Should I buy ATi or NVidia

[goldenlight]

I think I want the Atitech 9700 oem, but the problem is I have a Asus mobo that supports the 4x standard. Would buying a 8x card be a waste of money if I am going to keep the board for 2 more years

[Hurk]

No.

[Hurk]

To further reply to your question. ATI of nVidia. The answer lies within you.

Do you want better looking 2D. IE: Movies etc. -ATI

OR Do you want gaming? -nVidia

OR Do you want teh best card on the market? -ATI

I'd get a GeForce over my 8500 because I love games. I would not get the 9700 Pro cause I am p0.

[Mr. Chambers]

it all depends on how much you want to spend, and if you want to wait or not. to answer your question, there really isnt any noticable difference between 4x and 8x.

also it all depends on your budget.. how much are you willing to spend? if you're going for top of the line as of right now - ATI's 9700 series are THE cards to get, they beat the crap out of anything that nvidia has at the moment, no one is going to argue that.

however if you can wait until early next year, nvidia will be releasing their new line, called GeforceFX. the card will likely be alittle better than ATI's 9700pro cards, but the main thing is that with the debut of that card, both ATI and Nvidia will drop the prices on their other cards, namely the 9500pro's and the 4600's from nvidia..

so what sorta budget are we looking at?

[spazzkid]

Originally posted by Hurk
To further reply to your question. ATI of nVidia. The answer lies within you.

Do you want better looking 2D. IE: Movies etc. -ATI

OR Do you want gaming? -nVidia

OR Do you want teh best card on the market? -ATI

I'd get a GeForce over my 8500 because I love games. I would not get the 9700 Pro cause I am p0.

uhm the gf4 ti series have noticeably great 2d, better or at par with ATI.

[Hurk]

I don't know where you read that.. but... that's wrong.

Originally posted by spazzkid


uhm the gf4 ti series have noticeably great 2d, better or at par with ATI.

[funnyperson1]

if money is not an issue, then the 9700 is the best video card available on the market....no debate there.....

if you want to spend less than 200$ then get a Ti4200....

but my best advice is to wait until february or march or whenver NV30 comes out on the shelves and either buy a 9700 or a 9500Pro, or whatever NV30's mainstream version is for a lot more bang for buck

[dxiw]

for games ati cards are not the best.. a lot of games crash a lot and the drivers aren't exactly the best either...however you have great 2d quality. If oyu want good stable gaming and speed and still pretty good graphcis get a nvidia. Now obviously if your a video editor buy ati.

[Silversinksam]

Originally posted by Hurk
I don't know where you read that.. but... that's wrong.




It used to be ATI dominated the 2-D realm, but Nvidia has made great strides in evening the score.

As far as ATI and Nvidia, its boils down to if you want the fastest card now, buy the 9700(preferably the Tyan due to the fact it has hardware monitoring)


I like both ATI and Nvidia, but imho Nvidia may be in secong place right now, but I feel like they put together a better product with better support..... But thats just my opinion.

I'm buying a Nv30 several months after they hit the store shelved, in fact the first time they make thier first revision thats when I will buy one. Let the people that initially buy the first cards be the guinea pigs ;)

[PhobMX]

Originally posted by dxiw
for games ati cards are not the best.. a lot of games crash a lot and the drivers aren't exactly the best either...however you have great 2d quality. If oyu want good stable gaming and speed and still pretty good graphcis get a nvidia. Now obviously if your a video editor buy ati.

dude, since catalyst, atis drivers are on par with nvidias detonators. drivers aint an issue, and in the other hand they currently have the lead in both quality in performance... and they will keep it ;)

[progamer]

If you need one now, a radeon 9700 pro is the way to go.

If you can wait until around february next year, get either the geforce fx or the radeon 10,000 (if it's out at the time).

[ubersoldat]

Get nVidia. Better cards. Better driver support.

[Ghost68]

Originally posted by ubersoldat
Get nVidia. Better cards. Better driver support.
you're kidding right??? thats crap... nvidia doesnt even make their cards... not to mention nvidia's cards are getting worked by ati's new line of cards... now about the better drivers wher have you been ati's driver are just as good if not better than nvidias...


now as to which card to get... get a ATI 9500PRO its just a little slower than the ti4600 without AA/AF but when you turn them on it smokes the 4600.... the 9500pro can be had for ~$189

now if you want the best now and can afford to pay a premium get the 9700PRO I got mine and i think it was totally worth it... oh and my boadr only supports agp4x... and its still an awsome card...

[Hurk]

ATI still have issues.

[Sworkhard]

An so does nVidia. The only difference is that nVidia GF4 line of cards bugs are such old news that they are not heard of much anymore. The bugs are minor in both nVidia and ATI cards so it's not a huge problem. Also, ATI has fixed almost all the bugs on thier first revision onf 9700 with a new PCB!

[Redstone]

I bought both an ATI and nVIDIA at the same time. Yes they are now considered older cards but my ATI did have better 2D graphics. Thats why I kept it and returned the nVIDIA.

[cmcquistion]

Obviously there are points for and against ATI and Nvidia cards.

My advice. Buy the best card you can afford/willing-to-spend at the time. Whatever your budget is, check Madonion's Orb scoreboard, and buy the best card on there that you can afford.

If you've got $90 to spend, the best you can afford is a Radeon 8500(LE). If you've got $300-$400, then you can get the best-on-the-market Radeon 9700. If you have more than $100, but less than $300, then get a Geforce 4 Ti 4200/4400/4600 card. The best one you can get.

[OC Noob]

I got the 9700 pro a while ago and in hindsight I would do it again. Its a very nice card @4x AGP and right now there is cery slight to no advatage using 8x AGP.

Do like the posters above suggested, Buy the card that best fits your budget. They are all very nice cards, ATI or NVidia, but if you want to get the 9700 pro, don't worry its a great card.

Good luck in your search for a gfx card.