i hope nvidia comes up with a killer gpu

[halem111]

why do i say this u ask, well personally im not too keen on nvidia because lets face it ati wipes its ass all over it. i mean get a 9700 pro a card which is a year old and it beats nethin nvidia has to offer. This is the problem, ati simply has no competition, and without competition ati will not try and make bigger and better cards becuase theres no point. So if nvidia does come up with something good with competitive prices then we could soon be looking at alot faster cards alot more quicker.

 

[speeduk]

I think you'r jumping the gun a bit there. ATI will still produce top quality cards, even if its just to keep as much market share as possible. In fact, I think ATI AND Nvidea will be making sure that their next products are a huge step up from what we can buy now, because of how closely everyone is following IQ in drivers and performance in the latest games.

Nothing has changed really. To the average Joe who buys his 3d card for 20% extra because he doesn't know how to get online and look for the latest deals in the right places, all this HL2 benchmark and IQ stuff thats going around means nothing. They just walk into a store or go to the first place they see online and think $500 this must be good, I'll take it.

I know because this was me a few years back...

BTW I've had a 9700pro in my pc (not this one but still a 9700pro) for almost exactly a year now! I can remember having the local store order it just for me! And a year later, although I have got a second hand one now to overclock it a little, I'm still amazed that its right up there about 5-15% behind he top cards and level when overclocked just a little!

<A HREF="http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=6996893" target="_new"> 3D-2001 </A>
<A HREF="http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k3=1284380" target="_new"> 3D-03 </A>
<font color=red> 120% overclocker </font color=red> (cheapskate)

 

[lord_tyranus2]

Agreed. I am personally boycotting nvidia graphics cards, and I encourage others to do the same. Even before this FX fiasco, I would have gone ATI. Why? I'd prefer better hardware with inferior drivers rather than better drivers with inferior hardware. Drivers can be fixed in the future for no cost to me. Hardware can't.

ATI is also generous/foolish/whatever enough to allow all this softmodding. Why not take advantage of it?

 

[1080jibber]

I too hope nvidia gets it's act together, even if this hl2 thing works out i just don't think the whole fx line was a very solid one, at least compared to gf2 or gf4. Hopefully when nv40 comes out this spring it will be much better, as well as ati's offering. 40-50 fps without aa or ansio on hl2 isn't all that good in my mind so hopefully the next gen cards will boost those numbers significantly. I say this being becuase i'm not a fanboy of either ati or nvidia, i've owned cards from both and as a consumer I just want the best bang for my buck, and right now ati has my vote. ( and cash)

antec 350w psu
xp 2000
asus a7n8x deluxe
512mb pc2100
ati radeon 9500 pro
wd 80gb caviar special edition
16x dvd
creative megaworks 550
nec fe991sb-bk

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

I'd prefer better hardware with inferior drivers rather than better drivers with inferior hardware

I tend to agree with that. A long as there is a definite sign of driver development. If there was no comitment to improving drivers then there wouldn't be a point. If they ever released the code for the drivers and allowed open source on all the cards then this would definitely be the case for me as someone is likely to come up with a better mousetrap (like Omega currently does while being hamstrung by it not being open).

As for the original point of the thread I agree with that too (far too agreeable this morning, but I'm sure that will change here at work). Bringing the NV40 (hopefully a killer GPU/Card) to market earlier will hopefully push the R420 and RV380 to market faster as well. Which is good for everyone.


- You need a licence to buy a gun, but they'll sell anyone a stamp <i>(or internet account)</i> ! <A HREF="http://www.redgreen.com" target="_new"><font color=green>RED</font color=green> <font color=red>GREEN</font color=red></A> GA to SK

 

[kinney]

I'd prefer better hardware with inferior drivers rather than better drivers with inferior hardware. Drivers can be fixed in the future for no cost to me. Hardware can't.

Eh, I tend to disagree with that.
Have you ever bought a product with drivers that were essentially useless or actually crashed your system? Sometimes even requiring a format to get things back to normal?
Sounds silly but it happens.

Though you are defending the OLD ATI, the new ATI drivers, at least the 9XXX series are pretty decent.

ATI drivers did used to suck badly, thanks to Nvidia they no longer do.
You can entirely tribute the effort and financial output they've put into their drivers from the asskicking NV has been giving them for quite some time.

So enjoy your ATI hardware today, until they rest on their laurels.
Its almost a certainty they will someday.

Athlon 1700+, Epox 8RDA (NForce2), Maxtor Diamondmax Plus 9 80GB 8MB cache, 2x256mb Crucial PC2100 in Dual DDR, Radeon 9800NP, Audigy, Z560s, MX500

 

[cleeve]

Yes, inevitably Ati will rest on their laurels, like Nvidia has for the past year.



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Radeon 9500 (modded to PRO w/8 pixel pipelines)
AMD AthlonXP 2000+
3dMark03: 3529