Is ati on top or not?

[mikekazik1]

About 2 weeks ago, I heard some people saying that the very latest ati graphics cards actually have and edge over the high end nvidia cards. At first, I thought I misread the info since ati is legendary for making mediocre graphics cards. However, I read through it a second time and it even said that many of the latest intel motherboards are compatible with only the ati cards. What's the deal with that? Did ati really make a comeback or did they just get lucky when they were negotiating with intel?

 

[rgeist554]

Nah, Nvidia still has the top spot in the graphics area, but the 3850 / 3870 are still very good. ATI does, however, scale better in Crossfire (ATI's version of SLI) better than most Nvidia cards, so maybe that's what you were reading about?

 

[mikekazik1]

Is that just for normal version for the version of crossfire (with 2 cards) or does it also apply to the other crossfire setups as well.

 

[rgeist554]

Crossfire is just 2 ATI cards. SLI is 2 Nvidia cards.

One card setups is where Nvidia performs better (in most cases), but Crossfire setups is where ATI scales better.

Just as an Example...

Let's say an SLI may goe as follows:
1 8800GT in BF2142 - 60FPS @ 1900x1200
SLI in BF2142 - 90 FPS @ 1900x1200
SLI gain = 30 FPS

Crossfire may go as follows:
1 3870 in BF2142 - 50 FPS @ 1900x1200
Crossfire in BF2142 - 100 FPS @ 1900x1200
Crossfire gain = 50 FPS

Like I said, this is just an example to help you understand. There are actual benchmarks somewhere, but I can't find the link atm.

 

[rgeist554]

However, I read through it a second time and it even said that many of the latest intel motherboards are compatible with only the ati cards. What's the deal with that? Did ati really make a comeback or did they just get lucky when they were negotiating with intel?

About that, I think Intel is pissed at Nvidia for not selling them SLI, so they're moving on to support ATI as well.

 

[mikekazik1]

Strange, I thought that they were good business partners.

 

[roadrunner197069]

I dont own either, but the benches I have seen is very close in comparison. Some folks say Nvidia actually skips frames to get better FPS? Who knows. Most people claim ATI looks better. I'm going to buy both cards and try them out for myself.

I watched some crysis videos on youtube and as far as I can tell on the crappy videos the ATI performs as well if not better then Nvidia. Crossfire wins hands down against sli IMHO just from watching youtube videos.

 

[rgeist554]

I dont own either, but the benches I have seen is very close in comparison. Some folks say Nvidia actually skips frames to get better FPS? Who knows. Most people claim ATI looks better. I'm going to buy both cards and try them out for myself.

Yeah, they did this with some of their beta drivers for Crysis recently. It only rendered a hand full of frames, like 3/10 or something, I forget the exact amount. It was rumored that they did this to increase their FPS before Crysis was released.

I watched some crysis videos on youtube and as far as I can tell on the crappy videos the ATI performs as well if not better then Nvidia.

Hehe, like Intel was supposed to perform better than AMD in Crysis, but many AMD chips received near to, if not matching performance to Intel CPU's. (I think this is mainly due to have heavy the game is on the GPU - so it makes the CPU less of a bottleneck.)

 

[skittle]

Nvidia has never and will never "skip frames" :|
It was just a bug (or maybe an attempt to cheat)... which caused some reflections in the water to update slower than normal. It was a very subtle change, and you actually had to be looking for it to catch it, and you really only could catch it because of the camera angle/speed in the benchmark sequence.

 

[rgeist554]

Ah, thanks for clearing that up. I do remember reading the article and it saying how it wasn't really a noticeable difference to the naked eye. either way, it won't really effect my opinion about them. I'm neutral towards both ATI and Nvidia.

 

[3Ball]

At first, I thought I misread the info since ati is legendary for making mediocre graphics cards.

lol, im sry...I had to quote this because I thought that maybe I read this wrong! You are joking correct?

Best,

3Ball

 

[roadrunner197069]

I'm nuetral also but I'm leaning towards ATI after the research I have done. I dont game a whole lot on my PC, but I got 100 DvDs on my HDDs and I'm going to be getting a tv tuner card, and I believe ATI is better for my sort of activities. However; I am going to buy a 3870 and an 8800GT to see for myself. Which ever one I dont keep will go in a PC to sell.

I got to kinda think if Nvidia has been "caught cheating in FPS" that the have been cheating all along and accidentaly pushed the envelope to far and got busted. 8800gt vs 3870 in benches that I have seen are only off by 5-10 FPS in alot of cases. If Nvidia cheats an extra one or 2 FPS every 10FPS then ya I'd have to say ATI is better. To many posts about people that have seen both in action and say ATI looks better. If Nvidia is cheating, the extra 5-10 FPS doesnt even exist.

Bottom line to me is how it looks, not how it runs on my screen not how it looks on synthetic benchmarks.

I for one would like to see ATI spank the hell outta Nvidia, so we can keep prices down. I think Nvidia price gouges to much. I like to see AMD pull their head out of thier butt and show Intel whats up once again. Intel is getting a little to confortable for my liking.

PS: I have never owned a ATI, or AMD product. Lol. Just been doing alot of reading lately. I did however build an AMD PC for a friend. It was cheap, and it runs fast to.

Just my 2cents. Im not a fan of anything except fair prices and IMHO ATI 3870 is alot better bang for the buck the 8800GT. And if you do SLI or Xfire 3870 wins hands down.

One more note, Nvidia done PO'd Intel and now Intel and ATI are teaming up. Bad move on Nvidias part. I quess Crysis 2 will have Intels logo and Atis logo lol.

 

[rgeist554]

I'm nuetral also but I'm leaning towards ATI after the research I have done. I dont game a whole lot on my PC, but I got 100 DvDs on my HDDs and I'm going to be getting a tv tuner card, and I believe ATI is better for my sort of activities. However; I am going to buy a 3870 and an 8800GT to see for myself. Which ever one I dont keep will go in a PC to sell.

There is a nice DVI to HDMI converter for the 3800's, so that could work out pretty well for you watching movies if you have a separate HDTV or something.

 

[Vindicoth]

One more note, Nvidia done PO'd Intel and now Intel and ATI are teaming up. Bad move on Nvidias part. I quess Crysis 2 will have Intels logo and Atis logo lol.

Which would be weird.. because ATI is owned by AMD, Intels rival.

 

[jaguarskx]

At first, I thought I misread the info since ati is legendary for making mediocre graphics cards.

I agree with you 100%. At least up until ATI released the Radeon series back in 1999 or 2000.

 

[roadrunner197069]

Which would be weird.. because ATI is owned by AMD, Intels rival.

Do some research. Intel changed their penryns so the 680i wount be compatible anymore. And intel boards are going xfire. Intel would love to have Nvidia on there side incase ATI ever invents something uber with both technologys. Nvidia wont help intel so if they support ATI and Nvidia starts to stugle then they can make a deal. AMD does own ATI but Intel and ATI dont compete. Intel needs a highend chipset to compete, and since ATI nor Nvidia is for sell they would obviously go with the one they feel helps them the most.

 

[mikekazik1]

Ok, so it appears that ATI is better in crossfire mode. However, what is the best crossfire setup. Would the best choice be to have 2 cards in crossfire? Or would it be better to do one of the other configurations that use 3 or 4 graphics cards? Are there even any games that use that many graphics cards and is the extra performance worth the crapload of money that you would have to spend for it?

 

[bfellow]

2600 series = legendary mediocre lol

 

[neisonator]

that seems strange ati owned by amd but intels latest chipsets using amd's/ati's crossfire i would think amd/ati would only allow crossfire on their amd motherboards. at the moment i think ati are in a very deep hole and are only just trying to get their way out their 38*0 series is good but i think nvidia are miles ahead picture what a g92 core could do with 1gb of memory?

 

[bash007]

At first, I thought I misread the info since ati is legendary for making mediocre graphics cards.

You have to be kidding me!
Just a bit over a year ago, ATI had the fastest single GPU solution around (the X1950XTX), up until the release of the 8800GTX. They still produce great cards, and while their best cards do not quite match up to Nvidia's, they're FAR from mediocre.

2600 series = legendary mediocre lol

And what exactly do you call the 8600 series?


I'm no fanboy of either company, but come on!

you misunderstood, he was saying that until the radeon series they produced mediocre cards not after.

Now that I read it again, you're right.
This was also directed at mikekazik1, so first quote changed to the original statement.

 

[qmalik]

imo:

for 1 card i like nvidia, particularly the 8800GT
for 2 cards i like ati, particularly crossfire with 3870.

 

[T8RR8R]

2600 and 8600 both sucked.

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

Do some research.....

AMD does own ATI but Intel and ATI dont compete.

Oh man that made me laugh out-loud.
Ati and intel don't compete? Like not in intergrated graphics or their media-centric chipsets, right? :lol:

While CPUs are still the bread and butter of the AMD-intel fight, ATi's products competed with intel since way back, even more so than nvidia in the past with mobile and integrated solutions well before the others.

 

[roadrunner197069]

Oh man that made me laugh out-loud.
Ati and intel don't compete? Like not in intergrated graphics or their media-centric chipsets, right? :lol:

While CPUs are still the bread and butter of the AMD-intel fight, ATi's products competed with intel since way back, even more so than nvidia in the past with mobile and integrated solutions well before the others.

Intel has nothing for highend graphic market is what I was implying. So basically ya.

If I were Intel I would team up with ATI to make Nvidia broke then buy NVIDIA. Then show ATI whats up.

I believe Intel and Nvidia was kinda working together and that could be another reason Nvidia cards work so well with Core 2 Duos. Now that Intel is gonna role with ATI lets see if the CPUs optimize better for ATI.

 

[kellytm3]

This quote from a post above"I for one would like to see ATI spank the hell outta Nvidia, so we can keep prices down. I think Nvidia price gouges to much. I am also exited to see AMD pull their head out of thier butt and show Intel whats up once again. Intel is getting a little to confortable for my liking."...
AMD has their head up their butt even farther now,and THEY are not showing Intel anything...GTX still owns anything ATI throws at it