AMD vs nVidia for STO

xgorillapx · January 2013

I have seen some video card benchmarks for STO, but the ones I've seen were outdated, or with $400 videocards outside of my price range.

I am debating between the Radeon HD 7770 and the GeForce GTX 650

The cards seem to perform very comparably. The Radeon HD seems to outperform it in most games, but I am curious if there is a benefit to having an nVidia card vs an AMD card for STO? (STO is the only game I really play)I am currently running it in 1600x1200.

I'm not sure if there is nVidia technology that STO takes advantage of that gives it a boost over an AMD card.

Please do not respond with "nVidia FTW!!!" or just general bias. If anyone has any factual information to provide regarding the games technology or relevant benchmarks it would be greatly appreciated.

kalvorax · January 2013

After having used both nVidia (a GeForce 520) and currently using an AMD Radehon 6450....i would actualyl say go with nvidia...I am having SO many FPS spikes issues that cryptic seems to blame on AMD to fix when its actually cryptic..before Thursday's patch (1/10) after i had grabbed the most recent drives from the Site, it was fine...but ever since that patch ive had FPS issues like crazy....even after i set the slider on video to Speed...ist not latency or anything like internet issues because I've been playng other internet games and been just fine.

with the nvidia card i NEVER experienced anything like this. however some people are saying that the newer driver updates are doing the same problems as above or close to it.

the cards your looking at ARE better than the ones i have, but just letting you know.

xgorillapx · January 2013

I have a hard time going off of those examples. Those are both low end cards. (I don't mean to sound like a d-bag)

Also, I don't know that is has much to do with the card, but perhaps an issue in the game with something because the lagginess and rubberbanding as of late has been a common complaint.

I have heard that statement before though regarding nVidias driver development team being more competent that that of AMD. I have also however heard that there have been some performance improvements with AMD's latest drivers.

I believe that that Radeon HD 7770 is the better card, but it all comes down to which one will perform better in this game.

matchstick606 · January 2013

xgorillapx wrote: »

I have a hard time going off of those examples. Those are both low end cards. (I don't mean to sound like a d-bag)

Also, I don't know that is has much to do with the card, but perhaps an issue in the game with something because the lagginess and rubberbanding as of late has been a common complaint.

I have heard that statement before though regarding nVidias driver development team being more competent that that of AMD. I have also however heard that there have been some performance improvements with AMD's latest drivers.

I believe that that Radeon HD 7770 is the better card, but it all comes down to which one will perform better in this game.

nvidia over amd any day. If you have stated the price range your looking for it would help a bit more, also what brand are you looking at? If i were you if its not to replace a dying card and merely to upgrade, just save your money and go with a GTX 660 or higher from EVGA. hell you could pull off a 570 and still would perform great. to sum it up, don't buy a AMD.

btw: sto is a bit old for pc gaming standards if money is a problem then going with a gen down is fine. 560 on up. I run a GTX 560 sc and with max settings the game runs great. even in the big mess of starbase defense there is no slow down. I've never had a AMD/ATI card that didn't give me some type of problem in the past.

phantomeight · January 2013

nVidia for the driver support as it is unmatched. I purchase nVidia not because I am looking for the fastest card, it's because I know it will work.

Also STO has had trouble with ATI/AMD drivers in the past where SuperCrypticDave (I think) had to ask for dxdiag reports from everyone to figure out what the problem was. Of course those running nVidia didn't have issues.

As far as performance, I run everything maxed at 1680 x 1050 and it barely uses 50% GPU utilization on my 560 Ti 2GB which is slightly above mid range for that series.

I use http://www.videocardbenchmark.net a lot when deciding on video card purchases. The Radeon HD 7770 is actually faster than the GTX 650, but my 560 Ti is twice as powerful as the GTX 650 and as I mentioned, it barely sweats when running STO... which means the GTX 650 should be fine with STO pretty much maxed though it might be working hard.

This is my 560Ti at 3475 marks - rank of 20
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu.php?gpu=GeForce+GTX+560+Ti&id=18

This is the GTX 650 at 1809 marks - rank of 75
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu.php?gpu=GeForce+GTX+650&id=2155

This is the Radeon HD 7770 at 2133 marks - rank of 57
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu.php?gpu=Radeon+HD+7770&id=322

Also, I have been getting lag and rubberbanding lately too and it's not your video cards.... it's their severs or network. I have a bachelor's in Network Administration and work in this field for a well known fortune 100 company, my network and internet were fine. It's been contention on their end.

martyrking · January 2013

I'm personally using the Sapphire HD7770 OC edition and run the game at 1080p, DX11, max everything (except bloom

). I've only ever owned AMD products and I've never had serious issues with any game. It comes down to preference, like always

jennyluve · January 2013

martyrking wrote: »

It comes down to preference, like always

This is very true, however, and statistically speaking, Nvidia has always held a far greater solid performance than Radeon throughout. I've used both in the past and like you said, it's really about preference; I'd rather go with what's solidly worked and that would have to be Nvidia.

jcsww · January 2013

As much as AMD produces better graphics in almost every other stunning game out there. STO clearly favors nVidia. If this is the game you play the most, then I'd have to say get yourself an nVidia GPU.

jornado · January 2013

Honestly, either of those cards should play STO fine. STO does show bias towards nVidia however, and quite a few other new releases do as well, so that would favor an nVidia card as well.

As far as what kind of power you need to run STO....I'm running a 5 year old 9600GT over clocked and STO plays at 35+ FPS in almost every zone with everything maxed except AA (2x) and the Occlusion thing at 1080HD (1920X1080). Some particle effects cause intermittent lag in ground environments, but no problems in space except for the bright light patches in Borg events. Sure 35+ FPS isn't exactly stellar, but its more than sufficient. So, STO is not exactly a system killer, and whatever you pick should do you just fine.

Note: STO ship battles are SPECTACULAR on a 50" LED with a good surround system.

phantomeight · January 2013

Please note that the 310.90 driver is having issues with the heads of NPC flickering in dialogs and on maps. Thankfully since we get frequent driver updates, a rollback to v304 works fine.

deville72206 · January 2013

Hey gang! I would appreciate if someone could give me a technical explanation of the difference between these two cards and a layman / moron explanation. Your input will be greatly appreciated.

AMD vs nVidia for STO

Comments