AMD vs NVIDIA Comparison – Which Graphic Card is Better in 2018? 

Quick Answer

In the AMD vs NVIDIA Comparison, it is pretty hard to determine which is better, but then while the AMD may be better at the mid-range and budget graphic cards. When it comes to the higher end cards, NVIDIA is the one with a louder voice whether you are looking for a GPU for a laptop or a desktop

Xbox One vs PS4, AMD Ryzen vs Intel, and AMD vs NVIDIA are just some among the many debates that we may never see the end as far as they are still being manufactured and supplied to gamers. Nevertheless, an unbiased voice here and a step there can take us a good distance.

Before delving in, we need to point out that both the AMD and NVIDIA graphic cards are very good and either has areas where it steals all the points and areas where it loses.

Either way, graphics card has now become more important than it was a few years ago because games are coming with greater need than ever before, hence cards that would be able to deliver the graphics be it 4K, 2K, or something else have taken the center stage.

For you to make the call that a GPU is better than another, there are certain things that you have to put into consideration including their performances, hardware, software, features, and price among other things.

AMD vs NVIDIA Comparison

AMD vs NVIDIA
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Performance

Before any other thing, performance is the first thing that a gamer will look at before coming down to the price and other things. With these two cards, they both have great performance even though it all boils down to the model you are looking at as well as the purpose for which it is needed. Because of this, gamers tend to look at GPUs on models and price to performance basis.

Looking at it that way, AMD seems to be the one with the bragging rights in performance, but that is only when you are at the mid and lower ends of the competition. In fact, even here, there seems to be a massive drama going on with each trying to outperform the other in price and the number of frames-per-second each gets to push.

Nevertheless, when you get higher up the ladder, it becomes a very slippery ground for AMD as it is unable to stand straight with NVIDIA clearly dominating the show. As a result of this, everything is dictated by team green. The AMD Radeon Vega 64 is able to have a strong stand against the NVIDIA GTX 1080 and GTX 1070 GPUs, but that is where it all ends.

When the Cryptocurrency market was at its peak and many were rushing into crypto mining, the world of GPU became hard for gamers because the prices of GPUs went so high that in cryptocurrency related sales, NVIDIA took home $289 million in 2018 Q1. With the fall of bitcoin and the crypto market, the prices of graphics card are now on their way to being normal, so at least, the proper competition can again begin between AMD and NVIDIA.

At the end of the day, it remains a very long call to make between the two in terms of performance as although NVIDIA will have the better run when it comes to 2K and 4K graphics performance, the red team will not hold it all the way down against AMD which has maintained a good reputation moving up the ladder.

Hardware and Software

There is no doubt that in the AMD vs NVIDIA comparison, NVIDIA has been the most successful in the hardware department. Not taking anything from AMD, NVIDIA has brought together a technology that ensures that its GPU consumes less power thereby generating less heat, as well as processing task in a more efficient way.

Since it is unable to offer the same thing as NVIDIA, AMD has resorted to compensate with greater memory than the other. Without any surprise, as newer GPUS are developed, the dividing lines in hardware seems to be improving in both cards.

With software, many gamers are more comfortable with NVIDIA over AMD. This is because the green team has been able to make its GeForce Experience well optimized with a lot of gaming functionality. This is thanks to its interface that allows you easily broadcast gameplay as well as capture videos and screenshots.

AMD software which now changes its name with each update is also good, allowing one to easily monitor performance and power efficiency, but it still finds itself running a little behind NVIDIA.

Looking at the drivers of both GPUs, there are hardly any questions that either has left unanswered as they have both always released newer drivers that are stable. That said, NVIDIA has still managed to squeeze in more juice here most especially as regards stability, but it has not left AMD far off the mark.

AMD Vs NVIDIA- Features

AMD vs NVIDIA
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Again, both of these GPUs have good features, but NVIDIA seems to be the girl with the dimpled smile.

Among the features that NVIDIA has is Cooler and Quitter which helps it to consume less power and produce little heat. There is also the Shadowplay which assists with recording and capturing your gameplay videos. It is the same thing that AMD’s ReLive does.

See Also: Best GTX 1070: High-Performance Graphics Card Review

PhysX Support is another great feature that NVIDIA has to give a great effect for gaming scenes be it in a war scene or whatever, also enhancing animation. Yes, AMD also has the support, although it will definitely limp behind what you get with the green team.

Apart from the PhysX support, there are also other similar features that enhance graphics which are all found in Nvidia GameWorks including HairWorks which works to give better graphics by improving hair and fur most especially in animations to provide for advanced simulation.

Price

Just as pointed out above, in the price side of the AMD vs NVIDIA debate, AMD has come to be the queen when affordability is the topic, but when price and performance are placed against each other, the lead of AMD drops significantly with each trying to outwit the other.

Conclusion

At the end of the day, neither the green team nor the red team has built itself to a status of enjoying a fanatical followership. There are certain models in both that are excellent in almost every way possible, just as there are also those that have failed with no apology.

The summary of the whole thing is that a lot can be said in the AMD vs NVIDIA debate, but it will all come down to the fact that while the AMD may be the better one if you are looking at the mid-range and lower end cards, NVIDIA takes charge of things at the top, most especially those looking for 2K or even 4K graphics capabilities.

Tim Flaherty
Tim Flaherty
Tim is our talented senior tech writer and editor, the one who plays music on replay, drinks more coffee than beer, plays video games, and reads poetry. In between, Tim reviews products, write about computers, games, hardware, software, guides, reviews and talk tech and arts. If there is a WWIII, he thinks it could be caused by bad writing.

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