Nike vs Adidas.
Apple vs Samsung.
Toyota vs Nissan.
Apple vs. Windows.
There will always be two big brands in any given industry going head to head against one another. Any of these two brands will have steadfast fans and consumers defending the brand too, so new users will often find themselves being torn between one or the other.
And in the GPU market, two brands have built a strong following of users: Nvidia and AMD Radeon, or Radeon for short.
Both AMD GPUs and Nvidia GPUs are strong in their own right. You could even say that a lot of the cards they’re releasing have their own counterparts from the competing brand.
For people buying their first graphics cards for the first time, choosing between either AMD cards or Nvidia cards is a daunting task in itself. Which one’s better? Which one’s the most reliable? Which one’s going to get me through the next few years?
All of these questions and more are valid, but you’ll never get any straight answers from the Internet without any form of bias.
But this is where we come in. Our article will cover the comparison between Nvidia vs Radeon GPUs over different factors.
Nvidia Graphics Cards vs AMD Graphics Cards – Which is Ultimately Better?
Drivers and Software
Graphics card drivers and software matter a lot, and between Nvidia GPUs and AMD GPUs, it’s difficult to choose a clear winner. For example, a lot of people using the AMD RX 5000 Navi series encountered black screen issues but newer drivers have resolved this issue. But most AMD users didn’t even have these issues with their AMD RX 5000. Nvidia graphics cards aren’t exactly error-free with their drivers too.
Every year, AMD brags about their driver overhaul. In 2020, they consolidated everything under the Radeon Adrenalin drivers. This confused a lot of people who were looking for older drivers. AMD cards also release at least one new driver every month, more if there are new game launches. Nvidia GPUs follow the same pattern for their drivers.
But the biggest difference is that Nvidia has two driver interfaces namely the Nvidia Control Panel and the Nvidia GeForce experience. The Nvidia Control Panel handles resolutions and graphics settings while GeForce Experience handles all game optimization, driver management, and other features such as ShadowPlay.
Our pick: We’d say that this is a tie between Nvidia and AMD drivers. We like AMD’s consolidated driver management and Nvidia’s driver software. It’s easy to navigate the Nvidia GeForce Experience because driver updates and game optimization only needs one button.
Pricing and Availability
The last two years were a struggle for AMD and Nvidia graphics cards, mostly because some of the newer models were hyper-inflated due to the Covid-19 Pandemic and further aggravated by semiconductor shortages.
Hoarders and scalpers ultimately drove the MSRPs of some of the more popular cards such as the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3000-series up by as much as 200%. But things are slowly returning to normal now, so we can definitely breakdown pricing and availability properly.
Most of the AMD graphics cards and Nvidia graphics cards are now selling at, or close to, their MSRPs.
As its stands, the best value graphics cards are coming from the AMD side. The AMD RX 6600, 6600XT, 6650XT, RX 6700XT and RX 6750XT have the best FPS to dollar ratio. Nvidia GPUs such as the RTX 3060, RTX 3050, and RTX 3060Ti aren’t bad, but you’re paying more money to come close to AMD’s performance-to-pricing ratio.
Our pick: AMD takes this category as they’re more affordable than their Nvidia counterparts. Availability isn’t an issue for AMD either, mostly because hoarders and scalpers have gone after a lot of Nvidia cards for mining and other purposes.
Gaming Performance
Nvidia graphics cards are solid in terms of performance across the board, but AMD has been giving them a run for their money over the last few years. Now, if you want the best gaming experience possible at 4K and 60FPS, you’re going to want the RTX 3080Ti. It’s the best graphics card in the market right now for those settings.
For 1080p gaming, you can rest easy with either an AMD Radeon RX 5600XT or Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060. If you want the best 1080p gaming experience, an RX 6700XT or RTX 3060Ti will suffice.
Our pick: Again, it’s a tie between AMD cards and Nvidia cards for performance. If you’re eager to get the best bang for your buck, AMD RX 6000-series is a no-brainer. But if money is not an issue, go for the RTX 3080Ti or the RTX 3090Ti for your gaming PC.
Features and Exclusivity
The AMD Radeon RX 6900XT was rumored to be the RTX 3090 killer, but it just wasn’t able to live up to the hype. Still, the AMD Radeon RX 6900XT is a potent AMD GPU that should be a good substitute if you can’t get your hands on an RTX 3090.
AMD has always been known for its consumer-friendly approach when it comes to their technologies. In fact, some of their features can be used on Nvidia graphics cards. But we can’t say the same thing for Nvidia GPUs. Nvidia likes to keep things to itself.
Nvidia has a ton of features that go beyond gaming, and their Nvidia Studio Driver program is a good example. The Nvidia Studio Driver is intended for professionals in the creative industry who want to maximize their Nvidia GPU for photo editing, video editing, and more. You also get Nvidia Broadcast, which is an AI program that easily replaces your video background if you’re in a call. There’s also an AI-powered eye tracking software that makes it look like you’re looking straight at the camera, even though you’re not.
AMD doesn’t provide anything outside of gaming as their graphics cards are all intended to get you the best gaming experience possible.
Our pick: Between AMD vs Nvidia, we’re going to have to go with the latter. Nvidia wins just because it has more features for both gaming and productivity-related tasks.
Power Consumption and Efficiency
Nvidia used to be the king of power consumption, but now, AMD is slowly tipping the scales. AMD’s Navi and Big Navi changed AMD’s overall power efficiency and consumption by using chips built with TSM’s 7nm FinFET process. Newer AMD cards have a new architecture that allows for 50% better performance per watt, made possible by Navi.
But Nvidia doesn’t back down with their Ampere architecture as it’s more capable of higher clocks for PC gaming and more. Nvidia’s older graphics cards hold a huge margin over their AMD counterparts, but the newer generations aren’t far apart from each other.
In terms of extreme performance, AMD Radeon RX 6700XT uses more power than the RTX 3060Ti, but a bit less than the RTX 3070. Between the RX 6600XT, RTX 3060, and RTX 3050, the power consumption is evenly close.
Our pick: AMD and Nvidia are solidly tied for this category because there really isn’t a huge discrepancy in power consumption between the two brands. For building your gaming PC on a tighter budget, just go for the power supply unit that’s capable of powering through an RTX 3080Ti or Radeon 6700XT even though you don’t need either.
Bottom Line
So, Nvidia graphics card and AMD graphics card, which is better?
Both GPU manufacturers and their graphics cards aren’t far apart from one another in terms of raw performance and gaming performance. If you’re reading this as an AMD fan, then AMD wins but not by a huge margin. Same for being an Nvidia fan as Nvidia wins hands down.
Radeon cards and Nvidia’s RTX cards are easily found on the market, but it boils down to how available they are in your area and what your needs are. Do you need a card that can handle ray tracing? Then Nvidia remains to be a solid pick, but AMD support for ray tracing is just as excellent.
Do you just want a graphics card for gaming but not want to spend a lot of money? Then AMD should be able to plow through a graphically demanding game with ease.