video cards 101 question

[Natti]

whats the real difference between ati and nvidia?

[dreIU]

whats the real difference between ati and nvidia?

therer are so many different models of cards from each company...

[stratcatprowlin]

Right,and just in case you are wondering which is better,they both have cards that offer similar performance for the price.

[rhino56]

one is evil and one is good, i cant tell you which one though. ;)

[Natti]

on a budget so i'm leaning towards a 9600pro

[buddhafumes]

9800se's are somewhere around 140 dollars..... wayy better than a 9600pro btw.

[Yuriman]

Depends, I would probably take a 9600pro over a particularly bad 9800se, because hte 9600 runs cooler and likely overclocks more.

[buddhafumes]

but some 9800 se's can be flashed to pros. I think if you got a good quality one it would do better than a 9600 pro.

[The_Jizzler]

i always just kinda thought that the difference is Nvidia=raw power/high clocks, ATI=IQ/eye candy that wont totally kill performance.

[Natti]

with my luck i'd get a junk card, especially with how my luck is going this summer :-/

[Nandro]

Natti - how much are you spending max? Easier to pick a card that way.

[Natti]

120-130, shouldnt really spend that much but i dont want to cheap out too bad on a vid card

[Bugalaman]

ATI is Canadian
The company has more than 2,200 employees across its headquarters in Markham, Ontario

Nvidia is American
NVIDIA is headquartered in Santa Clara, California
That's the only difference :rolleyes:
oh, besided for the fact that they make different products

[sp00L]

ATI is Canadian, and Nvidia is American!

LOL, I thought nVidia was Tawainese :)

[Natti]

that would normally upset me but marajuana is now legal/decriminalized up there so i can't say anything bad about a government that would do such a thing =)

[dreIU]

i always just kinda thought that the difference is Nvidia=raw power/high clocks, ATI=IQ/eye candy that wont totally kill performance.

might have been true with past generations, but now they are almost the same.

[Enablingwolf]

It can also boil down to what game you are planning to play. Some of the card makers optimize for certian games. Doom3 plays better on NVidia, while HL2 might do better on the ATI.
Now drivers... I always loved the Nvidia drivers and the ATI drivers always kinda stunk... Now since I got a ATI card and got to try the Cat's they seem to have gotten the drivers to better levels, minus some bugs. I never had an issue putting a new gen driver for my old 32 meg TNT2 , while the older Rage pro I had, required specific drivers. I have newer generation cards now, and both ATI and NVidia are almost to close to call now. Some games play better with a ATI some NVidia.
It just comes down to how you like the look of the card (color and layout) and what your goal is. Some cards makers have gems and some are just junk in real life usage.. I woudn't go by brand as much as specific models of cards. :D The actual maker of the card can matter too.

[Natti]

thanks for the input. where are you from in ohio? i live in Mansfield until i go back to college at OU in Athens

[Enablingwolf]

Your Welcome
I live in Stronsgville

[unreal]

i just bought a 9700pro, for about 140, and it is suppose to be better than a 9600pro, the difference between ati and nvidia is simply who builds the cards, nvidia supplies the chips to other manufacturers to produce cards and ati builds their own, botyh can have equal cards that do the same thing.. depends on what your looking for.

[Nandro]

They have the 9500 on sale at allstar shop for $125 with free shipping.
HERE (http://www.allstarshop.com/shop/product.asp?pid=6164&sid=UAUHMULR2H2C9M1TRJBME8AXGCX274B3)
Should be better than the 9600 with 8 pipes and if you read under it, they are with L shape although unmodable to the 9700pro they are able to go to the 9500Pro. Just an option for ya. :thup:

[Free_Loader]

I have had much luck with ATI so far but usually all things average out to be equal. The difference is finding the gems, at lower costs, and cranking them to their max potential. Our choices are usually driven by price, then performance, then overclockability.....so on...and so on..

At this point only $120-130 won't get you very far. If you want to stay in the game nowadays you should go for 9800 Pro and up. They are getting cheaper by the day. Save some lunch or dinner money and in a few weeks you will have a card that will last you till the end of of this year....hahahhah...good luck!

[sleepyzman]

save and get at least a 9800 pro. people are selling them off like mad nowadays and you could probally haggle down to $150