I know Intel is dipping its toe into the GPU market, but let’s be real, AMD and nVidia are the only options and have been for the last 20+ years. The manufacturers/assemblers of the complete graphics cards are varied and widespread, but the core tech comes from two companies only.
Why is this the case? Or am I mistaken and am just brainwashed by marketing, and there are in fact other viable options for GPUs?
Cheers!
I run Linux on my PC with a 3090 and my server running Debian oldstable has a 1070Ti.
The proprietary driver works ok. Nouveau is a valiant effort but isnt very useful. I personally can’t imagine having an AMD GPU and not being able to play games or do ML or have NVENC for transcoding (e.g. in JF docker)/video editing, AMD is just not a serious company in the GPU space sadly.
Proper competition is sorely needed. Such a shame too, because I’m quite glad to never have to buy an Intel CPU ever again and deal with their ass backwards ecosystem, it would be cool if AMD could pull off such a comeback for GPUs.
Edit: idk what the fuck is wrong with you people for down voting and simping for shit GPUs. The multi-billion dollar company doesn’t care. Stop defending them for shit products and stop attacking me just because I want to play video games once in a blue moon, jesus!
And when I say play games, I think it implies that I mean play games not at 1366x768 AI upscaled frame generated whatever settings but with Path Tracing on proper max settings, or play games on a small portable, which is cool but no replacement for a proper home setup.
Not being able to play games? Not serious? What the hell are you talking about? Did you compare a 3090 to a bottom tier ATI Radeon card or something? My RX 6800 was a fucking champ that was able to run everything I threw at it without a single problem and with quite satisfactory performance at 1440p. It was most definitely a very competent GPU for gaming.
ML and nvenc are extra features that not everyone needs or even wants.
Maybe I’m misinformed, but can the RX 6800 do Path Tracing in CP2077 at 1440p native/~30fps or at least on DLSS Quality or even FSR Quality (in both upscalers cases with Ray Reconstruction and no frame generator ofc).
Can any AMD GPU do that at all, at a better price to performance point?
Because I was under the impression that basically no AMD cards can do practically any substantial RT of any kind, and that’s why it’s either missing on consoles or borderline unnoticeable and often confined to reflections where it’s pretty useless.
I just briefly looked it up, and all I could find was someone on steam discussions with an 79xx XTX card talking about the old timey simple Ray Tracing being “possible” at 1080p in cyberpunk on steam discussions. Granted there were some videos that looked promising but I steer clear of YT and reddit.
And as for features you don’t need, idk, to me if I have to buy a GPU, might as well get one that should be able to do more things rather than less for the money. I didn’t even play video games much when I got my 3090 years ago during summer 2021 for like $400 used from CeX, but I’m glad I got something that can, and something that can encode video well, whether it’s recording, editing and rendering gaming footage to share with friends, or transcoding media on a server, or do ML (eg for self hosting Immich).
If I were to buy a GPU now, i’d look at all features, even if I don’t want those things now, I’d ofc want them later, and for that - why would you choose an inferior option?
A RX 6800? Yes, in fact I was playing CP2077 with FSR and ray tracing on at 4K on a 6800. It was the first real card AMD had that could. Though it did struggle at times.
Sadly replaced after 4 years with a RX9060 of similar capability but better Ray tracing.
AMD cards are only about 2-3 years behind NVIDIA in a lot of specialised tasks, but trying to pace the behemoth that is NVIDIA’s RnD with a much smaller budget. ROCm works but is held up by compatibility issues with the newer CUDA features.
Ray tracing? No no, I said Path Tracing.
Hmm. I’ve decided I don’t like you.
It feels like you’re setting an artificially high goal purely to make challenging your assirtion impossible. I’m not even sure a 3090 can do path tracing. 40/5090, maybe they can.
Could an AMD card do it? Yes. RX 7900 possibly, a theoretical RX 9090 could if they bothered to release one.
But none of that matters really. Never has.
Yes, a 3090 can do Path Tracing, that’s why I’m asking for one. It’s not a artificially high goal - it’s how I play one of my favourite games of all time - CP2077.
Obviously both the 4090 and 5090 can do that too and better, but that’s essentially out of reach for mere mortals, and even if it weren’t it’s not enough of an upgrade to really justify the massive price tag.
Still, If I were to get a new GPU, I wouldn’t want a graphical downgrade, ideally an upgrade since y’know, that’s what matters in price to value of computer components, and AMD can’t provide so they’re not a serious option. CPUs on the other hand? Hell yeah I’m 100% AMD, but that’s because they have a serious competitive offering in the 9800X3D.
Maybe to you gaming performance doesn’t matter when buying a gaming computer, in which case that’s your opinion and it’s ok, but it’s safe to say it matters to the rest of us.
lol “not being able to run games” have you heard of a little thing called the steam deck?
Or indeed the PS5 which runs AMD chips.
And runs the few games it does have pretty poorly, all things considered.
Runs it better than any PC costing a similar amount.
You can barely get an entry level GPU for that.
This is nonsense and, frankly, sounds like guerrilla marketing for nvidia.
All things considered, I can play any game I want on the steam deck, which has an old SoC by today’s standards. A newer AMD gpu can run anything at max settings on a linux machine.
So again, either you are grossly misinformed or working for nvidia to sew gentle doubt. Either way, stop it.
Do you not play many games? Good luck playing CP2077 with PT or heck even MSFS2020 at good (read: max) settings on 1440p.
The deck is great but I can’t even run NMS on high settings on it.
I have a steam deck. It’s a portable, it’s really cool for what it is but as a main gaming system it can’t exactly compete visually nor performance wise with being able to run Path Tracing in CP2077 for instance, which I’d say is borderline required to enjoy the game’s visuals.
It’s like comparing the PS3 and the PSP or the N64 and the Gameboy Color. Both are cool, one doesn’t replace the other nor does it have to.
the point was about “not being able to game on amd”
yeah duh mobile chips are less performant, but still forza horizon 4–5 runs better on my steam deck than on my desktop pc with a 2080rtx in linux
Why would I game on shit settings when I can game on good settings for the same/less money?
i’m not sure if you meant like deck vs desktop, but if so, because the deck is a handheld, you can play anywhere
At the same resolution?
i think you probably meant it the other way, can the deck run it in 1080p, but i just tried it in 720p on my desktop and it’s still choppy, although it does make the average fps higher.
also it’s not unplayable, it’s annoying just annoying, and the knowledge that on windows it can do stable 60 fps with “maximum” settings (that’s below “ultra” and “extreme”) in 1080p
also also, this is a “special” thing, most games run just as smoothly as on windows, forzas, and the “new” mafia games are the few exceptions out of my 1000+ games library
Sorry, I needed to vote negatively your comment due to the false information. Nothing personal, just keeping the house clean
What false information?
AMD gpus are inside in Xbox and ps5, without taking into account the handhelds like steam deck.
For the ML is usually better to use amd cards because they use to have more vram, and many many models can be trained using amd.
And about the transcoding comment I will bother myself ait it.
In summary, tells me you don’t have any clue without telling me you don’t have any clue
AMD cards are not really better than Nvidia cards at anything. That’s not being a “shill”, it’s just the truth. They’re cheaper and easier to find in stock, that’s about it.
AMD are not better than Nvidia -> sure
I prefer Nvidia than AMD for everything -> perfect, it is your opinion and a respetable one
With AMD you can not do AAA gaming, ML or just transcoding -> a lie, simply, nothing more to add
And I will ignore the sentence about AMD not being a serious company because it is too absurd to discuss
I anytime you think you’re replying to someone else as I’ve said none of those things other than the first.
Yep, sorry, my mistake, I confused you with another user