video card brand: how loyal are you?

darkpark

Gawd
Joined
Aug 15, 2004
Messages
696
Guys,
Have you ever changed video card brands or have you always been loyal to that one brand (nvidia or ati)? If you have left one brand and gone to the other, how many times have you done it?

Me, I always bought nvidia cards since the death of the Voodoo 3dfx cards until recently when I migrated to Vista. My Amd 64 dual-core 4400, nforce3 motherboard, Vista and nvidia 7800GS didn't want to play nice together. Anyway, to make a long story short I ended up getting a Sapphire X1950Pro 512MB. I'm happy now.
 
Other than some 3DFX cards, Nvidia is all I've ever used. I've messed with others ATI cards and we have some at work so I've used about everything, but ATI is usually just a pain in the ass by comarison.
I just set up a doctors office that used mainly Nvidia except where they wanted a tv controler card and I can say without a doubt that ATI AIW cards suck.
 
Guys,
Have every change video card brands or have you always been loyal to that one brand (nvidia or ati)? If you have left one brand and gone to the other, have many times have you done it?

Me, I always bought nvidia cards since the death of the Voodoo 3dfx cards until recently when I migrated to Vista. My Amd 64 dual-core 4400, nforce3 motherboard, Vista and nvidia 7800GS didn't want to play nice together. Anyway, to make a long story short I ended up getting a Sapphire X1950Pro 512MB. I'm happy now.

My first real video card was a Diamond Stealth. My first computer had an onboard 8bit color video chip on the IBM PS2 50/55sx.. after the Stealth which I had for years, I got the Matrox Mystique, and then the Millennium II with 2 Matrox m3D cards.

Then came Voodoo. I got 2 Voodoo2 cards in SLi mode. I thought I was set for life. Boy was I wrong.

When 3Dfx sold to nVidia, I switched to TNT, then TNT2 Ultra, then GeForce256 DDR, then GeForce2, then Geforce3 64mb, then GeForce4 Ti400, then GeforceFX 5600 Ultra, then GeForce 6200, then the 7600, and now the 8800 GTS 640mb..

so I guess you can say I'm loyal to nVidia ;)
 
I use whatever i think is best at the time for me. I dont care if it made from craparoni inc. If its good and stable, cost effective, then its all good.
 
The only ATi card I have ever owned was my 9700Pro, which was a heck of a card. I did have a Voodoo 2 as well. All my other cards have been nvidia. I would say that I'm partial to nvidia but it wouldn't keep me from getting another brand if the card was good.
 
ive always been leaning toward ati. ive had a 9550 and x850 xt pe and i can say im pleased with the performance. the only nvidia card ive owned is the 7900gs, which wasnt bad, but it died...

but with all the crap ati's puttin out im kinda impartial, waiting to see what happens.
 
the only ati cards i have used were 9800 pro and 850xt. all others have been nvidia or 3dfx. mostly evga since 6800gt.
 
Had TNT2, GeForce 3 ti200, GeForce 4 ti4200, ATI 9800 Pro, GeForce 6800gt, GeForce 6800Ultra, Geforce 7800gt. I dunno, I think I will go nvidia once again on next upgrade.
 
I've usually had the hoe-hoe-green giant (Nv) cards lol. The first one I can remember was the glorious TNT2 16MB. I oc'ed the hell out of that baby, had a Duron 800Mhz. Probably my most memorable setup. I remember playing Tribes 2 for hours (often on Saturdays I would be super geeky and play for 9 hrs with about 1 1hr break lol), too bad the MOD I played (Ninja/Renegades) is dead now. Only about 2,000 people still play the game.

Other than that I've had nothing but nVidia cards, although I did enjoy my Radeon 9800Pro. Split me a-many skulls in RTCW:ET with that (later replaced by 6800nu, unlocked). Finally, my road ends with the 8800GTS640MB. I'll probably do a flat out new PC in another 3+yrs. with a possible GPU or CPU upgrade this Christmas/Fall, if the performance gain is worth it...:eek:
 
diamond viper 32mb, nvidia geforce 256 32mb, tnt2 32mb, ATI 9500 pro, 9800 pro, nvidia 8800gts 640mb. I'm not brand loyal.. I like whatever's best at the time. I've had great luck with all of my video cards.
 
no alliances here, best bang per buck (as long as it works properly too!)
 
no alliances here, best bang per buck (as long as it works properly too!)

Yeah. I rarely buy on name brand. I'd favor BFG maybe (lifetime warranty + OC'd) but not necessarily the brand. Dunno if BFG carries ATI though. ;)
 
person, its who ever has the better drivers.. lately i've been on the ATI boat because of that (after coming from Nvidia its such a relief)..

but probably going to go back to an Nv just for raw features..


my past cards

Trident 1Mb ISA
Matrox Mystique PCI
ATI Rage3d + Voodoo1(Orchard Righteous 3d woot woot!)
ATI Rage3d + Voodoo2 SLI (8Mb Diamonds, what ever happened to diamond?)
Voodoo3
Voodoo5500
Geforce256
Geforce2
Geforce4 Ti 4400
Geforce5 5900XT
Geforce6 6800GTxSLI (nightmare, never do SLI or Xfire again)
ATIX1900XTX - next to the Voodoo1/Voodoo2 SLI, this has probably been my favorite video card for features and stability (thanks to ATI's drivers mainly)..
 
Usually I would purchase what's the best in my price range at the time of purchase. My luck has usually drawn the ATI cards with a Voodoo 3dfx and Geforce 5200 in that mix. Soon I'll probably be picking up an 8800 with a new rig. Currently I'm still running an ATI 9800 Pro on my desktop and X1400 on my notebook.
 
I'm really not loyal at all by company. I look at the quality of the product/service and the name that happens to be on it is just an afterthought.
 
The first card I had was a vesa local bus Hercules graphite terminator pro. was an exceptional card that was lent to me.

When I got into cards, I did ati 16 meg card, pci. kept that, didnt use computers for a couple of years again. Then I got into the agp Ati 128 all-in-wonder pro. then that 8500DV aiw, then the 9800 aiw pro,

now I have the x1900 aiwonder pro. my friend beat me out and had the pci allinwonder in addition to my cards.

No more all in wonder because amd is a shitty company. I know that now that 2900 was released not in its proper 65nm form and is a power hog that gets wasted sporadically on benchmarks by a company that is basically fabless in comparison.

I might not be an amd fan either for what they did to ATI. Hercules was the best by far, like immensely, it was the sharpest picture and had the best electronics. they fell off the map and ati was then image king. now they are queens. *slap*
 
for AGP I was all ATI, however I have been sticking with nvidia lately. The warranties offered by their partners are top notch and evga'a step up is a nice option. However in the end its bang for the buck, but my love for nvidia mobos and ATI's track record with delays has me leaning towards to nvidia.
 
Nvidia!! Been that way as long as I knew they provided better support for Linux than ATI...
 
I was a solid 3DFX man back in the day.... After they bit the dust it's been nVidia ever since. :)
 
NVIDIA... period. They would have to fuck up big time for me to start disliking them.

So far, all of their cards have been reliable. I've just had too many (very) bad experiences with ATI. Their newer cards have been much better, but I'll never be convinced that they are better than NVIDIA, at least in reliability. Also, BFGTech's warranty kicks ass! :cool:

Looking forward for Series 9.

EDIT: Yay! I just became [H]Lite! W00t!
 
I am NVIDIA all the way. I too have had way to many bad experiences with ATI. Both Windows and Mac side. I have nvidia in my new desktop as well as my Macbook Pro now, and all is great. Both are 8 Series cards too!:) Anyways, like previous posters, NVIDIA would have to have some pretty crappy cards for me to make the switch to ATI again. I have been using only NVIDIA since the 6800 Ultra card. Thank you.
 
NVIDIA + EVGA= :D

Evga has the best support and warranty, I've called them in countless times. 24/7, and got the best support.Never had to rma, and they don't coid warranty for heatsink changes.

If your not down with evga+nvidia, then your simply not down with the best. :D
 
the first nvidia card i had was in my laptop (7600gt), but then again not like i could just swap it out :D

the rest have been ati cards

ati radeon aiw pci
ati radeon 7500 aiw
ati 9800pro aiw
ati x800xt aiw agp
ati x1950pro sapphire :)
 
Don't care which i buy. Have had 3dfx, Ati and nvidia. I'll buy whatever is going to give me great performance, without spending 350+. I've never had an issue with any of them. Though for brands, Ati = Sapphire, nVidia = BFG, always.
 
Im a big Nvidia fan, mostly because they work well and arent a pain in the ass like ATI cards have been known to be. Also Nvidia cards seem to play better with lcd panels based on problems I have read in the display forums regarding issues with ATI and various lcd panels.

Nvidia tends to be better with driver support than ATI and for this reason I have stuck with Nvidia though not to say if ATI turns things around I wouldnt consider them. Also my motherboards these days have been based on nvidia chipsets making an nvidia card a more sensible choice.
 
I am loyal to whoever has the best card when I'm upgrading.

That has been different manufacturers at different times.
 
The first card I had was a vesa local bus Hercules graphite terminator pro. was an exceptional card that was lent to me.

When I got into cards, I did ati 16 meg card, pci. kept that, didnt use computers for a couple of years again. Then I got into the agp Ati 128 all-in-wonder pro. then that 8500DV aiw, then the 9800 aiw pro,

now I have the x1900 aiwonder pro. my friend beat me out and had the pci allinwonder in addition to my cards.

No more all in wonder because amd is a shitty company. I know that now that 2900 was released not in its proper 65nm form and is a power hog that gets wasted sporadically on benchmarks by a company that is basically fabless in comparison.

I might not be an amd fan either for what they did to ATI. Hercules was the best by far, like immensely, it was the sharpest picture and had the best electronics. they fell off the map and ati was then image king. now they are queens. *slap*

yea hercules did make quality products with a high pricetag. they ceased making video cards after the 9800 series i think.
 
I've had Voodoo3, Voodoo5, Ti4600, Geforce FX 5900 Ultra, 6800GT, 7950GX2 and a 8800GTX

The only time I've had doubts about Nvidia was the Geforce FX, but the 5900 hit 5950Ultra speeds with ease and surpassed them with further overclocking, for DX8 effects it was actually very fast and my the time we actually had decent DX9 games such as HL2 the 6xxx range was out, so even then it wasn't such a bad purchas.

I would like to get an ATI card at some stage but I'm going to wait until they produce something which is faster than the Nvidia counterpart.
 
My two favorite old video cards were a STB (don't remember the model name) but it was based on a Tseng et4000w32 chip and a Matrox Millennium 4MB Vram.

I have always purchased nvidia cards out of habit and the philosophy: "if it ain't broken than don't fix it" Nvidia cards have been rock solid for me until the nforce3/dual-core/vista fiasco.
 
My two favorite old video cards were a STB (don't remember the model name) but it was based on a Tseng et4000w32 chip and a Matrox Millennium 4MB Vram.

I have always purchased nvidia cards out of habit and the philosophy: "if it ain't broken than don't fix it" Nvidia cards have been rock solid for me until the nforce3/dual-core/vista fiasco.

Those were the days...
when a graphics card was noticably better because it drew windows faster lol.
The Tseng ET4000 was a tremendous upgrade yet I cant remember what else it was good for (apart from CAD) :D
 
I'll come right out and say it: video card loyalties are extremely stupid. A brand name is nothing. Its not a friend, and they won't give you a hug for buying their products. They're just buisnesses out to make money, and to do that they try and out-do each other, which is good for us.

Don't be a loyalist. Buy whatever is best and whatever fits your budget. Don't buy a 8600gt over a x1950xtx just because its nVidia, you're throwing your money away to a company when you could easily buy a faster card for a very similar price. And before anyone mention it, the 8600gt is too weak to take advantage of any DX10 functionality, so blah.

I'm loyal to price/performance, anything else is just for chumps.
 
First video card I had I threw in my HP it was a FX5200 I picked up at walmart.. That thing was sooo cool. $110

Then I bought a 9700pro which died after a year, and I got a 9800pro from ATI as replacement. Bought it at a local computer store. $180

Now I own a 7900GS which is the shiznat. Got from newegg. $180

I buy on price.
 
I come right out and say it: video card loyalties are extremely stupid. A brand name is nothing. Its not a friend, and they won't give you a hug for buying their products. They're just buisnesses out to make money, and to do that they try and out-do each other, which is good for us.

Don't be a loyalist. Buy whatever is best and whatever fits your budget. Don't buy a 8600gt over a x1950xtx just because its nVidia, you're throwing your money away to a company when you could easily buy a faster card for a very similar price. And before anyone mention it, the 8600gt is too weak to take advantage of any DX10 functionality, so blah.

I'm loyal to price/performance, anything else is just for chumps.

I'm with ya as long as I can still hate Creative and not buy anything of theirs :)
They are the only PC parts company I Hate so deserve this special word brought to you by the letter H.
 
Dont care, if a certain card in my price range owns all the others, then ill have that. If nvidia and ati have 2 cards which perform equally then what ever one has the most goodies.
 
I currently favor nVidia since I like their driver software much more than ATi's, but I usually let real-world tests determine who gets first dibs on my wallet :)

Card progression:

1. 3dfx Voodoo2 (great card, Quake 2 ran smooth as glass)
2. first-gen Radeon (didn't have DDR memory, but still good nonetheless)
3. GeForce4 Ti4200 (loved this card, OC'd like a champ and kept asking for more)
4. Radeon 9800 Pro (the card I owned the longest, and probably would still have, had I not upgraded my 19" CRT to a 23" LCD)

Current baby is an EVGA 7900GT; handles all my games at 1920x1200 well and picked it up on sale to boot :)
 
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