Are ATI really as bad as people say they are?

[maguszxz]

I have a Radeon x300 (don't laugh, lol) graphics card and looking into other ATI cards. When I talk to my nerd brethen they tell me to go to Nvidia because ATI drivers are crap. Is this completely true or just a few bad moments???

 

[raven_87]

I'm gonna go on a limb and say your "nerd" friends, really arent that nerdish.
If they were, they would know that the driver issues are very much a thing of the past.

Don't worry if you go ATI, I've had more of their GPU's than I can count and I've only had very few isolated driver based issues.

 

[pauldh]

Yup, I'm with you. They are fanbois or wanna-be nerds living in the past.

 

[maguszxz]

I havent heard alot of people who had driver problems but I have heard a few things from ATI. I do want a Geforce 7600 but the Radoen X1600 looks nice too.

 

[rtsPlayer]

ati drivers will need dot net installed. u have been warned!! :twisted:

 

[Anoobis]

If you're looking at the 7600GT, then there is no contest between it and an X1600. The 7600GT wins. I suspect a 7600GS would still pull ahead (if not trade blows) of the X1600 but I'm not certain and I'm sure others can shed some more light on it.

 

[raven_87]

Very true. ATI's midranged cards (x6,700, x1300,x1600) are not worth considering compared to their Nv counter parts. Perhaps the x800, or X1800GTO and X1900GT are nice midrange. But my vote of those two would be for the 7600GT. Not becuase of driver issues, but due to preformance difficeit on the X1600 side.

 

[Heyyou27]

The X300 may suck but ATI certainly does not.

 

[conroe]

I like ATi, but the 7600gt is much better than a x1600. ATi has better image quality and much better DVD playback.

 

[prozac26]

Yup, I'm with you. They are fanbois or wanna-be nerds living in the past.

My thoughts.

 

[hella-d]

Thats 7600 Will Eat That X1600 For Lunch, However Im Not Sure About The Others

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

Whomever tol you to buy based on that alone isn't worthy of your attention.
There are driver issues with both companies, but they are minor, and nothing to concern yourself with (or else you're stuck with Intel, which may have less driver issues, but that's easy when you can't play anything :twisted: ).

To get an idea of the balance of issues (and they are small like little unsinhy water or something) look at this site which has the best visual comparo IMO;
http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/digest3d/0506/itogi-video-gallery-bugs.html

Looks pretty even to me, or even the reverse of what you heard.

I havent heard alot of people who had driver problems but I have heard a few things from ATI. I do want a Geforce 7600 but the Radoen X1600 looks nice too.

Well straight up IMO most often the GF7600 in the price range of the X1600 you're considering is usually the better buy. The GF7600GT is better than the X1600XT, and the GF7600GS is a better than the X1600Pro in most cases. The X1600XT versus the GF7600GS is alot closer though.

There are some app/game specific benefits to the X1600 series, but I'd usually favour the GF7600 for most games.

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

ati drivers will need dot net installed. u have been warned!! :twisted:

Actually they can be run without it (voila .NET-less Control Panel with Cat 6.4 best to add ATiToolTray to give more features like ControlCentre);

And soon enough they'll all need it because that's the way M$ demanded it, nothing else for Vista.
Also, the new nV control-centre rip off is worse interface IMO, but I'll grant you that it avoids the .NET bloat, which can also be avoided for ATi too.

 

[Shifty]

ATI definitely does not suck. "Bad drivers" is just an excuse used by nVidia fanboys who don't know any better. nVidia does not suck either, but ATI is ahead just by a little bit at the moment. In the next generation, this might change. People really need to stick with whats good and not be a fanboy.

 

[hella-d]

Im An Nvidia Fanboy, But Im Not Gonna Knock ATI, I Just Dont Use Them

 

[sirheck]

hey i may be an nvidiot but, who says ati cards are bad?

 

[The_Abyss]

ATI drivers are absolutely fine. Granted, the X300 is a POS but even good drivers can't save it.

 

[baddog1]

Low to mid-range go ATI. High-end it's nVidia all the way (right now). Ask again next week.

 

[angry_ducky]

If you're looking at the 7600GT, then there is no contest between it and an X1600. The 7600GT wins. I suspect a 7600GS would still pull ahead (if not trade blows) of the X1600 but I'm not certain and I'm sure others can shed some more light on it.

The 7600GT is faster than all the X1600s. The 7600GS is faster than the X1600Pro, and is about equal to the X1600XT.

 

[raven_87]

Low to mid-range go ATI. High-end it's nVidia all the way (right now). Ask again next week.

I think you have that backward completely....

 

[GherkinPekul]

All I know is that I love my x1900XT. I'm running Cat 6.5 with no issues on F.E.A.R.
I never thought I would ever blow that kind of cash on a vid card, but I'm glad I did.

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

Y'all are crazy!

MATROX RULZ !!!

 

[dvdpiddy]

Y'all are crazy!

MATROX RULZ !!!

NO!


VIA CHROME INTEGRATED GPU RULES!

 

[margag_]

The good thing to do is wait for the best deal for the money d'ont worry about the brand !

I have had both nv and ati card.

i found the ATI way a little less user friendly but overall good.

You should get at least a nv6600 or ati x700 (minimum card in my book)

the x300 is money wasted...

 

[pauldh]

Give me a good ole V8 anyway.