Ati or NVIDIA

stephenmarr

Dont know a whole lot about graphics cards but what do u need to look for when buying one?

also which is better Ati or NVIDIA?

projectmayhem

the ati v nvidia debate will never end, nor will you ever get an answer.

you need to know what slot you're PC has and such things. just give the make/model of your PC or motherboard here and people'll help you out. i got loads of help recently in buying a card

Patricide

I know what project mahem said is true but still..........NVIDIA!!!!!!!!!!

hellboy99

NVidia for me too.

SouperComputer

*sidesteps debate*

They are both great.

8T8

I like to think that I know a fair bit about this particular scene.

Unless you have a good understanding of the technology many of the differences will be mute as the end result that all you will care about is the speed and how much bang for buck you get.

If you want I can list the pro's and con's of the current generation parts from ATI and NVIDIA but if your the sort of person who doesnt really care about the underlying tech and never goes near the image quality settings then all you need to know which is faster at what price point.

stephenmarr

its a pci-e its from a dell dimension 5150 dont know what the model number the motherboard is

stephenmarr

im looking at a 7600gt card for €203

8T8

I thought we covered this in your other thread anyway a 7600GT is the highest performance mid-range GPU you can currently get, faster in games than ATI's X1600XT part (mid range parts have been a tricky point for ATI recently).

If you want the next thing on the ladder rung it is an ATI X1800GTO however these are a bit more pricey for what is meant to be a competitor to the 7600GT.

Dell Dimension 5150 uses PCI-Express slots you can see it lists a PCI-E x16 slot on the tech specs on Dell's web site.

stephenmarr

@ 8T8 yeah we did i just wanted to know which make was better
Ati or NVIDIA.
sorry for confusion

8T8

Like I said unless you have an interest in the underlying technology then it really doesn’t matter which is "better" it's what comes out on the screen and at a decent speed is what matters.

Just to give an example the 7600GT is better performance wise than the X1600XT no doubts about that but....

Let's look over a few features of the X1600XT GPU as an example;

AA+HDR - ATI's X1K series support Anti-Aliasing on floating point based High Dynamic Range lighting (NVIDIA’s don’t)

Excellent SM 3.0 dynamic branching performance - Improves game performance but requires support from game to be coded in.

High Quality AF - Supports what is called HQ-Anisotropic Filtering which results in a better image quality vs. the regular AF (ironically NV use to use this then switched to the mode ATI used now ATI supports both)

Now the AA+HDR thing is almost pointless as the X1600XT is a mid-range part even if you wanted to run AA+HDR in game you would take a significant hit with all the high details turned up, it just doesn’t have the power.

Like wise the branching in ATI's GPU is much better than NVIDIA's but again a game must support this otherwise the feature is not exploited.

In regards the HQ-AF well you could use that in most games but again ask yourself would you even notice the difference (my answer even I have trouble).

I could go on but while ATI might have the technically superior part to NVIDIA in the mid-range, NVIDIA scores in where it matters more which is the end result of performance.

Of course climb the ladder and things change in what to recommend but were not going that far.

stephenmarr

way over my head i just want a cardto play games that look good like
Fear, Oblivion etc.
so i guess its the 7600gt for me
how long for one from Komplett are they a good store to buy from?

8T8

Exactly all you want is the game to run with high details and fast, the 7600GT is your best match.

Komplett are a good outfit no need to worry about ordering from them lots of people here do including myself.

Delivery wise you have options when you place the order you can go with more expensive couriers like DHL who would have it to you in 2 days or so vs. the 3-4 from the cheaper couriers.

stephenmarr

nice and is that price inc vat?

8T8

Yes they include VAT in the price.

Keep in mind the €204 7600GT is now out of stock so if you place an order it will be on hold till they get a shipment in & then it will be dispatched to you (your going to be waiting a while +1 week or more with the "awaiting delivery date" message they have up for that one).

The next cheapest model which is also in stock is an overclocked out of the box version that will run slightly faster than the normal model going for €231.

stephenmarr

cherrs thats it so will order it soon

KdjaCL

Have had recent exp with both a 9800Xt and 6800 Ultra OC.

They are direct equivalents in terms of release and power. And they are...........pretty much the same.

Nvidia has better tv out options and the free unsolved blue screen of death.

Ati has crap tv out but better drivers.

Both get me the same in FPS in any game.


kdjac

stephenmarr

and if i wanted to step up to the next card what would the price be and what would the name of the card be

8T8

The next card in the performance ladder is an ATI X1800GTO however it is more expensive compared to a 7600GT and the performance improvement is not that great but if you can find one at a similar price sure go for it. They are still quite new so not that common but Komplett have an X1800GTO going for €279 if that takes your interest.

Here is a rough guide with the most powerful cards working our way to the bottom;
X1600XT
7600GS
7600GT
X1800GTO
X1800XL
7800GT
7900GT/7800GTX/X1800XT
7900GTX/X1900XT/X9100XTX

The last ones are all roughly in the same ball park so differentiating is not easy but in short they are all quite powerful GPU's.

stephenmarr

cheers one more question
u mentioned overclocking (what does it mean) on one of the cards is it a problem for the card will it be loulder will it crash the system lifeof the card reduced?

8T8

The cards operate at a set megahertz frequency by the manufacturer, over clocking is when you manually raise the clock speed of the card past its rated speed to increase its performance (it's not something the average user would do due to the many factors that must be taken into account).

What I meant by overclocked out of the box was that the vendor sells a certain GPU with higher clocks speeds vs the stock speeds with a premium price attached. They usually only overclock it a little bit and the performance improvement is only 2-5% and so are perfectly fine and covered by the warranty.

Factory overclocked versions wont crash the system but in regards fan noise the aggressively factory overclocked XFX Extreme branded parts do have a louder fan as a consequence however some of those XFX parts were also recently recalled as they overclocked them too much but the vast majority of vendors only do a small overclock that is perfectly safe.

stephenmarr

so that card u reccomended me will be perfectly safe my psu is a 350w is that ok?

8T8

Yeah you should be fine.

stephenmarr

thanks for everything lad much appericated

djmarkus

nvidia for me, 7800gt has the best price/performance ratio..

Also Linux support is infinatley better with nvidia

tuxy

KdjaC wrote:

Have had recent exp with both a 9800Xt and 6800 Ultra OC.

are you sure you can get those cards in pci-e versions?
i don't think you can even get the 9800xt anymore.