Ati Vs. Nvidia..lets Settle This

[dunnleed08]

hey...i'm looking to buy a new card to replace my old 9800 pro all-in-wonder....i had all kinds of problems with this card...so i;m thinking of not going back to ati...but i'm not sure....however..i am positive that if everyone came in here and posted their arguements, as to which brand is better, it would help out alot of people. it is very hard to be sure that u are getting realistic info from website and adverts...so some real life info would be nice.......

...so, everybody please fight away to help out all new buyers......and me....please.

also include...which is better..say (9800 vs6600)..(xseries vs 6series)...(x1series vs. 7 series..)

 

[Steevo]

ATI has higher quality.
Nvidia has better speed.


Really it comes down to what you want. This debate could go on forever as to who is the better MFG.


How bout instead of a flamefest you post what you want to do and how much you want to spend.

 

[Azn Tr14dZ]

I agree with Steevo. ATI has better image quality, though nVidia has gotten better, but not as good as ATI. nVidia has more speed and usually gets more FPS in games by a little bit. But image quality again, goes to ATI.

 

[Alec§taar]

Well, it all comes down to how you use your machine, don't ya find?

I see a lot of 3dMark scoring comparisons... which are all fine & good, but not "real world" gaming imo & simply synthetic tests... yes, albeit GOOD ones & very impressive as well!

E.G.-> Still, speaking for myself only @ least? Well, everytime I go to a review, I go RIGHT to the pages with the charts of performance from games I play generally, first... after all, they ARE what I use, now.

(Thus, they matter most to me).

Above all - I feel it's wise to pay attention to these reviews!

Mainly because the folks involved have odds are, actually run BOTH types of cards from both of the "Big 2 players" here in ATI vs. NVidia... this hasn't "steered me wrong" yet to date... most reviews, imo, are quite legit & nowadays, pretty thorough.

Still... Display engines matter here, & traditionally? ATI did best @ DirectX display driven games, & NVidia did best @ OpenGL display driven games... but, the tests I see lately?

Heck, very close, & imo, closer than ever on this account & on both display type fronts. Especially in the x1900 by ATI & 79x0 series from NVidia...

APK

P.S.=> I would say you need to look @ those reviews, & definitely think about the games you play...

I don't know if you plan to use VISTA as well, but it is largely DirectX & has "tossed out" OpenGL (bad move by MS imo, very bad)...

I hate to say it, because I am more of an "NVidia fanboy", but I'd rather be honest than "brand loyal" & all that:

This may make you tend to move to ATI some, provided you plan on using VISTA & future games on it @ least! apk

 

[Azn Tr14dZ]

Wow, Alecstar, that made me feel my post was unneccessary. Yours are so informative...

 

[Alec§taar]

Wow, Alecstar, that made me feel my post was unneccessary. Yours are so informative...

Thanks, but that's just me rambling is all... I just tend to go more for "practical application/realworld results" is all, more than synthetic tests.



* Your posts & opinions are just as necessary as mine, maybe moreso (as you probably have more experience in today's hardwares overall possibly, than I do).

APK

P.S.=> I am, however, SEVERELY "bummed out" by Microsoft dropping OpenGL in VISTA... this is, imo, an extremely bad move on their part!

I have coded both OpenGL & DirectX (doing screensavers here) & found coding OpenGL is far simpler (albeit, it can't control as many form of hardware I/O as DirectX can)... apk

 

[dunnleed08]

wtf

i have not heard that yet.....why the hell would they drop opengl in vista....it seems to me to be a very effective way to creat gaming environments(i know very little)..but i do know that idsoftware is very fond if gl....it's ok with me...they have come out with almost every "classic" or "groundbreaking" game ever made.....

...anyway...good info so far....by the way, where can i find these comparison charts u r talking about...on this site??

 

[Ambian]

i have not heard that yet.....why the hell would they drop opengl in vista....

Not sure if its fully 'dropped' but from what I heard a while back that it will function fine, but it will just have to access the hardware through another layer of software or some such... impacting quite a bit on performance. (A bit like emulation i guess). Dont quote me though as that was something I heard a while back and things might have changed since.

As for ATI vs Nvidia, I am have to say that I am currently with ATI and loving it. I am incredibily unloyal when it comes to manufacturers as I jump from Intel to AMD, Nvidia to ATI, and probably back again in the future. You really have to look at what is the best package for the money at the time of purchase. I was a bit put off by the 7900GT issues so thought it a good time to try out ATI and I have found their image quality is indeed superb (Not only on games but also TV Out etc).

I just purchased my X1900GT and couldnt be happier. Good price, good performance, and fantastic visuals. (Oblivion looks amazing and Prey is disguestingly beautiful )

 

[rpgbefore...]

i would go ati and get a x800gto from HIS with iceq2 cooler... if u wanna see why check my specs

 

[_33]

This debate has already be done here. I don't think it's proper to do it again and again for everyone that needs an opinion on wether they should go ATI or Nvidia.

My general line thoe is that if you want to go Nvidia, currently you'll get a fast card but that is lacking some image quality features to the expense of speed, as to ATI, you'll get driver support, stilla lot of speed a tweaking potential, and a very good image quality.

Thoe, I wouln't recommend a X800 anyore, you'd probably be better off with latest generation like an X1600XT or an X1800GTO since those have PS VS 3.0 / HDR, and are more supported for speeed increase as they have a very tweakable ring bus controller and won't be a huge price burden. Mind you a X800 is a good card.

On Nvidia side, I'd settle for either a 7600 or a good 6800. Both cards are pretty close and offer very similar features. The burden on nvidia side is you're facing some 16bit trickery (trickery that dates back to the FX line of cards), no possible HDR + antialias modes. But you'll be able to do SLI. Mind you SLI requires a good power supply and a motherboard which does SLI.

 

[v-zero]

How much do you want to spend? Do you have a pcie or AGP board? Answer these questions and I will tell you what card to get.

 

[rpgbefore...]

my x800gto would probably beat a 1800gto...

 

[_33]

my x800gto would probably beat a 1800gto...

Would probably, but it wont. And beating shader 3 and HDR, I don't think so.

 

[rpgbefore...]

ahh well come probably very close to scores in '05... in '06 its unfair because of sm3

 

[_33]

ahh well come probably very close to scores in '05... in '06 its unfair because of sm3

Well, if you read the article I linked, it scores 8500+ in 3Dmark05 when unlocked, and 7500+ simply overclocked on 12 pipeline. And we're not talking about the mobo and cpu which are probably stock, as well as memory. So on a tuner system, it should get to 9000 - 9500 3Dmark05.

 

[rpgbefore...]

well... funny because i get 9000 in 05... i will post the orb site later probably cause my cpu and memory

 

[v-zero]

With volatge mods and a decent cooler I have volt modded my x1800gto in my projector pc to do 650 core and 600 memory. No, you can't come close to it...

 

[rpgbefore...]

lol who was talking to u with a voltmodded one? im saying the normal overclocked one with 12 pipes... vs my voltmodded to max overclocked and unlocked x800gto... is equal in '05.. but '06 will beat me sinse sm3

 

[v-zero]

So what you're saying is the x800gto is not as good as the x1800gto...

 

[rpgbefore...]

unless the 1800gto is voltmodded, the overclocked 1800gto from HIS and my card are equals

 

[demonbrawn]

Interesting... my x850 and x850xt default with higher clocks and pipelines than that x1800gto. Compared to that review that _33 put in this thread, my card(s) rival that card's overclocking ability when unlocked to 16 pipes and I haven't even added extra voltage. Then again, I have different hardware, but still... I would like to have that sm3.0, though.

 

[v-zero]

Even not talking about SM3, the x800/x850 line cannot be compared to the x1800/x1900 line. The X1K architechture is just miles better, more advanced and more efficient than the ageing r300 architechture found in the x800/x850. I used to have an x800 and an x850, so I'm not just being mean.... It's the truth!

 

[rpgbefore...]

u mean the r400 archetecture?

 

[demonbrawn]

Man, I hate the fact that my hardware is already considered "aging"... that's what you get in the world of technology. Dish out the dough for your hardware, turn your back for 5 minutes, and then it's already aging... it's almost sad.

Well, at any rate, I prefer ATI.

 

[v-zero]

u mean the r400 archetecture?

Nope, r420 is just a revision of r300, little was added.
The r520, on the other hand, borrows very little from that architechture, and was designed from the ground up...