<!--emo&::asrifle::--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/asrifle.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='asrifle.gif'><!--endemo--> my card suxs more in 1.04 i couldnt play with it now i can in 2.0 for some reason lol!!!
I think both ATI and Nvidia have been caught with their hands in the cookie jars when it comes to benchmark haxoring. I think that some time ago ATi had a few problems explaining why their drivers would not draw Quake 3 properly. Ie, they cut corners. AT least Nvidia cheated in the artifical benchark only. So both suffer a bit in that department of Frank Honesty. Let's make the score 1-1.
Both companies still make good video cards. The recent test on Tom's have me believe that the ultimate powerhorse is the GeForce FX 5900. However, if you're money conscious somewhere around the 9600 or the GeForce 5600 Ultra would work I think. If you go much lower than that I'd say you should perhaps keep what you got <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->. Score so far: ATi 1 - Nvidia 2.
Noise and power: NVidia have had some less than nice days of designing proper cooling hardware. So if you pick up the wrong GeForce FX card it will make a din. ATi seems to do ok for all their 9x00 models. Cant go wrong there. ATI: 2- Nvidia 2.
Nor ATi or Nvidia make perfect drivers. Ive had problems with ATi, IVe had problems with Nvidia during the years. So roughly no of them beats the other there by much. This is a markup from a few years ago, when ATi was TERRIBLY slow with releasing new drivers.
Ill add my own Gut Feeling. I like Nvidias cards just a little better than ATis. Ive been holding on to my money for a long while, and I was very close to buying a Radeon 9700 Pro, but decided against it for economical reasons. So Im gonna make the score Ati: 2 and Nvidia: 3. Both make worhty products, but if I was to go out and buy a card tomorrow Id pick the GeForce 5600U or GeForce 5900 from Microstar.
<!--QuoteBegin--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->3.2 800mhz fsb with fx5900 all asus of course (p4c800 delux blah blah blah) <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Grey.. why the crap are you paying for a 3.2, when the performance increase is minimal over a MUCH MUCH MUCH cheaper 2.4ghz 800fsb with HT. The processor isn't going to be your bottleneck on youre system its ram, graphics, and hard drive. I'd rather save and get some nice expensive corsair or kingston ram.
TalesinOur own little well of hateJoin Date: 2002-11-08Member: 7710NS1 Playtester, Forum Moderators
Just to chip in my two cents, which doubtless have been heard many times before:
ATI cards are faster at higher resolutions, with more of the pretty-pretties (FSAA, Aniso, Truform) leaving the game perfectly playable.
nVidia cards are decent in the mid-low end, but they're gonna start bogging compared to the ATI offering at around 1024x768x32. Their FSAA is severely lacking both in image quality (2x does nothing that could be called AA, 4x ATI Quality mode is comparable with the top-grade setting on the FXes.. 6x blows them out of the water) and performance.
For the midrange best bang-for-buck, I'd recommend a Radeon 9500 Pro 128 if you can find one, or a 9600 Pro 128 if you can't. If you toss an old video card ATI's way with their 'trade up' program, you save fifty bucks on the card, too. In any case, go with a Built By ATI.. I've tried some of the third-party manufacturers, and they've caused problems. No such thing with the real deal though. Consumer Digest and PC Shopper both agree with me. <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->
(Oh, and don't even bother with Tom's *coughselloutcough* Hardware. They'll quite happily splatter nVidia's current line up as gospel benchmark rates. Fact of the matter is, the R9800 Pro is still faster than the GFFX5900 Ultra, and the R9800 Pro2 inches ahead even further.)
Ha! It seems that nor ATi or Nvidia cards can run Half-Life 2 with AA. I wasnt aware of that untill now. Apparently Valve says there is a chance that the problem might be fixed for the Radeon 9xxx-cards, but Geforces of all kinds will not be able to.
Sigh. I guess Ill wait till the matter is decided on which card will be able to run HL2 with AA.
Alcapwn"War is the science of destruction" - John AbbotJoin Date: 2003-06-21Member: 17590Members
<!--QuoteBegin--Immacolata+Aug 25 2003, 09:51 AM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Immacolata @ Aug 25 2003, 09:51 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> Ha! It seems that nor ATi or Nvidia cards can run Half-Life 2 with AA. I wasnt aware of that untill now. Apparently Valve says there is a chance that the problem might be fixed for the Radeon 9xxx-cards, but Geforces of all kinds will not be able to.
Sigh. I guess Ill wait till the matter is decided on which card will be able to run HL2 with AA. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd--> Where have you been?
That problem has been fixed for both cards for ahwile now....
It's summer. Ive been vacating. Blissfully away from all things intarweb So, it's fixed. Back to square one then: ATi or Nvidia.... <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->
thanks for all the info. i'm really startin to look into these things now. if doom was right and said the prices are supposed to drop by sept 23rd, i'll probably just wait till then. i have a nvidia now, and i have never had a problem that i couldn't fix in a few mins. i had a really old ati in my old comp, and it seemed to work fine. from what i've seen i really can't make up my mind. any more info would be appreciated.
Well let's put it like this. You aint gonna get shafted. So relax and purchase the card you can afford of Radeon 9xxx or Nvidia GeForce 4 / FX -based (As long as you stay away from GeForce 4 MX-cards <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo--> )
<!--QuoteBegin--DOOManiac+ Aug 19 2003, 06:27 AM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (DOOManiac @ Aug 19 2003, 06:27 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> Do not buy a video card yet!
Supposedly big price drops are coming Sept. 23rd, so says HardOCP and nVidia... <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Cant find the story. Could you url me it or give me the date you saw it?
FamDiaper-Wearing Dog On A BallJoin Date: 2002-02-17Member: 222Members, NS1 Playtester, Contributor
I am on the lookout for a British stockist of the Radeon 9500 Pro. Its got some lovely specs, but has been discontinued to make room for the 9600, which is slower and worse. <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif'><!--endemo-->
Comments
Both companies still make good video cards. The recent test on Tom's have me believe that the ultimate powerhorse is the GeForce FX 5900. However, if you're money conscious somewhere around the 9600 or the GeForce 5600 Ultra would work I think. If you go much lower than that I'd say you should perhaps keep what you got <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->. Score so far: ATi 1 - Nvidia 2.
Noise and power: NVidia have had some less than nice days of designing proper cooling hardware. So if you pick up the wrong GeForce FX card it will make a din. ATi seems to do ok for all their 9x00 models. Cant go wrong there. ATI: 2- Nvidia 2.
Nor ATi or Nvidia make perfect drivers. Ive had problems with ATi, IVe had problems with Nvidia during the years. So roughly no of them beats the other there by much. This is a markup from a few years ago, when ATi was TERRIBLY slow with releasing new drivers.
Ill add my own Gut Feeling. I like Nvidias cards just a little better than ATis. Ive been holding on to my money for a long while, and I was very close to buying a Radeon 9700 Pro, but decided against it for economical reasons. So Im gonna make the score Ati: 2 and Nvidia: 3. Both make worhty products, but if I was to go out and buy a card tomorrow Id pick the GeForce 5600U or GeForce 5900 from Microstar.
<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Grey.. why the crap are you paying for a 3.2, when the performance increase is minimal over a MUCH MUCH MUCH cheaper 2.4ghz 800fsb with HT. The processor isn't going to be your bottleneck on youre system its ram, graphics, and hard drive. I'd rather save and get some nice expensive corsair or kingston ram.
*Edit*
Pulled off newegg
Computer Hardware > Processors > INTEL > N82E16819116164
Intel Pentium 4 3.2GHz 512k 800MHz FSB | socket 478 w/ Hyper Threading Technology - RETAIL
Specifications:
CPU: 3.2GHz
Type: Pentium 4 Northwood
Cache: 512K
BUS: 800 Mhz
Socket: 478
Retail box (with Heatsink and Fan) (limit 5 per customer)
Item: N82E16819116164 Model#: BX80532PG3200D
Price: $640.00
Intel Pentium 4 / 2.4CGHz 512k socket 478 Hyper Threading Technology 800 MHz FSB - RETAIL
Specifications:
CPU: 2.4GHz
Type: Pentium 4 Northwood
Cache: 512K
BUS: 800 Mhz
Socket: 478
Retail box (with Heatsink and Fan)
3-year MFG. Warranty- (limit 5 per customer)
Item: N82E16819116157 Model#: BX80532PG2400D
Price: $169.00
Youre willing to pay $471 for 800mhz? Just buy the 2.4, buy a heat sink / fan combo then overlock.
ATI cards are faster at higher resolutions, with more of the pretty-pretties (FSAA, Aniso, Truform) leaving the game perfectly playable.
nVidia cards are decent in the mid-low end, but they're gonna start bogging compared to the ATI offering at around 1024x768x32. Their FSAA is severely lacking both in image quality (2x does nothing that could be called AA, 4x ATI Quality mode is comparable with the top-grade setting on the FXes.. 6x blows them out of the water) and performance.
For the midrange best bang-for-buck, I'd recommend a Radeon 9500 Pro 128 if you can find one, or a 9600 Pro 128 if you can't. If you toss an old video card ATI's way with their 'trade up' program, you save fifty bucks on the card, too. In any case, go with a Built By ATI.. I've tried some of the third-party manufacturers, and they've caused problems. No such thing with the real deal though.
Consumer Digest and PC Shopper both agree with me. <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->
(Oh, and don't even bother with Tom's *coughselloutcough* Hardware. They'll quite happily splatter nVidia's current line up as gospel benchmark rates. Fact of the matter is, the R9800 Pro is still faster than the GFFX5900 Ultra, and the R9800 Pro2 inches ahead even further.)
Sigh. I guess Ill wait till the matter is decided on which card will be able to run HL2 with AA.
Sigh. I guess Ill wait till the matter is decided on which card will be able to run HL2 with AA. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
Where have you been?
That problem has been fixed for both cards for ahwile now....
<!--QuoteBegin--DOOManiac+ Aug 19 2003, 06:27 AM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (DOOManiac @ Aug 19 2003, 06:27 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> Do not buy a video card yet!
Supposedly big price drops are coming Sept. 23rd, so says HardOCP and nVidia... <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Cant find the story. Could you url me it or give me the date you saw it?
Retails at just under $200.