QOTW: AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 or Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070?

by Parm Mann on 18 August 2017, 16:31

Tags: AMD (NYSE:AMD), NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA)

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The launch of AMD Radeon RX Vega has kick-started plenty of debate here at HEXUS HQ and across the Internet.

We're of the opinion that RX Vega 64 hasn't quite done enough to stand-out against its immediate rivals, but the second-rung RX Vega 56 has shown more promise as a serious competitor to Nvidia's GeForce GTX 1070.

Both GPUs are well suited to FHD and QHD gameplay, but there are plenty of nuances to consider. Is one architecture more forward-looking than the other? There's the availability of custom coolers to consider, not to mention driver support and potential bundles. And of course power consumption and noise can also be key factors for today's consumers.

It isn't a straightforward decision, and the buying process is further complicated by fluctuating retail prices, but these two GPUs are destined to compete in the near-£400 market. We're always intrigued to hear how new products are perceived by our readers, so for this week there can be only one question: AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 or Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070?

Let us know your preferred pick, and your reasons why, using the comments facility below.



HEXUS Forums :: 55 Comments

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If I didn't already own a 1070 then I would still be looking at a 1070 due to the crazy pricing right now, there are some editions of the 1070 going for around the £350 mark at present.

If the pricing wasn't all messed up then I would recommend the Vega. Bring it down to £300 and I might even buy one for my son.
I am not in the market for a £400 GPU, but if I was, I would definately go for AMD because of their linux support.

As the article over on Phoronix makes clear, AMD written full open source Linux drivers with similar performance to the windows ones and made them available at launch.

The drivers have not been mainlined yet, so you would have to wait a couple of months before you can just install your favourite Linux distro, and expect everything to work out of the box, but that will come soon enough and I am very impressed with AMD's approach.

Compare that with nVidia, that now use signed binary blobs on their drivers, so none of their recent cards work at all with the open drivers, and you can only use closed drivers for an nVidia card if you are running a “professional” distro such as RedHat or Ubuntu LTS.
Unfortunately, due to prices VS performance, I think Nvidia is the route I will choose
Given that the 1070 can be had for around £350, it would have to be the 1070.
Yes, i know the Vega has the performance edge, but it costs £50 more - it also consumes a little more power, which over the course of a couple of years adds significantly to the overall cost. There is also the question of the $399 figure given by AMD - which apparently only applies to launch-day discount. (See the Vega 64 furore)
Given current prices I would go with 1070 that and the fact the vega is so darn ugly too.