Long time Nvidia user thinking going Ati

[nodle]

Ok right now i am using a Evga 8800gts 640mb Acs3 edition. I have always been using Nvidia cards for a long time. But now that my motherboard supports crossfire, i was thinking about going this way. Btw the board is a Asus Rampage Formula. Now what i am really looking for here is quality of the games, i want them to be beautiful i want less jaggies and nice HDR and a beautiful photo realistic game. Now should i be going ATI for this? Is my card that i currently have for this enough? Should i just buy one ATI card instead of 2? What would you do? Or should i go with a new Nvidia card, or just stick with what i got? Thanks guys for the help!

 

[Silus]

Well, NVIDIA pretty much dominates in everything from AA performance, to anisotropic filtering and overall performance at this point, so if you want to keep that, NVIDIA is probably the only way to go right now, especially with the upcoming release of GTX 200 GPUs. However, ATI's cards have offered good price/performance ratios, ever since the HD 38xx series and the upcoming HD 48xx series seem to want to maintain that. Just wait a few more weeks and see what both companies have to offer.

I'm not a fan multi-GPU configurations, so I prefer a very powerful single GPU card, which rumors indicate will be the new GTX 260/GTX 280. But if you don't want to break the bank (since the new GTX 200 GPU cards are rumored to cost from $450 to $650) and don't really need the latest greatest, see how the new ATI cards perform against the current NVIDIA 9800s and pick one of the two. They should provide a nice jump over your card, without spending too much money.

 

[alg7_munif]

Wait for the HD4870 because the rumours pointed out that AA performance on the card has been fixed.

 

[On the Lam]

of course wait only a short while to see what the new cards can do.

but up until now, as a gamer you should be looking at nvidia cards. and this is coming from someone who has only owned ati cards except for owning a 8800gt for a month before selling it. (i have multimedia/hd purposes for which the ati performs better) but yeh nvidia is much better for gaming i'd say.

 

[heatlesssun]

For CrossFire board, 2 4870's might be the most GPU you can get until the 4850 X2 and 4870 X2 arrive. You'll probably want to wait and see what AMD is coming to the table with on June 25, but my guess is that 2 4870's and a single GTX 280 will trade blows with neither dominating the other, but the GTX 280 might have the edge at higher settings with the 1GB of memory and 512 bit data path.

 

[toddw]

See sig.

Just for the monthly WHQL drivers alone, I will eventually be going back to AMD. I do not like Nvidia putting out test drivers for my box to get jacked. Up until end of May, I was using DECEMBER drivers.. unheard of in the AMD world.

IMO Nvidia cards are not bad, not at all. It's just they are not near the hype their fanboys make them out to be. It used to be ATI had better hardware but horrible driver team, now funny enough, it's switched.

 

[magoo]

I'll tell you what....

I have a Triple SLi computer (see sig) and it screams through any game, period.

I bought an ATI 3870 on a lark, because I'd never owned anything ATI. I was very impressed with the quality of the images. The colors in most games popped out at me alot more than on my nvidia cards.

Yes, the single 3870 lacks in performance and I won't even try to load Crysis into this mix.

But I liked the ATI card enough to buy a new Gigabyte X48 board and try Crossfire out. All my parts arrive this week.....so I'll let you know.

I'm still going to keep my nvidia stuff, realistically it cannot be challenged by anything out right now. I'm anxious to see how the new STALKER and FarCry 2 play out before I upgrade that box.

 

[nodle]

I'll tell you what....

I have a Triple SLi computer (see sig) and it screams through any game, period.

I bought an ATI 3870 on a lark, because I'd never owned anything ATI. I was very impressed with the quality of the images. The colors in most games popped out at me alot more than on my nvidia cards.

Yes, the single 3870 lacks in performance and I won't even try to load Crysis into this mix.

But I liked the ATI card enough to buy a new Gigabyte X48 board and try Crossfire out. All my parts arrive this week.....so I'll let you know.

I'm still going to keep my nvidia stuff, realistically it cannot be challenged by anything out right now. I'm anxious to see how the new STALKER and FarCry 2 play out before I upgrade that box.

Ya keep me posted i would like to hear. I was thinking about 2 3870s in crossfire.

 

[LordVampyre]

if you go ati.. stay the heck away from sapphire... their customer service is nonexistant and doing a rma is a major chore

 

[APOLLO]

if you go ati.. stay the heck away from sapphire... their customer service is nonexistant and doing a rma is a major chore

There's a lot of complaints about Sapphire. I have an HIS X1950 it's a pretty good card. I would definitely buy another HIS product.

 

[Frek77]

Well, NVIDIA pretty much dominates in everything from AA performance, to anisotropic filtering and overall performance at this point, so if you want to keep that, NVIDIA is probably the only way to go right now, especially with the upcoming release of GTX 200 GPUs. However, ATI's cards have offered good price/performance ratios, ever since the HD 38xx series and the upcoming HD 48xx series seem to want to maintain that. Just wait a few more weeks and see what both companies have to offer.

I'm not a fan multi-GPU configurations, so I prefer a very powerful single GPU card, which rumors indicate will be the new GTX 260/GTX 280. But if you don't want to break the bank (since the new GTX 200 GPU cards are rumored to cost from $450 to $650) and don't really need the latest greatest, see how the new ATI cards perform against the current NVIDIA 9800s and pick one of the two. They should provide a nice jump over your card, without spending too much money.

I've been watching what you have been saying in various threads but this post is by far the most biased you have thrown out there. You clearly try to give the impression that 260/280 will be in a league of their own and little poor old ATi will be lucky if they can compete against the 2nd generation 9800 cards. Wish I could argue with you now but lets just say that I'll be digging up this post in the very near future to see what you think then

 

[morfinx]

I've been watching what you have been saying in various threads but this post is by far the most biased you have thrown out there. You clearly try to give the impression that 260/280 will be in a league of their own and little poor old ATi will be lucky if they can compete against the 2nd generation 9800 cards. Wish I could argue with you now but lets just say that I'll be digging up this post in the very near future to see what you think then

You probably haven't read any comments on Tech Report then, god forbid anyone gets excited about the 4000 series But different people have different favorites. Just like some people are fanatical about their sports teams

 

[RADEoN]

if anyone has any questions about crossfire feel free to PM me, I run 2 3870's and would be more than happy to help someone jump over to ATI

 

[sc3252]

There's a lot of complaints about Sapphire. I have an HIS X1950 it's a pretty good card. I would definitely buy another HIS product.

Question is have you had to rma to HIS?

A good question I have is why HardOCP has stopped using the tech support as a basis for how a product scores?

 

[APOLLO]

Question is have you had to rma to HIS?

Not yet, but I can't imagine that it's as bad considering all the negative comments I have seen on the forums. Unless, Sapphire has far greater sales volume so the quantity seems greater...?

 

[KENNYB]

if you go ati.. stay the heck away from sapphire... their customer service is nonexistant and doing a rma is a major chore

Who are the good ATI OEM's? I've had good luck with eVGA and BFG with RMA service but I don't see the equivalent on the red side.

 

[sam0t]

Not yet, but I can't imagine that it's as bad considering all the negative comments I have seen on the forums. Unless, Sapphire has far greater sales volume so the quantity seems greater...?

Sapphire manufactures most of the ATI cards as far as I know so the volumes are higher.

Who are the good ATI OEM's? I've had good luck with eVGA and BFG with RMA service but I don't see the equivalent on the red side.

Being have to RMA a card in the first place is bad right

Personally I have used Sapphire (ok current one is Club3D) made ATI cards for more than 8 years now and I have never had to RMA a single one of em, excluding some uber low-end dead on arrival cards.

 

[Silus]

I've been watching what you have been saying in various threads but this post is by far the most biased you have thrown out there. You clearly try to give the impression that 260/280 will be in a league of their own and little poor old ATi will be lucky if they can compete against the 2nd generation 9800 cards. Wish I could argue with you now but lets just say that I'll be digging up this post in the very near future to see what you think then

What did I said there, that is not consistent with facts of current cards and with the rumors floating around about upcoming cards ?

You can dig whatever post you want. The OP asked a question and I answered as truthful as is possible at this point. Do try to refute anything I said, when it comes to current cards. Everything related to the future cards are based on rumors and I even mentioned that in the post, so stop being a troll.

 

[magoo]

The ATI card I bought is an MSI.
If registering the card for rebate is an indication of how they do business, I think if I need them they will be ok. Their online stuff is a breeze.

I got my second card yesterday, so if the weekend weather is poor, I'm going to see what Crossfire is all about.

One question I can't find an answer to: is Crossfire like SLi in that you can run cards from different vendors as long as they are the same type (ie, MSI + HIS 3870) I have seen where you can even mix and match different cards, like a 3870 and a 3850.

 

[Silus]

The ATI card I bought is an MSI.
If registering the card for rebate is an indication of how they do business, I think if I need them they will be ok. Their online stuff is a breeze.

I got my second card yesterday, so if the weekend weather is poor, I'm going to see what Crossfire is all about.

One question I can't find an answer to: is Crossfire like SLi in that you can run cards from different vendors as long as they are the same type (ie, MSI + HIS 3870) I have seen where you can even mix and match different cards, like a 3870 and a 3850.

It is the same. And the HD 3850 is basically an underclocked HD 3870, so that's why they can be matched.

 

[bfellow]

See sig.

Just for the monthly WHQL drivers alone, I will eventually be going back to AMD. I do not like Nvidia putting out test drivers for my box to get jacked. Up until end of May, I was using DECEMBER drivers.. unheard of in the AMD world.

IMO Nvidia cards are not bad, not at all. It's just they are not near the hype their fanboys make them out to be. It used to be ATI had better hardware but horrible driver team, now funny enough, it's switched.

LOL well I was still using ATI's March drivers (8.3) until now. Both companies like to improve their drivers for the higher end cards first and some of the drivers decreased 3870's performance slightly for better stability. Before that 8.1 and before that 7.11. It seems every other month's driver sucked for me.

 

[KENNYB]

Sapphire manufactures most of the ATI cards as far as I know so the volumes are higher.



Being have to RMA a card in the first place is bad right

Personally I have used Sapphire (ok current one is Club3D) made ATI cards for more than 8 years now and I have never had to RMA a single one of em, excluding some uber low-end dead on arrival cards.

I RMA'd a BFG 6800 Ultra for a friend of mine, from Costa Rica, and I've never RMA'd an eVGA card, although I did do a step up. I ask because they are right here in SoCal and shipping is much shorter than say to China.

 

[nodle]

if anyone has any questions about crossfire feel free to PM me, I run 2 3870's and would be more than happy to help someone jump over to ATI

Tell me what you think about them? Can you notice a big difference in games? Because the price is dropping on these and i was thinking about picking up a couple. Is the crossfire hard to setup? I know how to do the hardware part of them, but when you install the ATI drivers do you have to do any configuring in it? Thanks for the help man.

 

[S-B]

I'm in the same boat as you. I have an 8800GTS 640MB KO (like your card, just clocked slower). I'll more than likely be going ATI because my new X38 board supports tri-fire, but not SLI. That and I'm becoming angry with NVIDIA for their shitty chipsets, so I don't feel they have earned my money.

I still have my 680i boards going to RMA, so I have the choice of going SLI, but I like this board a lot more.

 

[matrix563]

4870's sound very good. long time ati user, just recently got a 8800gts. would like to go back if the performance is right