Which GPU should I go for: NVIDIA or AMD?

[Spacebit]

I will be using WIndows 7 for years to come, and I do not care about DirectX 12 or Windows 10. Initially I was eyeing the GTX960, but looks like Nvidia drivers are nothing but trouble these days with their 'game ready' drivers (brother has laptop with Nvidia).

 

[hang-the-9]

Laptop drivers and cards are not the same as desktop ones, they are a lot harder to work with due to switchable graphics options and also full support being only provided by the laptop vendor not nVidia. Many people with laptop graphics issue get them after upgrading to a newer operating system and/or newer drivers not from the laptop vendor.

As far as what brand to pick, it depends on budget, games, resolution, your existing system, CPU, power supply, etc... Overall, AMD has better products for the price, nVidia has lower power needs. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-gpus,4380.html just ignore the pricing they list, it's off by quite a bit in many of the card.

 

[PatrioticPickle]

hang-the-9 is correct, the drivers for desktop graphics cards are completely different to those of a laptop graphics cards.

The GTX 960 is a great card (especially the 4gb version) but depending on the pricing in your country, I'd also be looking at a R9 380 4gb card. I haven't looked at these cards too much but from what I've seen the price is nearly identical and the 380 beats out the 960 in most games.

I'd personally go for a MSI 4gb R9 380 as it has a backplate, which provides greater cooling and makes the card feel better quality (also not to mention it looks way better in your system!)

But which ever you choose out of these 2. Be sure to get the 4gb card as it is certainly worth it.

If you want to learn more about the comparison of these 2 cards check out this thread. http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2687322/gtx-960-380.html

 

[PatrioticPickle]

The gtx 960 is aimed at the normal 1080p gaming market (not with texture packs etc),
especially with a lower watts power supply.
4 gig of ram does not work well on it because of the 128 bit ram bus, it was never designed for more than mainstream 1080p gaming.
The r9-380 4gb, tho absolutely maxed out tech wise is a better card all round.
It needs another 100+ watts on the power supply, so if you do not have a power supply unit with the chops to run it your options are limited.

the 380 needs 70w more on the PSU, not 100+ (GTX 960 TDP = 120w R9 380 TDP = 190w)

 

[PatrioticPickle]

Patriotic, the maths doesnt stack up like that.
The total power requirement is subject to load factoring for inductive loads (start up inrush currents) and other variables.
Otherwise,gtx960 sli would be the normal requirement plus 120 watts would it not? (520?)
It isnt of course, and that is why A.M.D. recommend a 500 watt supply, some sites recommend a 550 watt supply, and I would recommend nothing less than a tier 2 550 watt supply for an r9-380.
Short story is, no matter how good your arithmetic, the people at the gpu manufacturer know a smidge more about it than you do so follow their recommendations.

https://youtu.be/NTpNZEW31G0?t=5m9s

Totally need 100+ extra watts for the 380

 

[PatrioticPickle]

I dont understand your point.
What has an asian reviewer on you tube have to do with electronics?

Because he has actually tested both of these cards, and has checked the total power draw from his system with there being fuck all difference between the consumption of the 2 cards, therefore making your statement of 100+ Watt difference between the 2 cards invaild. And that you don't need 550w PSU to pull the R9 380

I was also unaware that you are a more credible source than someone with 180,000 + subs that has actually tested these cards in person.

 

[Suzuki@1473780084@1473780163]

The manufacturer recommend a higher watt because there are a lot of bad psus out there. 550 is overkill for a r9 380.

r9 380 = 198W at the socket, meaning thats 158.4W from the power supply itself, if it is a 80% efficient (any bronze really).

an r9 380 system (all components), is hardly even pulling 300W total at the wall, so the psu would just be pulling 240W. therefore 550W is beyond overkill, even for overclocking.

look for the correct (or enough) amount of amps on the +12V rail, and make sure the power supply quality is high enough.

edit: looking at the video, we have to assume thats measured at the socket, so

371 * .8 = 296.8

from the power supply. so technically, if the quality is high enough, a 300W PSU would suffice. i dont know of any, but highest quality would then be a 400-430W.

 

[Suzuki@1473780084@1473780163]

theres a higher chance of a higher watt psu to be compatible with x graphics cards, thts why they do it. a lot of cheap psus lie about amps, so its safer this way. nvidia and amd have been doing it for a long time.

 

[Suzuki@1473780084@1473780163]

how am i guessing. i just answered the question. its not hard to calculate how much a system pulls from the psu, as opposed to the wall. you dont have to know anything about electronics to do the math on that. spikes, etc, are not an issue with quality psus, if people say they are, theyre wrong, and thats guessing.

 

[Suzuki@1473780084@1473780163]

even if components decay over time. if the quality is high enough, then it will be good enough. all power supplies can fail, for no reason at all, even 6 months later. i personally wouldnt run a psu at max all the time, but its still wrong to say that a 550w is minimum, its safer, but not required. typically, people buy/people recommend a higher watt psu so that itll run silent, because near max, the fan will be noisy. a lot of people even get a 750w for a single gpu system, just because there are psus were the fans never turn on.

 

[Spacebit]

Hi all again, OP here. I went through all the posts and sorry I didn't mention my specs earlier.
Xeon E3 1245 V3 3.4GHz
ASUS H97M-E
2x 8GB G.Skill 1600MHz
Seasonic 550W 80+ Gold
Samgsung Evo 850 128GB SSD, HP 1TB HDD

I am aware that R9 380 draws more power than 960. I just wanted to know which of AMD and Nvidia is more stable in terms of Windows 7/DirectX 11. I hate experimenting with driver versions.