Iron shop No. 27. The end of 2015-the year: video game graphics
The choice of graphics card are generally similar to the choice of the CPU. There are two companies: AMD (ATI) and NVIDIA. They are competing for more than 20 years. The user must determine the camp, and then to choose a specific model, guided by your objectives and your budget. Seems to be simple. But why around the choice of the game videocard inflames so much controversy? This material will answer most basic questions.
The second half of 2015 years was a shock. And AMD and NVIDIA introduced several graphics cards, filling all existing gaps. Due to the high accuracy observed serious competition. The user, devoid of specific brand of prejudice, shall have the right to choose from two dozen current models. Seventeen of them quite fit under the category games.
How to choose a video card
How often should one change the video card?
Conspiracy theory. How different drivers affect the performance of NVIDIA graphic cards
There is an opinion that gaming graphics cards are not developing and do not progress. I do not share. CPUs really adds 5-10% a year at best. Graphics card — no. Will give two illustrative examples.
New games optimized for modern architecture. The difference between generations of graphics cards will only grow over time.
Let’s compare the GeForce GTX 480 and GeForce GTX 750 Ti. First — flagship 2010. The fastest single-GPU graphics card of the time. Six years ago she asked for $ 500. GeForce GTX 750 Ti was released in February 2014. It is outright Low-end that in 2016, the year is 100-120 dollars for the version with 2GB of memory. Now these cards are comparable in speed, but the GeForce GTX 750 Ti while consuming 3.5 times less power.
Compare NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti
Or here’s another example, more visual. In September 2014, the market appeared sublimely series GeForce GTX 900 is the most advanced of the line NVIDIA card at the time of writing this article. At that time in actual games, the GeForce GTX 970 showed the same GeForce GTX 780 — 3D-accelerator of last generation performance.
Performance NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 in Metro: Last Light (2013)
With the advent of new games the GeForce GTX 780 started to lag behind the GeForce GTX 970. For example, in the third “the Witcher”, a more modern model is by 26% faster. To explain the origin of this marked difference is quite simple. Game developer, working closely with NVIDIA, optimized its product under a new architecture. This fact can be treated in different ways, but it is evident.
The average gaming graphics card need to upgrade every 2-3 years.
The first conclusion is obvious: to choose the video card so that its performance was enough for at least two to three years (one generation). Therefore, the owners of such graphics cards as GeForce GTX 660/670/680/760/770/780, there is no sense to switch to the analogues of the lines of GeForce GTX 900 or Radeon R9 300. There is a sense to wait for the first Pascal and Polaris. The same applies to the lucky owners of accelerators Radeon HD 7850/7870/7950/7970. Owners of older and less powerful video cards can safely upgrade. You will be pleasantly surprised.
Performance NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 in “the Witcher 3: wild hunt” (2015)
Features of modern graphics cards
Select the graphic adapter determines not only the level of FPS in games. I agree with the opinion that performance is the main criterion for gaming graphics cards. We’ll talk about it next. And yet each company has a set of technologies and features designed to lure the user “on the right side of the force”.
Graphics technology and ergonomics
At the end of 2013, simultaneously with the announcement of the lineups Radeon R7/R9 200, AMD presented its exclusive low-level API Mantle. In short, this interface operates on the same principle as DirectX 12, which main feature is to give the programmer access to hardware for better code optimization. The first game with the “mantle” was Battlefield 4. Later came projects such as Sid Meier’s Civilization: Beyond Earth, Thief and Dragon Age: Inquisition. As the tests show, on average, faster DirectX 11 Mantle by 10%. To put it mildly, sparse.
Apparently, the experiments with Mantle over. API failed to launch because “red” it’s hard to single-handedly promote a new interface to the masses. NVIDIA made a bid for DirectX 12. Stated that GTA V and Rise of the Tomb Raider “will be dressed in the mantle”, but not fused. Even Star Wars: Battlefront, based on the same engine as Battlefield 4, this API does not support.
Performance: DirectX 11 versus Mantle
Another controversial technology — NVIDIA PhysX from Aegia. Controversial because support for improved physical models based on GeForce graphics cards. Green have a large market share, but, according to the official company website, there are only 38 projects. Thirty-eight projects in eight years!
Last year the PhysX source code became public, but I don’t see much enthusiasm among the developers of video games. Summary: “spent”.
The NVIDIA PhysX effects in the game clearly Assassins”s Creed: Black Flag
NVIDIA G-Sync and AMD FreeSync is a useful technology. Both solve the problem of occurrence of gaps of a picture on the monitor screen. This requires special equipment. Much to rant about synchronization will not. Just posted a video review monitor AOC G2460PG.
The developers of graphics cards have long been trying to recreate realistic behavior of hair living being in computer graphics. Experienced certainly remember Nalu. In 2016 I have NVIDIA HairWorks technology, and AMD — PureHair (TressFX 3.0). The first is used in such games as “the Witcher 3: wild hunt” and Far Cry 4, second in Rise of the Tomb Raider. Both technologies are supported with the products of AMD and NVIDIA, but due to the peculiarities of optimization on different cards work differently.
Example HairWorks:
HairWorks on
HairWorks off
Example PureHair:
PureHair off
PureHair on
Generally a bunch of graphical “lucazeau” NVIDIA combined in a software package called GameWorks. One of the interesting technologies I note DSR and MFAA antialiasing. The first is the analogue anti aliasing SSAA (Supersampling Anti-Aliasing). The filter increases the resolution of the rendering, and then formats the results under a smaller resolution. In the end, 4x SSAA mode for Full HD (1920×1080) corresponds to the scheme run the game in 4K resolution (3840×2160). The picture is great, but the load on the graphics card increases. DSR is suitable for old games, make them look more attractive than it actually is.
NVIDIA DSR
NVIDIA DSR
The MFAA concept is simple: comparable to common MSAA filter processing quality, but at a lower cost. This type of smoothing is repeated. That is, the video card handles more than 16 samples in a cell 2×2 (four-times sampling), and half because the other half alternates in time and space, being recorded in the buffer.
The performance of filter MFAA
Mention TrueAudio technology (review), which was presented in 2014. It noticeably improves the sound PC. Probably. This technology two years later supports only one game — Thief.
Support for Mantle, PhysX, TrueAudio, realistic hair is not a panacea.
Graphics technology AMD and NVIDIA are of interest and may be applied in practice. But to choose a graphics card, relying on the support of a function, I would not. There are more important criteria that are worth paying attention to. Without Mantle, PhysX and HairWorks very real.
Technical progress
Technical progress in graphics cards, is manifested not only in supporting such graphics technologies like DirectX 12. In 2015 definitely stood out AMD. “Red” has released three graphics cards with HBM memory (High Bandwidth Memory). Most of modern game devices are equipped with traditional type GDDR5 chips. HBM faster, plus consumes less power. Soldering the chips on the circuit Board takes up less space, allowing you to create a compact but powerful graphics card. Such as the AMD Radeon R9 Nano.
The HBM compared to GDDR5
And yet with all its advantages, the new development today is no advantage to AMD in terms of performance and even to some extent limits them. We’ll talk about it later, when you pass to comparison of specific models of Radeon and GeForce. And while Subtotal: HBM is not a panacea. This type of memory will continue to be used in top-end AMD and NVIDIA graphics cards.
New development — HBM-memory — does not give any benefit to AMD in terms of performance.
All NVIDIA series GeForce GTX 900 is equipped with HDMI 2.0. This video will be useful when connecting a 4K TV to get the image with a frequency of 60 Hz. Important option if you plan to build HTPC. Radeon adapters the revision does not support HDMI. So in this question the video card choice is obvious.
AMD Radeon R9 Nano in comparison with NVIDIA GeForce GTX TITAN X
Power consumption, cooling, and overclocking customization
In Russia, the comparison of power consumption of gaming video cards low interest. “Electricity is cheap, at full power the graphics card works for a short time” — the argument a large number of users. I agree with them. And yet the maximum energy consumption affects such parameters of the video card, heat, noise and overclockers potential. Roughly speaking, the more watts, the worse the case with the other characteristics.
In General NVIDIA graphics cards consume less power. This is particularly evident in the segments of Middle-end and Low-end. For example, models of GeForce GTX 750/750 Ti does not require additional power. Especially funny looks the compared Radeon R9 390/390X with a GeForce GTX 970. With relatively equal performance, the difference in energy consumption reaches almost twice the.
Generally NVIDIA more energy efficient.
For the system with a single processor, a pair of drives and a modern single-GPU graphics card will be enough high-quality power supply 500-550 watt. Even for 275/290-watt “monsters.” Very often on the graphics card soldered additional pins, which connect the PCI-E cables of the PSU.
There are exceptions
Comparison of energy consumption of graphics cards with relatively equal performance
AMD Radeon R9 Fury X
2x 8 pin
275 W
250 W
2x 8 pin
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti
AMD Radeon R9 Nano
1x 8 pin
175 W
165 watts
2x 6 pin
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980
AMD Radeon R9 390
2x 8 pin
275 W
145 W
2x 6 pin
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970
AMD Radeon R9 380
2x 6 pin
190 W
120 W
1x 6 pin
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960
AMD Radeon R7 360
1x 6 pin
100 W
55 W
—
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750
A high level of energy often determines the heating of the video card. The GPU temperatures are not always an indicator of quality cooling. A striking example — the Radeon R9 Fury X. It is equipped with a water cooling system from Cooler Master. Under load the GPU heats up to 60 degrees Celsius. Very respectable figure for a 275-watt graphics card. In General, the design of the cooler does not stand up to scrutiny, because the power supply subsystem is heated to 115 degrees Celsius. At work components this temperature will have no effect, but in the case besides the video card, installed a bunch of the other iron, which all this heat will be transferred. Well that the back side Radeon R9 Fury X is equipped with a plastic lid.
Heating AMD Radeon R9 Fury X
However, there are instances when highly heated, and video with low power consumption. Such events leading savings on power and cooling. The clearest example of several custom GeForce GTX 970. Under load the card consumes up to 145 watts, and runs cooler as the Radeon R9 Fury X.
The heating of the MSI GeForce GTX 970 GAMING 4G
The conclusion is that in the heat a lot of particulars, because the producers are so many. An unfortunate series of video cards does not mean that other models from the same company is also bad.
It is better to take a custom version of the graphics card. It is quieter, cooler, faster.
A quick reminder. The company XFX, SAPPHIRE, PowerColor and HIS have traditionally only work with AMD. Company Palit, ZOTAC, EVGA, Gainward, and Inno3D, on the contrary, cooperating mainly with NVIDIA. ASUS, MSI, and GIGABYTE produce graphics accelerators for those, and for others. Can only say one thing: it is better to buy a custom version of the video card, you have a device that uses alternative cooling system, advanced power components and factory overclock. Such adapters at the same time faster, cooler and quieter than reference models, and also better dispersed. Naturally, customization will have to pay about 20-30 USD. Exactly which video card to choose? Here it is necessary to compare devices with each other. So, Ferra.ru conducted comparative testing of custom versions of the GeForce GTX 980 Ti, the GeForce GTX 980, GeForce GTX 960 and GeForce GTX 950.
The heating of the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti (reference)
The heating of the GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 980 Ti
To models without reference sample are 950/960/970 GeForce GTX and Radeon R9 380/380X/390/390X/Fury. Accelerators Radeon R9 Nano/Fury X and the GeForce GTX TITAN X modifications from partners AMD and NVIDIA are not subject. So you can safely take any. They are exactly the same.
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Ti (reference) and ASUS GeForce GTX 980 Ti Matrix Platinum (right)
As for overclocking, the NVIDIA accelerated better. The increase in the frequencies of chip and memory gives a nice boost in performance. Do not neglect this opportunity. Within reasonable limits, of course.
As you can see, the performance characteristics are better in NVIDIA cards. They consume less energy. Therefore, run quieter, cooler and better dispersed. Not surprisingly, in selling more products “green”. For Example, “Yandex.Market” averaged a 54 custom models GeForce GTX 970 and only 13 versions of the Radeon R9 390 — these adapters are competing with each other. GeForce GTX 970 is considered the most popular graphics card in the world by statistics of Steam.
The effect of acceleration on graphics cards performance in GTA V
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