AMDs Vega Graphics Cards Could Kick Off a War.Every nerd loves a good tech war Windows vs Mac, Apple vs Android, Intel vs AMD.Onetouch keys for fast formatting easily add fonts, frames, and symbols Preview text and layout before printing 14 fonts, 10 styles, 97 frames, and more than 600.Back in 2013 Adobe moved its most valuable software, including Photoshop, Illustrator, and Premiere, to a subscription only model.If you want to use the industry.They give us something to armchair argue about over beers with friendsor to rant over in the comments of illustrious tech blogs.After spending the weekend playing with AMDs new Vega 6.Vega 5. 6 graphics cards, I think I can safely say an old tech war is back oneven if AMDs latest salvo feels paltry.Nvidia might be leading the discrete graphics card industry, but AMDs two newest cards are cheap and fast enough to finally compete.And that can only mean good things for PC users.Tabtight professional, free when you need it, VPN service.Price4. 00 Vega 5.Vega 6. 4What is it Discrete GPUs that are competing against graphics titan Nvidia.No Like. Dont expect any flash.AMD, which purchased Nvidias previous competitor, ATI Graphics, has been losing the GPU war for a while.Nvidia is currently producing the majority of discrete graphics cards found in computers today.Brother-PT-2710-Desktop-Labeling-System-0.jpg' alt='Brother P Touch Pt 2100 Software Reviews' title='Brother P Touch Pt 2100 Software Reviews' />According to Jon Peddie Research, by the end of 2.Nvidia had more than 7.AMD trailed far behind with just 2.So AMD decided to focus on building cheap cards to go in cheap machineslike the 5.I reviewed back in April.The AMD Vega 6. 4 and Vega 5.Nvidia 1. 08. 0 with cheaper options that start to approximate its performance.When the Vega microarchitecture the cards are based on was announced back at CES, people didnt immediately leap out of their seats.AMD didnt have a cool hook like when Nvidia announced it had spent billions to develop its latest card.All AMD had was a promise of speed when the cards arrived this summer.Eight months later, the Vega 6.The AMD Vega 6. 4 retails for 5.AMD Vega 5. 6 retails for 4.Both also have 8.GB of RAM built in.The big difference between the two is the number of compute unitsthink of those like the cores in a CPU the more the better.The Vega 6. 4 has 6.Vega 5. 6 has 5. 6.When I compared the Vegas to the 1.I found was far less exciting that what Id hoped for.While the AMD Vega 6.Instead it was sort of like going to the car lot and having to choose between a Honda Civic or a Toyota Corolla.Theyre both very nice, cost the same, and do the same damn thing.What was really astounding was the performance of the 4.AMD Vega 5. 6. Despite being considerably cheaper than both the Vega 6.Nvidia 1. 08. 0, it played Overwatch and Civilization VI only marginally slower.The 1. 08. 0 managed 1.Overwatch on Ultra at 4.K, the the Vega 6.Vega 5. 6 pulled of 9.K with the graphics cranked to Ultra.Thats not just a little respectable, thats really damn good.In Civilization VI the difference was even smaller, with the Vega 5.Vega 6. 4. In one case the Vega 5.Nvidia 1. 08. 0, and was on par with the more expensive Vega 6.When I rendered a frame in Blender, graphics software that allows you to create large 3.D images that heavily tax a discrete GPU, the Nvidia 1.The Vega 6. 4 rendered the same frame in 9 minutes and 2.The Vega 5. 6 Just 9 minutes and 2.With that kind of neck and neck performance theres no reason to really buy either a Nvidia 1.Vega 6. 4 over the Vega 5.But speed isnt the only factor to consider when buying a discrete graphics card.See, the cards that go in your desktop PC are very power hungry.If your power supply cant provide enough juice, the GPU is worthless, and that is one place Nvidia performs far better than AMD every time.The Nvidia 1. 08.The Vega 5. 6 requires 2.Vega 6. 4 requires a whopping 2.All the extra juice means you have to use not one, but two 8 pin power connectors from your power supply.The Nvidia 1. 08.With the new Vega cards AMD is trying to get around the power constraints of it GPUs by offering some software solutions.The first, and most notable, is the Radeon Chill feature, and its actually sort of clever.It operates under the assumption that people dont really need the fastest video card, they just need one fast enough for their monitor.Both AMD and Nvidia have a technology that allows cards to sync with monitors to deliver top level graphics without straining the GPU Nvidia calls its tech G Sync, while AMD calls it Free.Sync. But you have to have a special monitor that works with the syncing technology and no monitor works with both the AMD and Nvidia sync tech.Radeon Chill works with any monitor.You simply tell it how many frames you actually want to see per second.Got a monitor that refreshes 6.Set the max to 6. License Plate Cover For Photo Tickets Arizona . Radeon Chill makes magic happen.In addition, the software doesnt try and churn out 6.Instead it recognizes moments with static visuals and dramatically cuts down on how much power is being usedand you can tweak the number as well.Want it to never go below 3.Just set the slider in the AMD software.AMD added other software features that give users a better ability to throttle their cards without diminishing visuals.Theres a power saver mode which allows you to force the cards to sip as little as 1.Frame Rate Target Control mode that lets you cap the frames per second and an Enhanced Sync mode that figures out the optimal frame to display on screen, even if it means skipping a few other frames.All these features make the AMD Vega cards feel incredibly practical versus the excess and overclocking shenanigans of Nvidia.Its as if AMD is trying to say if you want nose bleed speed go with Nvidia, but if you want control and a nice experience join us.Thats a reasonable sale to an old woman such as myself.I play my games on 4.K TVs that have no syncing technology though Microsoft suggests that could change next year and can only show between 6.I dont need dual video cards or crazy numbers, I need good enough.And the AMD Vega 6.AMD Vega 5. 6 are good enough.If youre looking for a reasonably priced card the AMD Vega 5.But these cards arent enough to lure Nvidia loyalists or the power hungry away.As the latest salvo in the war between Nvidia and AMD goes, the new Vega cards are pretty weak.READMEThese cards are neck and neck with the 5.Nvidia 1. 08. 0 in the speed department.But they natively draw a lot more power.A bevy of software features try to resolve the power issue, but it means youre effectively throttling your shiny new GPU.SPEC DUMPAMD Vega 6.GB of RAM 6. 4 compute units 1.MHz base GPU clock 4.GBs memory bandwidth 2.TFLOPS 3 x Display.Port 1 x HDMIAMD Vega 5.GB of RAM 5. 6 compute units 1.MHz base GPU clock 4.GBs memory bandwidth 2.TFLOPS 3 x Display.Another Great App Went Subscription Only and Everything Is Terrible.I blame Adobe for this.Ulysses, one of the best writing tools available right now, is going subscription only.If you previously purchased Ulysses for Mac or i.OS it works seamlessly across Macs, i.Phones, and i. Pads you are now going to have to pony up 5 a month or 4.And again, I blame Adobe for this, because it taught software developers that they can put their clients over a barrelroyally screwing early adopters by having them pay repeatedly for product.Back in 2. 01. 3 Adobe moved its most valuable software, including Photoshop, Illustrator, and Premiere, to a subscription only model.If you want to use the industry standard software Adobe creates you have to throw down 1.Its been a sore point for many a computer user who still remembers the halcyon days when purchasing software meant you, essentially, owned it.Since then many apps have moved to this new modeloften promising cool updates as a reward for being a subscriber.Quicken, Autodesk, Adobe, and even more niche companies now like Ulysses, are moving towards this model and theres no sign of them stopping any time soon.Ulysses is developed by a small publisher called Soulmen, and its co founder, Max Seelman, took to Medium on Friday to defend his companys decision.Our users expect a continuously evolving high quality product and subscription is the only way we can truly deliver on that expectation, he said in his post.Seelman went on to explain how software development has shifted dramatically since Soulmen first launched Ulysses.Software purchases used to be very different from how they are today.Until not too long ago, you would purchase an application and get a physical copy on a bunch of floppies or later a CD.The thing you got that was it.No patches, no updates.Developers had to put forward an extreme amount of attention to get everything right, because once an app was out, development had to be done.Seelman then noted that software development changed as internet speeds improved.With companies able to produce patches that not only resolved minor issues at launch, but also introduced new features.At first, these resulted in new features being added on the fly, but it quickly evolved into issuing more and more substantial patches until today, where most v.Essentially, Seelman argues, software is now in constant development and pricing hasnt kept up with this new cycle.Which, okay, it makes sense If software is constantly getting features that normally would have warranted a new version and additional money than the company absolutely has the right to ask for more cash.The company is offering, for a limited time, a discount to older users, and if those user happened to purchase the software within the last year than theyll also received up to 1.Soulmen has also made it clear that the old version of the app available in the i.OS and Mac app stores will be available for use and updated to work with i.OS 1. 1 and High Sierra.After that youre out of luck.Whats frustrating about this is how shifting to these new forms of payment are great for the developer and fine for new users, but suck, a lot, for old users.I know, because Ive been using Ulysses for the better part of six years.Its a piece of software Im so attached to Ive name checked it when people ask why I dont switch to Windows or Android for my daily work machines.The announcement of a move to subscription based payment popped up as soon as I opened the app on my computer this morning and, annoyed, I took to Twitter to bask in the irritation of other users.Ulysses isnt going to be the last app forced to make this decision.As consumers demand more and more from minor updates software developers will need to find a way to make profit.They can try to tightly manage their business and continue with the old model, demanding money only when a new and truly outstanding feature appears, or they can go the Ulysses route, which many companies, including Adobe, have done before.Its proven effective, even as subscription fees balloon on users credit cards and leave them irritated and underwhelmed.Adobe, Autodesk and Quicken are all huge and required apps for their respective industries.They can afford to ask for money each month, but if Ulysses doesnt provide cool new features with every update, that 4.Scrivener or some other non subscription based writing app.At the very least Ulysses could have taken a note from the book of Plex.That software suite went from completely free to a subscription based model and users were.So Plex offered a lifetime membership.Essentially you pay out the nose once and never pay again.As someone who uses the app every day that was a no brainer for me.I dropped my wad of cash and never looked back, and I didnt have to look at yet another subscription fee on my credit card statement either.Just a thought Ulysses.
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