Nvidia vs AMD Advantages/Disadvantages?

[superbike81]

Specifically talking about the Rift, is there any reason that one card or another would give a distinct advantage over the other?

Right now I'm perfectly happy with my Asus 7970 DCUII TOP. It's treated me very well but I'm looking to optimize my experience with the Rift as much as I can. I've never done PC gaming 3D but I keep reading that Nvidia has a much better implementation with 3D Vision than the AMD equivalent.

Would switching to one of the new pending 7xx (or even 6xx) series Nvidia cards be worthwhile? I don't mind spending the extra cash, and the 7970 will simply move to my office computer which also does a little gaming as well (6950 in it currently).

Thanks for any info!

[Direlight]

Don't like AMD graphics, they don't even make driver updates for "switchable graphics" laptops. (Got suckered into one). Good CPU's though.

Nvidia is much more stereo 3D friendly as well.

[WiredEarp]

Generally, Nvidia have much better drivers, at least in my experience.

That said, Nvidia is not really that stereo friendly. Sure, they support it, but they support it badly, and frequently remove features, for example, generic monitor support, which I used to use to play games with my eMagin Z800 in 3D.

Other people have done comparisons here, performance is apparently not that much better with 3D Vision, certainly nothing worth swapping cards to get.

I'd stick with the 7970 for now and only bother changing if you end up having issues.

[STRZ]

Nvidia cards are more expensive for a comparable amount of perfrormance on paper. But they have more reliable drivers (on Windows and Linux) and games get optimized quicker, which often results in better real world performance. They have better support for other OS too, like Linux and BSD, (or if you build a Hackintosh). Many people try Linux with AMD cards and run into trouble, they blame Linux but in reality it's the bad AMD drivers. Nvidia has better GPU acceleration (Cuda/VDPAU) as well.

It will be interesting to see if it changes now, with the next gen consoles having AMD APU's (AMD CPU + GPU on a chip) inside. Currently i'd go with Nvidia because their stuff causes less headaches in every regard.

[Leahy]

I'm still curious as to why they had an NVidia logo on their CES booth. I'm sure the details are all hush hush for the time being and we'll just have to wait.

Anyone have any ideas/opinions comparing Crossfire and SLI solutions for 3D?

[Dakor]

The Oculus Team twittered a pic of their Oculus-Case a week or so ago and there you could see that they are using Nvidia Cards for the demos.

I personally had to make the same decision between Nvidia and AMD when I just set up my new rig and I decided myself for an OC AMD Graphic Card. Since it gives more power for the same Money and budget was rather small. In your case I would stay with the AMD Card and buy an Nvidia if you are going to have troubles or something.. But I think with a 7970 you will be able to get a beautiful result for most Games.

[STRZ]

Anyone have any ideas/opinions comparing Crossfire and SLI solutions for 3D?

Stay away from it, because multi GPU isn't stable with most games and causes micro studdering and framedrops. I'd go with the best single GPU card you can afford instead. The "i get a middle class GPU and add another one later" won't work out properly. Better sell the card you've got and upgrade to a better one.

[Leahy]

Anyone have any ideas/opinions comparing Crossfire and SLI solutions for 3D?

Stay away from it, because multi GPU isn't stable with most games and causes micro studdering and framedrops. I'd go with the best single GPU card you can afford instead. The "i get a middle class GPU and add another one later" won't work out properly. Better sell the card you've got and upgrade to a better one.

Thanks for the reply, it's pretty much what I was thinking except I wondered if said issues diminished since you have to render the frames twice for 3d. I was considering dual 670s but I guess I'll go for the 7970

[WiredEarp]

I'm pretty sure the microstuttering/framedrop problem is not an issue anymore, at least on the top end Nvidia cards. I know a few people using them with no issues whatsoever, and that was also the general consensus on the forums when I was researching SLI. CrossFire I think is less mature. Lots of people with 590's and 690's who don't seem to have any problems either, and I think they are basically just 2 cards on one board?

Microstuttering etc definitely USED to be an issue in the past however.

[STRZ]

Thanks for the reply, it's pretty much what I was thinking except I wondered if said issues diminished since you have to render the frames twice for 3d. I was considering dual 670s but I guess I'll go for the 7970

If you want to have no sorrows for the next 3 to 5 years, and can afford it (around 1000$), wacht out for the upcoming Nvidia Titan which is a highend single GPU card. It's rumored to be faster than a GTX 690 which is the actual dual GPU top tier.

@ Wired Earp

Afaik SLI is working well in some games, but not all. If you're dedicated to one or a few games and SLI is well supported, like for example iRacing, then it's fine. But i'd prefer something like the Titan before getting dual 670's or 680's.

[Diorama]

This is something that has been worrying me lately, that is until I decided to spend my graphics card money on a Rift devkit!

After about a week solid of reading reviews online, forums, magazines like PC Format and Custom PC, the general consensus was that I should get a Radeon 9750, in terms of bang for your buck in games at the ~£200 mark. On benchmarks its a steal, especially when overclocked.

But.

I'm interested in some things (like real-time raytracing/Octane render) that require an nVidia GPU for its CUDA support. Also, for me, nVidia seemed like more the 3D/stereoscopic company.

Anyway, as I said, I ordered the Oculus rather than upgrading :p problem solved!

[sth]

AMD's hardware is good and (AFAIK) also has a price/performance advantage right now.
However, I've been burned by their drivers too many times over the years, so whenever I have the choice, I go with nVidia cards.

[3dcoffee]

AMD/ATI has a history with drivers being unreliable, buggy etc. So I would choose the other option.

[kalabalik]

I've had AMD/ATI for more than ten years and has had exactly zero problems for all this time; and my current card is the work horse 6950 unlocked to 6970 - which can play pretty much anything I throw at it in full HD and everything maxed out. Only in Crysis 2 I've turned down a few settings to have it silk smooth...

Personally I don't understand all the complaints people call out on AMD; I just take care to uninstall and wipe the computer clean from previous drivers when updating to avoid litter left by previous installs. I've seen lots of folks on forums yelling and hating on AMD when they just install their new drivers on top of the old ones and get shocked when it doesn't work as planned...

So I plan to stick with AMD as I feel I get a lot of bang for the buck with them. I don't know too much of the Geforce cards as I haven't had one the last seven years though, but why fix what's not broken?

Just my two cents.

[Delryn]

I've had an GeForce 8800GT, then a Radeon 5770, and now a GeForce GTX 680. I've never had a problem with either brands.

Since the Rift is built into the game, and not the GPU, as long as you can run the game at 60fps, neither brand has an advantage.

If AMD or Nvidia come out and support the Rift, then that's a different story.

[STRZ]

Since the Rift is built into the game, and not the GPU, as long as you can run the game at 60fps, neither brand has an advantage.

Don't underestimate anti aliasing techniques, downsampling and that stuff. With the resolution beeing the weak point of the Rift, i'm sure you could make up alot quality with some smart image processing. if Nvidia or AMD comes down to personal taste or what works better beeing in the game. Oculus using Nvidia probably indicates that Nvidia's AA modes are better for a balanced impression with the Rift.

[kalabalik]

...Oculus using Nvidia probably indicates that Nvidia's AA modes are better for a balanced impression with the Rift.

Or simply because Nvidia payed them for exposure before AMD did...

[STRZ]

...Oculus using Nvidia probably indicates that Nvidia's AA modes are better for a balanced impression with the Rift.

Or simply because Nvidia payed them for exposure before AMD did...

One thing doesn't rule the other one out, maybe the decision was made already made at this point

[hughJ]

I'm pretty sure the microstuttering/framedrop problem is not an issue anymore, at least on the top end Nvidia cards. I know a few people using them with no issues whatsoever, and that was also the general consensus on the forums when I was researching SLI. CrossFire I think is less mature. Lots of people with 590's and 690's who don't seem to have any problems either, and I think they are basically just 2 cards on one board?

Microstuttering etc definitely USED to be an issue in the past however.

Microstuttering is generally associated with the AFR rendering mode specifically, which is not usable anyways for the Rift as it adds a full frame of latency.

[Octavion]

I've used both Nvidia and AMD cards for 3D with my HMZ-T1.

I wasn't impressed with either companies upfront 3D setup to be honest. Nvidia wants you to pony up $40 to unlock full 3D console options(this might have changed with newer cards), AMD uses 3rd party software (Tridef) to support their 3D, you can get tridef for $25 with a AMD card assuming the offer is still valid. Both solutions are for games without native 3D support of the corresponding technologies.

Tridef I believe works with both Nvidia and AMD cards, and does support SBS output so it might end up being a fairly easy solution to get a large number of games working with the Rift(fingers crossed). I personally tend to gravitate to the Nvidia cards for their Phys-X implementation. In the end for native supported titles I believe performance will sway per game/developer.

That being said which cards seem to do better with Unity/Unreal engine?

[superbike81]

Thanks for the responses everyone.

In an unexpected turn of fate, I have ordered a GTX 680.

I have been using a Antec Lanboy Air case since it first came out and really enjoyed it. But driven by the Oculus Rift, I'm now attempting to downsize my gaming toys. So I purchased a Bitfenix Prodigy case and a Z77 Mini-ITX motherboard. I forgot that my Asus 7970 was a monster of a card and took three slots, my case only has two. So I debated getting another 7970, but found a decent deal on a 680 with an instant rebate on Amazon and went ahead and bought it. It's the 2GB version, I don't think I'll need the 4GB version especially if the Rift becomes my primary gaming display.

Still deciding if I should sell the 7970 or throw it in my office computer which will have my triple screen setup transplanted over.

Hopefully it will be here by the end of the week.

[TheHolyChicken]

I posted a link to this article in another thread, but it's probably very relevant here:

http://techreport.com/review/21516/insi ... nchmarking
It's pretty long and in-depth, but a very good read. It explores alternative ways of measuring the game experience instead of using FPS, and may give you pause for thought before you jump into a big purchase.

[BlackShark]

Since the Rift uses a side by side input, there is absolutely no advantage to having either GPU brand.
-The Nvidia 3D vision driver doesn't support the rift
-The AMD HD3D output is designed for DVI frame sequential, Hdmi Frame packing and DisplayPort 3D outputs

Neither AMD or Nvidia announced official support for the Rift. They are not known to adding customized support for devices. They usually only support completely open technologies or completely proprietary things. I don't expect them to do anything for the Rift unless Oculus pays them a hefty amount of money.
So you're dependent on game developer support or third party driver support like Vireio. So far Tridef hasn't announced anything regarding the Rift, they don't do head tracking either but if demand is high enough they may respond favourably to implementing the lens deformation processing, providing at least a non-head-tracked image.

Regarding driver stability. I've had ups and downs with both. I never un-install drivers before installing new ones, even for betas, the installation process usually does everything automatically.
Generally, as long as you don't teak your windows setup too much, AMD drivers are stable, although I noticed a lot of problems since I started customizing my windows environment a lot. For example, since I moved my "my documents" folder to a network drive (I use a NAS), **//something Microsoft tells us to not to do with consumer versions of Windows//** the AMD catalyst installation software is completely lost and unable to install the driver. I have to switch the folders back to the local C drive temporarily to install the drivers, they work properly after that.
I haven't tried that with Nvidia drivers, maybe Nvidia is more aware of the system modification habits of it's user.