AMD vs Nvidia? (Questions about AMD & R9 290)

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Arcane Trooper

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Dec 4, 2014
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Currently I have a Nvidia graphics card and I have been wanting to upgrade. My best bet at this point is to go for a 290, which I wouldn't mind doing with its great performance, but I had a few questions first:
I was wondering, what is the experience like for AMD users software-wise? I know for Nvidia, GeForce Experience is really killer with its shadow play and with its ability to automatically update drivers and optimize games. Also, I use tools such as MSI's Afterburner and Gaming App, and I wouldn't want to lose those.
Also (this may be a dumb question but I'm still curious), can you use GeForce Experience's game optimizer and shadow play (I assume not) and MSI's Afterburner and Gaming App on AMD cards?
Lastly, how does the extra heat and noise affect your system? I have a power supply that would easily sustain the card, but I was wondering if the noise was much more noticeable and the heat much more 'devastating' on total system heat and performance.
Thanks for all the help. Cheers!

Edit: My usage for the graphics card is just gaming really. Not mining or rendering, etc.
 
Solution
C
The r9 290 is designed to run at higher temperatures. Chances are your heat output would increase. As for software wise, there are several applications on AMD's side that could make it easier to optimize games, one of them being a raptr app. But when updating drivers, as far as I'm aware and have done, you'll still need to uninstall before reinstalling.

MSi afterburner is universal and available to be used on anything as far as I know.
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Calnin

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Dec 28, 2013
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The r9 290 is designed to run at higher temperatures. Chances are your heat output would increase. As for software wise, there are several applications on AMD's side that could make it easier to optimize games, one of them being a raptr app. But when updating drivers, as far as I'm aware and have done, you'll still need to uninstall before reinstalling.

MSi afterburner is universal and available to be used on anything as far as I know.
 
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manez

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Feb 12, 2014
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Regarding noise, as long as you go with one of the better aftermarket coolers it will not be a problem, only the AMD reference coolers suck.

While the maximum power consumption difference between the r9 290 and the gtx 780 is about 100w in favour of the nvidia, the average power consumption is still about the same. So depending on which generation of nvidia gpus you upgrade you might not even see a difference.

The r9 3xx cards are due to be released in Q2 2015, and the leaked images gives claim to a large performance boost, so you might want to wait for that if you're able.
 
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XxiiaanN

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Sep 30, 2012
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Like Calnin said, Raptr is pretty much AMD's equivalent of GeForce Experience. There's no automatic driver updater, but at the very least Raptr notifies you if there's a new update (you can opt in and out of betas in the settings) and can download and start the installation for you.

As far as Shadowplay goes, Raptr can also be used as streaming+recording software that utilizes the GPU instead of the CPU, the difference being that Raptr can use both Nvidia and AMD GPUs (no idea on Intel). Last time I checked, the performance hit you get on AMD cards was slightly worse than Nvidia+Shadowplay, and if you had a Nvidia card, you were better off using Shadowplay all together.

On the topic of heat & noise, as long as you don't buy a card with a stock cooler, you should be fine.
 
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