[Solved] Which is better for gaming? Radeon or Geforce?

I'm looking to buy a new video card for mostly gaming and some movies. But more towards the gaming side. I'm looking forward to the COD AW2 and the newer crysis. I'm looking to buy the OCZ 550w psu so that's what I'll have. Running on Windows xp, 2.8ghz, 2gb corsair 800mhz ram thinking of getting two more. 19" samsung monitor at 1440x900. I'm leaning more towards the Geforce because from what I've heard, they're the better cards for gaming. I've also notice that there are so many different companies that make the same card. BFG, XFX, EVGA, Saphire, etc. Any idea which one would be the best for my price range. under $200.00

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^ For your resolution, I would suggest the HD5770 - Newer DirectX 11 card
~$160, is power efficient.
The Nvidia cards are good but when you can get a newer card for less price, why not ?
And currently Nvidia and ATI both have solid offerings at that price range but with the release of the Newer DirectX 11 cards, ATI has the upper hand...

Reply to gkay09

I've looked at the radeon card's and they offer 128bit vs the geforce 256bit or 448bit for the gtx260. Would that make a big difference gaming wise? If I was to get one, which one should I choose from? Asus, XFX, Saphire, MSI?

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Message edited by bubbatran209 on 10-26-2009 at 08:56:34 AM

Reply to bubbatran209

Best answer

bubbatran209 wrote :

I've looked at the radeon card's and they offer 128bit vs the geforce 256bit...

If you're looking at an nV card with 256bit, then it's got less bandwidth than the HD5750 and 5770 despite they're being 128bit, because the ATi cards use GDDR5 memory vs the GDDR3 on the nV cards.

Memory bitwidth and bandwidth does matter a bit, especially for higher resolutions or AA, but those lower end GeForce cards won't be able to keep up with the Radeons, the Geforces in that league use even larger bitwidth to make up for the speed difference.

Reply to TheGreatGrapeApe

bubbatran209 wrote :

I've looked at the radeon card's and they offer 128bit vs the geforce 256bit or 448bit for the gtx260. Would that make a big difference gaming wise? If I was to get one, which one should I choose from? Asus, XFX, Saphire, MSI?

As TGGA already explained, ATI uses faster memory to compensate for the 128bit bus. If you need a good mainstream card with good gaming capabilities then the 5770 is for you. From what I experienced and a lot of reading I can recommend XFX as being one of the best card vendors because of its very good warranty and costumer servicies. XFX produces cards for both ATI and nVidia and is a respectable company. After XFX, I would suggest Sapphire, because they make good quality products and their Toxic series are top notch.

------------------------------ Q6600 stock; GB-P35-DS3L; 4GB A-DATA Vitesta Extreme; Sapphire ATI 4870 760/1000; 1+ TB HDDs (Seagate + Maxtor + WD); OCZ StealthXtream 600W; ASUS VW222U 22"
Reply to hallowed_dragon

That is like asking which is a better truck, a Dodge or a Ford?
Both companies have many offerings at many price ranges, depends on what you want or need. Both have different engines and transmissions, but in the end, they do basically the same thing. Depends on what you want, or prefer.
Right now, ATI seems to have the best price for the performance. Last year, it was the other way around, next year...who knows?

Reply to jitpublisher

I have both. I have a X48 rig with 2 HD 4870 in CrossfireX and a X58 rig with 2 GTX 260 in SLI. Both perform great, but nVidia cards have PhysX, which will make some games look better, but gameplay is still the same for me. Good example is Batman Arkham Asylum. If you care about that extra little detail, then go with Geforce. If you you care about the best bang for your buck, then go with ATI.

The 5770 is suppose to be a great card. The 5850 is suppose to be a beast and is right up there with the GTX 285, but the 5870 is in a league of it's own. Next month the dual 5850 and 5870s will be coming out. 6 monitors off one card.

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Reply to masterasia

masterasia wrote :

I have both. I have a X48 rig with 2 HD 4870 in CrossfireX and a X58 rig with 2 GTX 260 in SLI. Both perform great, but nVidia cards have PhysX, which will make some games look better, but gameplay is still the same for me. Good example is Batman Arkham Asylum. If you care about that extra little detail, then go with Geforce. If you you care about the best bang for your buck, then go with ATI.

The 5770 is suppose to be a great card. The 5850 is suppose to be a beast and is right up there with the GTX 285, but the 5870 is in a league of it's own. Next month the dual 5850 and 5870s will be coming out. 6 monitors off one card.

Wait, aren't you the guy who claims to only buy intel and nvidia because AMD sucks so much?

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------------------------------ AMD to make $1.5bn profit Q4, *gauranteed*
Reply to jennyh

masterasia wrote :

I have both. I have a X48 rig with 2 HD 4870 in CrossfireX and a X58 rig with 2 GTX 260 in SLI. Both perform great, but nVidia cards have PhysX, which will make some games look better, but gameplay is still the same for me. Good example is Batman Arkham Asylum. If you care about that extra little detail, then go with Geforce. If you you care about the best bang for your buck, then go with ATI.

The 5770 is suppose to be a great card. The 5850 is suppose to be a beast and is right up there with the GTX 285, but the 5870 is in a league of it's own. Next month the dual 5850 and 5870s will be coming out. 6 monitors off one card.

Umm very few notable games use PhsyX so it doesnt matter which card u get really for visual quality.

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Reply to uncfan_2563

jennyh wrote :

Wait, aren't you the guy who claims to only buy intel and nvidia because AMD sucks so much?

No, you just assumed that. And you know what happens when you assume?

I've said in several posts that I like what's the best and right now the best is .................Intel/ATI
I've always been a fan of ATI, even before AMD bought them out.

But this isn't a thread about how much AMD processors suck, it's a thread about ATI vs nVidia

Reply to masterasia

uncfan_2563 wrote :

Umm very few notable games use PhsyX so it doesnt matter which card u get really for visual quality.

You're right, it is still new. nVidia PhysX has only been around since August 2008. I'm hoping that there aren't a lot of games coming out using PhysX so I can stick to ATI. But I'm very detailed so I wanted all the bells and whistles a game has to offer. That's just me, which is why I have 2 gaming rigs. All nVidia Games on one computer, and all non-nVidia games on the other computer.

Reply to masterasia

It was implemented into the 8000 series in august of 08, it was an API long before that.

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Reply to daedalus685

daedalus685 wrote :

It was implemented into the 8000 series in august of 08, it was an API long before that.

Yes I was aware of this. nVidia aquired Ageia to get it.

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Reply to masterasia

masterasia wrote :

Yes I was aware of this. nVidia aquired Ageia to get it.

So it isn't exactly new then is it.....

Reply to daedalus685

And i think it will be seeing less use now that DirectCompute 11 is around with DX11 and companies can make their own physics.

Reply to uncfan_2563

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