Switching To Nvidia

[dave1029]

Can someone tell me basically what this entails. I know that Nvidia offers some features that AMD doesn't. Not just gameworks for titles that support it, but control panel features and G-Sync. I've used AMD for a long time, but it just seems like every game I'm into these days is a stupid gameworks title so it's only natural for me to switch. Love AMD though. Great bang for the buck. What am I getting by switching to Nvidia beyond just gameworks I guess is a better question. Thanks.

 

[Cerb]

Get the driver. Shut down. Change cards. Install driver. Play. Get used to the control panel being at the bottom of the desktop right-click menu, instead of the top. If anything seems amiss, use a driver remover, and repeat that stage (this is awfully rare in Windows 7 or newer, though, when changing vendors).

But, TBH, very few Geforce-optimized title perform poorly on Radeons, so unless there are other reasons, I don't see the point, if you've been happy with the AMD cards.

 

[dave1029]

It's just frustrating having every single game I play have features that I can't enjoy simply because I chose AMD. I'm not switching because of that though, I need more Vram for 4k gaming. I'm just going team green this next round. Got my eyes on that titan x.

 

[Tuna-Fish]

Unless you are desperate for a card right now, wait until AMD releases it's new stuff in June.

Even if you definitely want to go team green, if the new card is any good you might see some serious discounts.

 

[KingFatty]

I recall NVidia having some really nice customization features for defining custom display resolutions, e.g., when you want to define an extra wide aspect ratio for your display that includes black bars across the top and bottom of the display.

 

[dave1029]

Unless you are desperate for a card right now, wait until AMD releases it's new stuff in June.

Even if you definitely want to go team green, if the new card is any good you might see some serious discounts.

Have they confirmed that the 3xx series is releasing in June? I've done a little research and all I've heard is that that is only speculation. Please correct me if I'm wrong though, cause that will definitely mean a price drop for the Titan X.

 

[Tapoer]

AFAIK, there are no gamework features that don't work on AMD GPU, they might run slower than a similar (performance) Nvidia GPU though.

Only games with GPU accelerated PhysX can limit your experience, since on AMD they have to run on the CPU which can be very slow and unplayable, although you can always choose to deactivate the advanced physx effects. For some these effects actually kill the emersion because they are overdone.

Freesync monitors should be cheaper and have the same funcionalities than a G-Sync monitor, so I don't see an advantage here.

 

[LTC8K6]

Have they confirmed that the 3xx series is releasing in June? I've done a little research and all I've heard is that that is only speculation. Please correct me if I'm wrong though, cause that will definitely mean a price drop for the Titan X.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=37392025&postcount=1479

It might be correct.

 

[n0x1ous]

Adaptive vsync for most of us non Gsync/FS monitor owners. Custom resolution and overclocking of monitors built in without need for 3rd party utilities. Overall more polish and more frequent updates but much less bang for the buck

 

[dave1029]

AFAIK, there are no gamework features that don't work on AMD GPU, they might run slower than a similar (performance) Nvidia GPU though.

Only games with GPU accelerated PhysX can limit your experience, since on AMD they have to run on the CPU which can be very slow and unplayable, although you can always choose to deactivate the advanced physx effects. For some these effects actually kill the emersion because they are overdone.

Freesync monitors should be cheaper and have the same funcionalities than a G-Sync monitor, so I don't see an advantage here.

I'll cite Far Cry 4... There's a graphical option that is supposed to simulate real looking fur for the animals. It's a gameworks option. Well if I turn that on and look at an animal, my framerate is cut in half. Literally.

 

[Puffnstuff]

Uninstall the amd gpu driver then shut down and swap the cards out. Once you reboot install the current nvidia driver.

 

[TemjinGold]

Have they confirmed that the 3xx series is releasing in June? I've done a little research and all I've heard is that that is only speculation. Please correct me if I'm wrong though, cause that will definitely mean a price drop for the Titan X.

CEO confirmed that it is releasing Q2.

 

[sxr7171]

It's just frustrating having every single game I play have features that I can't enjoy simply because I chose AMD. I'm not switching because of that though, I need more Vram for 4k gaming. I'm just going team green this next round. Got my eyes on that titan x.

The Titan X is a sweet card. However, I will admit a lot of the gameworks features are not as great as cracked up to.

For example TXAA is broken on Far Cry 4. PCSS looks good but the performance is too large in some games and in the case of GTA V the in built soft shadows run better and look very similar.

It really depends on the game and your settings. If you are running 4k, even on a Titan X, you may find yourself disabling some of the gameworks effects to get closer to 60fps. I often do.

However, I'm a huge fan of DSR (which I believe you have on AMD cards with a different name) and of MFAA. MFAA gives you a level of temporal AA without the blurring of TXAA.

 

[boozzer]

Unless you are desperate for a card right now, wait until AMD releases it's new stuff in June.

Even if you definitely want to go team green, if the new card is any good you might see some serious discounts.

best advice ever.

 

[Tuna-Fish]

Have they confirmed that the 3xx series is releasing in June? I've done a little research and all I've heard is that that is only speculation. Please correct me if I'm wrong though, cause that will definitely mean a price drop for the Titan X.

Yes, in the financial analyst day they stated that they would release in Q2, which ends on July 1st.

Since directly lying to their investors could put them personally in prison, you can probably treat that date as pretty definitive.

 

[3DVagabond]

Have they confirmed that the 3xx series is releasing in June? I've done a little research and all I've heard is that that is only speculation. Please correct me if I'm wrong though, cause that will definitely mean a price drop for the Titan X.

Titan cards have been $1K since release and have never seen a price cut. There will likely be some kind of cut down version to combat the 390 (980 ti?)

 

[Hi-Fi Man]

If you're into tweaking driver settings deeply Nvidia Inspector is a great tool for this. It provides GPU-Z functionality, built-in overclocking, and best of all extensive driver tweaking.

An example of the driver tweaking includes setting AA flags for certain games to enable MSAA or SGSSAA or to change the way AA is applied. SLI settings and flags can also be controlled. Even frame limiting can be used. Nvidia drivers have a lot of features that normally aren't exposed to the NV control panel interface. Nvidia Inspector allows you to change all of these hidden settings.

I believe Radeon users have something similar (RadeonPro IRC). Not sure if it's as extensive though.

More features include PhysX, MFAA, FXAA (buit-in), CSAA (variation of MSAA), SGSSAA, Quincunx AA (don't laugh it's still there), adaptive Vysnc, Gsync, HBAO+, shadercache, in depth custom resolution creation.

 

[Silverforce11]

I used to think the same as the OP, with so many games being GameWorks running poorly on AMD for the first few months of their launch.. it makes sense to pay more for an NV GPU to not have to deal with those problems.

But then I figured, me giving NV cash is rewarding them for their dirty tactics with closed sourced GameWorks. It's anti-PC gaming behavior since it doesn't just reward those who use their hardware, but it punishes those who do not (this is the major difference). I for one, do not like it when a corporation can punish me for my choice of hardware. I will punish them back by boycotting everything they are attached to and telling all my friends & family to avoid them. I do have plenty of influence in my circle, since I'm the one who builds their PC.

@Hi-Fi Man
Radeon Pro is very useful, lots of customization & OC, OSD, the frame time controls, SMAA inject, SweetFX etc are very nice.

@OP
If you want to go NV, wait til AMD's launch in June. It should at the least, bring some competition so NV can lower their prices and you will benefit as a gamer/consumer.

 

[futurefields]

just switched from AMD to Nvidia myself

find tweaking games in control panel is better on Nvidia than AMD

think i might need to run display driver uninstaller though

since switching, Advanced Warfare maps take a really long time to load

performance in games is outstanding

 

[DaveSimmons]

Waiting a month if you can makes the most sense to me.

I expect either AMD will offer some good new cards you want to own, or they will offer some OK cards that will at least force nvidia to lower prices. You win either way and could save $100 or more since you're looking at the 980, Titan X or (not yet available) 980 ti.

 

[futurefields]

just an FYI most of RadeonPro's features like the DX tweaks, sweetfx etc work with Nvidia cards as well

 

[digitaldurandal]

I'll cite Far Cry 4... There's a graphical option that is supposed to simulate real looking fur for the animals. It's a gameworks option. Well if I turn that on and look at an animal, my framerate is cut in half. Literally.

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2015...cs_features_performance_review/5#.VVGD7vlViZ4

HardOCP only saw a 10 fps drop on a 290x. I haven't played it myself.

 

[SolMiester]

I used to think the same as the OP, with so many games being GameWorks running poorly on AMD for the first few months of their launch.. it makes sense to pay more for an NV GPU to not have to deal with those problems.

But then I figured, me giving NV cash is rewarding them for their dirty tactics with closed sourced GameWorks. It's anti-PC gaming behavior since it doesn't just reward those who use their hardware, but it punishes those who do not (this is the major difference). I for one, do not like it when a corporation can punish me for my choice of hardware. I will punish them back by boycotting everything they are attached to and telling all my friends & family to avoid them. I do have plenty of influence in my circle, since I'm the one who builds their PC.

@Hi-Fi Man
Radeon Pro is very useful, lots of customization & OC, OSD, the frame time controls, SMAA inject, SweetFX etc are very nice.

@OP
If you want to go NV, wait til AMD's launch in June. It should at the least, bring some competition so NV can lower their prices and you will benefit as a gamer/consumer.

as far as I can see, all you are doing by boycotting is your own pleasure playing the games. I personally dont have any problem with bespoke options in games, certainly if they create the features and code. AMD is quite lazy when it comes to development with dev's IMO, instead preferring AMD owners and fans to bleat how unfair the world is!
IMO, if you go the budget route, dont complain if you miss out on the premium options.

 

[Silverforce11]

SolMiester, if that's as far as you can see, you can't see very far behind your green glasses. Peace.

"IMO, if you go the budget route, dont complain if you miss out on the premium options."

Try harder next time.

Bye

-Rvenger

 

[SolMiester]

SolMiester, if that's as far as you can see, you can't see very far behind your green glasses. Peace.

"IMO, if you go the budget route, dont complain if you miss out on the premium options."

Try harder next time.

Hey, I could give a [redacted] what you play on, and the above is just my opinion, but probably same as most of those that GO PREMIUM!

We are not going to tolerate foul language and reporting posts is a better solution rather than responding to personal attacks.

-Rvenger