ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 256MB
nVidia GeForceFX 5900 Ultra
Buy whatever's the cheapest
ATI or nVidia
I am wondering which video card to get in my quest to build the nicest computer for college. I have a dilemma:
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 256MB or nVidia NV35 (5900) Ultra.
When you vote, please do me a favor and explain your reasoning. Money is not an issue, but I would not like to pay $100 more for 1 FPS in Doom III at 1,600x1,200 with 8x FSAA (keep the spending justified).
Also, recommend the brand of card to buy. I'd like to have VIVO if I go with the nVidia.
Thank you!
Last edited by Jizzy; 07-13-2003 at 09:38 PM.
-Zack
ATI freakaziod here
I have been using ATI for quite some time now, and I think they finally got their drivers working, so ATI for me.
I have all ATI, love 'em to bits
However, I wouldn't ignore the new Nvidia cards, so therefore I'd read the reviews and go with whatever's the cheapest.
I'd wager the difference between the top Nvidia & Radeon cards is negligible.
And I'm fairly sure the ATI 9800 Pro All-In-Wonder has VIVO, pricey card though.
i don't know the image quality of the new Nvidia but i can tell you my Radeon 8500 image was better then my Ti4400!
| Asus Rampage II Gene uATX | Intel Core i7-920 @ 4.0GHz |
| 6GB Mushkin Redline (6-7-6-18)| Cooler Master V8 HSF|
| Asus Radeon 5870 | Dell 3007-WFP 30" LCD |
| Intel X-25M G2 80GB SSD| |Western Digital Raptor 150GB|
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| Lian-Li PC-A10 |Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit|
Yeah, the 5900 Ultra has been getting some pretty decent reviews, and I hear that nVidia has finally fixed the filtering quality program with 44.03 of detonator. I'm gonna go with nVidia this time since it seems like it's getting higher benchmark results in "futuristic" games like Doom III, and tying with the Radeon in the lower-end.
I think both choices are just as good, with Nvidia sure to improve performance in further driver releases.
There is no spoon
Gainward & nVidia is a very hard combination to beat.
It has been shown that the Gainward Pro 760 XP performance have left ALL other 5200s that were seen trailing in its wake. The Pro 760 even embarrassed a couple of 5600s.
.
HEAVEN doesn't want me ... and HELL is afraid I'll take over!
Registered Linux User # 401252 ... Registered Insane Linux User # 001
Even tho my only experience with ATI was terrible and all my experience with Nvidia has been great if I had the kind of $$$ to spend on a high end vid card like you have listed it would be the ATI 9800 Pro just to try something new. I dont think you are going to go wrong with either of the ATI or Nvidia flagship cards tho.
I'd have to go with the ATI. Image is terrific, and I haven't had any problems with my 9700 Pro. Updating the drivers does suck, since you have to DL the drivers and also the console and also delete both as well.
BUT,
If you are thinking about Linux, I'd definitely go with the NVidia. ATI suppoet for linus is almost non-existant.
I may not be smart enough to do everything, but I'm dumb enough to try anything - BB
Err, SYn.. I have a RADEON 8500 64M DDR VIVO in Red SPlat 9.0, and it has the matching drivers, and they work FINE
Now, for Nvidia - My Laptop has a 64M DDR Nvidia card in it. I play Mohaa, Spearhead, and UT2003 on it, as well as my main rig that has the ATI Radeon 8500 AIW (w/W2k and Dx9) .
I'll take ATI, thank you, the numbers I have seen for nvidia are early, and specific to the test benchware and drivers used for the work. I've seen some reviews at maximumpc.com that say the ATI is still maintaining the competitive edge, and a number of high end PC manufacturers are including the 9800 as a flagship card in the configs they offer. Althou it is true that nvidia edged it a slight factor in one category, overall(as of last months article), the ATI suite is still taking the piss over Nvidia.
Simple choice for me...ATI. But I'm a Canadian ....eh
Seriously...these cards are so damned good now that it really is a matter of personal choice. With one exception. ATI OWNS the VIVO market. Their AIW series sets the benchmark. NVIDEA still playing catchup in this area. Pricey though as noted.
You might want to consider getting something a little older to save money. Say a 9500AIW instead of a 9800AIW. Only the most intense gamer would ever notice the difference in FPS.
Last edited by Chickenman; 07-14-2003 at 11:52 AM.
Man, you couldn't be more wrong. ATI cooperates with the open source community. All ATI cards are natively supported by XFree86 as well as the kernel (for DRI but depending on kernel version and XFree86 version you may have to use an updated kernel module that ships with X)Originally posted by synjynn
BUT, If you are thinking about Linux, I'd definitely go with the NVidia. ATI suppoet for linus is almost non-existant.
NVidia, on the other hand, does not cooperate with the open source community. You need to use their proprietary binary drivers (source code unavailable)... DRI kernel module and all. This limits you in what kernels you can use (if you want it to work correctly) and makes kernel debugging impossible. The Linux developers don't like that, so they flag your kernel as "tainted" if you load the module. (It taints the kernel's philosophy and license). Not a big deal, just that your running kernel can no longer be considered "GPL" and you no longer legally have the freedoms it provides. Additionally, the kernel developers won't help you until you "unload the module". (unless the problem is obviously unrelated and they know what the problem is without debugging/fault tracing). This doesn't matter to Joe User though, unless he's a kernel hacker of some sort.
You probably just need to learn a thing or two about configuring X, when the distribution's installer didn't get it right. It's not the easiest thing in the world, granted. You may also have had an older distribution.
In addition to that, if the native Radeon drivers don't cut it for you, or you can't get them working, or you have a slightly older distribution, ATI offers binary Linux drivers on their site as well. (I wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole myself... but I'm glad to see it for those who need it)
Linux Driver Version 2.5.1
P.S. I voted for ATI for reasons above but also I've been happy with their products over the years in Windows too. (and uninstallation/installation of new catalyst drivers is not difficult in fact I'd use the same procedure for NVidia or any other drivers too. I always uninstall old drivers where possible)
Here's my $.02 on it..
Whatever you buy, it'll be out-of-date in 6 months..
Go for the cheapest option between the 2.
JohnnyBra
There are 10 types of ppl in the world, those who understand binary, and those who don't.Live each day like it's your last.. Eventually, you'll be right.
looks like your mind's made up there Jizz...Originally posted by Jizzy
Yeah, the 5900 Ultra has been getting some pretty decent reviews, and I hear that nVidia has finally fixed the filtering quality program with 44.03 of detonator. I'm gonna go with nVidia this time since it seems like it's getting higher benchmark results in "futuristic" games like Doom III, and tying with the Radeon in the lower-end.
votes at time of posting: 10 for ATI, 3 for Nvidia, 1 neutral.
makes me kinda wonder why you bothered asking really, big Pro-ATI faction here, yet decision is already made..
no matter, tis good to get feedback
At the time I decided, it was 2 : 1, ATI to nVidia, respectively. I wanted to see what everyone would think, which is why I asked. I also read Tom's hardware's comparison, and it specifically stated that,Originally posted by floppybootstomp
looks like your mind's made up there Jizz...
votes at time of posting: 10 for ATI, 3 for Nvidia, 1 neutral.
makes me kinda wonder why you bothered asking really, big Pro-ATI faction here, yet decision is already made..
no matter, tis good to get feedback
This made up my mind for me.Now, the FX 5900 is able to outpace the Radeon 9800 PRO in all relevant benchmarks and can reclaim the performance throne for NVIDIA.
The price difference between the two cards was $6, and the nVidia had VIVO, whereas the ATI only had S-Video out (I did not consider the AIW as it only had 128mb video memory).
Last edited by Jizzy; 07-14-2003 at 04:35 PM.
fair 'nuff jizz, I can't argue with the logic behind your choice
I was recently looking for a medium range card with VIVO, a function I really wanted. Also wanted the card to be halfway decent to play MOHAA & similar, so I settled on the Radeon 9200 128MB VIVO card, which came at a good price.
So I can understand your choice.
Let us all know what you think of it when you have it up & running
I just got the 9800 pro and I am loving this card. Along with my xp2500 my system can handle any game I can throw at it at any res.
There is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened.
im going with ATI on my next card - maybe the 9800 pro when prices come down to poverty level
me tooOriginally posted by HellaYellaFella
im going with ATI on my next card - maybe the 9800 pro when prices come down to poverty level
still waiting...
I think that you are going to be waiting a long long time.
Bits, Grogs, and Jizzy,
Sorry I should have stated that MY experience with my ATI did not bode very well. At the time I installed Mandrake 8.2, my 9700 Pro was not supported, I had to use a generic driver so my 3d exprerience with Linux did not go very well with the ATI. And Yes, I do need to learn a bit more about X, just haven't had time to do much learning about it.
Grogs and Bits are the pros at the support end and with Linux, so I degress.
Sorry about that, and thank you Bits and Grogan for clearing that up for me.
Well, to tell you the truth, my "3D experience" consists of the KDE OpenGL screensavers and various opengl demos. They look marvelous, and the motion is real smooth with DRI
I don't play many games in Linux. Not any games that use OpenGL Direct Rendering... mostly I've just used SDL, "Simple Direct Media Layer" based games.
Mandrake 9.x would probably do a better job with a Radeon card... XFree86 4.3.0 has pretty good support.
Now, some of the commercial game titles ported over to Linux may support NVidia only... hard to say.
ATi Cards with nVidia drivers
NS
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