The graphics card war never changes
The AMD vs Nvidia battle is as hot as ever, and the launch of Team Green’s Ampere graphics cards and Team Red’s Big Navi Radeon RX 6000 cards has made it even hotter. The two GPU manufacturers are now neck-and-neck, with both offering impressively capable offerings, most of which are affordable to most people, price-wise.
So even now, there is no real winner. And, if you’re looking for the queen of GPUs, that comes down to your own preferences and perspective. Nvidia might be winning on sheer power, but by a relatively small margin. And, even then, it’s arguable at best, as AMD’s rivals still have some edge on certain tasks. Meanwhile, AMD continues to win in terms of price, but Nvidia has also made its price points more accessible.
Fortunately, the AMD vs Nvidia battle has produced some of the best and most affordable GPUs we’ve seen in years. It has given us affordable options like the new AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT (ranging from $22,000 MXN to $27,000 MXN), Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (which can go up to $30,000 MXN, more or less) and Nvidia RTX 3060 (whose price ranges from $18,999 MXN to $22,000 MXN). It has also given us high-powered entries like the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 , RTX 3080 Ti , and AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT, which are still within reach of many price-wise.
So while there may never be a true winner, it only means good things for consumers. With these two manufacturers constantly trying to outdo each other, we will always have compelling GPUs to choose from. All you have to do is decide which one is best for you.
We have put the two manufacturers, AMD vs Nvidia, side by side to see which one has an advantage over the other in terms of price, performance and features. Hopefully, when all is said and done, you will have made your decision on which team to go with.
AMD VS NVIDIA: PRICE
Traditionally, AMD has always been known as the most affordable graphics card brand, and that’s true to this day… to an extent. Right now, especially in the mid-range, AMD has graphics cards like the Radeon RX 5500 XT, which provides excellent performance for a price that can be around $7,400 MXN, more or less. If your budget is pretty tight, AMD’s generous VRAM handout here means you’re getting better performance in higher-spec games than Nvidia’s GTX 1650 (which is around $8,995).
However, once the price range starts to rise, things change. At the top, AMD is still the winner in terms of affordability. The Radeon RX 6900 XT is much cheaper at $999 (around $20,400 MXN) alongside the $1,499 Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 (around $30,647 MXN) and even the slightly more affordable RTX 3080, which will cost USD$1,199 (approx. $24,535 MXN).
However, once you get to the more affordable high-end prices, things aren’t so black and white anymore. Both the AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT and AMD Radeon RX 6800 sit a bit higher on the scale than their direct Nvidia rivals without offering much of a performance advantage.
AMD VS NVIDIA: PERFORMANCE
AMD’s Big Navi may not be the one to take out Nvidia as first rumored, but some of the cards in the lineup are certainly giving Nvidia some stiff competition. If you want to play the best PC games in 4K and get a solid frame rate of 60+ fps, you don’t have to stick with Nvidia anymore. Although with the Nvidia RTX 3080 Ti now officially available in the world, AMD will need to launch a serious competitor soon.
In 2022, you can get a graphics card that will drive high-end AAA gaming at 1080p settings with something like the AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT or Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060. If you want to play AAA games at 1440p with no compromises, both Team Red and Team Red Team Green have great options with the Radeon RX 6700 XT and the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti.
The increased availability of graphics cards that can push pixels at these resolutions on a budget has made PC gaming much more accessible than ever, and these next generations have done the same for 4K gaming on PC, especially if the PS5 and Xbox Series X are more affordable than a high-end gaming PC.
For 4K, both manufacturers have great deals, with Nvidia launching the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080, RTX 3080 Ti, and even the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090, and AMD launching the Radeon RX 6900 XT, which has been developed to go head-to-head with the RTX. 3090 from Nvidia.
AMD VS NVIDIA: EXCLUSIVITY AND FEATURES
When it comes to features beyond game rendering, Nvidia and AMD take very different approaches.
Typically, AMD’s approach is much more consumer-friendly, releasing features and technologies that can even be used on Nvidia graphics cards, though they’ll generally run better on AMD’s own silicon.
Nvidia, on the other hand, likes to keep things under wraps, releasing features like DLSS that only work on their own platform. The Green Team has been doing this for years, ever since PhysX. In fact, with this latest technology, you were even able to have a dedicated PhysX graphics card in your system to handle the heavy computational workload.
Recently though, Nvidia has released a bunch of features that are useful outside of gaming, both as part of its ongoing Nvidia Studio driver program for creative and professional workloads, and just to help people in their lives. post-pandemic.
In particular, with Ampere, you get Nvidia Broadcast, which is an incredibly useful technology for almost everyone. With this program, you can replace backgrounds in any video conferencing application using AI. What’s better is that you can also use it to filter out all the background noise from your microphone during a call, so you don’t have to worry about showing up to that 10am meeting drinking coffee and eating breakfast in a hurry.
In contrast, AMD is still very focused on gaming with its main graphics cards, and all the features of its FidelityFX software package introduced with RDNA are focused on providing a better gaming experience. This includes things like Contrast Adaptive Sharpening (CAS) which makes gaming on a higher resolution screen easier, and better ambient occlusion.
AND, WELL… WHICH IS THE BEST?
There’s a lot to love about graphics from Nvidia and AMD. In the end, both companies depend on competing with each other to prosper. Suffice to say, the AMD vs Nvidia debate requires you to understand that there is a reason why Radeon and GeForce GPUs perform so similarly right now.
Each company is doing its best to keep up with the other’s shared mindset, and that’s good for us. They’re basically fighting for our money, learning from each other’s mistakes, and legislating notable improvements along the way.
It’s up to you who wins the fierce AMD vs Nvidia contest though we’ll say this: Nvidia is unrivaled in the 4K market right now. If it’s any help, the RTX 2080 Ti ($18,699 MXN) is probably the best option if you want your PC to keep up with your Ultra HD display, as long as you can afford it. On the other hand, if you’re on a budget and looking for mid-range cards, Nvidia and AMD graphics cards will probably be about the same.