OK Here is the back story.
I like to have a high-end GPU but can’t afford to buy every generation. So several years ago when one of my pair of 7970’s died I bought a single 980Ti. I knew I was going to skip 1080Ti and go for what replaced it. Two things happened, the 2080Ti is insanely expensive and I’m now running Linux full time. Back when I got my 980Ti AMD Linux drivers were a mess so it was a no-brainer to go nVidia.
From what research I have done tells me that the Vega 64 would be a nice step up from my old 980Ti. I understand that I will lose G-Sync if I go AMD, it’s still a nice 165Hz monitor so there is that.
The Powercolour Red Devil has caught my eye. The card is within my price range and my PSU has the power and my case can handle one.
Don’t forget this is for Linux, not Windows, gaming performance is important, driver support and some future proofing as I will keep this card for 4 to 5 years.
Is this a good idea or am I about to shoot myself in the foot?
I just got a Vega 56, am a Linux gamer and am overall happy with my purchase. There are some gotchas, however. To get the most out of my particular card, you need to increase the power limit and undervolt it. If you buy a non-reference design, the superior cooling may prevent this problem. I have yet to find a good overclocking solution for Linux and Vega, but I’m not sure if that matters to you.
The highlight of owning a Vega under Linux is the foolproof driver support. "It Just Works"™. OTOH, if you’re an Nvidia user, you get to choose between the open source driver (with subpar performance and excellent compatibility) or the proprietary driver. The proprietary driver is sometimes packaged in your distro’s repository, sometimes not. Even if it is, you may find you need to download the latest, bleeding edge driver from Nvidia for some feature or other. If you do, you may find your desktop environment non-functional after a kernel update. And sometimes even if it is in your distro’s repo, you can get screwed up. Generally, though, performance is better than AMD, assuming you get a high end Nvidia.
Currently AMD has nothing that holds a candle to the 2080 Ti, at least if preliminary performance reviews can be believed. It is unlikely, however, that the 2080 Ti will be well supported by the open source driver, as the devs have to reverse engineer everything. I’m not sure if Turing is supported by the latest proprietary Nvidia driver or not.
So not a clear-cut answer. If you can, I’d wait a few months for driver support to solidify and see if AMD can release something to compete.
Raijintek Morpheus II is a great aftermarket cooler vor Vega 56/64 when you wanna improve cooling on a Vega Card. If you find a cheap Stock Vega you can install the Morpheus II and have great cooling.
I also have a 980ti, and also passed on the 1080ti.
I mostly run Linux, but occasionally boot to windows for games.
At 1440p 60hz, the 980ti is still performing well for me, so I don’t need to move.
I was itching to go AMD, but I don’t think the 64 is a big enough improvement to switch.
I’d say wait and see if AMD does good on their next batch.
But then again, you run many more frames than I…