Which company makes better graphics cards, Nvidia or AMD?

[JESSEYLEft]

The answer to this will generally come down to: How do you define better? The reason for this is that there are enough ways to compare the two company's offerings that result in a different answer depending on what your criteria are.

Absolute Best Performance with a single card (right now, today): The crown goes back and forth. For a single card solution, I'm inclined to give the crown to AMD for the R9-295x2. In most tests, the R9-295x2 pulls ahead of the monster Nvidia GTX Titan-Z for a single card solution giving AMD the win for producing something that you can put in a single slot and get massive performance out of in most applications.

Best Performance from 'Flaghsip Cards': What the heck is a flagship card? Well, let's face it, the R9-295x2 with a launch MSRP of $1,500 and the GTX Titan-Z with a launch MSRP of $3,000 aren't cards that are on the radar for most consumers. So, we fall back to the 'top of the line' consumer cards... and here, I feel the need to make a very specific comparison: The R9-290X to the GTX 780 ti. I'm deliberately ignoring the GTX 980 because it represents a newer generation of card and we'd need to wait for AMD to refresh their flaship card before it would be a proper comparison. 
 

Here, we can clearly see the Nvidia GTX 780 ti pulling ahead of the R9 - 290X. It's a synthetic benchmark, to be sure, but it illustrates the point: Comparable product to comparable product (Flagship cards) Nvidia can make a better card.

Best Value: Let's come at it another way. Dollar for Dollar, who do you get the best value from? Here, AMD takes the crown for two key reasons: 1) AMD products are priced more aggressively than their equivalent counterparts (R9-270 vs GTX 760, R9-290X vs GTX 780 ti, etc) and... 2) AMD bundles more game offerings with their cards to achieve a higher total 'value.' After all, what sounds better? A $200 graphics card or a $180 graphics card + 3 games? 

Best for power consumption and heat output: Is this a category? Do we care? If we do, Nvidia has been pulling ahead in this category for a while now. Similar performance, less power and less heat. Thermal throttling of your GPU sucks and having to spend money on a burlier PSU to support a cheaper GPU skews the Total Cost of Ownership metric a bit now doesn't it? 

Best for the game you like the most: This is where things get into a real toss up. Some games are optimized more for Nvidia cards than AMD cards. Some are the other way around. If all the games you like are optimized for Nvidia cards, then AMD being 'technically better' doesn't matter. 

This also applies to applications that have a need for specific architectures. Best card for software like Otoy's Octane Render Engine? Well, it's CUDA based, so it only works on Nvidia cards! Best card for something written to leverage the AMD Mantle API? Well, that should be pretty obvious. 

Best card for price point X, right now, today: Do you like pong? 

(Awesome graphics right? Perfect for discussing high end GPUs)

I like Pong, and there's a reason I mention Pong for this criteria. Because the answer is like asking the question: "which side of the line is the ball on in a game of pong?" 

Some times, Nvidia has a better card at a certain price point. And then, AMD releases something at that price point which bats it back the other way. 

Right now, today, if you want to buy a $350 GPU, then you don't get better than the GTX 970. It performs like an R9 - 290X, consumes significantly less power and outputs less heat. (Okay, it doesn't come with games.) But that isn't a fair comparison. The R9 290X is a year old and the GTX 970 just launched. When AMD launches their new card at this price point, you can expect  the ball to bat back the other way. (I should also note that right now, you can get a 290X for roughly the same price as a GTX 970, but on the launch day of the GTX 970, R9-290Xes were available for $50-$100 more. It's been a month... see how fast things change?)

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Conclusion: The right answer for anyone considering a GPU purchase is to look at the market at the moment you want to make a purchase, and decide what's going to be best for you, based on what's available today. The GPU market cycles rapidly with frequent change, and a brand name recommendation doesn't carry much meaning. Both companies produce comparable GPUs with differences that swing in favor of one company or the other depending on what's most important to you. The advantage for the consumer is that the two companies are competitive enough to keep pressure on the other company which drives quality up, prices down, and generates wins for the consumer. The important thing for the consumer to know in that environment is that who has a better product at a given moment in time and price point may shift to either side of the line, and holding on to a company based recommendation may not result in you getting the best available product at the moment you make your purchase. 

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