25.10.2024
164
Today we'll focus on AMD Radeon graphics cards, which, although less well-known than NVIDIA GeForce, are no less interesting and competitive. It's not easy to convince a supporter of another brand, but we have some strong arguments that deserve attention and are backed up by concrete facts.
It's hard to fight with the monopolist Nvidia, so AMD has to lower prices to attract customers. The cost of graphics cards of the same class from both manufacturers has always differed in AMD's favour. As a rule, Radeon GPUs have higher gaming performance, and sometimes even much higher. The price drop is strongly felt after one and a half two years, shops offer AMD Radeon graphics cards with significant discounts, but the graphics cards are still very modern and ‘pull’ all games. As long as the demand for Nvidia graphics cards remains high, shops maintain high prices, while the cost of AMD Radeon graphics cards may decrease due to less interest in them. That's why it's almost always better to buy AMD.
AMD Radeon graphics cards typically have a larger amount of video memory than competitors in their class. For the same price, you can buy an Nvidia GPU card with 16GB of VRAM or a Radeon card with 24GB of VRAM. The 16GB RX6800 has direct competitors such as the 8GB RTX 3070 and 12GB RX 6700 XT versus the 8GB RTX 3060 Ti. This suggests that it could provide a serious advantage in AAA games not optimised for consoles, especially Ultra HD resolution games.
AMD Radeon software is open source and talented developers are encouraged to make improvements. For this reason, Radeon is highly valued by Linux enthusiasts who prefer the freedom of not being tied to a hardware manufacturer. AMD has no monopoly on this technology, so FSR can be used with any manufacturer's graphics cards of any generation. This is also convenient for owners of GTX series cards, which until recently ranked high in Steam stats. AMD Full Motion Frame Generator, which works at the driver level, also appeared recently and has already become a favourite of Radeon graphics card owners. The technology is still not perfect and can be annoying at times, but in some games the smoothness can be really good. The Radeon software has been developed by subject matter experts from around the world who are actively working to eliminate unreliable or problematic nomenclature. While there is still a lot of work to be done, it is encouraging to see significant progress in FSR scaling and driver stability.
It's been a long time since any company has developed AAA video games for PCs that were ported exclusively to consoles running on AMD's heavy-duty APUs. For this reason, many console games run well on AMD Radeon cards and perform better than Nvidia products. To be fair, there is an important nuance to note. This rule is almost always associated with under-optimised games that have not been given enough attention and have not been fully optimised for PC. For projects that are not properly optimised, gamers may find that Radeon graphics cards are more suited to console ports.
APUs from AMD offer the best performance for both gaming and gameplay, which is why many users kit out their PCs with integrated graphics, with AMD leading the way. This is all great, but at some point gamers will need more powerful graphics for their new AAA projects. In this case they will have to switch to another solution: APU and graphics card drivers are the same, so the installation of AMD Radeon GPU is as easy as possible. All the necessary software is already installed on your computer, so all you have to do is plug the graphics card in and get to work.
The new 16-pin connector for Nvidia graphics cards disappointed many owners of old power supplies. Most RTX 4000 models will need new cables in the future. Low-quality adapters bought from dodgy websites can have incorrect specifications and overheat, often with unpredictable results. This isn't a problem, as AMD has always been able to connect graphics cards using standard 8-pin cables: the flagship AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX has two 8-pin connectors on the entry-level version and three on the high-end version.
In case of problems, the friendly AMD Radeon community is always ready to help. Most owners of these graphics cards are very computer literate consumers. Communication in Radeon fan groups tends to be more active than in similar GeForce communities because there are very few computers with AMD Radeon cards, and a small minority always get together to communicate at a higher level. They are always ready to troubleshoot, advise on which video card to buy next, which processor to choose, and so on. This small but friendly community is fiercely opposed to Nvidia's monopoly and welcomes all new members. They will also teach you how to create previews, enable driver-level frame generators, AMD Anti-Lag and other interesting options for AMD Adrenaline graphics cards, as well as optimisations for Radeon graphics cards that the average gamer doesn't even know about.
Conclusion
AMD Radeon is not just a budget alternative to NVIDIA, but graphics cards with impressive features and advantages that make them worthy competitors. More memory, open technologies, console and community compatibility create compelling reasons to choose an AMD graphics card. With each passing year, AMD continues to improve its products, making them more appealing to both experienced gamers and those looking for reliable and affordable solutions for their PCs.
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