Nvidia 1080 GTX or Radeon Vega 64 for 3D Work

Thirtyfour

Hello people.

I am purchasing a new computer for work. It is a 8700k desktop, and I have a chance to have in it either an Nvidia 1080 GTX or a Radeon Vega 64 for 50 USD more. I use the following software normally (in this order):

- Blender

- Zbrush

- Adobe Photoshop, Premiere, After Effects

- Substance Suite

- Unity

Which of the two cards would you recommend? I am not a big gamer, so getting more FPS in this or that game is not a concern. I would just like to know if switching to AMD might shoot myself in the foot when working with some software.

Thanks.

ZacD

http://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GTX-1080-vs-AMD-RX-Vega-64/3603vs3933

Benchmark wise, the 1080 is better. Support wise, Nvidia seems to have a little less issues with professional software. Also if you use anything that supports CUDA, Nvidia is a better option. Nvidia also has a lot of cool extra features like iRay in Substance Painter (or VXGI in UE4). 

poopipe

Nvidia,  always nvidia

PolyHertz

iirc Blender Cycles actually runs better using a Vega 64 then a 1080, but otherwise the 1080 will be roughly the same or better in most cases.

Thirtyfour

Thank you guys! PolyHertz - indeed, that is what attracted me to the Vega 64, and also the fact it has more compute power, so it is nice to play with some AI-based VFX plugin I wanted to try and develop for myself.

But, Nvidia seems to be the most well rounded, especially for a guy that buys a GPU once every many, many years.

To complicate things further is the announcement there might be new Nvidia cards this summer; not that I want to spend more than what I am willing to spend now, but I suppose some pre-built PC manufacturers might offer some discount on previous generation GPUs.  So it all boils down on whether my current PC decides to give up on me before this Summer.

Thanks again, I really appreciated your replies.

EarthQuake

1080 over Vega all day. The 1070 Ti is a good choice too, about as powerful as the 1080 but can sometimes be found for $100-150 or so less. I just did a 8700k/32GB/1070 Ti build here and it's awesome.

New Nvidia 1180/2080 or whatever it is called should be announced this summer but unlikely to be available until fall, so it depends on how long you're willing to wait. If you have a GPU that will hold you over until fall waiting could be wise. Personally, there's always the next gen right around the corner if you wait long enough, so I don't tend to put much stock into that. Whatever you buy, there will be a cheaper/faster/better thing next year, it's the nature of PC hardware.

The crypto/mining market is still strong so I'm not sure how much of a price drop you'll see on the launch of the next gen. What is more likely is that the next gen cards will sell at significantly over retail when they come out, with the current gen prices not moving much for probably, half a year or so while the new stock gets really pushed out there. There are still stock shortages and the current gen card typically sell at about or a bit over retail.

If you're looking for a significant price drop to the current gen cards, you're probably looking at a ~1 year wait, if not longer.

Thirtyfour

EarthQuake said:

1080 over Vega all day. The 1070 Ti is a good choice too, about as powerful as the 1080 but can sometimes be found for $100-150 or so less. I just did a 8700k/32GB/1070 Ti build here and it's awesome.

New Nvidia 1180/2080 or whatever it is called should be announced this summer but unlikely to be available until fall, so it depends on how long you're willing to wait. If you have a GPU that will hold you over until fall waiting could be wise. Personally, there's always the next gen right around the corner if you wait long enough, so I don't tend to put much stock into that. Whatever you buy, there will be a cheaper/faster/better thing next year, it's the nature of PC hardware.

Indeed, that is a great build! The 1070 TI is indeed a possibility as well, definitely one of the cards I have been looking for.

PolyHertz

Also, Vega 64 uses a lot more energy then a 1080 when maxed out. It's not a HUGE difference, but might matter if you're concerned about being eco friendly.