Are people who buy AMD cards losing on a smooth gameplay experience?

murkris118

Limp Gawd
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I am on the market for a new graphics card guys. My 680 is still pretty solid for most demanding games but I am pretty sure the 2 GB RAM will soon be a bottleneck for most games even at 1080p. Proof: Watch Dogs. I am pretty sure the GPU will hold up but the RAM amount wont:(..In my country the R9 290X is much cheaper compared to a 780Ti but I am not so sure if I would want to go the AMD path. The reason being that most of the games nowadays and in the future tend to be "The way its meant to be played" titles. In E3 2014, Most of the games seems to integrate Gameworks Nvidia technologies into it. The Division, AC Unity and Arkham Knight are Nvidia titles. Any thoughts guys?
 
you won't lose on a smooth game play experience, just read any of the recent [H] Reviews, they include things like stuttery, or unplayable. it seems that even the 780TI is a bit held back by 3GB or memory in TWIMTBP games like watchdogs.
 
I thought a 4GB 680 was slower than a pair of 7950s in crossfire when I had it.

Arkham Knight... well the arkham games have always been TWIMTBP. I'd say regardless of E3 to look at what titles you want to be playing.
 
I have a 290x and I have no issues with not having a smooth experience. The only exception right now is Watch_Dogs, but that performs like crap on green team, too.

All of the Batman and Assassins Creed games have been "NVIDIA" games, but my 290x and all my prior AMD/ATi have performed wonderfully in those titles. I've been on team AMD/ATi for my last 4 cards (5870, 2x 6970, 7970, 290x)
 
I have owned in the last few months.
680SLI
780TI Sli
R9 290 Crossfire
R9 290x Crossfire

Sold all the cards and kept AMD R9 290 crossfire.The R9 290 cards were the best choice with the best drivers for me.They work awesome and I have not had any problems.
 
I never thought that the Batman Arkham series games were all that demanding--regardless of whether they came with the TWIMTBP badge in the game splash screens.

OP, there's nothing inherent about AMD cards that yields 'non-smooth' gameplay, much like there's nothing inherent about Nvidia cards that means they'll always have smooth gameplay.

It's a bang-for-buck scenario. The 290X is a powerful card and I doubt you'd have problems with it, even on games that are allegedly more-optimized for nvidia hardware. The only difference you'd probably see is in a fps-meter. It's ultimately up to you as to whether the extra money is worth it. At 1080p, I doubt it.

Watchdogs is...apparently a highly-unoptimized game no matter what brand of gpu you have.
 
AMD cards are perfectly fine for smooth gameplay unless all you play is Skyrim.
 
Nope, not with the latest batch of drivers that followed the R9 release. Rewind the clock to before that happening, and the gameplay experience was a much different story for AMD GPU's, especially with XFire. The AMD driver team has really done an amazing job recently.
 
I went from a 780 to 290X... Watch_Dogs runs better on this card, despite being a Nvidia sponsored title. [H]'s benchmark data seems to back this up too.
 
AMD cards are perfectly fine for smooth gameplay unless all you play is Skyrim.
Yeah, not sure why that's such a sticking point for them.

AMD implemented all kinds of latency improvements (including major crossfire-specific fixes for frame pacing), and yet I still can't get Skyrim to run without being jerky on my AMD cards :(
 
no problems here...but i mainly play bf4 so it could be a factor....and no not mantle...just using dx11 cause i like have 64bit osd...not to mention mantle has a little way to go yet for use older cards.....but very smooth
 
I'm a long time Nvidia user that's currently on a 270 Crossfire setup. I also used to think the same thing about AMD drivers from what I heard/read.

There are some odd quirks (like the windows sometimes being moved to the secondary display on wake) and one game (Crysis 2) doesn't work with Crossfire, but other than that, it's been pretty darn smooth. Every game works, scaling is very good (80%~), and they're good for the occasional bit of mining so I've made some money back.

As for VRAM vis-a-vis Watch Dogs, that game might just be the GTA IV of this generation in how bad the game looks for all of its extra graphical demands (some people pointing to it being poorly optimized), so it might not be the best example yet of needing more VRAM than 2GB.
 
+1 for 290(x) Crossfire, very smooth for me in the majority of titles. Watch Dogs is problematic but it's also a pain on my other system running a GTX 780 so no fault on AMD. It runs better on the CFX setup but still stuttering a lot while driving at high speed. Typical Ubi crap.
 
I am on the market for a new graphics card guys. My 680 is still pretty solid for most demanding games but I am pretty sure the 2 GB RAM will soon be a bottleneck for most games even at 1080p. Proof: Watch Dogs. I am pretty sure the GPU will hold up but the RAM amount wont:(..In my country the R9 290X is much cheaper compared to a 780Ti but I am not so sure if I would want to go the AMD path. The reason being that most of the games nowadays and in the future tend to be "The way its meant to be played" titles. In E3 2014, Most of the games seems to integrate Gameworks Nvidia technologies into it. The Division, AC Unity and Arkham Knight are Nvidia titles. Any thoughts guys?


The Division and AC Unity are games which will be better played on consoles anyways, Ubisoft isn't very good at PC ports.
 
There's no such thing as "Better played on consoles", unless the PC version simply doesn't exist.
 
Nope, I have an R9 290 and FX 8350, I am playing Crysis 3 maxed out except for post processing. Everything is smooth. Tainited: Some games are "Better play on consoles" but, that is a matter of opinion.
 
AMD cards are perfectly fine for smooth gameplay unless all you play is Skyrim.

What makes you think this?
I debated getting a 290 because of older reports about this, so I asked specifically if it was a problem.
The consensus was it is fine.

Not only is it fine, but I can clock my 290 as low as it will go on both memory + core with Afternburner and Skyrim is butter smooth.

Clocks are 500MHz core, 625MHz memory.
Skyrim has SKSE and quite a few HD gfx mods and other mods applied.
 
I have two gaming machines, one with an AMD card the other with nVidia. I don't feel under-served by either of them.
 
Yeah, not sure why that's such a sticking point for them.

AMD implemented all kinds of latency improvements (including major crossfire-specific fixes for frame pacing), and yet I still can't get Skyrim to run without being jerky on my AMD cards :(

Don't feel left out, Skyrim runs like shit and has tons of issues on SLI.
 
AMD cards are perfectly fine for smooth gameplay unless all you play is Skyrim.

Only play at 1920x1200 and have two systems - one with an HD 7850 2GB (1150/1350 OC) and a GTX 670 2GB. The HD 7850 is fine outdoors on Ultra, but in Nord ruins and caves with the lighting effects and mist it gets stuttery at times. Its weird how that's never gotten worked out. Regardless, that's still a great little card.
 
What makes you think this?
I debated getting a 290 because of older reports about this, so I asked specifically if it was a problem.
The consensus was it is fine.

Not only is it fine, but I can clock my 290 as low as it will go on both memory + core with Afternburner and Skyrim is butter smooth.

Clocks are 500MHz core, 625MHz memory.
Skyrim has SKSE and quite a few HD gfx mods and other mods applied.

I've played thousands of hours of skyrim, and I have never once had a smooth experience on dozens of different AMD cards. The worst offenders were the 7900 series, but out of the four 290's I've had none of them were very good at it either. It isn't the cards fault, the gamebryo engine just sucks on AMD hardware. Dungeons and ruins seem to be the worst spots, outdoors isn't terrible.
 
Don't feel left out, Skyrim runs like shit and has tons of issues on SLI.

I have not really run into any issues with Skyrim on my old 680's in SLI when I had them before my Titans. Skyrim has always been more CPU dependent than GPU dependent IMHO.

I play with the HD texture mods and some others. with no AA @ 4K resolution. I also have my 1600p Dell 30 inch monitor that I use sometimes to play older games that are not 4K native. As long as you overclock your CPU, you should be ok, I have mine running @ 4.5GHz on 1.25 volts. (set to adaptive on the motherboard so the CPU can throttle down when not gaming or doing other CPU intensive stuff)
 
In a word, no! Had some probs with skyrim a couple revisions back, occasional water flicker is as bad as it gets now. This subject has always been embellished on.

And my favorite all time card is bfg 6800 ultra oc, was a fricken champ. If I had an agp mobo to hook it to, I bet it would fire right up now np

I miss bfg :(
 
I have not really run into any issues with Skyrim on my old 680's in SLI when I had them before my Titans. Skyrim has always been more CPU dependent than GPU dependent IMHO.

I play with the HD texture mods and some others. with no AA @ 4K resolution. I also have my 1600p Dell 30 inch monitor that I use sometimes to play older games that are not 4K native. As long as you overclock your CPU, you should be ok, I have mine running @ 4.5GHz on 1.25 volts. (set to adaptive on the motherboard so the CPU can throttle down when not gaming or doing other CPU intensive stuff)

Water reflection don't work with SLI and creates a weird glitch, and the performance boost you get overall is less than 20%. With textures mods it just becomes VRAM dependant.
 
Water reflection don't work with SLI and creates a weird glitch, and the performance boost you get overall is less than 20%. With textures mods it just becomes VRAM dependant.
Any way to auto-disable SLI when Skyrim is running, or do we have to go into the control panel and disable it globally every time we want to play?

Meh, this is the reason I avoid multi-GPU anyway.
 
Any way to auto-disable SLI when Skyrim is running, or do we have to go into the control panel and disable it globally every time we want to play?

Meh, this is the reason I avoid multi-GPU anyway.
You can goto the manage 3D settings area in the control panel, select Skyrim from the list of games, and change SLI to Single-card. This will apply the setting any time you run the game without the need to set it globally. If Skyrim doesn't show up in the list, then just uncheck the box that only shows games it detects on this system. Changes apply regardless on whether or not the CP detects it.

Those with stuttering problems in Skyrim, are you running the 64 Hz fix? I don't have any stuttering problems with my SLI GTX 780 system while using this fix. It amazes me that all Elder Scrolls games still have this issue...
 
You can goto the manage 3D settings area in the control panel, select Skyrim from the list of games, and change SLI to Single-card. This will apply the setting any time you run the game without the need to set it globally. If Skyrim doesn't show up in the list, then just uncheck the box that only shows games it detects on this system. Changes apply regardless on whether or not the CP detects it.

Those with stuttering problems in Skyrim, are you running the 64 Hz fix? I don't have any stuttering problems with my SLI GTX 780 system while using this fix. It amazes me that all Elder Scrolls games still have this issue...

Which Hz fix? I disabled water reflection because of the annoying glitch but I still get stutter when running across long distance. Anything that modifed the Hz usually causes my physics to freak out.
 
Which Hz fix? I disabled water reflection because of the annoying glitch but I still get stutter when running across long distance. Anything that modifed the Hz usually causes my physics to freak out.
It's a mod that you need to install. The one on Nexus simply limits the framerate... Oblivion had a proper fix at the application level using OBSE instead of this poor workaround. I'm pretty sure there is a SKSE-equivalent... I'll have to go searching for it after work.
...
Or maybe it was built into SKSE...
:confused:
:eek:
 
I've played thousands of hours of skyrim, and I have never once had a smooth experience on dozens of different AMD cards. The worst offenders were the 7900 series, but out of the four 290's I've had none of them were very good at it either. It isn't the cards fault, the gamebryo engine just sucks on AMD hardware. Dungeons and ruins seem to be the worst spots, outdoors isn't terrible.

Well thats nuts cos its so smooth here it cant be any better unless I have 120Hz.
I've not played any first person game that feels as smooth.

Can you describe how and when it isnt smooth?
Is it smooth some times and not others?
 
R9 290x crossfire is sick and twisted with a 120Hz monitor. I've just switched from 780 SLI. 290x CF is a lot like 780SLI I thought, when I first started up valley. Then I remembered I was comparing numbers from 1080p in SLI to 1440p in CF. The 295x2 does at 1440p quietly what the 780Sli setup can do at 1080p. I guarantee you Nvidia will be coming out with AIO versions of their cards next. Everything is overpowered and since I went for the AIO 295x2 I can't hear if it's hot or not. It's quiet. Can tell when it starts up the center fan, but other than that it doesn't change sound profile much at all since I put 2 Noctuas on the radiator.

Games are smooth as silk. Everything I've tested loves this card. Mostly I've been playing FFXIV and I had a hard time getting it to work properly, so I redid my Win8.1 install. The game is a nightmare to set up properly if you have weird equipment like an OC monitor or use 3d multiple displays. Now that I have it dialed in it is the smoothest I've ever seen it run. I am at 1440p with very high detail settings FXAA, shadows etc, tons of people on the screen... at 120Hz vsynced solid.

Think I'll pickup skyrim and see if I can make the card explode before 30 days are up. :D
 
If you look at reviews that test for latency issues you will see AMD still lags behind in this area. This can lead to "hiccups" that will affect how smoothy the game runs.

http://techreport.com/review/26279/amd-radeon-r9-295-x2-graphics-card-reviewed/6

The 295 X2 is still faster than a single R9 290X overall in Black Flag, but its multi-GPU scaling is marred by those intermittent slowdowns. Meanwhile, the GTX 780 Ti SLI setup never breaches the 33-ms barrier, not even once.


NVIDIA uses hardware frame metering, while AMD uses a software method. This may be why AMD has a latency issue in more games than NVIDIA.
 
We had a lot of problems with an Asus Nvidia 780 ti running smoothly. Like others have said, it was related to the memory. There just isn't enough frame buffer memory when running high rez with all the eye candy on. The experience wasn't the best. Still fast but lots of hiccups. Our 290x on the other hand gave a much more smoother experience from game to game. The drivers have been fantastic with AMD.
 
If you look at reviews that test for latency issues you will see AMD still lags behind in this area. This can lead to "hiccups" that will affect how smoothy the game runs.

http://techreport.com/review/26279/amd-radeon-r9-295-x2-graphics-card-reviewed/6




NVIDIA uses hardware frame metering, while AMD uses a software method. This may be why AMD has a latency issue in more games than NVIDIA.

You should have chosen BF4 and tried to say the same thing. Cherry picking is too obvious.

As far as your statement on frame metering and the method(s) used by the two companies, do you have a source for that?
 
You should have chosen BF4 and tried to say the same thing. Cherry picking is too obvious.

As far as your statement on frame metering and the method(s) used by the two companies, do you have a source for that?

I don't have a link as I didn't bother to bookmark it, but I read an analysis article that mentioned the same thing. I also know that AMD has done a lot since that article to rectify the issues but I don't know if they're up to par with NVidia just yet
 
I don't have a link as I didn't bother to bookmark it, but I read an analysis article that mentioned the same thing. I also know that AMD has done a lot since that article to rectify the issues but I don't know if they're up to par with NVidia just yet

I don't have a link either, but I recall reading where there was hardware changes involved with Hawaii to improve frame pacing. Prime1 is the one running around posting "facts" without anything to substantiate it though. Not you or me.

I have seen no reviews though stating that Hawaii suffers from any Crossfire issues. There are always going to be some games that are better on one brand than the other. I was only showing that anyone can cherry pick one game, or one review to back virtually any position.

I especially take issue with Tech Report because they will actually change their entire game test suite and search out worse case sections of games to damage AMD. Which is exactly what they did in their first expose'. But I'm willing to not argue that as my position. I would prefer sticking to [H]'s findings though as here they actually test the cards playing games. They don't use canned benches or select some arbitrary (or maybe not so arbitrary) 60 sec. section of the game and proclaim it's accurate in regular use situations.

So, I guess that I want reasonable evidence if anyone is going to try and claim that Hawaii suffers from frame pacing or that nVidia's solution is superior. Not just someone who's pro nVidia stating it, so it's must be true.
 
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