Nvidia vs AMD AI showdown: Which one gives you better Zoom calls?

Nvidia versus AMD graphics is a battle as old as time. Or more accurately, as old as a 24-year-old person, because that’s how long it’s been since Nvidia’s first discrete graphics card. But you use your laptop for more than just non-stop gaming. Today we’re taking a look at which system, complete with fancy new “AI” powers, can give you clearer Zoom calls? And which one can do it without draining your laptop battery? Gordon’s answering those questions in PCWorld’s latest YouTube video.

Gordon’s not actually testing GPU power specifically here, he’s looking at the new “Ryzen AI” accelerator tools for video adjustments like blurring your room background and more advanced techniques, like adjusting your eyes to make it appear like you’re looking right into your webcam. Nvidia’s Broadcast AI system does a lot of the same things. Windows, the Zoom program itself, Nvidia Broadcast AI, and Windows + Ryzen AI are all on the testing block, complete with how much of a battery impact each one has.

At the end of the day, Nvidia’s system is definitely ahead in terms of image quality, easily beating out the Windows + Ryzen AI for background blur quality (and beating the pants off of Zoom’s software-only effect). But Nvidia Broadcast is going to drain your power pretty quickly by constantly hitting the GPU. As for the eye contact effects, it’s a bit of a toss-up, with Nvidia being much more dramatic…to a possibly creepy degree. Hey, it’s a beta feature. The Ryzen eye tracking tool is also a lot easier on the battery.

For more practical tests on the latest CPU and GPU tech, be sure to subscribe to PCWorld on YouTube.

Author: Michael Crider, Staff Writer