High-End PC Manufacture Ditches AMD Graphics Chips

[clippen05]

Looks like Nvidia paid them off.

Well.. maybe, but their official stance on the matter does make plenty of sense.

Nvidia is miles ahead with their drivers, both the quality of them and the quantity plus the speed of new driver releases is a million times better than AMD.

Nvidia cards do run cooler and their high end cards do perform better.

So, I'm undecided, either Nvidia paid them off and/or pointed out their superiority or they just made a logical choice for a company trying to sell the highest end/best PCs.

But their high-end cards (well only the Titan is faster than its equivalent because AMD doesn't have one yet) are far more expensive.

7970 is cheaper than the GTX 670 and performs MUCH better.

Lol what? The GTX 670 is still one of the best cards on the market. And compared to the 7970, not only is it cheaper, but it IS a better performer. Don't believe me? Check the benchmarks on Passmark.com. The 670 is ranked 7th, while 7970 is ranked 9th. Not that big of a difference between them, but the if you bring in overclocking potential and driver support than the gap widens. And in regards to price... the GTX 670 is $300 while the 7970 is also $300 (On newegg at least) There are rebates for both, but if you count that than the 670 is actually cheaper.

Get your facts straight lol. The only way AMD can compete with Nvidia is by offering free games; they know their hardware isn't gonna sway anyone.

 

[Ferisar]

I'm surprised that companies like these even exist. What kind of PC gamer buys a preconfigured PC? It's a waste of money.

Are you? Are you really?

OT:
I wish I cared, but I don't! Woohoo!

Have my own card, so I'd never buy a pre-built computer with one (if I was going to)

 

[OldNewNewOld]

Wait, AMD overheats?
Since when? If I remember correctly people where making jokes about nvidia burning down houses all over the internet.
Heck, even with the recent fire in their office building people made jokes that nvidia was testing their newest card and it was a success.

 

[Denamic]

I've only had an ATI card for a short time waaaay back, just after I had my Voodoo 2. I had to switch drivers to play different games, and then it overheated and broke down. It lasted all of 4-5 months. After that, my only encounters with AMD cards were through a friend with whom I often had LAN parties with. His games would crash and have graphical artifacts. He got a replacement for his card 3 times in a row, and he had issues with every single one. Then he got a 7950 GT and never touched an AMD card again.

Sufficed to say, AMD don't really have enough of my trust for me to justify spending hundreds of bucks on one of their cards when nVidia hasn't given me a single significant problem in roughly 13 years, other than one defective 8800 GT. And I got a free replacement within a week for that one anyway.

 

[kasperbbs]

I did have some annoying issues with ATI drivers in the past, but they seem to be gone now, well i'll stick with my AMD 6850 Gigabyte card until it burns up or something.

 

[putowtin]

Lets face it, no one picks sides til' they have a problem, every AMD graphics card I've ever had has been a pain, every Nvidia graphics card I've ever had worked, so I like Nvidia, but other folks are gonna feel differently arn't they?

So are Origin being paid off or are they listening to their consumers? I don't know, I do know (after just having a look at their website) that they are bloody expensive!

 

[VladG]

I think the only really valid point is software support. AMD takes too long to roll out drivers. But overheating? That is really down to the manufacturer more so than the AMD chipset. My Sapphire 6850 runs pretty cool in full load (~45 C) with the fan at 70% or less. And it's not noisy. My Gigabyte 6850, which has 2 fans instead of one runs hotter (~60 C) and makes more noise.

And just to be a little petty, I could have literally fried eggs on an old Nvidia card that would routinely go over 90 C. It was within operating parameters, and the card held up for years under the stress, but I've never owned an ATI/AMD card that went anywhere near those temperatures.

As for performance... It's close match-up. Some price points have better AMD cards, some have better Nvidia cards. Except for the Titan, which AMD has so far not really matched, but how many people are actually buying Titans. Realistically, they must have lower tier configs as well.

 

[synobal]

First off, "High-end PC Manufacture" might as well be an oxymoron.

Second, AMD and Nvidia chips are no more prone to failure than one another... the spontaneous combustion of graphics cards tends to be the fault of the card manufacturer rather than the GPU the card is built on. Sounds like "Origin PC" needs to stop using Sapphire cards.

Also, the driver issues with ATI were pretty well solved when ATI stopped being a thing. AMD did a damn good job of whipping 'em into shape... rather like Nvidia did with 3DFX.

Ya I don't understand the problem with ATI cards suddenly, I imagine the decision has a lot more to do with money than anything. Either nvidia is giving them a sweet deal on cards so they can make a bigger margin on the cards so they dropped ATI or some other money related issue is in play here.

 

[bloodyguard]

Looks like Nvidia paid them off.

Well.. maybe, but their official stance on the matter does make plenty of sense.

Nvidia is miles ahead with their drivers, both the quality of them and the quantity plus the speed of new driver releases is a million times better than AMD.

Nvidia cards do run cooler and their high end cards do perform better.

So, I'm undecided, either Nvidia paid them off and/or pointed out their superiority or they just made a logical choice for a company trying to sell the highest end/best PCs.

But their high-end cards (well only the Titan is faster than its equivalent because AMD doesn't have one yet) are far more expensive.

7970 is cheaper than the GTX 670 and performs MUCH better.

Lol what? The GTX 670 is still one of the best cards on the market. And compared to the 7970, not only is it cheaper, but it IS a better performer. Don't believe me? Check the benchmarks on Passmark.com. The 670 is ranked 7th, while 7970 is ranked 9th. Not that big of a difference between them, but the if you bring in overclocking potential and driver support than the gap widens. And in regards to price... the GTX 670 is $300 while the 7970 is also $300 (On newegg at least) There are rebates for both, but if you count that than the 670 is actually cheaper.

Get your facts straight lol. The only way AMD can compete with Nvidia is by offering free games; they know their hardware isn't gonna sway anyone.

Really? REALLY? You don´t use Passmark to grade a video card, you use GAMES and in GAMES the 7970 whoops the 680´s ass and don´t bother looking for reviews done in 2012, drivers change, just look at Linus´s benchmarks on Youtube and to just spare you the minutes, AMD wins every time at every price point, so please, if don´t know what you are talking about, shut up.

 

[ObsidianJones_v1legacy]

I'm surprised that companies like these even exist. What kind of PC gamer buys a preconfigured PC? It's a waste of money.

those of us who didn't go into computers as a career and don't have the time or know where to go to learn how to build one?

If you could point some of us in the direction of learning how to do so, I'm sure I wouldn't be the last person to thank you.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

I'm surprised that companies like these even exist. What kind of PC gamer buys a preconfigured PC? It's a waste of money.

those of us who didn't go into computers as a career and don't have the time or know where to go to learn how to build one?

If you could point some of us in the direction of learning how to do so, I'm sure I wouldn't be the last person to thank you.

That's easy, the internet of course!

Try The Escapists PC Builders and Hardware Group for advice and tips.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/groups/view/PC-Builders-and-Hardware-Group

 

[romxxii]

Really? REALLY? You don´t use Passmark to grade a video card, you use GAMES and in GAMES the 7970 whoops the 680´s ass

Certainly not in Linus' benchmarks, which do not put those cards head to head against each other. At least, from what I've seen on their forums [https://linustechtips.com/main/topic/10692-video-card-showdown/].

and don´t bother looking for reviews done in 2012, drivers change,

You understand the hypocrisy of dismissing 2012 benchmarks for using old drivers, only to drive your point home with a benchmark that uses Q1 2013 drivers? Just to put things into perspective, he runs the Blood Dragon benchmark with 314.22 drivers. We're now at 327.23.

just look at Linus´s benchmarks on Youtube and to just spare you the minutes, AMD wins every time at every price point, so please, if don´t know what you are talking about, shut up.

Actually, even Linus' data shows that certain games run best on Nvidia, certain games run better on AMD. No clear winner, unless you're skewing the data with your own preference. Case in point: Crysis 3 at Very High with AA off, 660 beats 7870. It's even more visible in their 700 series benchmarks, where each card featured wins 3 games apiece. Note that Linus' games are already heavily stacked towards AMD: Metro, BF3, Crysis 3, Bioshock Infinite, and Tomb Raider. I wouldn't call that balanced unless they add Nvidia-optimized games like Arkham City, Skyrim, Civ V, etc.

Personally, I wouldn't put too much stock on just one benchmark. Review multiple benchmarks; if the results are consistent, then you know you've got a winner. Case in point, the 7970GHz Ed rightfully trumps the GTX 680 in most games, seeing as it's a factory-OC'd 7970. That's consistent across multiple reviews from various outlets, all with differing allegiances. Same with the Titan: no single-GPU card beats it, period. At least, until we get official reviews of the R9 290x.

 

[N3squ1ck]

Weird, I am using ATI/AMD cards forever now and I never really run into a problem apart from one: My trusty ATI9800 went up in smoke when it was around 7-8 years old. Or the shitty PSU went bonkas and fried the whole system, I don't know. The graphical errors were the first thing I noticed anyways and the whole PC got swiftly replaced by something with an AMD 6870 which was a good upper-mid range card at the time and still holds up pretty well, I must say.

I don't know where the whole "the drivers are shitty-thing comes from. From a Linux user's perspective the drivers of nvidia GPUs were horrible to unusable for a really long time. ATI was slightly better. Only Intel makes perfect drivers for that system (even open source AFAIK). Hence I'm using an only Intel system on my Laptop

In Windows, which most of the audience of Origin will use, I fail to see a difference, so if any of you who knows more about that, would enlighten me, I would be really happy.

 

[bloodyguard]

snip

I responded to him because he was using synthetics to grade GPU's, thing that nobody does nowadays. In Linus's videos he adds the 7970 and the 680 in later ones and by drivers I mean the Never Settle, which boosted the performance of the whole line-up by a significant amount. Also, he tested mostly Gaming Evolved titles because they were more than the Way It's Meant to be Played ones. And I'm pretty sure I said that AMD beats nVidia in their respective price bracket, so no 7970Ghz vs Titan.

 

[The White Hunter]

I do keep hearing about AMD cards spontaneously combusting. As I understand it they have better performance, but at the cost of durability. With my gaming habits, I should stick with nVidia (as I've done since the fall of 3DFX).

AMD cards, historically, have worse performance than Nvidia cards.

Generally speakin the rule is you get what you pay for. Nvidia cards are more expensive, but they will outperform any AMD card in their price range. However AMD cards usually can be close to the performance of Nvidia cards (though I dont think anythin AMD has can come close to a Titan right now), but for a cheaper price.

If you're fine with payin less, but knowin you're buyin an inferior product, then AMD is for you.

The official 7990 actually beats the Titan iirc, but it's also a dual-GPU card that trades blows with a 690 (also outperforms titan), but both those options are essentially more unstable than the single gpu solution of the TITAN.

In realistic terms the middle ground is where it's lost or won and AMD and Nvidia deal heavy blows in that 200-300 range and have been doing so since around May.

 

[loc978]

First off, "High-end PC Manufacture" might as well be an oxymoron.

Second, AMD and Nvidia chips are no more prone to failure than one another... the spontaneous combustion of graphics cards tends to be the fault of the card manufacturer rather than the GPU the card is built on. Sounds like "Origin PC" needs to stop using Sapphire cards.

Also, the driver issues with ATI were pretty well solved when ATI stopped being a thing. AMD did a damn good job of whipping 'em into shape... rather like Nvidia did with 3DFX.

As Someone who was dumb enough to buy a voodoo 5500 which as far as I can tell never received new first party drivers under Nvidia's ownership I find your argument lacking.

Not that I followed the ATI AMD thing but your past example doesn't fill me with confidence.

If you'll notice, when Nvidia acquired 3DFX, they discontinued the Voodoo series, but appropriated their SLI tech (among other things) to use in upcoming Nvidia chips.

In much the same way, AMD didn't release new drivers for old ATI equipment, but rather developed new chips using their tech, and made better drivers for those.

...and I feel your pain. I ran a Voodoo 3 3500 TV card for years. Lots of promise, lots of digitally recorded TV shows... shitty driver support.

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

Who? I mean really dose it matter if they are barely known? Sounds like a publicity stunt...

 

[briankoontz]

I'm not really surprised someone is complaining about ATI given their track record with keeping their product software up to date. I've been avoiding them because of that, they're just not great for the cash asked.

And <link=http://img5.joyreactor.cc/pics/post/geek-%D0%BF%D0%B5%D1%81%D0%BE%D1%87%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%86%D0%B0-ATI-86865.jpeg>this nicely sums up the problems I've had with ATI cards. We're in agreement.

In other news - McDonald's is awesome and Burger King sucks, and Pepsi is awesome while Coke sucks.

Doesn't everyone know that when there's two leading companies in a product group, one's always way way better than the other? I mean, Tigers way way better than Athletics, amirite?

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

I'm surprised that companies like these even exist. What kind of PC gamer buys a preconfigured PC? It's a waste of money.

those of us who didn't go into computers as a career and don't have the time or know where to go to learn how to build one?

If you could point some of us in the direction of learning how to do so, I'm sure I wouldn't be the last person to thank you.

Well, this place. And Internet forums dedicated to PC gaming. I like the Tek Syndicate. They also have a very entertaining and informative YouTube channel where you can find videos of various PC builds depending on your budget.

 

[lacktheknack]

I'm not really surprised someone is complaining about ATI given their track record with keeping their product software up to date. I've been avoiding them because of that, they're just not great for the cash asked.

And <link=http://img5.joyreactor.cc/pics/post/geek-%D0%BF%D0%B5%D1%81%D0%BE%D1%87%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%86%D0%B0-ATI-86865.jpeg>this nicely sums up the problems I've had with ATI cards. We're in agreement.

In other news - McDonald's is awesome and Burger King sucks, and Pepsi is awesome while Coke sucks.

Doesn't everyone know that when there's two leading companies in a product group, one's always way way better than the other? I mean, Tigers way way better than Athletics, amirite?

Dude, does it surprise you that people who experience a massive quality gap between two products are willing to warn you about it?

This isn't a question of preference, this is a question of "My card performed poorly and I had issues with the drivers, while my card had the decency to work".