The Official Budget-Conscious Dream Machine!

ck5134, Thanks for the article

Ok, now I see what you guys are getting at. But the differences are not significant and are not crippling to the look of the game in any way. For the most part this is just ATI doing what it does best. Better overall textures and IQ. Am I wrong?

I honestly would not see most of the quality differences between ATI and Nvidia if they were not shown to me. As most of you guys have probably noticed, I'm not a stickler for IQ. But I can notice and appreciate the differences where it counts. For me, that is AF quality and ever-annoying screen jaggies. Nvidia handles both of these well enough, so it is a non-issue for me right now.

But I am hoping for an ATI card in the future as I have enjoyed more than a year of use from my X1800XT and the change from ATI to nVidia did leave me feeling a bit weird on games that I originally played on ATI cards.

The big draw that ATI has for me is the 2D image quality and video acceleration. Smoother lines and crisper pictures. This is more important to me because I actually do more movie watching than game playing. I find ATI's video quality to be not only better than, but superior to Nvidia's.

But if I were really a big movie buff and 3D performance didn't matter, I would use neither brand. I would be using an(older) S3 Chrome S27. Best HTPC card made so far.

That's what I mean. While I support both brands equally, ATI is my current top pick. (gonna say it again)Barring a few games where Nvidia's performance lead is a major advantage, most games play incredibly on the HD3850 and HD3870. So while Nvidia has better performance, it is inconsequential to choose ATI because both brands of cards will play the game smoothly at the same settings.

 

Heh, well indeed, but best compromise?
I've not watched anything with intense scrutiny on an nvidia card so I wouldn't know the difference, but if ATI have a significant advantage there too, I'm definitely sticking with them for the near future.

 

ATI's video acceleration is much better than Nvidia's IMO. But Nvidia cards do it adequately enough, so it comes down to personal preference. Performance or IQ?

Here's how it is in my eyes:

Nvidia = Overkill power, more mainstream like MS vs Apple, Lower but still adequate Nvidia IQ standard means that most people won't know the difference.

ATI = Less powerful but adequate, a little less mainstream and less popular than Nvidia, but higher IQ standard and more dedicated user base.

 

That is effectively what it boils down to, and that goes for the marketing as well. One of the reasons you don't see so many ATI fanboys as nvidia fanboys is the way the products are marketed. A famous quote from one of ATI's big cheeses before the AMD merger was "nvidia market ***t like gold and we market gold like ***t"...

 

lol

sammorris, I just got a call from Grampa. You were right. The P5N-E SLI is locking up when he tries to install Windows. lol

I'm going with him today(my day off) to get a refund and pick out a better board. ASUS is really seeming to suck lately.

If it makes you feel any better, I DID listen to you. I told him to expect problems, but he figured it would be worth a shot to see if this one worked.

I'm just gonna steer him to a Gigabyte board and see if he has any problems. Probably gonna end up showing him the GA-P35-DS3 as it is the same store where I got mine.

I also found out why the P5N-E SLI was good and is now crap. They switched chipsets from nForce 570 to nForce 650i. The first one was just okay, but when they made the jump they screwed it up. Seems most of the 650i versions are defective right out of the factory.

This is a little old but I had to comment. ALL of the games there seem to be "Nvidia Optimized." It's really sad because I just realized that, lol. Only a few moments ago I was wondering why they don't include full 3dmark 06 scores or any NEW games. Then I saw that they were all "The Way It's Meant to be Played."

Granted, Nvidia still has a sizable performance advantage over ATI. But a few of those tests are ridiculous. a 6800GT beating an HD3850 in Flight Simulator X? Pure bull, lol.


Now for more news.

http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=44484

Read this and tell me what you think.

 

You know what's funny? UT2004 is an "nvidia the way it's meant to be played" game and it pulls higher frame rates with ATI cards!
As for the P5N-E, what can I say? It's interesting about the chipset though, that explains the sudden drop in actually-working-ness.

 

I don't know if that's the exact story. But the 570 versions seem to work and the 650i versions seem to not work. So you tell me, lol

I was aware though, that most of the P5N series is top notch stuff. Am I right? So far, my biggest complaint for ASUS is that their AMD motherboards overclock, but most of them can't go more than about 100MHz OC without blue screens and lock-ups. My M2N32-SLI could only do a 400MHz OC without loss of stability.

 

Well, consider that the P5N-E SLI is so badly made it doesn't pass the Vista installer for stability reasons, I'm not so sure. The P5N32-SLI is a Striker variant, but then that doesn't necessarily make it much better.

 

Well I suppose it doesn't matter to me anymore. I'm gonna stay a Gigabyte fanboy until Gigabyte screws up, lol.

ASUS needs to shape up. Most of their boards aren't stable and have failing chipsets.

Both of the Nvidia chipsets themselves are actually very good though. Awesome reviews. I loved the 680i and it never failed on me. That and I loved the fans on the chipset heatsinks. That was Evga's work methinks.

Also seems that Evga is now screwing up. There are a lot of returned 7600GT's and 7950GT's. But I don't know if that affects the GeForce 8 cards.

 

The EVGA 650i board seems a bit dump too, don't know if that also affects the 680i, but right now, nvidia chipset boards seem a bit of a minefield.

 

The only thing I know about the 650i is that the north bridge chip gets really hot. But from what most of my internet friends say(not many geeks in town) the 650i is a solid chipset. Granted, the nForce 5 chipset was better.

I'm gonna stick to AMD and Intel chipsets for future builds, though. I've had the best luck OC'ing with them(Intel, anyway. never used AMD yet) and they seem to have the best options and stability.

How's this for a budget conscious dream machine? lol

Used Gamecube - $30
59 block memory card - $10
3 used games - $35

Total price - $75

having friends at Gamestop that still accept your employee discount card - priceless

Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader
Legend of Zelda: Windwaker
Lord of the Rings: Return of the King

Worked at Gamestop for 2 months. Employee discount card has 2 years left. I'm glad I kept mine

 

Whoops, double

 

Hehe, hot? Try 83C... lol. Don't forget, even with those Silverstone FM121 fans at max speed, it was still too hot to touch!

 

i have done something that will shock AD to its roots.....

for £30 i bought the P5N-E :O

 

Nvidia chipsets while are very good, became very unstalbe (very true for the 680i) when trying to OC with all for DIMM slots occupied.

and after the p5n fiacso (and the striker (to an extent)) any intel chipests (P5B, P5K, P5E) have been some of the worlds best mobos, along with their ROG counter parts.

the world top 3d06mark(er) http://service.futuremark.com/resultComparison.action?compareResultId=5808775&compareResultType=14

uses the P5E-WS pro

infact 4/5 of the tpo use this.....indicating something?

 

A discussion we've had before is that Asus boards are good, but only the expensive top end ones. We're all living proof that the P5N-E is a heap of crap, and my A8N-SLI SE was just as bad.
Oh, and why waste £30, out of curiosity?

 

well i have a factory locked packard bell gigabyt p915 chipset board. i found this for £30, and thought not bad so i took it.

going to get some DDR2 ram now (as i have DDR1) and an E2140 (who previuos owner got it to 3.45GHZ on air (tuniq tower).

and i get pissed of when people slate ASUS when they make good mobos. the p5b and p5k series are superb aswell, and i havent ger many horror stories( if any at all) abut them.....same goes for the gigabyte p35 chips aswell.

 

Yes but the P5N-E is crap, and that's inexcusable. Plus, only having 1 out of my 3 boards still work beyond 1 year is poor, and since their customer service is so dire, that isn't something you need.
Asus are good if you're willing to shell out big bucks, but unless you're going for top end stuff, they're best avoided. You shouldn't have to spend three figures on a motherboard so it doesn't fall to pieces. Gigabyte and MSI seem to manage alright in that department.

I may be being naive here, but it seems to me you're buying a P5N-E board just to try and find a working one, to stick up for your beloved Asus. I wouldn't bother, based on the threads at aD in the past year and a bit, you're not going to change anyone's minds about this board.

The 650i is a pretty poor chipset which is where the problem originates, but I hear far less grief about other 650i boards.

 

oh no i know its a horrible board, but for £30 i would resist. i do hope its crap, or else i will ahve to contradict EVERYONEs experiances, which wont be great xD

i have aslo names some miud range to highend stuff that has been superb for asus, so i still dotn see your points.

all compaines are good, and i am not slating them, but i dont liek it when peopel slate asus' midrange when it actually is good.

 

Then why buy it? For £30 you could get a proper board on ebay.