Rad vs Ti

[Zuck Gou :)]

ATI RADEON 8500 64MB DDR AGP DVI TV OUT OEM = $194
nVidia - PNY Verto Geforce3 Ti500 64MB DVI, TV = $313


Is 20 FPS worth that much?

The drivers are being fixed, the colors/picture are better, and there are more features.

I'm not looking for a fight with any of you Geforce guys, but, it just doesn't add up to me.



(I think it's fitting that this is my 1000th post, I'm a Radeon guy as ya'll know :D )

[Ritteri&Bubbles]

People think Im PRO NVIDIA because I dont have good things to say about the 8500 presently, but I will say that IF, and thats a BIG IF, ATI gets out some really good drivers, then yeah I would go with the ATI myself, but from the past ATI seems to always put them out way late. By the time good drivers are available it seems like the next generation video cards are upon us. Thats my take on it. ATI says November for good working drivers with minimal bugs, I say they wont be out till next year. This is my whole take on it.

[krakerman]

well, you hit the nail on the head when you pointed out the cost difference. also support for dual moniters and video out (im assuming the oem cards also have that, but not sure as i havent checked them out too much). keep in mind the oems are clocked lower, but still a good card. personally im jumping on a retail 8500 on sale or once the prices drop. as far as drivers go, ive never had issues with my radeon as far as performance. i think give ati a little time and theyll have that mess straightened out. even if it doesnt beat the upper level geforce3s right away or even for a bit, whats it matter? you are still paying a lot less to get high performance and other nifty features. however, depending on the price trend of the ti500s and regular geforce3s, i might end up getting one of them instead of the 8500 retail, as i wanna have a new card around christmas at least. who knows what prices will be like then, and well get to see if ati really does release a nice set of drivers.

[eobard]

Good for you Zuck, just passed the 1,000 mark a few posts ago myself. See you at the party.

[Zuck Gou :)]

Thank you.

[Rav]

I've had a Radeon 64 DDR for over a year, and I haven't had any driver problems that couldn't be fixed with a registry tweak or waiting 2 weeks for a driver revision. I'm pretty sure that ATI will have any driver issues sorted out by the time the 8500 AIW comes out. Thats the card I'm waiting for, its going to be awesome!

As far as Nvidia goes, my roommate used to have a Geforce, and seeing it next to my Radeon monitor next to monitor the Radeon looked so much crisper and more colorful. He bought a Radeon himself soon after :D

-Rav

[Yodums]

The Ti200 looks good for its price .. You can overclock it to GeForce 3 Speeds!

[WillysNut]

Remember, NVidia is on a 6month product cycle. I would bet my first born child that there is a card in the works now that makes the 8500 look silly. Drivers or no drivers, ATI needs to keep up w/ a hardware product cycle as well as a Driver implementation plan.

If ATI does not get the negative driver issue that killed the Kyro and other assorted chips resolved soon, and also concentrate on a successive product, NVidia will pounce on them within a year.

I think both cards look great, but I went w/ the Ti as I don't really want to wait for drivers when games come out...I want to play. ATI and NVidia are using different methods of programmable shading as well. If you were a game company, who's shading features would you use?