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AMD Owners - how is your experience?

Soldato
Joined
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Officially least sunny location -Ronskistats
The fanboy part is interesting as do people think there would be fanboys if the driver experience was so bad. There is no way there would be such a thing if the driver experience was so bad it was unusable a lot of the time. Only reason I keep going back to AMD is because the cards do what I want them to do at a better price than the competition.

Will never get people that just want to game that would pay £100 more for the same experience.

But the thing is TRD when I own said cheaper alternative to nvidia card (i.e. vega instead of the 1070/2070) I experience no driver issues nor black screens. I too dont understand if your choice is a fair chunk cheaper, the reason has to be 1) some wierd piece of mind, 2) triablism, 3) pretending you use the featureset which we all know a hefty mass of people dont use. I mean you cant tell me those that bought 2060, 2060S, 2070 can really use RTX on the games as we have been showed that the 2080Ti struggles and the new 3080 is suddenly the choice for 1440p gaming...
 
Soldato
Joined
6 Aug 2009
Posts
7,070
But the thing is TRD when I own said cheaper alternative to nvidia card (i.e. vega instead of the 1070/2070) I experience no driver issues nor black screens. I too dont understand if your choice is a fair chunk cheaper, the reason has to be 1) some wierd piece of mind, 2) triablism, 3) pretending you use the featureset which we all know a hefty mass of people dont use. I mean you cant tell me those that bought 2060, 2060S, 2070 can really use RTX on the games as we have been showed that the 2080Ti struggles and the new 3080 is suddenly the choice for 1440p gaming...

It's the way people's minds are wired up. Most people I know but everything like that. No time or thought put into it, just what is popular and what has high profile sales hype. Those who tend to do some research and look for the best value for their money so across most of their higher value purchasing.

I've saved a fortune with a bit of research as well as avoiding buying over hyped, under performing products.
 
Soldato
Joined
28 May 2007
Posts
10,049
But the thing is TRD when I own said cheaper alternative to nvidia card (i.e. vega instead of the 1070/2070) I experience no driver issues nor black screens. I too dont understand if your choice is a fair chunk cheaper, the reason has to be 1) some wierd piece of mind, 2) triablism, 3) pretending you use the featureset which we all know a hefty mass of people dont use. I mean you cant tell me those that bought 2060, 2060S, 2070 can really use RTX on the games as we have been showed that the 2080Ti struggles and the new 3080 is suddenly the choice for 1440p gaming...

I agree with you, that's why I have used AMD for a long time now. AMD always give me similar performance for less money and through my experience Nvidia offer me nothing yet cost more. The only way I would pay more is if AMD were not providing me with what I need in my games.
 
Associate
Joined
7 Apr 2014
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230
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Dudley West Mids
The fanboy part is interesting as do people think there would be fanboys if the driver experience was so bad. There is no way there would be such a thing if the driver experience was so bad it was unusable a lot of the time. Only reason I keep going back to AMD is because the cards do what I want them to do at a better price than the competition.

Will never get people that just want to game that would pay £100 more for the same experience.

They are everywhere mate everywhere.
 
Soldato
Joined
10 May 2004
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5,147
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Middlesex
I've had a vega64 since not long after release. Other than the fans ramping up too high (which was a case airflow issue) I've had no issues whatsoever. No issues with driver software, crashes or anything. Maybe I've been lucky.
 
Soldato
Joined
31 Dec 2007
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13,616
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The TARDIS, Wakefield, UK
Right, so as your one of the few unicorns that have gone nvidia > AMD, your experience has been positive and far more weight than nvidia owners that "I read it somewhere" that the drivers were flawed etc.?

This is the kind of post people should absorb instead of taking a fanboys word on it.

Yeah not had an issue it was smooth transition. I dont doubt there was an issue but no one has bothered to collate the information to find a common denominator. It could be a certain combo of hardware or even an overclock of the CPU etc no one knows for sure. Just with my spec it worked first time. Currently on latest drivers too.

I mean you cant tell me those that bought 2060, 2060S, 2070 can really use RTX on the games as we have been showed that the 2080Ti struggles and the new 3080 is suddenly the choice for 1440p gaming...

I bought my son a RTX 2060 and its probably no benchmark whatsoever but Fortnite just enabled DLSS and Ray Tracing in the DX12 settings and he plays 1080p so we wacked all the settings to on and max for DLSS and RTX and the only difference was he dropped 5fps from 75 to 70. The game looks a lot more colourful suddenly and better. Its hard to describe but you can see the water relfections on the floor are more "realistic". It would need a side by side picture but its kind of less cartoony.
 
Associate
Joined
3 Oct 2013
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331
I do like Geforce Experience because I can't be bothered figuring out settings for my games anymore. Does AMD have something like that? I'm tempted by the new AMD cards after the RTX 3080 launch. Otherwise just getting a PS5 and keeping my RTX 2060.
 
Soldato
Joined
7 Aug 2012
Posts
2,640
Nvidia in my own pc and AMD in kids.

Can't say I've had any issue with either.

What I will say is Radeon software is much more modern and clean looking as far as the UI goes. Nvidia's is like a Windows XP application. If they could tie all of the control panel features in to GeForce Experience it would be a lot better.
 
Associate
Joined
21 Apr 2007
Posts
2,483
I've not used an AMD gpu since the R9 290x (bought Nov 2013) it lasted about 4yrs then failed on me before the Vega launch. I opted for a 2nd hand 980Ti as its replacement...

The R9 was a blower design hot and loud but an aftermarket cooler sorted that problem out, initially there were driver issues and game stuttering on a couple of titles I was playing but they got sorted out. Overall it was a good experience bar the unplanned hardware failure but that can happen to any GPU and given it was a flashed 290 to 290x I can't really complain but I wouldn't buy another VTX3D branded GPU again because of that.

My main issue with AMD is simply not having a product that competes with the high end GPUs of the generation I would have bought a 5700 XT had it come out earlier
 
Associate
Joined
30 Jan 2017
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Lincs
We have a 5600xt in the house which was used in the second pc that my wife and kids use.
I have been using it since selling my 2080ti and it’s performed like an absolute champ I can tell you.
I have had a couple of black screen reboots so I guess the drivers aren’t as refined as Nvidia but it would not put me off buying one at all. Think the complaining about the drivers these days is mostly unjustified.
If I wasn’t such a whore I could be happy with the 5600xt for some time. Unfortunately I want to have my cake and eat it too. :)
 
Soldato
Joined
13 Apr 2013
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12,371
Location
La France
I have a couple of machines on radeon cards right now, mine on a radeon 7 which for me has been problem free ownership bar a few sketchy driver releases with the oculus and weirdly an issue I had with teams but which has been absolutely fine for the last 6 months or more. In the wifes machine she has a sapphire rx470 and again I have never had an issue with that. To be honest though im not a massive fiddler I just install a driver and unless something is wrong that's the driver ill be using. The 7 for me has been a great card. If I upgrade ill stick it in the mrs machine.

Totally agree about the AMD/Radeon drivers - unless you need version XX.XX to run a new game, leave what works alone.
 
Associate
Joined
29 Jun 2016
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Up Norf
ill run you through my card list from recent years.

  • XFX R9 280 - Fine, no issues at all
  • Sapphire RX 480 - Fine, no issues at all
  • Reference vega 64, Fine at 1080p, horrendously loud at 1440p
  • Bought a strix Vega 64 due to the noise of the reference vega. It played well but junction temps were hitting well above 110c and RMA'd it
  • DPD lost it and OCers gave me a refund.
  • Bought a Zotac 1070 which gave me horrendous stutter in overwatch, and i couldnt for the life of me work out what the issue was. Tried it in another rig and it worked fine so I sold it.
  • Bought a vega 56 pulse, fantastic card to tinker with and actually had it performing better than my vega 64's
  • I then bought a reference 50th AE 5700xt, fantastic card, had a slight issue with COD but that was fixed with a driver update, I sometimes got a black screen while gaming which seems to have been rectified by buying a better DP cable.
My son runs an RX570, and by god, even today that little card is fantastic!
 
Soldato
Joined
19 Oct 2008
Posts
5,949
I do like Geforce Experience because I can't be bothered figuring out settings for my games anymore. Does AMD have something like that? I'm tempted by the new AMD cards after the RTX 3080 launch. Otherwise just getting a PS5 and keeping my RTX 2060.
Me too. I can't be bothered messing around with settings now and GF experience provides at least a good baseline for the performance, memory of the gpu and monitor resolution. Can then use a slider for better visuals or performance. Imo its a great application
 
Associate
Joined
3 Oct 2013
Posts
331
Me too. I can't be bothered messing around with settings now and GF experience provides at least a good baseline for the performance, memory of the gpu and monitor resolution. Can then use a slider for better visuals or performance. Imo its a great application

I'm surprised a 3rd party program doesn't do it. Built into GOG Galaxy would be great. Although I guess if one of the new AMDs do compare with the RTX 3080 (which I was ready to buy last week) then I suppose it won't matter the game, just stick it on max setting and play away! I'm gaming at 1440p with a 155hz monitor so a 3080 or AMD equivalent would be overkill the majority of the time.

I take it then that AMD don't have any plans for a GFE alternative?
 

Kei

Kei

Soldato
Joined
24 Oct 2008
Posts
2,750
Location
South Wales
I've been running a Vega 56 for 3 years so far and have had no trouble during that time. Not had one black screen reboot or driver crash. The only game I've had issues with is GTA IV.

I also run a GTX780 alongside it that serves as a CUDA/physX accelerator, but was my main GPU from 2013 to 2017. The 780 had a spate of black screening which I eventually traced back to intel Vt-D. Both have been great.
 
Associate
Joined
20 Jun 2016
Posts
1,308
Still rocking a gtx 1080 and in the market for a new card. What with the 3080's like hens teeth atm, it seems prudent to keep an eye out for AMD's next big thing, which I gather is only a few weeks away, and could potentially be a good value proposition.

I haven't used an AMD card in a long time. Genuine question, without any agenda, or trying to fan any flame wars.. how is the user experience with AMD cards nowadays?

I would describe my dealings with AMD cards as rewarding. Running on VEGA 56. + VEGA 64 bios.

They are great cards but usually need a bit of optimisation to get most out of them.
If you like a good performance, decent drivers and like to tweek ur PC go AMD.
 
Soldato
Joined
22 Feb 2010
Posts
5,102
Location
Southampton
All cards for had for 2-3 years each

VTX 6950 - all good
Sapphire 280 - first one was overheating out of the box, returned for a new one, no problems
Sapphire 380 - all good few years
Aorus 580 - good 1080p performance, no issues with the card, gigabyte Aorus software had some problems with confusing fan speeds and not turning them on so I didn't use it (the gigabyte software)
Vega 64 - amazing 1080p, ok at 1440p - time for a new one maybe 6900xt? :)

had an 8800GT before the 6950 and that was really good, not a fanboy of either just whenever time for a new card the AMD one has always been the fastest for the money at the time, same again this time 3070 or 6900xt what ever gives me 1440p 144hz in shooters or around 90/100fps in something slower like AC or TR type games
 
Soldato
Joined
28 Oct 2011
Posts
8,356
Never had a real issue with drivers in the entire time I have AMD cards which now runs back to 2012, I think AMD's drivers issues old an wife's tale, perpetuated by an heavily pro-NV YT tech tuber base, like Jayztwocents and unashamedly paid shills like Digital Foundry. I think a hell of a lot driver issues are user-created by people who can't stop fiddling with their cards settings, like OC'ing the beejezus out of it, continually messing with settings in game, and also messing with resolutions etc trying to get the perfect image.

That said, do users have genuine driver issues with AMD cards? yes they do, just like they do with NV. But you only ever hear about AMD issues, just like you only ever hear about AMD, noise, heat and power consumption. The whole GPU environment is heavily Nvidia biased and they have huge mind-share.

The whole AMD driver meme is old and tired and not reflective most users experience, and I've been won over by AMD's control panel software. It's user friendly and looks goos to boot.
 
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