Should I jump the ATI bandwagon or Nvidia's?

[erwin1978]

How would you rate these video cards from slowest to fastest?:
Radeon8500, Geforce3, Geforce3 TI 500

I'm also considering a Geforce4 TI 4200, but is the performance gain over the other 3 justify it's higher price?

 

[Elcarion]

If cash is really short then I'd go for the GeForce 3 ($85); otherwise, spend the extra money for the GeForce 4 TI 4200 64MB ($122). Better yet, the 128MB TI 4200 is going for $140. That's not very much to pay considering the performance.

 

[PreservedSwine]

Slowest to fastest:

Slowest: Geforce3

2nd fastest: Geforce3Ti500
Fastest: R8500

Most games and benchmarks have the R8500 *slightly* ahead of the Ti500, but the (2) cards perform generally the same. I prefer the R8500 over the Ti500 just becuase I like ATI's method of anisotropic filtering, but that's just me

 

[Vehementi]

ATI!


You can get an R8500 for about $87. It's definitely the better value

 

[svtcobra]

Im thinking of going to a R9700 and dumping my GF3.

 

[Vehementi]

Yes svtcobra....yeeeeeees...you KNOW you want to buy the 9700! Trust your instincts...dooo it...you are feeling sleepy...very sleepy....

zzzzzzzz...

BTW, you're laptop must be a 8086, because I've never seen a P3 that runs at 1.06mhz. :haha:

 

[Rick]

Hopping on bandwagons is a good way to get your legs broken....

 

[Arris]

I think you should buy a Sony betamax video instead.

 

[erwin1978]

ooohhh...where can I buy those?

 

[Nick]

personally i hate ati's reliability with drivers, definately nvidia. Personally, i have a gf3 ti200 that i got and its just outstanding. Currently, no programs really offer any benefits for gf4's and the ati 9700's, so why not just pay for the cheaper when you wont notice a difference.

 

[PreservedSwine]

Originally posted by Nick
personally i hate ati's reliability with drivers, definately nvidia. Personally, i have a gf3 ti200 that i got and its just outstanding. Currently, no programs really offer any benefits for gf4's and the ati 9700's, so why not just pay for the cheaper when you wont notice a difference.

Well, speaking as an owner of a Radeon 64DDR VIVO, I can tell you ATI's drivers have always performed flawlessly for me, and from reviews and screenies, IQ and performance are measurably better on the R8500 than a Geforce3, especially the Ti200.....

Only thing I dislike about ATI's drivers are I need so many!! I mean, one set for a control panel, another for video capture, another for the actual display drivers, and finally MMC for all my video editing....

But anyway, me thinks the whole "ATI drivers suck" is hogwash



Just my $.0002

 

[Greeno]

nVidia :] Simple as..

I had a Ti500 and it was the muttz nuttz

I now have a Ti4600 and it's the bog's dollocks

altho, i've gotta say it the 9700 looks better than...well...something that looks really nice

 

[Rick]

Originally posted by PreservedSwine
But anyway, me thinks the whole "ATI drivers suck" is hogwash

I agree. I admit to not "perfect" drivers 100% of time.. For instance, Max Payne's gamma controls didn't always work and I had some performance problems with a small handful T&L games.... This was a while back though.

I'm proud to say I've never had a blue screen (nVidia's infinite loop error, for example) or any major problems with ANY of their drivers. The Catalyst 2.1 drivers are about as close to perfection as you can get... So good I decided not to even bother with the 2.2 set.

NO one ever points out nVidia's driver mistakes. I can't tell you how many times I've heard complaints about games being buggy or not even WORKING on Geforce cards. Even my own experiences have proven their problems again and again... Granted, nVidia is probably on a wider user base, but their drivers are no better than ATIs for certain.

You know, a couple of years ago, I would have told you to stay away from ATI because of buggy drivers. A few years ago, people would have told you to stay away from nVidia because of buggy drivers... A couple of years ago people would have told you to stay away from VIA because of bad drivers... etc... This is the evolution of computing though, and ATI makes one hell of a solid product now and I'm proud to own an ATI.

 

[erwin1978]

For someone who has experience with Radeon 8500 and a Geforce Ti4200, has Nvidia improved the video quality of it's current cards? I keep hearing the Geforce3 had horrible graphics.

I'm still looking for a retail R8500 and so far the TI4200 prices are much lower than ATI's so I may end up going Nvidia if I don't find a retailer with appropriate prices.

 

[PreservedSwine]

Originally posted by erwin1978
I'm still looking for a retail R8500 and so far the TI4200 prices are much lower than ATI's so I may end up going Nvidia if I don't find a retailer with appropriate prices.

???

Any on-line retailer sells R8500's *much* less than any Ti4200? Where have you been looking? Also, I have heard that the IQ of Ti4200 is on par w/ the R8500...until you crank uo aniso on the R8500

 

[Rick]

How about the ATI 9000? Isn't that supposed to be comparable to the 8500?

It's only 70 dollars at www.newegg.com (I make lots of orders from there because they have great prices)

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduct.asp?DEPA=&submit=Go&description=ATI+OEM+RADEON+9000

Heck.. It's even free shipping. What do you guys think about the 9000? I haven't seen any benchmarks on it...

 

[LNCPapa]

Here are some benchmarks on the 9000

Click me please - I need it now

LNCPapa

 

[erwin1978]

I checked pricewatch and all I see within range are 8500 LE.