Who has better picture quality AMD or NVIDIA?

[Artista]

I was thinking it seems a little insane that now days when it comes to getting the most FPS we have to look at what games we play and figure which we will buy, NVIDIA or AMD video card.

What next, we will have to pick the series of a subset of each brand to decide quality, FPS, etc? Does one give up something by purchasing a AMD product but wants to play all games including those optimized for NVIDIA and PhysX? (or the reverse?)

Really unless one has some big bucks to buy one of everything decisions have to be made.

Anyway, forgetting FPS ( all FPS > 60): Who has the better picture quality and game play taking in all games, optimized or not one way or another? NVIDA or AMD?

 

[SlowSpyder]

I think since the 8800 cards both have been pretty equal. Both are good.

 

[blastingcap]

Assuming you crank up AMD drivers to high quality (their default is a notch below this I think), they have more or less equal IQ.

In video (movies, youtube videos, etc.), AMD wins:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3973/nvidias-geforce-gt-430/4

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/HQV/HQV_2.0/8.html

 

[MentalIlness]

I "think" I have always read that, ATI has better AA, while NV has better AF. Could be wrong though.

 

[gevorg]

Pretty much the same, unless you scrutinize with microscope.

 

[Arkadrel]

AMD cards can have shimmering effects with older games (I havnt noticed this effect really with any games Ive played)...

Apart from that, IQ is so simular you need to zoom 100x down to the pixel level to spot differnces most of the time.

Maybe nvidia has a small egde in 3D,... AMD has it with the 2D stuff.

 

[Obsoleet]

IQ depends on settings.

I prefer the colors and other discretionary things on AMD cards over NV. Even back when NV was #1 on top of the pile in the market, I felt this was true.

 

[Ilias]

Hmmm i switched from a Radeon HD4850 to a Geforce 460 Ti not long ago and i got to say that Nvidia has much better picture quality. But then again, im suspecting that things have been improved in AMD's newer models...

 

[LiuKangBakinPie]

Well the higher the resolution the more the picture look like the original. The cards do the same calculations and draw the same picture...... Its the display that determines the picture quality in the end

 

[tweakboy]

ATI crew will say ATI. the green crew will say nVidia

No difference IMO

 

[Anarchist420]

Nvidia has superior IQ, because of their filtering and they don't reduce the z-range. AMD has no image quality advantages.

 

[WelshBloke]

I've been using Nvidia for the last few years and just changed to AMD and I'm not noticing any difference in games or video. I'm not saying there aren't any but they aren't obvious.

I will say that AMD have way more controls over the video image and the split screen demo mode works really well. Which is nice.

 

[1h4x4s3x]

Did you notice a difference in desktop IQ? http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1594429
I'm too lazy to get my laptop (AMD GPU) and compare. Kinda difficult on different screens anyway.

 

[WelshBloke]

Did you notice a difference in desktop IQ? http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1594429
I'm too lazy to get my laptop (AMD GPU) and compare. Kinda difficult on different screens anyway.

There was nothing noticeable that a bit of tweaking of the colour settings didn't solve.

I found that AMD's default settings a bit closer to what I prefer but I was easily able to get the Nvidia one looking just as good.

I couldn't say that either one had sharper text or anything like is reported in that thread. Maybe if I had 2 identical monitors and did a side by side I'd notice but I'm going to take a bit of convincing.

 

[manimal]

Matrox!!

 

[Obsoleet]

I think NV has improved over the years. It seemed very noticable to me in the days of the original Radeon DDR that ATI had better colors. If forced to choose between the two for discretionary IQ preference, I'd have to go with AMD. Both do look fine now though.

 

[nemesismk2]

they are both about the same

 

[tweakboy]

Same. You won't notice a difference.

 

[LiuKangBakinPie]

If you way better picture quality buy a LCD or do a course in graphics design

 

[WelshBloke]

If you way better picture quality buy a LCD or do a course in graphics design

Well I'm not sure I'm convinced but you've definitely got me confused. :thumbsup:

 

[LiuKangBakinPie]

Well I'm not sure I'm convinced but you've definitely got me confused. :thumbsup:

mean want

Let me explain.
Lots of shapes and sizes gets calculated by the gpu then placed together and then sent to your screen. Now the higher the resolution the more that thingy is going to look like the original. So its not the gpu. They perform the calculations the same way just have different names for it and send it the same way to your LCD. Now if you have a 720p LCD its going to look far crappier than on a 1600p LCD.
AA is a emulating of high resolutions to exact. coz LCDs have a native and 1600p LCDs cost more than a nobel peace price winners sperm we use Aa to sort of emulate that higher resolution. That's why at lower resolutions youll see much more jagged pics and sorts.
Still confused?

 

[WelshBloke]

mean want

Let me explain.
Lots of shapes and sizes gets calculated by the gpu then placed together and then sent to your screen. Now the higher the resolution the more that thingy is going to look like the original. So its not the gpu. They perform the calculations the same way just have different names for it and send it the same way to your LCD. Now if you have a 720p LCD its going to look far crappier than on a 1600p LCD.
AA is a emulating of high resolutions to exact. coz LCDs have a native and 1600p LCDs cost more than a nobel peace price winners sperm we use Aa to sort of emulate that higher resolution. That's why at lower resolutions youll see much more jagged pics and sorts.
Still confused?

You're drunk aren't you? I'd feel better about this if you're drunk.

 

[BFG10K]

The cards do the same calculations and draw the same picture......

This is untrue.

 

[Firestorm007]

I've had a GTX 580 and a 5870. They're both about equal in IQ in 2D/3D. However, I could swear that the 580 had slightly better IQ in games. But, that's subjective to most people.

 

[tviceman]

I have not noticed image quality differences between the two cards, and even over years. What I have noticed a difference on though is the type of connection your card has to the monitor. I have a backup card in my rig right now so I am using a vga-dvi adapter because it does not have the HDMI interface my normal card has. With the vga-dvi adapter there is noticeable and excessive image noise (moving static in black levels) that I was not at all present when using HDMI.

Could just be unique to my situation, but it's there and driving me nuts.