ATI or Nvidia

physx7

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Hello!

This is my first post, just signed up today. I hope I am doing this right. My question is: I am going to upgrade from intergrated graphics, should I get a ATI card or Nvidia? I am running on Vista home premium 32 bit.

Thanks!
(If I posted this in the wrong place please tell me)
 
Not nearly enough info.
What is the point of the upgrade? (what are you looking to gain?)
Post the rest of your system specs. (CPU, mobo, RAM, I mean everything)
What do you want to do with the card? (don't just say game, what games?)
How much are you willing to spend?
 

emp

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Depends on your budget (Gaming cards):

$120-140: Radeon X1950 Pro 256MB or GeForce 7900GS 256MB
$160-190: Radeon X1950 XT 256MB or GeForce 7950GT 256MB
$260-300: GeForce 8800GTS 320MB
$350-400: Radeon HD2900XT 512MB or GeForce 8800GTS 640MB
$500: GeForce 8800GTX 768MB

Those are the best cards for the money on each segment, if you find both cards in the same segment get the cheaper one. For example, if you find the HD 2900XT for $360 and the 8800GTS 640MB for $385, then get the HD 2900XT.

EDIT: Also make sure your power supply unit is up for the job, these cards have above average power needs compared to average joe's dell power supply unit.
 

prodystopian

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Just to reiterate, there is no better company in ALL segments. Each of these companies have better graphics than the other in some price segment. So what do you have currently (preferably your entire set up) and what do you want to do with the upgrade (games, movies, photoshop, etc.)?
 

superkevin

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More info about your current system would help us give you an idea. If your comparing head to best card right now Nvidia is winning.
 

physx7

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Dear lostandwandering,
Sorry if I didn't put enough info. My specs are: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ @ 2.3 gigahertz, 2 gigs of pc 5300 ram,400 gig Sata hard drive, lightscribe dvd burner, 500 watt Antec ATX 12V version 2.01, Dual 12V output +12V1@18A,+12V2@18A, I don't know what kind of Motherboard it has but it does have 1 pci-e x16 slot open. The point of the upgrade is so that I can play modern and a few older games, Games such as Age Of Empires 3,Lost Planet,World In Conflict, and a few upcoming games such as Crysis and Medal Of Honor Airborne. I am willing to spend up to $150.

Hope this helps!
(I am new to this forum so take it easy on me please)
 

HPCE_Larry

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You'll be able to get the x1950xt, which is a very capable card. It can run a little hot if your case doesn't have adequite cooling though. A friend of mine got it for an old dell and it ran up to 106 C! Be prepared to buy a couple fans ($3-7) if you have a small case.
 


Don't worry about it.
This is the best deal out there ATM.
If you don't mind using rebates and staying with DX9: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2918356&CatId=1560

If you don't want to use a rebate and are ok with DX9: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102061

If you want a DX10 card (in name mostly): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130084
 

honestjohn_

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I'll second Lost's recommendations. Very good choices and which are a perfect fit for your rig. I think your best buy out of the group is the 7950GT, may be a hair faster than the X1950 Pro, but it has lower power requirements. With the Pro, you may run the risk of needing a new power supply regardless of your wattage. With the Pro it's always a crap shoot unless your over the power requirements and using a high quality power supply.
 

physx7

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Thanks!
I think since i have vista I will take advantage of DX10. But i'm not sure if i can justify the extra $30-$50 up from an 8600 gt, on tom's VGA charts the max that the gts beat the gt was 10 fps. Any thoughts?
Thanks!
 

prodystopian

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I don't know about gt vs gts, but those charts are sadly outdated. New drivers make the cards perform much differently. I would suggest googling "benchmark ****" where **** is whatever games you might want to play (Bioshock is good even if you don't want to play it because a lot of sites have been benchmarking it). Anyway, that should give you a better idea of performance differences between those two types of cards. Also, you could search "benchmarks cardname".
 

Heyyou27

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I use an 8600GT as my secondary card for multi monitor use. While it technically will run any game out, I found it wasn't able to keep up with an old 7800GT in all the Direct X9 titles I tried, and it could barely run Call of Juarez Direct X10, or Bioshock (Direct X9 and 10).
 

Heyyou27

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I tried them at 1280x1024 and 1680x1050; both were running without antialiasing at medium-high quality. Now for $100, we shouldn't expect this card to perform phenomenally, but the problem is it's often barely faster than the older 7600GT. Just because it's Direct X10 compliant doesn't mean it's going to play games with the Direct X10 features enabled. It's still an alright card, but I think you'd be better off going for an X1950 Pro.
 

physx7

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Heyyou27 I tried them at 1280x1024 and 1680x1050; both were running without antialiasing at medium-high quality. Now for $100, we shouldn't expect this card to perform phenomenally, but the problem is it's often barely faster than the older 7600GT. Just because it's Direct X10 compliant doesn't mean it's going to play games with the Direct X10 features enabled. It's still an alright card, but I think you'd be better off going for an X1950 Pro.

I heard that ATI has more driver problems than Nvidia and that ATI cards also use more power. Is that true?
My PSU specs are 500W Antec dual 12V output, Version 2.01, +12V1@18A,+12V2@18A.
Thanks!
 

prodystopian

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I haven't heard anything about driver problems with ATI. Are you referring to the fact that their old drivers were bad? If so this isn't a legitmate concern, just get the new drivers and you will be fine.
 


It's funny you've got old and new beliefs mixed together.

For the drivers, they're tied, if anyting ATi woud've had the lead, but even that's for issue that don't affect gamers. Overall they're basically tied.

For power however the ATi's are in general more power hungry right now, but that wasn't always the case either. When ATi's drivers were considered bad, their power useage was much lower than nV, now the roles are reversing.

The drivers are a non-issue nowadays, but for the power situation it's good to read reviews like those at XBitLabs and see where the card you're considering falls.

And like alot of factors, power isn't the only thing, but if you're going to be trying to build on an existing rig it's a very important thing, so it's definitely worth considering, and of the ones above the GF7950GT is more powerful in most situation (games like Crysis are an unknown, but it does OK in Oblivoin compared to the other GF7s and holds it's own unlike the GTX) and pretty close to the X1950Pro in power requirements, but noticeably less than an XT.
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/geforce7950gt_3.html#sect0

So the main thing is to check the games you play on and decide from there.
BTW, that link isn't fro current performance (which changes since las tyear when that was tested) but for power consumption, which doesn't really change over time.

IMO, the GF8600GT/GTS won't be worth it for any of the new games as a DX10 card, and running DX9 like HY27 aid, they're not going to be stellar and will play in and around the same level of the X1950Pro and GF7950GT if not worse.