8500 image quality worth the drop in performance?

[moocat]

"the leaked drivers are super easy to install, the only thing the installer does additional is to unzip them in c:\ati\support\(whatever driver # is) and then runs the setup file from there. I prefer them in leaked form, seems faster to me."

Well...The opinion of MorpheusPhreak is that to benefit fully from the new drivers a complete reformat/OS install is the best way to go. It seems a bit over the top to have to go through that with each driver update but who am I to say...they are leaked drivers afterall.

I would just try the thorough uninstall of previous drivers and THEN install the 9012s but I don't really have the time or inclination to experiment right now. The official betas are good enough though smoothvision causes some bizarre behavior in some game menus

 

[AA0]

I just install overtop of the old ones, never had a problem. I never really have problems with my systems, I known what I'm doing....

 

[BFG10K]

Dont listen to BFG10K he sounds too much like a guy that goes by BG9K on ieXbeta.com

I assure you that I do not post there. That is not me.

I leaked the 6018 to the gaming community and right now we have people who work for nvidia asking us what ati did to the driver to make the image quality so high...

I'm interested to know more about this. Can you please give me some more info?

btw, notice how old these are? they don't have the 9008 drivers for the Radeon and the latest ones for the GF3. get with the times, stop throwing this old sh!t that doesn't prove that the Radeon is worse than the GF3 in quality around.

It's better than when the ATi zealots can't even find any evidence that proves that the Radeon's image quality is better than the GF3's. I'm not saying that the Radeon isn't a good card but I doubt that its image quality is better than a GF3's.

 

[JK16]

BUY THE TI500!!! I have that specific gainward card, and it easily overclocks, and at 1600 X 1200 100hz, it looks SPECTACULAR. Nvidia is the company to stick with, since they actually have a staff of trained professionals writing driver software, rather than a bunch of monkeys on typewritters randomly hitting out code at ati. If you watch DVD's, then buy a good DVD player: either power or win DVD's latest release (the Win DVD that comes with the gainward doesn't allow for any 5.1 sound). In short, ati sucks, since they could make a cray super computer underpreform a 386 with thier driver expertise, and Nvidia is awsome, as their cards are powerful, don't try cheap tricks to get better scores in benchmarking, and write good drivers.
My 3dmark2001 scores with athalon 1700 and gf3 ti500 oc'ed on default: 8743
Go Nvidia, Go Patriots.

 

[moocat]

Note to self: If I ever write a post ripping a video card manufacturer...don't use the word "sucks" if you want to have any credibility.

 

[Raspewtin]

if the 8500 had decent DVI output, i would have gotten it instead of the GF3 Ti500 w/o doubt.

 

[MrPabulum]

I owned a Radeon 64MB VIVO a while back, and while I thought it was a terrific card, the drivers were just a little too unstable. Mind you, they were good and fast, and ATI was at one point, ehem, **ak*ng new ones on a weekly basis, the card would require some fiddling around with to get it to run as I'd wanted it to. Most games worked, some didn't. Overall, I never the impression that their drivers were as polished as Nvidia's. Very good, but not quite there yet. As it stands I currently own a Gainward Geforce2Pro 450 Golden Sample, which has run like a dream since day one.

As to the issue of image quality 2d and 3d, all resolutions up to 1280X1024, you couldn't tell them apart (of course Gainward has this darn tendency to use 'quality' 2d filters...bastards. ) At 1600X1200, the Radeon took a slight lead, particularly in the corners, nothing huge, but to discerning eyes noticable. Gainward's Geforce 3 lineup is supposed to have sharper 2d quality, but since I don't own one, I couldn't verify it for ya. As to 3d image quality, in all honesty it comes down to preference in terms of color saturation. The Radeon has a heavier saturation, simple as that. If that's what you want, shalom. The Geforce's image quality looks sharp and vibrant, and the saturation is excellent, if a bit more realistic then that of the Radeon's. And again, this is just a Geforce 2, as the Geforce 3's are supposed to be even better looking. DVD quality is a little clearer on the Radeon series as ATI is still the king at that.

Overall, I've had a more pleasurable experience with Nvidia's cards then with ATIs...and this is coming from someone who swore that after 3dfx (driver kings!!!) went under, I wouldn't touch Nvidia's PCBs with a 10ft pole, so I grabbed an 11ft pole and bought a Radeon. Nvidia and ATI both make great cards, but its Nvidia's driver team that wins it for them.



Course, I could be wrong.