How about another ati vs nvidia thread?

Sionistic · Post by **Sionistic** » September 28, 2004, 11:30 pm

Im looking to buy a new graphics card soon. Something no more than $250. Im still not sure which card to pick. I tried looking for any old "which card should I get" threads but I couldnt find any.

Sinzar · Post by **Sinzar** » September 28, 2004, 11:58 pm

ATI !

Marbus · Post by **Marbus** » September 29, 2004, 1:00 am

Nvidia

Tenuvil · Post by **Tenuvil** » September 29, 2004, 1:00 am

nVidia > *

Neost · Post by **Neost** » September 29, 2004, 9:48 am

Several Nvidia 6800's on pricegrabber around the price range you mentioned, maybe a bit more:

http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_gen. ... _page_id=5

archeiron · Post by **archeiron** » September 29, 2004, 10:28 am

Neost wrote:Several Nvidia 6800's on pricegrabber around the price range you mentioned, maybe a bit more:

http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_gen. ... _page_id=5

I believe that you are quoting cards that are 50% over his budget. I think that in his price range the best card would be an Radeon 9800 PRO (256MB).

http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_attr ... A/start=25

Neost · Post by **Neost** » September 29, 2004, 10:45 am

If you look down through the list, there are some 6800's for around 270-275 bucks, which is not a lot over the amount he gave.

Since all I searched on was 6800, it grabs all the GT's, etc. etc. that still run anywhere from 300 to 500 bucks.

You just have to ignore those.

Kelshara · Post by **Kelshara** » September 29, 2004, 10:54 am

For the very high-end now, I'd go with Nvidia for sure. But they are quite expensive atm. For your price range I'd probably say ATi 9800 Pro.. although you might find Nvidias slightly pricier.

Sionistic · Post by **Sionistic** » September 29, 2004, 11:09 am

I MIGHT be able to reach 300 depending on my financial situiation in a couple of days, but I would prefer to stay in the 250 range.

Neost · Post by **Neost** » September 29, 2004, 12:25 pm

I was looking around last night thinking about building a new machine. I found some interesting stuff in the pci express area.

Here's what I'm considering putting together:

Antec Mid Tower
400w PS
MSI 915G Combo Socket T/775 MB
Intel Pentium 4 530 3.0Ghz / 1MB Cache / 800 FSB / Socket 775 / HyperThreading / Processor
Asus ATI Radeon X600 XT Video Card
512MB PC2-4200 DDR2 DIMM Memory
Western Digital Caviar WD2000JD 200GB Hard Drive
NEC 16X DVD±RW (Dual layer) Beige Drive

Buying from various sources and w/o monitor I'm looking at around 900 bucks for the above and various sundry items such as cpu coolers, fans, etc. etc.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » September 29, 2004, 1:03 pm

No time to explain. Go with ATI!

The value is with midrange ATI cards and also the highest end X800XT is the best card out there over nVidia's offering (although it's closer this round)

Neost · Post by **Neost** » September 29, 2004, 1:44 pm

I have no big preference one way or the other.

Until Winnow starts talking out his ass.

Voice has changed but the breath's the same.

I'll have to now side with nvidia for life.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » September 29, 2004, 2:58 pm

Neost wrote:I have no big preference one way or the other.

Until Winnow starts talking out his ass.

Voice has changed but the breath's the same.

I'll have to now side with nvidia for life.

Hmmm, sounds like the "anyone but Bush!" strategy. : )

Neost · Post by **Neost** » September 29, 2004, 3:33 pm

Yes. Exactly.

Damn neocons.

Oh, wait...this isn't the current events forum..inappropriate.

sorry.

archeiron · Post by **archeiron** » September 29, 2004, 4:06 pm

I would contend that the differences in performance between the NVidia top end cards and the ATI top end cards is minimal. From articles including THR reviews, it seems that the highest score really depends on what you use to test, which makes it a coin toss.

My only concern with nVidia is that many reviews point out that their cards generate a lot of heat and drop more power than the comparable ATI cards. Depending on what you buy, they also seem to be noiser cards.

The argument is moot for me because I won't be investing in a top end graphics card any time soon.

Marbus · Post by **Marbus** » September 29, 2004, 4:12 pm

Wait a month and get one of these... no need to defend my position just read the review, been trusting FS for years and they are always right on target.

http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/nvi ... e_6600_gt/

Marb

archeiron · Post by **archeiron** » September 29, 2004, 4:16 pm

Marbus wrote:Wait a month and get one of these... no need to defend my position just read the review, been trusting FS for years and they are always right on target.

http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/nvi ... e_6600_gt/

Marb

I am not religious about this and have very little brand loyalty.

I would like to counter your article with THR for the X700

http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphi ... index.html

This race is very close right now.

Kelshara · Post by **Kelshara** » September 29, 2004, 4:21 pm

PC Magazine had video card tests recently, and although ATi scored well Nvidia won if I recall correctly.

Rule of thumb: Ignore fanbois like Winnow and research.

masteen · Post by **masteen** » September 29, 2004, 5:38 pm

If you want to turn on AA and anisotropic filtering without sending your framerate into the crapper, get an ATI card. If you're looking for that extra 5 FPS in Doom 3, get an nVidia.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » September 29, 2004, 5:45 pm

Kelshara wrote:PC Magazine had video card tests recently, and although ATi scored well Nvidia won if I recall correctly.

PC magazine is a crap and full of advertising bias.

The high end for nVidia and ATi is close right now but PC Magazine is the last source I would reference for video card reviews.

Ransure · Post by **Ransure** » September 29, 2004, 5:45 pm

In your pricerange, its pretty clear that ATI outpreforms Nvidia, even in Doom3..

At the top end of the game... Nvidia is currently running a bit of a lead.. but Id still buy ATI... Last Nvidia chipset I owned was the Riva TNT2 Ultra V770... or was Geforce an Nvidia thing?... blech, cant remember.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » September 29, 2004, 5:54 pm

For good reviews go here:

http://www.hardocp.com/reviews.html?cat=MywyLDEwLCwz

For a specific review comparing ATi to nVidia top cards go here:

http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=NjEx

Bookmark their front page for excellent hardware info. They also have outstanding forums if you want to dig deeper:

http://www.hardocp.com/

When it comes right down to it the X800Pro matches or beats the GeForce 6800Ultra in game performance and IQ. Compare the price, performance, and IQ of the ATI Radeon X800Pro with the GeForce 6800Ultra, and the X800Pro definitely stacks up as the better value than the 6800Ultra. NVIDIA is today launching an even higher clocked Ultra, no doubt in response to the X800XT-PE. We have yet to even see a retail 6800Ultra for any of the partners so currently I would consider these a non-issue. Also, a lower clocked 6800GT is being introduced but this card is simply not currnetly going to play in the same ballpark with the X800 series from ATI.

The Radeon X800XT Platinum Edition goes even further and burns through these games like a hot knife through butter, besting NVIDIA’s 6800Ultra by an easily noticeable real-world margin. If the flagship is what you want, be assured the ATI Radeon X800XT Platinum Edition was the top performer allowing us to play today’s demanding games at higher resolution and quality settings than any 3D graphics accelerator we have ever experienced.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » October 2, 2004, 6:59 pm

I bought an nVidia 6800GT OC 256 today after doing a shitload of research on the net.

ATi X800 XT is still the best card in the 600.00 range but the 6800GT beats out the X800Pro in the 400.00 range.

I'm not up for a 600.00 card and the 6800GT is a 99% sure OC to 6800GT Ultra level and higher which places it right at the 600.00 card performance levels anyway.

I'll let you know how it is after I install and play around with it a bit. It has to work with my projector (some cards the projector won't recognize without a hard boot which isn't going to happen with lamp life concerns of on/off cycling too fast.)

BTW, the GT's only need 300W (less than Ati 9800XT) and use one slot. I do have some pride here. Wasn't going to get a two slot bloated card! : )

And yes, I bought it because EQ2 kicks ass and uses every bit of your graphics card. It looked awesome with my ATi9700 Pro but I could tell I was pushing it and there's more enhanced graphics to turn on.

Ransure · Post by **Ransure** » October 2, 2004, 7:49 pm

holy shit... Winnow bought an Nvidia card....

*watches the pigs fly by*

Kelshara · Post by **Kelshara** » October 2, 2004, 8:40 pm

Winnow just lost at life. Your status as "ATi FanBoi" has been removed. Please return the members card and prepare for the memory wipe of the secret handshake.

archeiron · Post by **archeiron** » October 2, 2004, 9:37 pm

Kelshara wrote:Winnow just lost at life. Your status as "ATi FanBoi" has been removed. Please return the members card and prepare for the memory wipe of the secret handshake.

He traded in the "ATI fanboi" card for the "EQ2 fanboi" card. Winnow, if you fall and hit your head some time soon giving you amnesia of the NDA, I would appreciate a PM with a lengthy description of how and why EQ2 looks good.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » October 3, 2004, 1:17 am

Kelshara wrote:Winnow just lost at life. Your status as "ATi FanBoi" has been removed. Please return the members card and prepare for the memory wipe of the secret handshake.

Not so fast!

nVidia has a problem with EDID (Enhanced Display Identification) It's not so much nVIdia's problem in that many projection and high end TV manufacturers failed to enter their highest resolutions into the EDID so when nVidia drivers detect your projector/TV, they see the wrong resolution and there's nothing you can do about it. (Powerstrip won't help)

ATi has an option in its drivers to ignore the information sent from your display device, thus letting you set your own resolutions....so..at this point, I'm kinda of screwed and can't use the 6800GT with my projector unless I want to scroll a 1024X768 screen.

Rumor is that nVidia is working on a fix for the issue but since their EDID detection is hardcoded in their cards and ATi checks it using software, it's a little more challenging.

Can't say anything specific about EQ2 except that there are so many options for graphics viewing that you'll be fine with something on the level of an ATI 9700 Pro with 128mb with lower settings and there isn't a card on this planet that can handle max settings of EQ2. That's a good thing because it looks amazing as is and you can push as high as you can go and take advantage of whatever card you have. All the shadows, reflections, flowing cloth, etc make for a very impressive look to the game.

The 6800GT weighs like 5Xs more than my old ATI 9700. It's got a huge heat sink/ multiple fan cooling system. I didn't realize that the fans have blue LEDs so, if I happen to need to work on my computer and every light in the house is broken, I'll have a light source inside my computer!

It seems like a solid card so far. I haven't tried any OCing yet. The fans cranks up on reboots to cool the card and then settle down to a much quieter level later.

Since working with my projector is a must, there's an excellent chance I'll be returning it and grabbing an X800 Pro sometime next week but I'll put it through the paces in betas and other games either way so I'll have a good base to compare the X800 if it comes to that. So far, the only major glitch I've found won't affect most people.

BTW, I'm about as anti fanboi as you can get on this as NVidia is not the best choice for a certain beta i'm in. Lots of tweaking to go though.

masteen · Post by **masteen** » October 5, 2004, 6:41 pm

Winnow is not a fanboi, he is a whore. Get it straight.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » October 5, 2004, 8:14 pm

The new Beta Detonator 66.81's may have a fix for the EDID issue:

Adds support for GeForce 6600 series GPUs (products supported)
Added support for using HDTV over DVI connectors
Added support for advanced DVI timing on all GeForce 6 series GPUs
Updated Application Profiles allows users to associate color settings and store multiple profiles per application
Added support to recognize and display monitor name in all control panels
Supports 512 MB frame buffer GPUs
Added supported for TV/HDTV setup in the nView Display Setup Wizard
Updated Gridlines to for easier grid setup and management
Microsoft® DirectX® 9.0c and OpenGL® 1.5 support

The advanced timing is what's needed to override the issue I'm having. Somone on the boards said the button isn't in the actual driver yet so I may have to wait for the next release.

So far, 6800GT has been rock solid in EQ2 and in general. I haven't OC'd it yet as I want to test out general performance before taxing it.

It's nice to know that trusty ATi has the X800 in case this card fails me.