Nvidia , ATI, or Other?

Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
edited November 2005 in Hardware
The never ending saga between ATI and Nvidia, and the wannabees that have yet to make it to the top.

Which side are you on? Is there a reason besides ATI or Nvidia is better. Each company has had its up's and downs, and with the current High End market becoming bigger than ever, who is the best and why?

so to the never ending question who do you like any why? Nvidia, ATI, Intel on board graphics, or other?

Comments

  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited November 2005
    As you can tell by my avatar you know who I'm for but the big question why!??

    Well let me start back to the days when I had my Voodoo 2 cards and was going nuts because the leap in graphics was phenomenal! I have always been a graphics nut, always looking for the newest tech in graphics and always buying the crème of the crop when they are released. I'm not going to get into how bad and how good Nvidia has been in the past, but bring my opinion to the present cards on the market, as every company has it's ups and downs!

    Nvidia, has been ahead of the game now for about the last year and a half. Maybe not having the #1 card the entire time, But they have been catering to the end user. They have been releasing cards on shelves on release dates and have been pushing the latest tech’s on the market, there cards are blazing fast and just look awesome.

    I sit back at watch guys argue for hours that the ATI card has it by 1 FPS and the other guy say well in this game Nvidia has it by 4 FPS etc...Etc... Good god! Get over it. I just have to say we are all benefiting in this race for the best. Yes we might get a bad card or RTA etc.It happens Technology only does 1 thing "It breaks" but for $500.00 we are scoring on $500 Million in spent research & technology.... Now that is crazy! $500 Million. We all are watching games like FEAR, BF2 and many other stretching the graphics to there limits, running in SLI and Crossfire...getting 5000FPS in CSS etc... Who in the hell cares? Well I do but, getting 250FPS in a game is great but when the human eye can only see what 80fps at the most, why try and go further? it is the "I am better than you status". I have 2 -7800GT’s in my main rig why? Because I think it looks cool. "yeah that’s about it" I find myself running only one card as 2 cards are over kill and all my games run at there full potential on 1 card. Sure my rig is better than allot out there, But I know there are many more allot better than mine. Okay I’ll stop ranting.

    But Nvidia seems to be on the cutting line of technology, releasing the latest and greatest at blazing speeds. AA, SLI. HDR, Pixel Shader 3.0 etc… these are all killer technologies and anyone who caters to us Graphic guru’s will always be number 1 in my case it just seems to be Nvidia.

    Crap 6600's to 7800's the new Onboard 6000 series chip sets, Nvidia is scream to the top of the market, and ATI and Intel and in a panic to regain lost time and market possion :)
  • csimoncsimon Acadiana Icrontian
    edited November 2005
    personally my favorite has always been 3dLabs.
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited November 2005
    3Dlabs makes great Cards, I have a few laying around my office going un used, I mean these cards are 8 - 10 years old and have 256MB & 512MB memory. 3Dlabs I think just got crushed by overwhelming odds with the price points. but 3Dlabs still has its following as well!

    I would buy a 3DL card over ATI atleast :)
  • csimoncsimon Acadiana Icrontian
    edited November 2005
    3Dlabs I think just got crushed by overwhelming odds with the price points.

    Got crushed? They're still at the top of what they do ...quality! They also lead in OpenGl development.

    But as far as gaming is concerned ...sure they have no place. In that respect I choose nvidia.
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited November 2005
    Sorry I should have added, "in Gaming", But my Nvidia Quadro 4400 runs pretty damn fast! in OpenGL
  • GrayFoxGrayFox /dev/urandom Member
    edited November 2005
    For all windows gaming hands down ati.

    They seem to have the most stable windows drivers, The best rma and there canadian oh and a bit better proformence.


    For linux NVIDIA
    Theres no question here nvidia has a clear advantage over ati.

    Atis linux drivers are barely functional and there about 25% slower then nvidias ones.
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited November 2005
    As much as I want to comment to that I can't :) As everyone is entitled to their opinon.
  • sfleurietsfleuriet Texas New
    edited November 2005
    ATI at the moment. I'm just happy with it. :)
  • RWBRWB Icrontian
    edited November 2005
    I enjoyed my ATi cards when they worked properly. I have yet to have an NVidia card go bad on me or have any problems in game. BF2 is the most recent memory in my mind, not only could I not play BF2, but others could not as well. Sure EA may be at fault here becuase they suck and want to make NVidia happy, but the same can be said about Microsoft with Windows, I think Linux may be better but Windows is clearly the winner becuase my games play on it.

    So IMHO based on many issues I have had with ATI I have to choose NVidia as the best gamers card. I do hope ATI comes back though, I think they rocked after the 8500 came out, but they degraded back into what they used to be all over again soon after. I still root them on, but mostly becuase I fear NVidia taking over. I wish 3DFX never got bought out, I can only imagine what games would be like right now. They had true vision.

    Coming from a guy who never owned a Voodoo card :shakehead
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited November 2005
    I didn't vote for anything. I just go with who is at the top at the time and bst bang for my buck. Simple, ain't it?
  • entropyentropy Yah-Der-Hey (Wisconsin)
    edited November 2005
    I've always liked ATi for an unexplainable reason. But if I were to build a new system today (which I might, now that I've got spending money again), I would pick nVidia.

    Mostly because they're there, you know? ATi says, "Hello, we've got Crossfire, but uh, you'll have to wait for forever-and-a-half to get it." That doesn't work for me. I don't like the fact that ATi is playing catch-up, but it's true. I think nVidia simply won this round.

    If ATi comes back later, though, and trumps nVidia bigtime, then I'll go with them.
  • edited November 2005
    Nvidia for sure.

    Ever since the 6 series was released they have been on top and show no sign of slowing down.

    ATi's cards that are supposed to compete with the 7800 gtx aren't even out yet, and they're most likely going to be much more expensive.

    By that time nVidia will be close to or will have released another card.
  • profdlpprofdlp The Holy City Of Westlake, Ohio
    edited November 2005
    mtgoat wrote:
    I didn't vote for anything. I just go with who is at the top at the time and bst bang for my buck. Simple, ain't it?
    Same here as far as brand, but the last time I bought a cutting-edge card when it was first released was my VooDoo5 5500.

    These days I look for the best value in my price range and go with that, regardless of brand.
  • QeldromaQeldroma Arid ZoneAh Member
    edited November 2005
    I've tried both. I admit I've been partial to ATI since the Mach 32. However, I did go with nVidia when the MSI Ti4200 hit the street. At that time nVidia was faster but had crappy video quality and even worse drivers and support. I remember when I went back and got the 9600 Pro and dumped the Ti4200- it was like really seeing my games for the first time and ATI just seemed to have a better rounded card and support.

    That being said, I'm sure nVidia has grown-up and the 7800 is a great card- but this has been a business of leapfrogging by both camps. Unless there is a compelling motive, I suppose I'll buy ATI when they once again pull ahead- based on my prior experience.
  • tmh88tmh88 Pittsburgh / Athens, OH
    edited November 2005
    ATI!!!

    I have an ati x800xl right now, and im very pleased with it. Performs on 95% of games with settings high/maxed out, with high fps. My friend has a 6800 GT, and other than that, our computers are identical. I score higher than him on aquamark and 3dmark, so for now ATI! both cards are very similar so i figured it would be a good comparison.
  • QCHQCH Ancient Guru Chicago Area - USA Icrontian
    edited November 2005
    ATI because I have an two 9800 128 Pro's, and a 8500 All in Wonder... At the time, they were each top of the line. I cannot afford to even look at a newer card from either company.
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited November 2005
    I sat back and realized it isn't about the 3dMark scores, as most games do not run in the same way that programs stresses the cards. I think 3Dmark is a blind Fold over our eyes... and has us claiming high numbers etc.
    For the most part with any game on the market! What is the point to OC'ing 2 7800GTX cards? I mean just 1 card will run everything at full quality. Sure it is fun to get 10 Billion points. But I just don't see the point. "No pun intended"

    ATI makes great products, yes they fell behind but I don’t think they are any better than Nvidia, nor do I think Nvidia just trumps ATI. They all have similar designs; basically the same tech's and they run all of our games blazing fast.

    So I guess being an owner of ATI, Nvidia, 3DFX, & 3DLab Cards. I can say this, we all love certain cards weather it was the way it played our favorite game back in the day or from word of mouth, or even the hard copied numbers. In all its just a graphics card and if it plays the games we love we should be happy :) wow I can't believe I just said that....
  • edited November 2005
    I'm really surprised at the votes here.
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited November 2005
    dito!
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited November 2005
    11 ATI votes are you kids crazy! where is all my Nvidia fans :)
  • tmh88tmh88 Pittsburgh / Athens, OH
    edited November 2005
    From the cards i have used that are supposed to be "similar" ATI has outpreformed. For example, my friend and I have the EXACT same parts in our computers except for our videocards. I have an x800XL and he has a 6800GT Anyway my pc benchmarks alot higher on 3dmark 05. I havent used a 7800 series card or the x1800xt so i can't say much about the high end cards.
  • Sledgehammer70Sledgehammer70 California Icrontian
    edited November 2005
    Hmm i would have to disagree..... well with the results I have seen! I guess it all depends in the setup. Being a graphic nut I have ran many newer Nvidia chips.. 6200's 6600's 6800's 7800's etc... along with ATI's X200's x 300's X800's and now even a X1800 in my own benchmark tests....where what was shown I new was true numbers....and have found Nvidia out performing all the ATI chips in a comparable setting. X800 vs 6800's the X1800 vs the 7800 etc.... I have yet to own a stock ATI card that can beat any of my Nvidia cards. Now If I OC the cards I can get the X800 series to run a bit faster... but im not a huge OC'er so i don't take that into account.

    Also My ATI 3D Mark scores are no where close to my Nvidia scores....
  • NightwolfNightwolf Afghanistan Member
    edited November 2005
    I don't care either way. I chose nVidia b/c thats what i use...but i'll use an ati if i like it!
  • tmh88tmh88 Pittsburgh / Athens, OH
    edited November 2005
    I dont have anything against nvidia, i just like ATI more. Both companies make great products. Each company has their strengths and weaknesses, so NEITHER COMPANY IS BETTER!
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited November 2005
    I buy whatever happens to be the fastest at the time.

    8x00 vs Tix00; Tossup.
    9x00 vs 5x00; ATI wins.
    6x00 vs xX00; nVidia wins.
    7x00 vs x1x00; nVidia wins.

    So if I were to buy a card today, I'd buy nVidia. I, therefore, voted other.
  • lemonlimelemonlime Canada Member
    edited November 2005
    I've always been very happy with my ATI cards. I've owned both major brands over the years, but I've been leaning towards ATI for the last couple of generations. I have been VERY pleased with the performance of both my 9800Pro and my X850XT. They have been rock solid, good performers and have great drivers. I don't regret choosing an X850 over a 6800 series nvidia card. It was actually cheaper to get the XT than a 6800GT PCI-E card at the time as well. Unless I'm playing doom3 (which still runs really well on my card), its actually significantly quicker than the 6800 in most games.

    My biggest gripe with ATI as of late has been their 'go to market' blunders. These paper launches are disappointing, and they really need to address fab and supply issues. They are also clearly playing catchup with nvidia, and better get it together for the next round. The R520 is certainly not what everyone expected, not to mention very late to market.

    Personally, I'd love to see a third manufacturer get into the game and toss things up a bit. However, I doubt that S3 is going to release a 7800GTX killer anytime in the next decade or so :D
  • MedlockMedlock Miramar, Florida Member
    edited November 2005
    I always have liked ATi for some reason... my current rig uses an old 9700 Pro. I just choose what's better at the time. If I were to build a new rig (which I need to do) I'd choose nVidia.

    I didn't vote.
  • NightwolfNightwolf Afghanistan Member
    edited November 2005
    TheGr81 wrote:
    I always have liked ATi for some reason... my current rig uses an old 9700 Pro. I just choose what's better at the time. If I were to build a new rig (which I need to do) I'd choose nVidia.

    I didn't vote.
    I've always liked ATi too. I bought my 6600 because its a good card for a low price.
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