WOW my first ATI in seven years

[rhawkesus]

Boy am I going to get flammed by my fellow Nvidia Fans. Sorry Folks ,I just poped my first ATI in seven years into my machine...WOW the graphics are so much cleaner. In fact I'm so impressed I'm ordering a X2 for my gaming machine....

 

[rhawkesus]

sorry by the way my other card is a 8800GT

 

[Evilonigiri]

What was this first ATI card? The 3870?

 

[rhawkesus]

Yes....first the desktop just looks cleaner, the only way I can explain it A work buddy let me borrow it after a slight disagreement about video cards....I'll take the slightly slower frame rate in some game rates for the better graphics...this is just my opinion.

 

[Evilonigiri]

The picture quality for the 8800GT is similar to the 3870. And that's not slightly slower, in certain games it's a lot slower. http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/ati-radeon-hd3870-x2_9.html

In any case, while the 8800GT's price is very close to the 3870's, the better cooling may be worth the price.

 

[rhawkesus]

I was sure I was going to catch allot of flack for this post. As I stated this is just my outlook, the minite i got the driver loaded I could see the differance. I am a solid Nvidia man. but I am going to go ATI X2 for my new build. I'm saying overall Graphics appear to me clearer, cleaner, awsum. my 8800 is a great card fast, but compaired it's like a analog vs a hd tv.

 

[Evilonigiri]

I have nothing against ATI. Just stating what I read about the cards. With the price of the 8800GT becoming so low, it's hard to recommend the 3870 anymore.

If you have the time, could you post screen shots of in game scenes where the difference in quality is prevalent?

 

[swifty_morgan]

I remember my first ati card of any real use. The x850xt. Before that I had a 6800gt and then a 7800gt. The ati graphics were "cleaner and brighter" than the nvidia cards without a doubt. Unfortunately it became basically useless because of shader model 3.0. When the 3850 or 3870 get to be lower in price, I'm seriously thinking about picking one up to replace my "net" machine card. It'll be useful for my online game of favorite, and the graphics will probably be noticeably different.

 

[rhawkesus]

I do both, I use my machine for apps and games. Framerates are great but not everything to me. If any of you have the ability to try the 8800 and the 3870, just load the drivers, and load a windows Dreamscene and then try a game....Yes it might run slower in some cases but to me again I look at overall picture quality.

 

[docnasty]

You can get a 3870 512 meg now for 189.00 at newegg.

 

[Evilonigiri]

You can get a 3870 512 meg now for 189.00 at newegg.

Which is a great price if the 8800GT 512MB isn't $199.

 

[rhawkesus]

is a screenshot going to show a quality differance on a forum, to me that would matter on what you view it with? I can take a screenshot and go in the other room and have it appear different, don't get me wrong I have no attachment to ATI, I'm just voicing what I see. You really have to try for yourself, someone else may have a completely different option sitting where i am now.

 

[nukemaster]

i have NEVER seen any difference on the desktop(well take that back....my old PCI 4 meg card looks fuzzy, but it looks just fine on a CRT....its only LCD's that do not do well with old analog cards...), but ATI tv out is excellent.

Glad to here you like the card.

and NO a screenshot will not show a difference....things may just look better with a color profile/settings from card to card....

 

[stephensolofo]

I had a interesting article in one of ym maximum pc magazines.In most cases people went for ATI for better image quality,though if you have no knowledge of art or how to see different colors then higher fps is what you want ideally.

Crysis looks much more vibrant and lush on my 3870 compared to my friends 8800gt.Bioshock has deeper colors compared to hsi as well.But in the end its in the eye of the beholder.

 

[DrMaV]

Well, I have a need to say something,

I bought the 8800 GT, and then 2xHD3870, for many reasons. After comparing the two, I was really blown away with the Image Quality of the HD3870 compared to the GT; especially the colors. There is no question, that the GT is a slightly faster card overall, especially at 4xAA (NOT necessarily at 0xAA and 8xAA), but the HD3870 won me over, and it plays all my games the way "they should be played".

So, I gave away my GT to a friend. And, I realized that 2xHD3870s were overkill for my resolution, so I also gave the second away.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[stephensolofo]

Just gave the x2 away?i would have given you something for it at least

 

[lambofgode3x]

i've owned mainly nvidia cards, with my 2900pro as my first ati card. when i took my 7950gx2 card out and popped in the 2900pro, there was a definite difference in image quality. my next build will hopefully hd4k series x2's. we'll see though.

 

[nevesis]

hmm, I just switched from a 1900xtx to an 8800gt, I happen to have the exact opposite opinion of the OP...

 

[andytg7]

I also have had the same experience/opinion. I've own three different ATI cards (the old 9800pro, x800xt, and my current card the X1900xtx) and I've owned two nvidia cards (FX5200, and 7800gtx). In all cases, I felt the ATI cards had better image quality. The best way to describe the better image quality is cleaner, clearer, sharper, and richer/brighter colors. Performance wise that's a different issue, but when it comes to the way the graphics/picture looks, the ATI cards just give it a better or nicer look.

I agree screen shots won't do this comparison justice. The only proper way to really experience it and judge it is by popping a nvidia card in and then switching it with an ATI card. Believe me you'll see a difference.

 

[chameleon101]

I beleive the ATI cards have better colour than Nvidia, Nvidia seem to blue, even a friend has commented on the picture and he has sli'd 6800 xtremes, dont get me wrong, Nvidia make a nice card but yeh i'm on my 2nd ATI card now, X1900CF and prior to that i had a 9800pro, then there were Nvidia TI4200, mx440, Geforce2, Voodoo2, Voodoo1,
Matrox. picture quality makes for an enjoyable experiance, if Voodoo were still around i'd probably be with them.

 

[Xazax310]

Well from my (short experience) between an HD 3870/ 8800GT 8600GTS/2900PRO

switching between the two companies cards some things i like about ATI and somethings i like about Nvidia

For one ATI's overall driver interface is x10 better then that stupid Nvidia one, ATI INCLUDES AVIVO, whereas Nvidia you have yo buy Purevideo(which is BS)
gaming wise nvidia wins because they simply have the driver support for many games, and many developers support Nvidia, the reason the 8800GT wins so many Evilonigiri, is because most those games, take Company of Heroes for instance, are simply programmed for nvidia cards and hence work the best. Look at HL 2 ATI cards stomp nVidia's offerings simply because Vavle supports ATI.. and Call of Juraz has always been an ATI favorite.
As for picture quailty, thats a subjective view to me, i dont see ANY difference between the two though it is said that ATI has better but using both a 2900PRO and HD 3870 i didnt notice anything different.

 

[systemlord]

Here have a look a bottom of page and read this, http://www.guru3d.com/article/Videocards/391/6/

By systemlord at 2008-02-21

 

[aziraphale]

What a waste of forum space. Didn't we really see enough of these posts already?

 

[systemlord]

What a waste of forum space. Didn't we really see enough of these posts already?

If I get rid of it will you quit you bitching!?!

 

[T8RR8R]

lol