Topic: ATI or Nvidia - Which video card i must buy ?

[Dhoco X]

Hello ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls !

I was thinking about which new video card i must buy. 128mb DDR ? I was thinking about buying a FX5600 or a FX5900 256mb NVIDIA.

But i have some friends and they said RADEON is better than NVIDIA to play this new games like HALF-LIFE 2 and DOOM 3. This is true ?

Which video card i must buy ? NVIDIA or ATI ?

[number6]

I honestly don't know because I have not personally tried these new cards out myself. Doc I am sure can tell you about the Geforce FX series since I know he has one and is always on the look out for the newest from NVidia.  I am guessing your friends have read some reviews that say the latest Radeon cards are the fastest cards on the market. That is mostly a true statement. We are not talking about a huge difference in performance though. I don't have the figures in front of me right now, but you can go to Tom's Hardware web site and read all the stats you want. Both series, the Geforce and Radeon, top of the line cards are great for the newer games judging from the reports. You will end up paying a lot more for the best cards though. You only need to get the top of the line card if you plan to play these next gen games as soon as they come out. I personally buy the last generation or the one before that when buying a card. You end up saving a lot of cash and you can play all of the latest games pretty well if not perfect. Some people have a lot of cash and can afford to pay top dollar all the time. I prefer to spend my money on the software more than the hardware so I have to be conservative in my hardware purchases. It really depends on what's important to you though.

[Doc Nyar]

I'm more of a Nvidia fan, so you probably won't get a biased answer from me. I own the GeForce FX 5600 256mb and I love it. I haven't encountered a game yet that didn't play on it (even older games).

Soon I will hae the GeForce FX 5900 Ultra. I prefer Nvidia over ATi mostly for their driver support. That's something Nvidia clearly beats ATi in. As far as performance, I think they're somewhat on par. You talk about a few framerates that one card is better then the other (Between ATi and Nvidia I mean), but that's about it.

Nvidia all the way

[RotteVis]

If I had to choose between Ati & nVidia at the moment, then I would go for nVidia. Like Doc said, the difference in performance is very little. The big difference in these 2 is driversupport. nVidia has the best support of the 2, so in the long run I think you're better off with nVidia(think of performance and compatability with future hardware). Ati is known to be a little slow if it comes to boosting performance & compatibilty, it will come but very slow. If you have the money then I'll say go for the FX5900 ultra. And your friends that say that Ati is better with Doom3 & Half-life 2 are right at the moment, but they forget a very important thing; both games are still Alpha (testversions, pure for testing and showing off) and the programmers haven't put driver optimalization in it yet. And when that's done then nVidia and Ati will be at the same level of performance

[Thumper]

  I have the ATI 9800 Pro in my rig & it's excellent, every game I've played with is awsome, the graphics are unreal. I've been playing Blitzkrieg lately & the smallest detail is shown on everything. I've had both Nvidia & ATI & several other cards & this is by far the best!

[Doc Nyar]

I have the ATI 9800 Pro in my rig & it's excellent, every game I've played with is awsome, the graphics are unreal. I've been playing Blitzkrieg lately & the smallest detail is shown on everything. I've had both Nvidia & ATI & several other cards & this is by far the best!

Did you also own the GeFroce 5900 ? If so, you could give a good comparision between the 2 cards...

[Thumper]

I had a 4200 for awhile & had some problems with it. I switched to a ATI 900 Pro & have used ATI since.

[Doc Nyar]

Oh okay.

[RotteVis]

I still use my nVidia Riva 128ZX (8mb AGP), it's the most reliable graphics card I've ever had. No lock-up, passive cooled so it's generates no noise. The card is almost 6 years old now, but still nVidia has driver support for it.

[Dhoco X]

Hmm... here where i live the ATI cards is very expensive comparing with the nvidia cards. You guys had talked about the difference of the 2 vídeo cards. I perceived that is small difference. Then i will not go to buy ati anymore...

example:

- Nvidia GF FX 5600 128mb ddr tv out AGP 8x  --> r$ 400
- ATI RADEON bla bla bla 128mb ddr agp 8x --> r$ 600

I'm having a lot of doubts because after 4 years i am mounting my new computer hehehe ! Pay more for litle difference ? On your *** !

Hehehehehe !

Thxs !

[RotteVis]

compare the radeon 9800 pro ~400$ with the geforce fx5900 ultra ~ 600$

[XeoBllaze]

I have the ATI 9800 Pro in my rig & it's excellent, every game I've played with is awsome, the graphics are unreal. I've been playing Blitzkrieg lately & the smallest detail is shown on everything. I've had both Nvidia & ATI & several other cards & this is by far the best!

Did you also own the GeFroce 5900 ? If so, you could give a good comparision between the 2 cards...

I had a 5900nu, 5900u, 9700pro, and now the 9800pro.  I would say the 9800pro is the best so far because you can notice the better image quality, and the performance w/ AA/AF is greater...  Check my scores in my sig,

[Doc Nyar]

Thanks for sharing that XeoBllaze. Although even with your statement, ATi will never get me as their customer...

I'm to much of a hardcore Nvidia fan

[Atomic Mitten]

Hey Doc, when you get your new 5900 ultra, you want to sell me your old 5600.??

[Doc Nyar]

Hey Doc, when you get your new 5900 ultra, you want to sell me your old 5600.??

Nope, it'll go in one of my spare pc's.. sorry dude

[Dhoco X]

Marketing ? Hahahahahahha...

[Atomic Mitten]

I thought so ! by the way I was joking.lol