, and AMD GPUs are widely accessible—sometimes even for less than MSRP. On paper, Nvidia is superior, but AMD works well in a design that is more focused on affordability, and the current VRAM hype is giving it an unexpected advantage over Team Green.
AMD’s last-gen products are still excellent choices if performance is your primary concern rather than sticking with the most recent generation. The more expensive RX 6000-series cards, such the RX 6950 XT and RX 6800 XT, are capable of 4K gaming, but they are still affordable enough to fit into a $1,000 PC setup. Currently, it’s difficult to say the same about Nvidia.
Although both manufacturers have advantages and disadvantages, AMD shouldn’t be feared. Choose the GPU that best meets your needs, not the one that supporters of either company will claim you is superior, whether that GPU is manufactured by Nvidia or AMD.
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