It seems when people have their system spec in their signature most of the ones I've seen in several forums here have ATI cards. I've always had Nvidia cards and will be building a new system when Conroe comes out. I will be looking for a budget (under $200) GPU so am researching which GPU to get.

So why does it seem (to me) that ATI is more popular than Nvidia? I read the "sticky" on GPU's for recommendations based on price but I want to know what made you pick ATI.

Thanks!!

Eddie G

ATI more popular than nVidia? I don't think so. Interesting observation you made.

Do you have AGP or PCI-E? For $200, you can get a pretty good card.

AGP - X800GTO, 6800GS, X800XL, X850XT (possibly)

PCI-E - X850XT, 7600GT.

What are your system specs?

Its mostly a personal preference. ATI cards tend to have better shader performance than Nvidia cards, plus better image quality, but more or less are the same really.

System specs WILL be Conroe 2.66 ghz, PCI-E x16 mobo, 2 gigs RAM.

Eddie

Anti-Aliasing and (Open EXR) HDR simultaneously. Only ATI x1xx can do that for now.

Double post. My bad.

the reason ati is considered better is mainly for their high mid range and high end cards, hav the ability to do aa which smooths out lines and lets u enable hdr(high dynamic lighting) at the same time

if anything u shoudl be buying a better video card, x1900xt, and lower processor considering games are really gfx dependent nowadays, and lower cpu, that cpu already performs better then a fx-62 and its about $400 cheaper, so goin lower is no problem

If I were to make a guess, I'd say that it was maybe 30/70 in nVidia's favor when you include some of the business PCs with integrated graphics capabilities. ATI now has the performance crown so their sales will be improving and probably are already. Someone said, here I think, that everybody buys from the company who makes the fastest though usually don't buy the fastest theirself. Interesting observation.

Personally, I was quite content with my All in Wonder Radeon. Vibrant colors, quick enough and TV to boot! But I finally got fed up with Windows. Ati drivers for Linux can be terribly flaky and extremely difficult to get installed properly. I never managed to in fact. Actually the drivers can be ultra finicky in Windows too. But now I'm a self-confessed nVidiot by default. Make no mistake however, I really do like my 7900GT. A LOT! I still use Windows for gaming, just not for anything serious as it is far too insecure for my use and the 7900GT, to me, is nothing shy of awesome.

Now that we're essentially down to two major GPU manufacturers, the choices are excellent because we have at least two. Competition is a beautiful thing, especially for the consumer.

I agree, get a less expensive processor and up the graphics card. I would go by the rule that your processor should cost less or cost as much as your graphics card.

i like nvidias 7 series cards, except for the 7900gtx(not including the quad sli cards) because the price range is with the x1900xt and xtxs, but those cards perform a lot better with shader heavy games, the 7900gt is a lot cheaper while stil pwerful enough to get u really high gfx settings

Then you should consider getting a better card. Drop to the 2.4GHz Conroe, and get something like a X1800XT or 7900GT.

On this forum....yes.

But try to see through it, and be partial. I've been an ATi supporter(coughfanboycough) for years, but I'm not currently using one of their cards. I believe either will satisfy, and features/speed per dollar are where you should be looking.

true to wat this guys says, if ur looking for lets say a true champ of gfx cards, no single card in the same class beats the other company wise by lets say around 30fps and over on average for benchmark games

par·tial ( P ) Pronunciation Key (pärshl)
adj.
Of, relating to, being, or affecting only a part; not total; incomplete: The plan calls for partial deployment of missiles. The police have only a partial description of the suspect.
Favoring one person or side over another or others; biased or prejudiced: a decision that was partial to the plaintiff.
Having a particular liking or fondness for something or someone: partial to spicy food.
Mathematics. Of or being operations or sequences of operations, such as differentiation and integration, when applied to only one of several variables at a time.

Then you should consider getting a better card. Drop to the 2.4GHz Conroe, and get something like a X1800XT or 7900GT.

According to the benchmarks at http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/ [...] index.html or http://tinyurl.com/g9mqo the E6600 is not as good as the Athlon A2 64 x2 5000+ or the 64 FX-62. If I were to save money on the CPU and get a better GPU I'd take advantage of AMD price drops and get the Athlon. I'd rather get a budget 256mb card (i.e. 7600 gt or ATI equivelent) and stick with the Conroe E6700.

Anyway, the CPU issue is not the question here, not that I don't appreciate your suggestions...I truley do. Thank you!!

Eddie

I use to buy mostly ATI cards, but that changed when the 6800GT outperformed the X800 XT on Doom3.