So... Metro Last Light or Bioshock Infinite, Tomb Raider / Crysis 3, and Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon.
Wow. That's such a tough choice. nVidia, you gots to do better. Stop nappin' and just swimming in all the Titan moneys you're making and get on the ball. Or don't and watch the enthusiast market give up on you once AMD stops fooling around and gets those frame latency drivers and Crossfire drivers all sorted out.
Frame latency and the micro stutter issues on Crossfire (which i can sometimes see with my eyes so don't need tests to show me) are FAR more important than a game bundle. And this is AMD, so who knows how long until they actually get this stuff PROPERLY fixed.
Agree, Metro: LL is a big step up from the F2P crap, but it's still not as good as the previous holiday bundle (Borderlands 2 and Assassin's Creed 3). It's also far short of AMD's last few Never Settle bundles with the titles you've mentioned above.
I would never base GPU purchasing decisions solely on bundled games, but the fact of the matter is these games are valid currency whether they save you money on a game you were already planning to buy, or allow you to sell the code thereby subsidizing the cost of the card (or additional cards you buy for multi-GPU).
Meh, its just Shooters either way. As a RPG player I've been throwing away bundled games for years now. And I don't really see any of the above cards, with the possible acception of the 660, being bought by somebody who thinks "I'll gladly ignore the AMD option, because I want a free copy of this game".
Seriously, I rather hate the whole business model. It's not like 4A are giving these games away for free, and its not like nVidia isn't adding the cost of the game to the price of the hardware. So basically they nVidia decides that everybody has to pay 5$ for a game license, so that the people that actually want it can save 45$ against buying the full-price version. And I bet 4A will use the number of licenses sold to nVidia to brag about how many "copies" of their game they sold.
I'd much rather decide for myself what I want to buy, and what I think it is worth, instead of constantly having companies bundle their offers, or worse yet increase their prices just so they can reduce it back to normal after I agree to join some data-gathering bonus program.
But maybe I'm just suffering from Grumpy-Old-Guy Syndrome.
I would love to see you guys dive into how big of a problem the 192bit memory interface is on the GTX660. The HD7850 has 1GB of RAM but a 256bit memory interface. Which is why I find it confusing that Nvidia has 2GB of RAM on the GTX660 but only a 192bit memory interface. Is AMD just going WAY overboard or is Nvidia short changing us? All the people I advise on parts care much more about longevity than pure performance or even cost. I worry that the 192bit memory interface will become a problem in 2-4 years when gaming at 1080p. At that resolution I don't expect any issues with the amount of RAM, 2GB, but the ability of the card to address it all.
The 660 is running at about 25% higher memory speeds, and thus the 25% smaller interface is almost completely compensated. The resulting bandwidth is also basically the same as it was for the 5850 and the 470. This is not an aspect of videocards that is rapidly changing right now, and I don't see why that should change in the next 2-4 years.
Didn't bluescreen me. I could say the same about AMD Drivers (when I used the AMD card, 4850 and 5850) every single day I'm on the computer I would get "video driver crashed". WTF? It wasn't like it was just one PC, it happened on two separate PC's. Could have been the damn card, but oh well, right?
Besides, I invested a lot of money in Nvidia 3D Vision. AMD cards won't work with this. I'm very happy with the Nvidia cards I have and will never go back to AMD (with the exception of my netbook because it has a built in AMD GPU).
I agree, AMD's 7000 generation is (slightly) better in (almost) every possible way The only thing they have trouble is Crossfire ... but seriously, that's a very-very small part of the market (people with multiple videocards). 1. AMD's cards are a bit cheaper at the same performance, or a bit faster at the same price (Also have bigger, faster memory buffers, which will be essential for new games with more textures) 2. AMD's game bundle is much more delicious 3. AMD has MUCH better compute power right now (which gets used more and more... OpenCL on Kepler is a joke...) 4. AMD already has the next generation architecture ready (8000 series, which will most likely come before the end of the year)... nVidia is still waiting for new process node, that will take a while.
I am not a fanboy, just stating the facts... NV needs to get their heads out of the sand (read: Mobile space) and continue competing properly in desktop/mobile high-performance space, or they will keep losing market-share rapidly )
Agreed, I can't make a single Nvidia recommendation right now on Desktop. Laptop sure, AMD still has switching issues. Where Optimus works great. But that's not really such a big deal. Kinda happy to see it though, cause Intel if just WALLOPING AMD on CPU's.
1. Titan > All 2. True. 3. Titan > All. Not sure about the state of OpenCL on Titan, but serious compute users are using CUDA anyways. 4. 8000 series is a rebrand for AMD (fact) while there are rumors Nvidia is ramping up a Kepler refresh 700 series line-up in time for Computex in early June.
Titan is an ultra overpriced card. At 650$ it would be great, awesome, the best card ever. At 1000$ is just an apple-type ripoff. nNidia itself is switching to OpenCL :) CUDA was nice, but it's slowly and surely becoming outdated (just like it happens with every other proprietary technology in the history of computing) Heck, there are even here a lot of articles in which various AAA software (like Adobe Photoshop or Aftereffects are switching/using OpenCL in their latest versions to accelerate processing). And more and more software pop-up and take advantage of this extra computing horespower. Sure, Titan is more powerful... but again, 1000$ ... HELL NO.
8000 Is not rebrand, it's GCN 2.0 (tuned/optimized), start googling for that info. There's already a card out which is using GCN 2.0 ... Radeon 7790, which is NOT a rebrand and NOT a higher clocked 7770.
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HisDivineOrder - Tuesday, April 16, 2013 - link
So... Metro Last Light or Bioshock Infinite, Tomb Raider / Crysis 3, and Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon.Wow. That's such a tough choice. nVidia, you gots to do better. Stop nappin' and just swimming in all the Titan moneys you're making and get on the ball. Or don't and watch the enthusiast market give up on you once AMD stops fooling around and gets those frame latency drivers and Crossfire drivers all sorted out.
DigitalFreak - Tuesday, April 16, 2013 - link
"once AMD stops fooling around and gets those frame latency drivers and Crossfire drivers all sorted out."So, Nvidia has a few more years before they have to worry?
D3m - Wednesday, April 17, 2013 - link
Don't worry about frame latency they'll fix it. It's the never settle reloaded that Nvidia should be worried about.chizow - Wednesday, April 17, 2013 - link
I can buy the Never Settle Reloaded bundle on Ebay for $60, how much will it cost to get AMD to fix it's CF runtframe and frame latency problems?B3an - Wednesday, April 17, 2013 - link
Frame latency and the micro stutter issues on Crossfire (which i can sometimes see with my eyes so don't need tests to show me) are FAR more important than a game bundle. And this is AMD, so who knows how long until they actually get this stuff PROPERLY fixed.I'm a Crossfire owner BTW.
chizow - Wednesday, April 17, 2013 - link
Agree, Metro: LL is a big step up from the F2P crap, but it's still not as good as the previous holiday bundle (Borderlands 2 and Assassin's Creed 3). It's also far short of AMD's last few Never Settle bundles with the titles you've mentioned above.I would never base GPU purchasing decisions solely on bundled games, but the fact of the matter is these games are valid currency whether they save you money on a game you were already planning to buy, or allow you to sell the code thereby subsidizing the cost of the card (or additional cards you buy for multi-GPU).
Forrest29 - Wednesday, April 17, 2013 - link
Do I get the game if I already own the card?ShieTar - Thursday, April 18, 2013 - link
Meh, its just Shooters either way. As a RPG player I've been throwing away bundled games for years now. And I don't really see any of the above cards, with the possible acception of the 660, being bought by somebody who thinks "I'll gladly ignore the AMD option, because I want a free copy of this game".Seriously, I rather hate the whole business model. It's not like 4A are giving these games away for free, and its not like nVidia isn't adding the cost of the game to the price of the hardware. So basically they nVidia decides that everybody has to pay 5$ for a game license, so that the people that actually want it can save 45$ against buying the full-price version. And I bet 4A will use the number of licenses sold to nVidia to brag about how many "copies" of their game they sold.
I'd much rather decide for myself what I want to buy, and what I think it is worth, instead of constantly having companies bundle their offers, or worse yet increase their prices just so they can reduce it back to normal after I agree to join some data-gathering bonus program.
But maybe I'm just suffering from Grumpy-Old-Guy Syndrome.
euroboardgames - Thursday, August 1, 2013 - link
Homer: I don't think you realize what you're saying...Lisa: BABOON!
Bart: I knew someone was gonna say it, but I can't believe it was her.
Well said, Shietar.
Hrel - Wednesday, April 17, 2013 - link
I would love to see you guys dive into how big of a problem the 192bit memory interface is on the GTX660. The HD7850 has 1GB of RAM but a 256bit memory interface. Which is why I find it confusing that Nvidia has 2GB of RAM on the GTX660 but only a 192bit memory interface. Is AMD just going WAY overboard or is Nvidia short changing us? All the people I advise on parts care much more about longevity than pure performance or even cost. I worry that the 192bit memory interface will become a problem in 2-4 years when gaming at 1080p. At that resolution I don't expect any issues with the amount of RAM, 2GB, but the ability of the card to address it all.ShieTar - Friday, April 19, 2013 - link
The 660 is running at about 25% higher memory speeds, and thus the 25% smaller interface is almost completely compensated. The resulting bandwidth is also basically the same as it was for the 5850 and the 470. This is not an aspect of videocards that is rapidly changing right now, and I don't see why that should change in the next 2-4 years.geniusloci - Wednesday, April 17, 2013 - link
AMD has better cards AND better bundles.chizow - Wednesday, April 17, 2013 - link
Bundles, yesCards, no
Drivers, HELL NO LOL.
Senti - Wednesday, April 17, 2013 - link
Drivers: they are both awful. Yesterday great nVidia drivers two times bluescreened me in one morning out of absolutely nowhere.BishopLord - Wednesday, April 24, 2013 - link
Didn't bluescreen me. I could say the same about AMD Drivers (when I used the AMD card, 4850 and 5850) every single day I'm on the computer I would get "video driver crashed". WTF? It wasn't like it was just one PC, it happened on two separate PC's. Could have been the damn card, but oh well, right?Besides, I invested a lot of money in Nvidia 3D Vision. AMD cards won't work with this. I'm very happy with the Nvidia cards I have and will never go back to AMD (with the exception of my netbook because it has a built in AMD GPU).
wavetrex - Wednesday, April 17, 2013 - link
I agree, AMD's 7000 generation is (slightly) better in (almost) every possible wayThe only thing they have trouble is Crossfire ... but seriously, that's a very-very small part of the market (people with multiple videocards).
1. AMD's cards are a bit cheaper at the same performance, or a bit faster at the same price (Also have bigger, faster memory buffers, which will be essential for new games with more textures)
2. AMD's game bundle is much more delicious
3. AMD has MUCH better compute power right now (which gets used more and more... OpenCL on Kepler is a joke...)
4. AMD already has the next generation architecture ready (8000 series, which will most likely come before the end of the year)... nVidia is still waiting for new process node, that will take a while.
I am not a fanboy, just stating the facts... NV needs to get their heads out of the sand (read: Mobile space) and continue competing properly in desktop/mobile high-performance space, or they will keep losing market-share rapidly )
Hrel - Wednesday, April 17, 2013 - link
Agreed, I can't make a single Nvidia recommendation right now on Desktop. Laptop sure, AMD still has switching issues. Where Optimus works great. But that's not really such a big deal. Kinda happy to see it though, cause Intel if just WALLOPING AMD on CPU's.chizow - Wednesday, April 17, 2013 - link
1. Titan > All2. True.
3. Titan > All. Not sure about the state of OpenCL on Titan, but serious compute users are using CUDA anyways.
4. 8000 series is a rebrand for AMD (fact) while there are rumors Nvidia is ramping up a Kepler refresh 700 series line-up in time for Computex in early June.
D3m - Wednesday, April 17, 2013 - link
Are you sure HD 8000 is a rebrand? And what compute users are using CUDA?wavetrex - Wednesday, April 17, 2013 - link
Titan is an ultra overpriced card. At 650$ it would be great, awesome, the best card ever. At 1000$ is just an apple-type ripoff.nNidia itself is switching to OpenCL :) CUDA was nice, but it's slowly and surely becoming outdated (just like it happens with every other proprietary technology in the history of computing)
Heck, there are even here a lot of articles in which various AAA software (like Adobe Photoshop or Aftereffects are switching/using OpenCL in their latest versions to accelerate processing). And more and more software pop-up and take advantage of this extra computing horespower.
Sure, Titan is more powerful... but again, 1000$ ... HELL NO.
8000 Is not rebrand, it's GCN 2.0 (tuned/optimized), start googling for that info. There's already a card out which is using GCN 2.0 ... Radeon 7790, which is NOT a rebrand and NOT a higher clocked 7770.
Please research your facts next time, ktnxbye.
D3m - Wednesday, April 17, 2013 - link
More like GCN 1.1 for HD 7790.