Nvidia RTX vs AMD Radeon: Which GPU should you choose for your next gaming PC in 2022 and why

Nvidia RTX and AMD Radeon are two of the leading graphics card lineups to choose from today. While Intel is entering the market with its Arc Alchemist lineup of graphics cards, availability and options are still quite limited. Thus, gamers have to choose between Team Green and Team Red while shopping for their rendering powerhouses.

While opinions on Nvidia and AMD graphics cards differ, the majority of gamers consider the former over the latter. There are obvious reasons to back this preference; however, AMD has been causing a few ripples in the consumer video card market recently.

It is worth noting that both PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X|S run on graphics solutions manufactured by AMD. Thus, the Santa Clara-based fabless semiconductor giant has perfected its graphics technology to a level of universal acceptance.

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Key points to keep in mind while choosing between Nvidia RTX and AMD Radeon

The Nvidia Geforce RTX 30 series (Image via Nvidia)

When choosing between Nvidia RTX and AMD Radeon, gamers need to keep a few points in mind. Both of these lineups have their own set of pros and cons, and in the current market scenario, none of them particularly win over the others.

Nvidia RTX 30 series graphics cards took the PC DIY community by storm when they were introduced back in 2020. These next-gen graphics cards pack significantly improved raster performance and unmatched pricing when introduced two years ago.

However, there was a video card shortage following the launch of these cards, and both Nvidia RTX and AMD Radeon cards were being scalped. Earlier this year, the shortage ended and the cards came down to affordable prices. Although AMD Radeon graphics cards have come down to MSRP, Nvidia cards are still selling for $50 to $100 over their maximum retail prices.

Coupled with this, AMD's graphics cards are competitive offerings. Most of them perform as well as Nvidia cards and beat them in certain scenarios.

However, when Nvidia and AMD introduced their GPUs back in the day, AMD cards were not in a favorable position. Team Red offerings faced the issue that Geforce RTX cards face today with poor price-to-performance ratios.

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Should gamers go for AMD Radeon graphics cards today?

After considering the increased prices of Nvidia RTX cards, most gamers will lean towards AMD Radeon RX 6000 series GPUs. However, they should note that Radeon RX GPUs have a set of caveats.

Radeon RX 6000 series' ray tracing implementation is not as polished as Nvidia's solution with the Ampere architecture. Thus, in ray tracing intensive video games like Cyberpunk 2077, Hitman III, and Shadow of the Tomb Raider, we see the RX 6000 cards falter and lose to Nvidia RTX GPUs by a solid margin.

Alongside this, AMD's FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR) is not nearly as polished as Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) from Nvidia. Although FSR 2.0 has improved the technology by leaps, it is still not close to the near-perfect images produced by DLSS.

This is accompanied by the fact that AMD Radeon GPUs are not as well optimized for creators. All Adobe suite software perform well when the system is paired with Nvidia graphics cards.

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Conclusion

An Nvidia RTX 20 series card (Image via Nvidia)

Both Nvidia and AMD have their sets of caveats. Thus, users are recommended to choose the perfect graphics card for their system depending on their budget and uses.

If gamers want best-in-class gaming performance and do not care about spending a little extra on their systems, Nvidia RTX graphics cards are the way to go.

However, if they do not want or need the extra features of Nvidia Geforce RTX card packs and want pure performance and a bang for their buck, the AMD Radeon RX graphics card is the way to go.

These days, users who buy AMD Radeon RX 6000 graphics cards from qualifying retailers are also getting a couple of video games free of cost.