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Once and for all, is it OK to buy AMD for a mid-high range gaming PC?

notseqi

Gold Member
Hi GAF.

I've just finished building a new PC (7800X3D, 32 GB of RAM, 4 TB SSD, Omen gaming monitor...). The only missing part is the GPU and I don't know what to do...

I heard the rumors about the 8800XT cards and I really like what I see. I don't feel OK with spending 1200+ dollars on a gaming accessory, so maybe that supposed 700 dollars GPU could work for me?

I'm not into the latest of the latest, the most recent games I want to play with this PC is Cyberpunk, Diablo IV and whatever Sony launches and it seems that card should be more than OK, if we take a look at current AMD GPU's benchmarks.

But there's the thing with AMD drivers. Are it still garbage? As I said, I don't mind if the drivers are not absolutely up to date with the latest games (which seems to be still a problem).

Am I OK buying AMD? Besides gaming, the other "not Chrome" task I plan to do is edit video with DaVinci, which seems to be a perfect fit for AMD OpenCL implementation.

So tell me GAF, do you recommend AMD or better stay away from it?
Drivers are fine. Using a 7900GRE rn and had a Vega56 before, never had any troubles since 2019. Think the driver thing is shitposting by now.
Cyberpunk is cruising at 1440p (with a 5600x) and the fans turn on after about 10minutes, not worried for upcoming games.
 

SolidQ

Gold Member
FPS killer and the visual improvement is close to nothing I just don’t stare at water puddles or light hitting a wall while I’m playing a game
Same, hard to notice difference without screens, especially when you playing game instead looking into at puddles or any reflection, but for fun with light Rt like RE4 is ok, where a lot fps
 

Celcius

°Temp. member
nvidia's just too far ahead at this point imho, I'd choose them every time personally
But yes your games will still run if you pick AMD
 
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rm082e

Member
I hate that I keep buying Nvidia, but every time I go to upgrade I compare the options and come to the same conclusion:

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SonGoku

Member
FPS killer and the visual improvement is close to nothing I just don’t stare at water puddles or light hitting a wall while I’m playing a game
I used to think the same until i tried in real time with a RTX 4070 which can surprisingly max out RT in games path tracing including once you use DLSS.
Games without it feel more gamey and outdated
nvidia's just too far ahead at this point imho, I'd choose them every time personally
But yes your games will still run if you pick AMD
There are budget targets below $500 where AMD is ahead because nvidia offerings are utter trash below 4070
 
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SHA

Member
Hi GAF.

I've just finished building a new PC (7800X3D, 32 GB of RAM, 4 TB SSD, Omen gaming monitor...). The only missing part is the GPU and I don't know what to do...

I heard the rumors about the 8800XT cards and I really like what I see. I don't feel OK with spending 1200+ dollars on a gaming accessory, so maybe that supposed 700 dollars GPU could work for me?

I'm not into the latest of the latest, the most recent games I want to play with this PC is Cyberpunk, Diablo IV and whatever Sony launches and it seems that card should be more than OK, if we take a look at current AMD GPU's benchmarks.

But there's the thing with AMD drivers. Are it still garbage? As I said, I don't mind if the drivers are not absolutely up to date with the latest games (which seems to be still a problem).

Am I OK buying AMD? Besides gaming, the other "not Chrome" task I plan to do is edit video with DaVinci, which seems to be a perfect fit for AMD OpenCL implementation.

So tell me GAF, do you recommend AMD or better stay away from it?
Amd for 60fps, Nvidia for 120+fps, keep that in mind.
 

Griffon

Member
I've got no allegiance, sometimes using AMD cards, sometimes using Nvidia cards.

They're pretty much the same.
The only real important difference is DLSS, it's up to you to decide how much of a price hike it is worth.
 

SmokedMeat

Gamer™
Depends on the price, and importance of Ray tracing to you.

If Ray tracing matters then buy Nvidia

If not and you can get a sweet deal on a 7900XT or 7900XTX then it’s worth it. You'll get better performance versus Nvidia’s comparably priced cards. Hell, you’ll find they beat Nvidia’s higher tier cards too sometimes.

Driver updates are often, and they have great undervolting/overclocking software.

Do your own research though. Asking GAF if they’d take Nvidia is like asking a bunch of fatties if they like McDonalds.
 
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JayK47

Member
AMD duo over here. Not too bad. I have been using AMD exclusively for a long while now. Just seems to be more bang for the buck.
 

Crayon

Member
AMD's are good after a year or two when the price drops. The prices on late models are too high.
 

poppabk

Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
Why would you even consider at this point? Nvidia has access to all AMD software tech like FSR as well as a ton of exclusive features and 100x better raytracing performance. It’s like buying an Xbox over a ps5 in the year 2024.
And gimped Vram. I am so glad I didn't spend the extra $100 to get a 3070 over the 6900XT I got.
 

Justin9mm

Member
You can build an AMD gaming PC but always go NVIDIA for GPU.. It's just better all round. FSR is terrible and yes the drivers are still garbage! DLSS is where it's at! There is a reason why NVIDIA is more popular and why they price gouge.
 
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I'm using a high end AMD rig (7800X3D + 7900XTX) without any issues, the reason I picked an AMD GPU is because I don't care much about using Upscalers right now. I bought the 7900XTX for OpenBox deal for 780€, I needed to upgrade my rig but didn't want to put 1200€ for a 4080 Super
 

Xyphie

Member
Nothing really wrong with 7800XT/7900GRE/7900XT or something like that. But I think it's kinda weird to shell out like $2000 getting top-of-the-line parts in every other regard and then cheap out on the last $100 getting a 7900 XT instead of a 4070 Ti Super.
 

Haint

Member
I don’t think there's any reality where an 8800XT is going to be a better buy than a 5070 or 5070Ti. Nvidia's feature set is just objectively and inarguably vastly superior, full stop, no discussion to be had. You would have to be retarded to give up DLSS and their RT pipeline to gain 5% raster or save $50.
 
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Bojji

Gold Member
most != all. Listen mlid podcast with ancient

All my problems were driver related, I know my shit - I modded systems, games and other stuff - in the old days (2007 lol) most games required user input to even run on Vista/Win7. They have ton of bugs there and still unfixed problems in a lot of games:



I like AMD graphics cards and drivers look good, interface is nice etc. but people should be prepared to have more problems vs. nvidia. This is reality.
 

manfestival

Member
The AMD drivers are mostly fine. I had a 6800xt from around launch till earlier this year when I got a 4090. The experience I had with the 6800xt was excellent. Consistently had better performance over my buddies that had the 3080 during that time frame with similar specs and some with even faster CPUs.
Prior to my 6800xt I had a 2080 and that experience was pretty awful. Just think I won the silicon lottery in the bad way. Drivers were kinda busted for the 20 series in general as well since my buddies with the 2080ti also had lots of issues.

Most people seem to be living in the stone ages regarding AMD GPUs and it even still kinda plays a part in their CPU choices to a degree as well. Throughout my life I went between all of the gaming brands for CPU/GPU. I am inclined to believe that it is user(skill) issue most of the time(I will make up a number and say 75%). Everyone I know that has the 7900 xt or the 7900xtx seem to be having fantastic experiences. Mine with the 4090 has been a top tier experience however I do have that disgusting lingering thought about the cable burning my GPU in the back of my mind. Which really sucks and shouldn't be a thing but hey it is.
 

ap_puff

Member
I've used an AMD GPU for about 2 years now. No driver issues, although my card couldn't take a whole lot of undervolting compared to others. I think there are things to be aware of though, first of all RDNA3 has issues with multi monitor setups where it consumes a lot of power (80-100w) when idling and both/all 3 displays are different resolutions and have high refresh rates. I would say, below $800 an AMD GPU is perfectly acceptable (and preferable especially for the more generous VRAM) for gaming. But if you want the best, it's still nvidia. FSR looks like dog shit in most games, and while you can run XESS for some improvement to image quality it runs worse and still doesn't look that good. Especially noticeable at 1440p or below, basically unusable in most games. Black Myth Wukong actually has a decent implementation, but most other games I've tried it in just look like a shimmery mess.
 
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