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Nvidia vs ATI

Discussion in 'PC hardware help' started by otester, Jun 6, 2004.

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  1. Nephilim

    Nephilim Moderator Staff Member

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    Hi JSRife,

    I would avoid the 9600SE especially with a budget of $100. It's the lowest performing model of the 9600 family. It's a castrated version that's not worth the money in my opnion.

    You can get a plain-jane 9600 for $100 or if you can scrape up another $20 or so you can get a 9600Pro which is an outstanding little card for the money.

    This is one of the absolute best sites to buy from:

    http://www.newegg.com/index.asp?DEPA=1
     
    Nephilim, Jun 16, 2004
    #41
  2. JSRife

    JSRife Guest

    Nephilim,
    You are right! I know the ATI Pro chips are very good, People are always talking about them. That is a very good price $123.99 I think it would be worth spending the extra money on it. I knew the ATI Pro chips were great, just didn't know you could pick one up that cheap, and you're right you can , saw it right on the website. If and when they ever make the game Diablo 3, I would be good to go with that 9600 Pro, no doubt about it. I am hoping they do put D3 out, I'm addicted to the Diablo series. And a good video card will make D2 run great too. I also want a video card to use it's own memory instead of using my DDR memory for anything that takes video memory, which is about everything. I think i'm done looking for cards. The 9600 Pro all the way. Thanks for the tip.
     
    JSRife, Jun 16, 2004
    #42
  3. Nephilim

    Nephilim Moderator Staff Member

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    Very good choice! Hope you enjoy it :)
     
    Nephilim, Jun 16, 2004
    #43
  4. Praetor

    Praetor Moderator Staff Member

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    Diablo2 uses ... 2D sprite graphics which were circa 1994? It shouldnt be hard to run even with some corny 2D onboard chip ;-)
     
    Praetor, Jun 16, 2004
    #44
  5. otester

    otester Guest

    i only suggested the 9600SE because it was closest to $99, but Nephilim is right the 9600SE is shit, go with the 9600/9600 Pro. if you save up $165 you could get a 9600XT and there supposed to be brilliant.
     
    otester, Jun 17, 2004
    #45
  6. The_OGS

    The_OGS Active member

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    Asus GeForce FX5700 (256MB) $235.CDN
    Sapphire Radeon 9600XT (256MB) $240.CDN
    Ford & Chevy
    Note: you better get a video board that's both 4x/8x compatible for sure, or if your MoBo supports 2x/4x you're OK; make sure your AGP slot is 4x at least because if only 2x then your choices will be few, and growing fewer...
    Regards
     
    The_OGS, Jun 17, 2004
    #46
  7. otester

    otester Guest

    In the past i have had 2 Nvidia cards 1 of them was ok but the latest one i bought wasnt worth it. go for ATI because there better value for your money
     
    otester, Jun 17, 2004
    #47
  8. JSRife

    JSRife Guest

    I don't have no clue if my system runs 2x, 4x or 8x video card support AGP slot. I just assumed you could throw in any video card just about with any newer computer with an AGP slot. I don't really know how to find out what my Motherboard supports. I know my Motherboard can handle 2 512mb DDR 2100 memory chips which is a gig, I don't know if that means anything towards the AGP slot. I'm not an expert, but my System should be able to handle at least a 4x Video card. A friend of mine has an HP computer 2 years older than mine, he bought his in 2001, and he added a 128mb video card to his system with no problems, like I said probably doesn't mean anything. I just know if my system can handle it, I'm getting the ATI 9600 pro for $123.99
     
    JSRife, Jun 17, 2004
    #48
  9. The_OGS

    The_OGS Active member

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    otester I don't know whether you're asking or telling! LoL ;-) but you seem to have a good grasp of the situation. Like we said, ATI has excellent hardware but maybe not so good software compared to NVidia.
    L8R
     
    The_OGS, Jun 17, 2004
    #49
  10. The_OGS

    The_OGS Active member

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    A 2002 motherboard running PC2100 DDR, probably supports AGP 4x so the 9600Pro would be a fine choice for you. AGP slots have three or four generations now, running lower voltages each time, and someone with an older mobo (I just worked on a PII-333 with AGP 1x!) would be surprised and unhappy to find no support for the latest AGP 8x vid card. Most cards are 8x/4x today, but the 4x support is going to disappear the way 2x support already has (remember 3dfx Voodoo3 etc?)
    You will be much pleased with the ATI vs. your onboard graphics...
    Cheers
     
    The_OGS, Jun 17, 2004
    #50
  11. otester

    otester Guest

    8X is better (double than 4X ) MSI are a good make for mobos and hightach or Sapphire are good for G-cards.
     
    otester, Jun 17, 2004
    #51
  12. The_OGS

    The_OGS Active member

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    The AGP scheme is for sharing system memory, for use as video texture frame buffer.
    My old GeForce 256 DDR (32MB) was far superior to my previous Voodoo3 (16MB) because the new AGP 4x was a distinct benefit. But these days, with 256MB video memory, or at least 128MB, the AGP-thing is actually less important than it used to be.
    Many tests have shown little or no difference between AGP 4x and 8x testing with the same 256MB vid board.
    Regards
     
    The_OGS, Jun 17, 2004
    #52
  13. Praetor

    Praetor Moderator Staff Member

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    Never heard of hightach ... which probably is a bad thing but in either case, Sapphire seems to be the budget outlet for ATi cards -- and a couple friends of mine who are stout ATi fans now stay away from them citing stability issues.

    And for damn near most games, there isnt a world of difference between 128MB and 256MB either.

    Hell support for AGP as a whole is gonna dissapear :p
     
    Praetor, Jun 17, 2004
    #53
  14. JSRife

    JSRife Guest

    Dissappear? What do you mean!
     
    JSRife, Jun 17, 2004
    #54
  15. Praetor

    Praetor Moderator Staff Member

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    Meaning when PCI-X for Video comes around (soon) then AGP will kinda fade away :)
     
    Praetor, Jun 17, 2004
    #55
  16. Nephilim

    Nephilim Moderator Staff Member

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    PCI-X is going to blow away AGP for good :)

    Both ATI and nVidia's new top-o-the-line cards are going to be offered in PCI-X - just gotta wait for mobo support.

    Have you guys looked at the newest Alienware system? They've managed to use two PCI-X slots and some proprietary hardware/software to run two vidcards for the same monitor. Check it:

    http://www.alienware.com/ALX_pages/main_alx.aspx

     
    Nephilim, Jun 17, 2004
    #56
  17. JSRife

    JSRife Guest

    Anybody know if the SAPPHIRE ATI RADEON 9800SE is any good for $134.00? Vs ATI 9600 Pro?
     
    JSRife, Jun 17, 2004
    #57
  18. otester

    otester Guest

    I have heard that the SE versions of ATi are shit, sapphire are the shitest of all makes (that use ATI chips)
     
    otester, Jun 18, 2004
    #58
  19. The_OGS

    The_OGS Active member

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    Keep your 256MB GeForce FX5600XT, it's new enough to get you through Christmas and then, we'll see what's up. Radeon 9800XT 256Mb will be waiting for you, in the clearance-bin, hehe:)
     
    The_OGS, Jun 18, 2004
    #59
  20. otester

    otester Guest

    Ive already sold it on Ebay for £66.
     
    otester, Jun 18, 2004
    #60
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