AMD processor. ATI or nVidia?

[romulus47plus1]

Hey guys, I bought a PC last year, specs are like this:
AMD 5200+
nVidia 8500gt 256mb DDR2
1GB Kingston DDR-2 667mhz
nforce-4 board

Recently upgraded the ram to 2gb.
Okay, I am planning to upgrade.
I am going to stick with the 5200+ for 2 years i think.
I am a great fan of nVidia, and I want to buy a 9600gt.
The problem is these days AMD offer boards that run better with ATI.
I want to buy a 780a, for I want SLI, but there's another option.
That is to use 790FX, that supports only ATI.
So what you think? I think the 790FX is a better board compared to the 780a.

But I love nVidia!
I love 9600gt! and I want to SLI it later.
But with 790FX, I may buy 3870,
or maybe a pair of 3850,
or maybe three/four of 3650/3850/3830(coming soon).
So, what would be your choice?




p/s: would like to run system at 1680x1050.
And I want the upgrade to last MAYBE 3-4 years.

 

[lunyone]

Well if your sticking with the 5200+ I'd just get a 3870x2, it'll run about the same speed as the 9600gt. This way you won't have to buy a new mobo to support SLI/Xfire and use that extra $ towards the 3870x2.

Edit: forgot to mention that I'm assuming that you have a capable PSU to handle your proposed selections?

 

[quanger]

3870x2 will run the same speed as the 9600gt? are you sure? i dont think he's that much cpu limited.

i would buy a 790x board with a 3870 or 3870x2. that way, you can simple crossfire it with a future 4xxx card or even a phenom if it's worth it. i believe 790 board support phenoms.

 

[quanger]

3870 is pretty similar with 9600GT. the beauty of sticking with amd\ati is that you dont need to have two exact video cards. they should all be complible. 4870 + 3870 would yield better performance than 9600GT SLI and 9800gx2 even.

 

[romulus47plus1]

My current PSU is just 450w, but when I SLI it I'll get a better one for sure.
Getting a 3870x2 now, okay, I only need to buy a new power supply.
And if I don't want a 3870x2, maybe I'll be dumping nVidia for the 3870.
Yeah, maybe i can get 4 of them running too in the future, something the 9600gt doesn't offer.
Or maybe 2 3870 and 2 3850 together to save money.
I think I gone too far btw, haha.

3870x2 runs same speed as 9600gt? NO, twice the performance at least.

 

[lunyone]

Yep, I meant the 3870x2 is twice the speed of the 9600gt, not "the same speed as". LOL!! Must've been thinking one thing and typing another

 

[aznstriker92]

Yes just get a 3870 now and a 4870 later.

 

[Falken699]

This is kind of a thread steal, but I always found nForce chipsets a bit "cobby"... Ok, I overclocked an A8N-E beatifully, brought an Opteron 165 up to 2.73Ghz using crappy Crucial Rend 2 x 2Gb in Dual Channel on stock HSF, BUT:

I just feel that the chipset drivers are a minefield. They want you to install stuff that causes trouble later on, such as the nvidia firewall, none of the drivers are signed etc... I just want a solid chipset next board, would AMD offer us that?

Anyone with experience with AMD and nVidia chipsets? I'd move away from nVidia next time, just want something more polished.

 

[pat]

AMD chipset will run good with both brand. Neither AMD, nvidia or Intel will be dumb enough to lock or cripple their board to one piece of hardware. They all want your money, so they make their product to support as many HW as they can, thru standard.

Feature, like Crossfire and SLI are proprietary to their respective owner and should be licenced to be used by other. Like Intel does with Crossfire.

So, if you just want a better video card, just get one, either nvidia or ATI. If you want to upgrade the mobo, just chek for ATI SB700 instead of the SB600. Some board, mostly mATX with the AMD780g chipset offer it. It may start to appear on higher end board later. If you want an inexpensive ATX board, check for the ECS 780 board.

You have plenty of option which will all works good. And dont be fooled by the "work better on xxxxx brand". This is not quite true. Standard like PCI-e are there to make sure everything works good together.

 

[stoner133]

790FX owner here, using a 6400+BE and two X1900's in crossfire. If your planning on buying a new ATi card I would wait. Give them a couple more months for the new 4000 series cards. Thats what I'm doing. Can't justify the cost of the 3870 or 3870X2 now when they are so close to releasing a new series of cards with better performance at the same price.

 

[romulus47plus1]

Are you guys sure with the fact that a 4800 can work with a 3800 in crossfire setting?
If that's true then it'll be awesome!

 

[jjokubauskas]

hybrid CF should only work for cards in the same series. at least thats what i read, i dont remember where though. so u can CF any 3xxx card with any other 3xxx but not a 4xxx or 2xxx. i could b wrong tho. o yea, i have a nforce 570 sli & it blows dick go ATi. the drivers suck, it comes w/ all this **** that was supposed to make my pc faster but made it run so **** it took like 5mins to open a folder. but that 5200 shouldnt be a bottleneck, ppl just think it is cuz its not a core2, ya its not as fast but it aint a bottleneck. i have one with a 7800GTX & i get like 40+ fps in everything but crysis. but id wait for 4xxx cards then get 790X or 790FX w/ the SB700 southbridge, dont bother w/ the 790FX tho unless ur gunna do 3-4 cards

 

[romulus47plus1]

Okay, everyone's talking about ATI, try thinking nVidia for a while.
****! i love nVidia, but ATi's like getting the upper hand!
quad-crossfire 3850(will be possible if want it to last 4 years...can it?),
or SLI 9600gt?