Nvidia vs ATI

[jlabit]

Recently I had an ATI 4850 Radeon GPU die on me after about 6 months use. I have RMA'd it back to Newegg and expect a refund because they no longer sale that card. Looks like GPU prices have come down quite a bit since last October. Looks like my replacement choices include either an Nvidia 260 (216 cores), or an ATI 4870. Right now I am leaning towards the 260, however, I am concerned that Nvidia cards only support DirectX version 10, while ATI cards support version 10.1. Wondering how that impacts me in the future. Windows 7 will have DirectX 11.0, so will I be at a disadvantage with an Nvidia 10.0 board. Appreciate the education you may be able to provide. Thanks.

 

[coozie7]

Neither ATI nor Nvidia have cards that support DX11 and will, most likely hold off their launch until, at the earliest, Windows 7 ships.
DX 10 has yet to really make its self a `must have` with all games currently available having full DX 9 support, more than 2 years after DX10 was launched along with Vista.
I shall not worry about DX11/Windows 7 in the slightest until my current rig needs to be replaced, which is scheduled to be about this time next year, by which time DX11/Windows 7 will have finally been debugged and their driver support brought up to scratch.

 

[Jaysin]

Recently I had an ATI 4850 Radeon GPU die on me after about 6 months use. I have RMA'd it back to Newegg and expect a refund because they no longer sale that card. Looks like GPU prices have come down quite a bit since last October. Looks like my replacement choices include either an Nvidia 260 (216 cores), or an ATI 4870. Right now I am leaning towards the 260, however, I am concerned that Nvidia cards only support DirectX version 10, while ATI cards support version 10.1. Wondering how that impacts me in the future. Windows 7 will have DirectX 11.0, so will I be at a disadvantage with an Nvidia 10.0 board. Appreciate the education you may be able to provide. Thanks.

Battleforge, Stormrise and H.A.W.X. all support 10.1 and they show significant improvements and speed increases when using it. The question is, how many more games will support it between now and DX11? This obviously gives ATI the advantage if those games interest you. 10.1 however doesnt equate to 11 so either way to make the most of DX11 you will need a new card then. The reality is that DX11 may not be common in games until this time next year possibly.