Nvidia, I'll Stay With You: That's Why There Is No AMD Graphics Card In My New PC

2023 Author: Sheila Hailey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-08-25 04:29

Every PC player knows it: This tingling sensation that you get after a while when you see new PC hardware somewhere on offer. This tingling that gets stronger over time that makes you start to overclock your processor and graphics card. This tingling sensation that eventually gains the upper hand and ensures that you finally get a new PC.

Further to the topic: Assemble your own PC: quickly and cheaply to the dream PC

This moment peaked for me on the last Black Friday. The prices for DDR4 memory reached their low point, I had already bought the power supply and water cooling a few months earlier and I got the other parts together over the next few weeks. Although I have been a big fan of AMD since the Ryzen processors started and the chip manufacturer's graphics cards also offer an attractive price-performance ratio, I decided to buy an Nvidia graphics card at lightning speed - and for good reason.

When assembling our mini gaming PC, we decided on a graphics card from Nvidia:

The GIGA-TECH mini gaming PC

Luxury class? Nvidia

In contrast to AMD, Nvidia offers graphics cards in the high-end segment. My choice was an Nvidia RTX 2080 SUPER. Sure, I could have been satisfied with the performance of an RX 5700 XT, but if I ever put money into a hand for a new system, I really want to let it go. In addition, I have had a WQHD monitor with a refresh rate of 144 Hz since the last Prime Day - and let's be honest: with the RX 5700 XT, I could definitely only have used the screen if I had reduced the graphics settings in demanding titles a lot.

View the shown model of the RTX 2080 SUPER at Mindfactory

Admittedly, even my RTX 2080 SUPER does not begin to reach 144 FPS in full resolution in Metro Exodus if I turn the settings to the stop and also activate ray tracing - but it always delivers more frames per second than the RX 5700 XT. Since Nvidia's current graphics cards have now also supported FreeSync thanks to a driver update, I don't have to do without them either.

Check out the affordable custom model of the RX 5700 XT at Mindfactory

Metro Exodus is a real feast for the eyes, especially with ray tracing:

Metro Exodus: The lighting looks so beautiful thanks to ray tracing

Nvidia only - NVENC and ray tracing

But believe it or not, the decision between AMD and Nvidia wasn't really just about the performance of the cards. Nvidia NVENC was also an important factor. Nvidia NVENC is basically a function that allows me to run video encoding on my graphics card. Such processes are usually taken over by the CPU and, depending on the load, can lead to massive drops in the frame rate during gaming if you record live streaming or gameplay.

Since Nvidia has re-drilled NVENC with the Turing cards again and I actually like to record and cut livestreams, gameplay videos from time to time, this was also an important detail in my decision to buy.

Also interesting: Streaming equipment for YouTube and Twitch: The best microphones, webcams and more to get you started

And last but not least, there is of course ray tracing. Yes, raytracing critics will now jump up and say that the added value of optics can never outweigh the performance degradation. I reply: So what? In games where the frame rate is important to me, I can simply deactivate the feature. Nobody forces me to use ray tracing. And when I feel like bold graphic effects, I just switch it on - very simple.

A game that benefits graphically from ray tracing is the block game Minecraft:

Minecraft with high-end graphics - Bedrock edition soon with ray tracing

Yes, I also admit that depending on the game and the situation, ray tracing doesn't exactly trigger the “wow effect” in me that I would have liked. But when I pause briefly in Metro Exodus and look around actively, the feature sometimes makes a difference. And after all, support for ray tracing is likely to get better and better in the coming years with the launch of the new consoles. After all, one can assume with almost 100 percent certainty that both the Xbox Series X and the PS5 will support the new graphics feature.

Further information : PS5 vs. Xbox Series X in comparison - what are the differences?

So now you are welcome to denounce me for my decision, try to explain to me why I threw my money out of the window and pretend that I have no idea about the whole topic. In the meantime I download Control, set all controls to the stop and take a closer look at the beautiful raytracing reflections.