NVIDIA and AMD graphics cards comparison
NVIDIA and AMD graphics cards comparison
NVIDIA and AMD have carried out a deep renovation of their graphic card catalogue over the last few months, thanks to the introduction of the new series GeForce RTX 30 and Radeon RX 6000, although the deployment and publication of the main models of these new generations is much slower than expected. This is due, as you might have imagined, to the crisis that the semiconductor market is experiencing, and it is that, under normal conditions, NVIDIA and AMD should have already announced almost their entire portfolio of new generation models, and yet we still have important absences.
For example, on the NVIDIA side, 2 are missing graphics cards The highly anticipated GeForce RTX 3050 and RTX 3050 Ti, two resolutions that have arrived in the portable field, but which still do not have a version for desktop PCs. In the case of AMD, we are still waiting for the company to launch next-generation graphics cards with a really affordable price, while at this precise moment the most "economical" one it has on the market is the Radeon RX 6700 XT, whose suggested retail price is 489.99 euros.
2022 Update: We've been bringing in the latest NVIDIA and AMD news to keep this guide up to date. From now on you'll find those long-awaited models, the GeForce RTX 3050 and also the Radeon RX 6600 and 6500 families.
If all goes according to plan, AMD should expand its catalog soon with the Radeon RX 6600 XT, and should expand its catalog of articles with other resolutions to increase, more than anything, its standard quality, among which the following stand out: Radeon RX 6700, which would position it above the Radeon RX 6600 XT, and the Radeon RX 6600 and RX 6500 XTWe've heard about them a few times before, but we don't have any official confirmation from AMD yet, so we'll have to wait.
I have to admit that this is exactly what I had been doing, waiting to update our NVIDIA and AMD graphics card equivalency guide, and I had to hurry quite a bit, as new releases from both companies arrived somewhat late and in much longer time frames than usual. This, coupled with the situation in the consumer graphics card space, where availability was practically non-existent for the reasons we have seen in this article, made me feel that, in addition to this, It never seemed like a good time to update that guide.
Well, why now? Because it's very simple, because we are just beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel, because in a few months we will finally be able to start getting NVIDIA and AMD graphics cards at their usual price, and because I know that several customers are going to require a equivalence guide reliable and also fair to help you select your next graphics card.
AMD Nvidia Graphics Equivalence – Key Changes in the Guide: NVIDIA and AMD graphics cards that are no longer supported
NVIDIA and AMD left this year no support for a significant number of graphics cards, so I have decided to clean up and change the classic format of the equivalence guide to use a more updated and more accurate one.
I understand that more than one of our readers may still be ready to resort to those models that, despite not having support, continue to offer good performance in various games. I understand this, and I respect it, and for this reason I tell you that if you need information and equivalences on old graphics cards, you only have to follow this link that will take you directly to the guide that we published in 2020. In it you will have a list of equivalences that covers from the GeForce 8000 GT and Radeon HD 3000 to the GeForce GTX 700-Radeon R9 Fury X.
Before getting into the subject, I want to remind you that the graphic cards that were left without support this year by NVIDIA and AMD are the following:
- NVIDIA: GeForce GTX 600 and GTX 700 series are based on the Kepler architecture, which means that the GTX 750 and GTX 750 Ti are not included, since they are based on the first generation Maxwell architecture, and therefore will continue to receive support.
- AMD: Radeon RX 200, RX 300 and Radeon RX Fury-Fury X Series.
NVIDIA vs AMD Graphics Cards Comparison 2022 – Key Technologies and Their Use in NVIDIA and AMD Graphics Cards
The arrival of new generations of graphics cards from NVIDIA and AMD always marked significant advances in terms of raw power. Generational leaps can be quite marked, but they have always been evident, and were often accompanied by the introduction of New technologies, new APIs and new functionalities that have tolerated other essential advances.
Over the years, the APIs that seemed revolutionary to us at the time became obsolete, and the technologies that marked a turning point have ended up giving way to others that managed to leave us with our mouths open. Legacy APIs, such as DirectX 9 and DirectX 10, have fallen into a situation of almost total abandonment, and it is perfectly normal, since they have no value to offer today. DirectX 11 is still a widely used API, fortunately it continues to give way to other better prepared ones to offer, perfectly, a successful use of the latest technologies in the field, and the most advanced hardware.
DirectX 12 is one of the most widely used and most prominent APIs today. It is ready to support successful use of multi-threaded processors, and works with a wide range of graphics cards, including everything from the GeForce GTX 400-Radeon HD 7000 to the most recent models. However, the level of support is not the same on all graphics cards, and only the most recent graphics resolutions can really take advantage of the full set of features offered by DirectX 12, known as level 12_1. For example, the GTX 400 They only use it at level 11_0, and the GTX 10 supports it at level 12_1.
I know what you're thinking, if the GTX 10 supports DirectX 12 at its 12_1 level, then why did I say that only the most recent graphics card models offer full support? Because this API received a major revision, known as DirectX 12 Ultimate, which entered key highlighted functionalities, such as variable rate shader, mesh shaders, ray tracing, and DirectStorage, which are only supported on Radeon RX 6000 and RTX 20-series or 30-series graphics cards.
Another attractive API that has very broad support is Vulkan, famous for being the spiritual successor of Mantle. We are talking about a low-level API that is supported by NVIDIA GTX 600 and higher graphics cards, and by AMD Radeon HD 7000 and above, and which has shown that it can achieve a high level of optimization while maintaining a technical finish of heart attack. It has been used in such popular, and well-optimized, titles as DOOM Eternal, for example. Both DirectX 12 and Mantle are well supported on NVIDIA and AMD graphics cards.
I've loved sharing this breakdown with you in advance so that you are clear on the importance of distinguishing between limited DirectX 12 support, and full DirectX 12 support, including the specifications of the "Ultimate" revision, since these are destined to mark the future of video game consoles in the short and medium term. It is possible that a GTX 1080 Ti offers much more raw capacity than a GeForce RTX 2060, but the latter Works with DirectX 12 Ultimate, has greater support at the driver level, and if we introduced into the equation the value of NVIDIA DLSS, which we have talked about on several occasions, we would realize that it is a much more attractive purchase.
In this guide of equivalences we are going to limit ourselves to reflecting the equivalence of each model starting from a very simple base, its barbaric capacity in rasterization, but so that you have a much truer vision From the value that each model gives, we will point out, when necessary, the valuable technologies that each one of them brings, and other characteristics that are worth taking into consideration, such as the existence of specialized hardware to speed up ray tracing or AI (artificial intelligence).
NVIDIA and AMD graphics card equivalents: GeForce GTX 700, GTX 900, and GTX 10 series
As we mentioned earlier, we have removed from this update of our equivalence guide all graphics cards that have become "legacy" resolutions, and that are no longer supported by NVIDIA and AMD. If you still need information about them, don't worry, as I told you before, just consult the 2020 guide to find a complete equivalence list. That equivalence list will no longer change, so its validity is persistent.
In this first section, we are going to focus on showing you a list of graphic card equivalencies starting from the GeForce GTX 700 that are still supported, the GTX 750 and GTX 750 Ti, the GTX 900 and the GTX 10. All three support DirectX 12, albeit at different levels., support Vulkan and don't have specialized hardware to speed up ray tracing. Of the three generations, the GTX 10 is still the one that offers the best performance to this day, in fact the GTX 1080 Ti is still capable of running games in 4K without problems.
GeForce GTX 700 based on first generation Maxwell
- GTX 750: It performs slightly better than a GT 1030. In the AMD case, it provides performance similar to that of the AMD RX 550.
- GTX 750 TI: It surpasses the GT 1030 but has no direct equivalent. It also performs much better than an RX 550 and has no direct equivalent in the new AMD generations.
GTX 900 based on second generation Maxwell
- GTX 950: Its closest equivalent is the GTX 1050, but it does not reach the level of that one. The model of AMD is much closer in performance than the Radeon RX 460.
- GTX 960: In such a case, its closest equivalent would be the GTX 1050 TI, but the GTX 960 performs slightly less. The 4GB model has aged better than the 2GB model, so keep that in mind.
- GTX 970: a very common solution that still performs quite well. It is between a GTX 1060 3 GB and a GTX 1060 6 GB. Its counterpart in cards AMD graphics It would be the 4GB Radeon RX 480, although in certain cases it may perform a little less due to driver issues.
- GTX 980: It is practically at the same level as a 6 GB GTX 1060, although in certain cases it manages to surpass it. The closest thing AMD has is the 8 GB RX 580.
- GTX 980 TI: a graphics solution that still offers enormous performance. At boost frequencies, it performs slightly less than the GTX 1070, although with overclocking it can easily surpass it. In the case of AMD graphics cards, it falls slightly behind the Radeon RX Vega 56.
GeForce GTX 10 based on Pascal
- GTX 1050: It performs practically like a GTX 960. On the AMD side, it is equivalent to an RTX 460-560.
- GTX 1050 TI: its performance is above the GTX 960, but below the GTX 970-RX 570.
- GTX 1060 3GB: Its performance is similar to that of a GTX 970. It performs slightly less than the RX 570.
- GTX 1060 6GB: It has a slightly lower performance than a GTX 980. It is also slightly inferior to the Radeon RX 580 8GB.
- GTX 1070: in general it performs a bit more than the GTX 980 TI, and falls a bit below the RX Vega 56.
- GTX 1070 TI: It surpasses the GTX 980 TI. Its performance is slightly above the Radeon RX Vega 56.
- GTX 1080: It performs a bit more than the RTX 2060. It is also a bit more powerful than the Radeon RX Vega 64.
- GTX 1080 TI: It is roughly on par with the RTX 2070 Super. It performs a bit more than the Radeon VII.
NVIDIA and AMD graphics cards comparison: Radeon RX 400, Radeon RX 500 and Vega series
These graphics cards are still supported by AMD, a situation that we do not expect to change in the short or medium term, and generally offer quite good performance. They also support DirectX 12, although they are limited to level 12_0, and are compatible with Vulkan.
The lower models, such as the RX 460 and RX 560, continue to offer acceptable performance at 1080p resolutions, and the 4GB editions still have plenty of life left in them, as long as we are not particularly picky. On the other hand, the RX 470, RX 570 and higher, offer much higher performance and are maintained as perfectly runnable options in 1080p, and can even run 1440p games if we adjust the graphic quality level.
Radeon RX 400, RX 500, and Radeon RX Vega, based on the Polaris architecture and Vega architecture
- Radeon RX 550X: It doesn't have a direct equivalent, but it is somewhat above NVIDIA's GTX 750.
- Radeon RX 460-560: They are precisely equivalent to an NVIDIA GTX 1050, although the 4 GB models have aged considerably better.
- Radeon RX 470-RX570: They offer performance similar to that of a 3GB GTX 1060-GTX 970 from NVIDIA. The 8GB models offer a superior experience in certain games.
- Radeon RX 480-RX 580: Its performance is very similar to that of the 6GB GTX 1060-GTX 980, although the 8GB editions offer a superior experience in certain games.
- Radeon RX 590: It performs on a 6GB GTX 1060, but under a GTX 1070. It has aged really well, both due to its drivers and its 8GB of graphics memory.
- Radeon RX Vega 56: It has a performance halfway between the GTX 1070 and the GTX 1070 TI. It has aged really well in terms of drivers.
- Radeon RX Vega 64: They are positioned subtly below the GTX 1080, and have also aged very well thanks to their good driver support.
- Radeon VII: It was AMD's most powerful graphics card at the time, and it has also received good driver support, but its performance is inferior to a GTX 1080 Ti.
NVIDIA vs AMD Graphics Cards Comparison: A Look at Recent Models
In this category we include recent graphics cards, that is, Those that are still on the market NVIDIA and AMD, whether in whole or in part. This means that this category includes the Radeon RX 5000 series, the Radeon RX 6000 series, the GeForce RTX 20, the GeForce GTX 16, and the GeForce RTX 30.
Of all the models we've named, the Radeon RX 6000 series, GeForce RTX 20 series, and GeForce RTX 30 series are the only graphics cards from NVIDIA and AMD that Propose full support for DirectX 12 Ultimate, since they are the only ones that support its features, including hardware ray tracing acceleration, which makes them the most attractive, and longest-lasting, options on the market. In this sense, NVIDIA's graphic resolutions have some advantage thanks to DLSS, a unique technology that only works on the RTX 20 and RTX 30, since it runs, and does so faster, on their tensor cores.
AMD Radeon RX 5000 and Radeon RX 6000 Equivalents
- Radeon RX 5500 XT: performs at the level of an RX 580-GTX 980 or GTX 1650 Super. Supports FSR.
- Radeon RX 5600 XT: Its performance is a bit above the Radeon RX Vega 56 and is practically at the level of a GTX 1070 Ti. It supports FSR.
- Radeon RX 5700: It performs somewhat over the GTX 1080-RTX 2060. It supports FSR.
- Radeon RX 5700 XT: Its performance is superior to that of an RTX 2070 and is close to the Radeon VII. It supports FSR.
- Radeon RX 6500 XT: It provides performance similar to the Radeon RX 5500 XT, but also lower than that of a Radeon RX 590. Its closest equivalent on the NVIDIA side is the GTX 1650 Super. It does ray tracing faster, but its performance is too low to deal with that technology in almost all situations. It supports FSR.
- Radeon RX 6600: It is a model that represents a significant leap forward from the previous one, and performs at practically the same level as the RTX 2060 Super in rasterization, but lacks the value of DLSS. It does ray tracing faster and works with FSR. It is a bit slower than the RTX 3060.
- Radeon RX 6600 XT: a much more powerful version of the previous one that performs almost at the same level as the RTX 2070 Super in rasterization, although it also lacks the value that DLSS offers. It does ray tracing faster, supports FSR and is slightly more powerful than the RTX 3060.
- Radeon RX 6700 XT: It has slightly better performance than the RTX 3060 Ti, but it has worse ray tracing performance and lacks the value of DLSS. It does ray tracing faster and supports FSR.
- Radeon RX 6800: Its performance is slightly higher than that of the RTX 3070 Ti, but it performs worse in ray tracing and lacks the value of DLSS. It does ray tracing faster and supports FSR.
- Radeon RX 6800 XT: It has a performance very similar to that of an RTX 3080, although it is inferior in 4K, performs worse in ray tracing and lacks the value of DLSS. It does ray tracing faster and supports FSR.
- Radeon RX 6900 XT: It falls between the RTX 3080 and RTX 3080 Ti, although it performs worse than the RTX 3080 in ray tracing and lacks the value that DLSS provides. It does ray tracing faster and supports FSR.
GeForce GTX 16 Equivalents, GeForce RTX 20 and GeForce RTX 30
- GTX 1650: It performs much better than the 4GB Radeon RX 560, but less than an RX 570.
- GTX 1650 Super: It performs a bit more than the Radeon RX 580, but less than the RX 590.
- GTX 1660: It performs much better than the Radeon RX 590, but less than a Radeon RX Vega 56.
- GTX 1660 Super: It is an advanced version of the previous one, with much faster memory, which performs only slightly less than a Radeon RX Vega 56.
- GTX 1660 Ti: It provides virtually identical performance to its predecessor, putting it in almost the same league as the Radeon RX Vega 56.
- RTX 2060: It performs slightly less than the GTX 1080. Its performance is similar to that of a Radeon RX Vega 64, but it does ray tracing faster and supports DLSS.
- RTX 2060 Super: This model surpasses the GTX 1080 and is much more powerful than the Radeon RX 5700. It does faster ray tracing and supports DLSS.
- RTX 2070: It is positioned between the GTX 1080 and the GTX 1080 TI. It performs slightly less than the Radeon RX 5700 XT. It performs ray tracing faster and supports DLSS.
- RTX 2070 Super: an advanced version of the previous one, which is practically at the level of a GTX 1080 TI, and which surpasses the Radeon VII. It makes ray tracing faster and supports DLSS.
- RTX 2080: It surpasses the GTX 1080 TI and the Radeon VII. It performs ray tracing faster and supports DLSS.
- RTX 2080 Super: It is also an advanced version of the previous one that offers slightly lower performance than NVIDIA's RTX 3060 Ti and AMD's RX 6700 XT. It does faster ray tracing and supports DLSS.
- RTX 2080 TI: This model was top of the range in its day. It is much more powerful than the Radeon RX 6700 XT, and plays at almost the same level as the RTX 3070. It does ray tracing faster and supports DLSS.
- RTX 3050: the first desktop “XX50” series graphics card with dedicated hardware to accelerate ray tracing and DLSS support. It performs slightly better than the GTX 1660 Ti, and slightly less than the RTX 2060.
- RTX 3060: It is a mid-range graphics card that performs at almost the same level as the RX 5700 XT and the RTX 2070. It does ray tracing faster and supports DLSS.
- RTX 3060 Ti: We are looking at a standard-high quality model that has a slightly higher performance than the RTX 2080 Super, and that performs a little less than AMD's RX 6700 XT. It does ray tracing faster and supports DLSS.
- RTX 3070: This graphics card outperforms the RX 6700 XT, but falls behind AMD's RX 6800. It also doesn't beat the RTX 2080 Ti by a landslide. It performs ray tracing faster and supports DLSS.
- RTX 3070 Ti: This model is just a hair behind the Radeon RX 6800. The difference between the two is minimal. It performs ray tracing faster and supports DLSS.
- RTX 3080: A very powerful graphics card, which is quite a bit more powerful than the Radeon RX 6800 XT. It does faster ray tracing and supports DLSS.
- RTX 3080 Ti: This model is slightly above the Radeon RX 6900 XT, but is still a little behind the RTX 3090. It performs ray tracing faster and supports DLSS.
- RTX 3090: It's the most powerful solution available on the mainstream market. It performs slightly better than the RTX 3080 Ti. It does ray tracing faster and supports DLSS.
AMD Nvidia Graphics Equivalence – Final Notes: A look at suggested costs for recent NVIDIA and AMD graphics cards
Many of you have asked us to use this guide to bring some order to the cost chaos that dominates today's market, and we are not going to disappoint you. To avoid confusion, I have chosen to address this issue in a section without dependency, and I'm going to limit myself to touching on the prices of recent models, since in the case of the Radeon RX 5000 series and RTX 2000 series, a long time has passed since the two families hit the market, and the suggested prices are not only no longer reliable, but they are also not a good option.
However, if you have any questions because you are thinking of taking advantage of the moment the market collapses to try to get a second-hand graphics card, don't worry, you can leave them in the comments and I will assist you in every way possible, as always and at all times. Please note that the suggested prices are for the reference models, which means it may be fair to pay a little more for models with custom designs, but without going into absurd excesses that make no sense. Without further ado, let's take a look at these official prices for NVIDIA and AMD graphics cards:
AMD RX 6000 graphics cards
- Radeon RX 6500 XT: has a suggested price of 200 eurosI would not buy it directly, and I would go for a higher model or a second-hand Radeon RX 580-RX 5500 XT.
- Radeon RX 6600: Its suggested price is 339.99 eurosIt is not acceptable to pay more than 270 euros for it on the second-hand market.
- Radeon RX 6600 XT: It has a suggested price of 389.99 euros. Second hand, we should not pay much more than 330-350 euros.
- Radeon RX 6700 XT: Its suggested price is 489.99 eurosFor a second-hand one, it would be fair to pay around 400 euros, maximum.
- Radeon RX 6800: Its suggested price is 599.99 eurosIf we can find it second-hand, we could safely pay around 500 euros for it.
- Radeon RX 6800 XT: It has a suggested price of 699.99 eurosSecond hand, we could pay up to a maximum of approximately 600 euros for it.
- Radeon RX 6900 XT: In such a case, its suggested price is 1,099.90 euros, so we could pay between 900 and 950 euros for it on the second-hand market.
NVIDIA RTX 30 Graphics Cards
- RTX 3050: The suggested value of this model is 279 euros. It would not be worth paying much more than 210 euros for it second-hand.
- RTX 3060: Its suggested price is 335 eurosYou shouldn't pay much more than 270 euros for it second hand.
- RTX 3060 Ti: It has a suggested price of 419 eurosOn the second-hand market, it should start at around 350 euros, at most.
- RTX 3070: Its suggested retail price is 519 eurosOn the second-hand market, a fair value would be around 450 euros.
- RTX 3070 Ti: has a suggested price of 619 euros, and it was launched recently, so it will be very difficult to find second-hand units. However, on the second-hand market it would be fair to pay up to 550 euros for it.
- RTX 3080: Its suggested price is 719 euros, but it is a very sought-after graphics card, so paying around 650 euros for it on the second-hand market is fair, as long as it has not been used for mining.
- RTX 3080 Ti: Its suggested price is 1,199 euros, and it was released recently, so it will be very difficult to find second-hand units. If we found it, it would be fair to pay around 1,050-1,000 euros for it.
- RTX 3090: This graphics card has a suggested retail price of 1,549 eurosSecond hand, it should cost around 1,400 euros.