Home Gaming Flamebait Friday Debate: Nvidia or AMD?

Flamebait Friday Debate: Nvidia or AMD?

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redvsgreen

What is this? 2012? Yes, I know we’ve done this very topic before, but it’s more pertinent than ever. With their last generation of cards, AMD was a bit of a damp squib, but this time, it’s fought back hard delivering exactly what its users want. The RX 480 is exactly what the company needed. Instead of fighting Nvidia for the fastest benchmark scores, it’s fighting for the most cost effective – an area that the company used to excel at. Is it enough to claw back the mindshare?

But then, a few power-related issues were discovered, showing that the card doesn’t quite match the PCIe spec. It echoes the whole VRAM issue that was discovered about Nvidia’s Maxwell darling, the 970. And then there’s the 1060 – Nvidia’s answer to the-midrange market. Offering better performance for a bit of a higher price, Nvidia seems to be aiming their sights at AMD’s playground.

Right now, with Maxwell, Nvidia’s a clear winner when it comes to speed – but AMD’s still got more Polaris cards up its sleeve and then, of course, there’s its upcoming Vega architecture that could see AMD maintain its DX12 and Vulkan lead.

Statistically, most of you favour Team Green. With their absolute market dominance, most users sport Nvidia GPU tech – but is that sentiment something that carries through to “core” gamers – many of whom are the sort to eke out every last bit of performance they can?

Let us know! Team Green, or Team Red?

Last Updated: July 22, 2016

86 Comments

  1. Ottokie

    July 22, 2016 at 10:36

    This is gonna be good!

    *Grabs popcorn*

    Reply

  2. VampyreSquirrel

    July 22, 2016 at 10:42

    Nvidia… they may be more expensive, but have the better cards (this coming from someone that only bought AMD for years)

    Reply

    • Pariah

      July 22, 2016 at 10:44

      Yeah, it’s not just raw numbers, but the additional tech that Nvidia sport that pretty much wins me every time. There’s always more than just numbers with Nvidia, even though they win on that front too. It’s madness.

      Reply

      • Corey

        July 22, 2016 at 12:23

        Yeah I build PC’s for people a lot. I for those who don’t know anything about hardware or PC’s but want to game I will sell them a Mid range (or top tier if they want the ducks nuts) NVidia. Because I don’t want the drama that lack of knowledge brings. For the most part they just work. Enthusiasts that want to tweak and don’t mind a few qwerks here and there (I.E. heat, power and noise) I will build and AMD unless they specifically ask for an NVidia card. Like you said AMD sure can get some pretty impressive numbers for little monies, but NVidia has really made some impressive chips. Really depends on the person. I run AMD CPU and GPU myself but am not biased towards either. Both have had driver issues, both have in the past not delivered on their promises and both make great cards for different reasons. Nothing has changed. AMD offering good performance at a lower price with higher power draw. NVidia charging higher premium because their cards deliver better/more consistent DX11 performance. AMD’s cards will be better future proofed with better DX12/Vulkan support though it wont make an RX 480 outperform a 1070, might really catch the 1060 but. It is Maxwell vs R9 2/300’s again. They are one up one down on each other. What is better is situation based. Always has been.

        Reply

        • Captain JJ off track

          July 22, 2016 at 12:25

          ^ This post, I like it.

          Reply

        • Pariah

          July 22, 2016 at 12:30

          Ah and I believe you touched on something that fits with my situation. I used to like tinkering, but now I don’t. Now I just want stuff to work. I want to plug a card in and it works. Same for CPU. I don’t care much for overclocking or other things. I care that the tech exists to run my games and/or 3D software/Video Editing suites, but I do not care for tinkering to tweak it.

          That, I think, is why Nvidia and Intel are what suits my needs. I think also the reason I will never use AMD CPUs – they’re just not friendly for 3D / Video / Animation requirements.

          Reply

          • Corey

            July 22, 2016 at 12:43

            I thought that’s what you were getting at. I want to do a really nice Water cooled setup but cannot really be bothered they are nice and look amazing but so much effort. Working 50+ hours a week I cannot be bothered stuffing around with crud. I jumped to an Intel CPU (mostly because I got a 4790 for 130 bucks aus$) I am not sure if I will make the jump on GPU. I might but don’t know. Feel like I am betraying AMD if I don’t run something AMD in there. Not like they actually care about me though. I think if AMD were really keen on getting market they will be focusing on the 3d/video/photo market. A lot of these people run home offices where the work computer is also the gaming computer. I know a lot of people who wont run AMD just because like you said they don’t play well sometimes with various production software even if these people would probably prefer AMD if it were just for gaming.

          • jorge jorge tambien

            July 22, 2016 at 15:47

            waiting for zen , maybe fix that shit old fx cpus xD pdt i like amd because isneeded or nvidia just sell cards for 10000000 usd xD

  3. Admiral Chief - Check

    July 22, 2016 at 10:48

    AMD for CPU

    Sadly, NVidia since the RX bugger up and the amazing 1060

    This coming from HUGE AMD supporter

    Reply

    • Pariah

      July 22, 2016 at 11:08

      AMD for CPU? Shame man. I genuinely feel sorry for you.

      Reply

      • Captain JJ off track

        July 22, 2016 at 11:29

        I must say, I’ve had Nvidia and AMD gfx cards, but the Intel CPUs are bulletproof. I wouldn’t likely get something else.

        Reply

        • Pariah

          July 22, 2016 at 11:36

          I’ve had both AMD and Intel, and I will never, ever buy an AMD CPU again.

          Reply

          • Captain JJ off track

            July 22, 2016 at 11:38

            I think I may have had an AMD one once. Loooong ago. So I can’t say personally. But I have never had a single Intel CPU problem and I’ve really put them through some punishment.
            As far as AMD and Nvidia are concerned. I’ve had problems with both, more so with Nvidia for sure, but in the end my money will choose anyway.

          • chimera_85

            July 22, 2016 at 15:05

            Athlon is king 😛

        • Admiral Chief - Check

          July 22, 2016 at 11:41

          The octacore I have now is the best CPU I’ve had in any hardware I’ve owned (both personally as well as at work)

          Reply

          • PoisonedBelial

            July 22, 2016 at 11:50

            I swapped out my i7 950 for an AMD FX 4350 and I can honestly say that all my games run better!

          • Corey

            July 22, 2016 at 12:46

            Not sure how. i7 950’s are core for core 10% faster and nearly 53% faster due to being 8 threaded CPU’s. If there is really an improvement it would be due to a crappy i7 rather than the FX4350 actually being faster.

          • Captain JJ off track

            July 22, 2016 at 11:50

            Like I said, I haven’t had AMD in years, but my Intel can take a pounding. So that’s what I’m going on 🙂

      • Skoobaz

        July 22, 2016 at 12:37

        Can’t teach an old dog new tricks. @ad@Admiral_Chief:disqus WOOP! >RUNS<

        Reply

    • Corey

      July 22, 2016 at 12:30

      Unless all you do is run Cinebench all day Intel is really the way to go. i5’s trump FX 8350’s most of the time especially in gaming. Not saying FX 8350’s are bad chips if you have one already I wouldn’t bother upgrading. If you are buying new, wait for Zen or just buy an i5. AMD’s APU’s aren’t bad though.

      Reply

      • Admiral Chief - Check

        July 22, 2016 at 12:38

        Got one last year, and not one single issue had. Going to run this for ages.

        GPU needs upgrade now though :/

        Reply

        • Corey

          July 22, 2016 at 12:49

          I retired my FX 8350 to my server to just run VM’s .Their idle wattage is not too bad for that. Picked up a 4790 cheap which kills it 😉
          (I know the price difference)

          Reply

    • Darren Peach

      July 22, 2016 at 12:52

      AMD sucks for rendering. SERIOUSLY !

      Reply

    • Charl van der Merwe

      July 22, 2016 at 13:20

      Oh please, NVIDIA FOR CPU AND GPU!!1!

      Reply

      • Admiral Chief - Check

        July 22, 2016 at 14:58

        CPU nogal ne? 😉

        Reply

  4. Admiral Chief - Check

    July 22, 2016 at 10:49

    NVidia, my wallet has spoken (for the 1060)

    Reply

  5. Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

    July 22, 2016 at 10:50

    AMD, it powers mah PSFAWR! Also laptop and PC

    Reply

    • Pieter Kruger

      July 22, 2016 at 11:09

      All that overheating must be nice during winter………

      Reply

      • Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

        July 22, 2016 at 11:38

        Very XD

        Reply

      • Deceased

        July 22, 2016 at 12:53

        AMD’s run surprisingly cool these days man

        4 years ago I had a dual-core Athlon which was showing it’s age ( vanilla running at 80C when running BF3 ) and I overclocked it insanely hard, because you know, I wasn’t going to keep it for long ( or so I thought ) at the end it was running stable at 124C and allowed me to play BF3 for another 6 months to save up for a new system…

        My current AMD runs a cool 42 when playing modern games ( though I do have watercooling now )

        My point is, they’re not as hot anymore :O

        Reply

        • Matthew Holliday

          July 22, 2016 at 13:09

          you ran an Athlon on bf3? thats brave.
          they were good CPUs though, my athlon 2400+ was great

          AMDs still run hot compared to intel though, I took a PC in to a techy a year or so ago to get fixed and he was convinced my AMD cpu was overheating and would fry everything when he saw it was idling at 40 degrees.
          I laughed at him a little.

          Reply

          • Deceased

            July 22, 2016 at 13:15

            RofL XD

            40C is a good temperature, but when idle, my current AMD runs at about 26-30C
            ( unlike my flatmates’ 15C idle i5 😛 )

    • Darren Peach

      July 22, 2016 at 12:51

      Every time I look at my PS4 I puke in my mouth a little…

      Reply

      • Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

        July 22, 2016 at 13:11

        The red beast it staring at you XD

        Reply

        • Darren Peach

          July 22, 2016 at 13:21

          Nah, That happens every time I unzip for a pee.

          Reply

          • Hammersteyn_hates_Raid0

            July 22, 2016 at 16:10

            BWHAHAHAHAHA1

      • Skoobaz

        July 22, 2016 at 13:20

        LOLOLOLOL

        Reply

    • jorge jorge tambien

      July 22, 2016 at 15:50

      About amd, in cpu market the only worth is Apu (cheap for casual gaming) . and lol! hbm memory is from amd too

      Reply

  6. Admiral Chief - Check

    July 22, 2016 at 10:50

    It also depends which one of the 1060 or 480 I can get for free 😀

    Reply

    • Skoobaz

      July 22, 2016 at 13:20

      From where do tell!

      Reply

      • Admiral Chief - Check

        July 22, 2016 at 14:57

        😀

        Reply

  7. SentientSlug

    July 22, 2016 at 11:07

    You guys just wanted to use that rad header pic!!

    Reply

  8. Ross Woofels Mason

    July 22, 2016 at 11:11

    AMD for me not because they are better cards, I know nvidia steadily out perform amd cards. The margin however is not large enough imo for me to spend the extra cash. I also don’t always agree with nvidia’s business policies but eh end of the day as long as my games look pretty that’s what matters =p.

    Reply

    • Captain JJ off track

      July 22, 2016 at 11:30

      I’ve also found this. When I’m going with bang for buck the AMD cards have mostly just been so much cheaper that it made my decision for me.

      Reply

    • Kromas GG

      July 22, 2016 at 11:40

      Also Nvidia fanboys are almost on par with Apple fanboys or Bieber Fanboys.
      ..
      ..
      ..

      And now we wait. 😛

      Reply

      • Admiral Chief - Check

        July 22, 2016 at 11:40

        xD

        Reply

      • Darren Peach

        July 22, 2016 at 12:52

        That’s just wrong… Now picture Bieber eating a Apple.

        Reply

  9. Aries

    July 22, 2016 at 11:18

    Team Green now, but was team Red though only because my dad would never spend that much money on a gpu for me to play games whole day

    Reply

  10. Kromas GG

    July 22, 2016 at 11:22

    I support AMD because they are by far the lesser evil. And I mean by far. I will concede that Nvidia has the better tech.

    Reply

    • Mark Treloar

      July 22, 2016 at 13:13

      Still don’t think your argument is valid.

      Reply

      • Kromas GG

        July 22, 2016 at 14:01

        Well whenever a company tells you you can stick it where the sun don’t shine and add anti-sue clauses in the software I tend to be wary.

        Reply

        • Mark Treloar

          July 22, 2016 at 14:39

          You mean like this?

          *** AND ITS LICENSORS WILL NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR ANY PUNITIVE, DIRECT, INCIDENTAL, INDIRECT, SPECIAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING FROM USE OF THE SOFTWARE OR THIS AGREEMENT EVEN IF *** AND ITS LICENSORS HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

          Reply

  11. Greylingad[He Charges!]

    July 22, 2016 at 11:22

    nVidia, as much as I loved AMD, when I made my numerous switches between AMD and nVidia, I’ve always had one thing in mind, which one performs best for what I can afford, for years there was a cycle, I’m worried that it’s coming to an end, having not purchased a red card in almost 6 years and with this new blow from nVidia, it seems even less likely…

    Reply

  12. Captain JJ off track

    July 22, 2016 at 11:28

    If the price is good and the product it good, doesn’t matter. I’m not a fanboy of either. So my wallet makes the choice for me.

    Reply

  13. b1nd3r

    July 22, 2016 at 11:37

    Nvidia simply because the support, updates etc is there. I used to be ati fan but those days are done. Nothing against AMD ive seen enough to know the differences in performance arent major to the person sitting down to jam a game. More expensive but in the last 7 years ive had not 1 issue with nvidia i even have the gtx 970 4gb(not really 4gb) and have not even noticed the supposed 4gb vram issues because you simply dont in game.

    Reply

  14. Fox1 - Retro

    July 22, 2016 at 11:46

    I’ve owned both AMD and Nvidia. Both solid cards with solid support although I’ve found AMD to have the legs on Nvidia when it comes to DX12. The same would apply to Vulkan. PS: I waited for an OC’d card with custom cooler for my AMD card.

    Reply

  15. Skoobaz

    July 22, 2016 at 11:48

    So childish. EVERYONE knows green is king!

    Reply

    • Captain JJ off track

      July 22, 2016 at 11:50

      Lord Hulk!?

      Reply

  16. Skoobaz

    July 22, 2016 at 11:56

    Never owned AMD cards so wouldn’t know. Been rocking NVIDIA all the way back to the RIVA TNT baby yeah!

    Reply

    • Captain JJ off track

      July 22, 2016 at 12:01

      I’ve only had Nvidia. On my first AMD.
      Had software problems with two of my last Nvidia cards, so made the switch.
      All and all, not much of a muchness otherwise for me.
      *ducks from gunfire*

      Reply

      • Skoobaz

        July 22, 2016 at 12:20

        I started experiencing driver upgrade issues late into the cycle of my GTX580. The whole nvidia experience thing started to piss me off. It required the machine where the card is had to be online. I used to be quite happy blazing work’s bandwidth for drivers instead of having to be online at home.

        Reply

        • Captain JJ off track

          July 22, 2016 at 12:21

          Yea, that GeForce Experience thing gave me so many problems.

          Reply

          • Skoobaz

            July 22, 2016 at 12:29

            That to me was a kick in the nuts, it was a sign to me of things to come. Always on line etc. Oh well…

      • Skoobaz

        July 22, 2016 at 13:18

        What card?

        Reply

        • Captain JJ off track

          July 25, 2016 at 08:52

          Think it’s an R9 270

          Reply

    • Darren Peach

      July 22, 2016 at 12:58

      But did you own a FX series card ?

      Reply

      • Skoobaz

        July 22, 2016 at 13:14

        Nah, went geforce mx440, 8800 gt, gts450, gtx580, gtx760. Sussing out the 1060 now..

        Reply

        • Darren Peach

          July 22, 2016 at 13:17

          You dodged a bullet.

          Reply

          • Skoobaz

            July 22, 2016 at 13:17

            Some buds had FX cards. I secretly didn’t envy them!

          • Darren Peach

            July 22, 2016 at 13:31

            First Job. First big card I bought and it had to be the FX series.

  17. Dane

    July 22, 2016 at 11:58

    I’ve always been a fan of AMD for the price/performance. I will also admit to speaking salty of nVidia because all of my noob friends seem to think that it’s the better option for the same reasons they think iPhones are a better option. nVidia ticks all the boxes that make it seem like the more modern technology. Expensive, pretty-looking, wide-spread, minimal user interaction, endorsed to shit. I simply never had the money to afford those boxes.

    Instead I got a big black block of a GPU, a warmer and noisier PC, a few gray hairs from driver setup, pointing and laughing friends, but most importantly, a slightly larger yellow number at the top right of my screen, at a lesser price.

    For that I side with AMD, and will continue to support them even when they fall behind in the price/performance due to financial set-backs – because I believe that nVidia is that much more greedy.

    Reply

  18. CrasH

    July 22, 2016 at 12:01

    Currently… if forced to buy now, would have to say Nvidia. Especially with it being much cooler and more quiet but now it uses less power too its worth the price differance between the rx480 and 1060 (all i can afford if i had to buy).

    I hope the RSA prices drop a bit though, with RSA having no import tax on VGA cards accept adding vat, it’s cheaper to have it shipped with insurance from another country and paying tax twice, the countries tax and ours….

    Reply

  19. geel slang

    July 22, 2016 at 12:27

    Only poor people buy AMD.

    Reply

    • Captain JJ off track

      July 22, 2016 at 12:30

      And asshats look down at poor people.
      Also: buy*

      Reply

      • geel slang

        July 22, 2016 at 12:44

        lol, *flamebait friday

        Reply

        • Captain JJ off track

          July 22, 2016 at 12:52

          Wait. Did I win?

          Reply

          • geel slang

            July 22, 2016 at 13:06

            yes

  20. Deceased

    July 22, 2016 at 12:45

    Meh, you won’t ever find Nvidia/Intel combo in any of my own personal computers again.

    That being said, I’m currently specing a computer for my old man ( watching the market for at least another month before I buy ) and help people build computers on a regular basis.

    At the moment, I’m honestly promoting Nvidia GTX1060 with an Intel i5 or i7 ( depending on available cash ).
    As stated, I’m an AMD fanboy, but until that AM4 drops, I can’t honestly say bang for buck you’d get more out of an AMD system.

    Side note – I’m disappointed with the reviews of the GTX1080 that most people put out – nothing wrong with the reviews per se, but having only an average of say 15% increase in performance at 4K with everything on ultra ( most games ) over my current setup, while I know you can get at least 25% more than my current setup with a GTX1080 is kind of disappointing 🙁

    Reply

  21. Darren Peach

    July 22, 2016 at 12:46

    Nvidia if you are using a PC and AMD if you are on a console 😛

    Reply

  22. HighlanderZA

    July 22, 2016 at 12:49

    What is this AMD thing

    Reply

  23. Darren Peach

    July 22, 2016 at 12:50

    Still pissed at Nvidia for unleashing the FX series on the world.

    Reply

  24. Deceased

    July 22, 2016 at 12:55

    Found a Silent South African on Overwatch last night with the name of KaasKop

    Man he cost us the game with his bastion pick 🙁

    Reply

  25. Spy Master Tokashi

    July 22, 2016 at 13:02

    Only console peasants support AMD! 😉

    Reply

  26. Matthew Holliday

    July 22, 2016 at 13:11

    Hulk is the strongest there is.

    Reply

  27. Charl van der Merwe

    July 22, 2016 at 13:33

    This whole green vs red is childish,Why be limited to a fanboi ? whichever has the best Cost vs Performance ratio gets my money, more recently it was the nvidia gtx 970, before that it was the amd 7850.

    Reply

  28. chimera_85

    July 22, 2016 at 15:01

    I was gonna get the RX 480 (currently have a GTX 960) but pricing here as per when I bought mine last year AMD isn’t much cheaper, if at all, in this instance the 1060 is the same price as the RX 480 so it’s a no brainer imo.

    Reply

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