Should I go with ATI?

[scottw182]

I've only built 2 computers before, both about 2 years ago. Both had AMD processors, but nVIDIA video cards. I'm getting ready to build a new AMD system, probably with a X2 7750 but possibly a Phenom II if prices drop by the time I build. Anyway, my question is, is there any advantage to using an ATI video card with an AMD system? There was the Spider platform, and now the Dragon, is it just marketing lingo, or is it beneficial to run ATI with AMD?

If so, which manufacturers make the best ATI cards? I really like EVGA and both of my builds used their cards, but they don't make ATI cards.

[EarthDog]

AFAIK its just marketing. If there is a difference its negligable at best.

[A1Killer]

The guy above me is correct. What you referenced to is just marketing. In my opinion i dont really like ati cause the cards i have bought either burnt up from the heatsink not being installed properly from the factory or the caps on the pcb are just plain old junk, and this is out of 3 cards in about 3 years. To be honest i dont know if i just bought cards out of bad batches or i just have bad luck with ati as a brand but i am an nvidia guy at heart and will stay with them for aslong as i can. Now i do have to admit i am running an ati 3850 card to tide me over till i can get a whole new setup. But i have already started having problems with it like random crashes when i just barely move the computer or the computer trys to boot up and gives me the post code for no/bad video card in the slot. Which in turn makes me think either the card is from a bad batch and im just waiting for it to die or my mobo just hates the card either or i will never know since neither items will ever talk to me.

[CGR]

Doesnt matter what vid card you use with what CPU. The only thing that may matter is what motherboard you get, whether it will support Crossfire or SLI.

[EarthDog]

Doesnt matter what vid card you use with what CPU. The only thing that may matter is what motherboard you get, whether it will support Crossfire or SLI.....IF he is going to Crossfire or SLI........otherwise it really doesnt matter.

(but im guessing thats why you had "may" in that statement)

[scottw182]

Great, that's what I figured, just wanted to make sure. Now I can stick with the nVIDIA card I picked out.

My computer at work has an ATI card. It's only about a month old and has already been having issues. Never had trouble with my nVIDIA's though. I know one case doesn't define the entire product line, but that's just my personal experience.

[henzo]

Great, that's what I figured, just wanted to make sure. Now I can stick with the nVIDIA card I picked out.

My computer at work has an ATI card. It's only about a month old and has already been having issues. Never had trouble with my nVIDIA's though. I know one case doesn't define the entire product line, but that's just my personal experience.

What ATI card is in the comp at work? And was it purchased new or refurbished?

[Neural Net]

3 out of the 4 hardware issues I've ever had have been due to Nvidia hardware. So far my ATI experience has been a lot more positive.

Just trying to balance the thread a bit, makes it seem like Ati just manufactures broken cards. :)

[EarthDog]

I have no stories like that to balance, there are bad cards on both sides. You said it yourself, dont pass judgement off of one experience for anything.

[Drew1Down]

i use to love ATi b4 they were bought by AMD and they designed the dreadfull catalyst drivers, there great for benching and clocking but some have experenced problems with gaming on these cards as they tend to do quarky things.

mobo support is also a MAJOR factor if you are crossfire or sli supported or both?

myself? i would go with nvidia untill the uglyness of catalyst drivers are fixed.

[Neuromancer]

Either or.

I am very happy with my ATI cards, and have really only had driver problems with nVidia cards. (Currently running crossfired 4850s in one PC, onbaord ATI on antoehr, AIWHD on a third, some old nVidia card (6 series i think) on a 4th and a really old Geforce 2 MX GTS on the last one

Its a two way street though, and some will say the other way around :)

[kevlar93]

I have a 3850 and it works fine in games except that in hl2 when i hit the window key to go back to the desktop. then hl2 and the desktop will flash if the res is the same in the game and in windows. strange. TF2 does not do that.

[Badbonji]

Nvidia drivers tend to be on average a bit better than ATi, but overall it is mostly luck out of the draw if you get a bad card, it can't really be helped, and every single piece of electronic equipment have some defect pieces out of the many made that break within a short time of use.

[bda1967]

I've had good luck with all of my cards and I switch between the two and have no preference for one brand over the other. I guess I'm one of the lucky ones. Right now I just switched to a GTX 285 because of it's performance and it's new. In a few months I'll probably be Jonesin' for a new ATI card again. There's no need for brand loyalty with video cards because you will only be hurting yourself.

[scottw182]

What ATI card is in the comp at work? And was it purchased new or refurbished?

It's an ATI Radeon HD 2400 Pro. It was purchased new.

3 out of the 4 hardware issues I've ever had have been due to Nvidia hardware. So far my ATI experience has been a lot more positive.

Just trying to balance the thread a bit, makes it seem like Ati just manufactures broken cards.

Right, that's why I specified that it's just one card and it doesn't define the entire product series.

Nvidia drivers tend to be on average a bit better than ATi, but overall it is mostly luck out of the draw if you get a bad card, it can't really be helped, and every single piece of electronic equipment have some defect pieces out of the many made that break within a short time of use.

I agree, nvidia drivers seem more stable, and I'm not a fan of ATI's driver software at all.

[Craxbax]

I have had good luck with a 9800 PRO, 2600XT, and HD 4850. Then a lot of problems with a HD4870 1gb however I think it was more Powercolor's fault than ATI as it was a non-reference board with better cooling. I have had good luck with all my Nvidia cards (5700XT, 6800GT, 7900GT, 8800GTS 640 and 7300LE) but they were reference design from EVGA except the 5700XT (XFX) and 7300LE (MSI.) It is the luck of the draw as well as the secondary company that probably increases the risk of problems due to bios tweaks, non-reference cooling, and nonreference boards . Anything that deviates from the reference design has increased risk of problems...but then again...sometimes greater performance can be had!

[MARCI]

I am much more happy with my NV than the ATI it replaced (2 days ago)..

[CGR]

I have had equal problems with both ATI and Nvidia, but have had more ATI cards.

Have been very happy with m 4850, no problems at all. As for the drivers and CCC, never had a problem with them, it seems only people who want to get the highest/best OC on the card seem to have issues with drivers.

[Bon3thugz43v3r]

In order from oldest to newest....

Voodoo 3, Voodoo 5, Geforce 3 Ti500, 9800 Pro, 8600M GT (notebook), HD4870

Never had any problems with any of these cards. If anything the 4870 has been the most troublesome but still the card works fine and I can play games just maybe not certain games with certain driver sets. Oh well I just buy what is the best value at the time.

[Nebulous]

I just buy what is the best value at the time.

That's exactly what I do. Doesn't matter if it's Nvidia or ATi. I take which ever works the best for me for the price I pay.

I've had good and bad video cards from both brands.

[sandyduff]

I used to have driver problems all the time with my old 8800GTX... then i decided to go ATI and get the x2 and iv never been happier... never had any driver issues and gaming is spot on

The one thing i do miss about nvidia tho was being able to assign different graphical settings to individual games through the nvidia control panel... can't do that wit CCC unfortunatly...

[ThaMahstah]

I've been very pleased with my 4870x2. Never had any problems, and believe it or not never had any problems with drivers either.

All I'm saying is, don't base your purchase off one person who says, "I've had a bad experience with those cards/drivers," or, "In my experience Nvidia/ATI is just better."

Certain cards are prone to issues, not brands. Also remember everyone's computer and set up is different, so it's hard to make generalizations. It's luck of the draw really.

[don'tknow]

It's ideal to just buy whatever is best price : performance ratio. I've had much more problems with Nvidia drivers than ATI in terms of crashing/instability, but since the 181's it's been fixed. As for driver settings/usability, no preference.