i just installed my 9500 pro yesterday, after removing all traces of anything nvidia. it gave me so much sh!t. here's a list of troubles:
1. the hardware wizard pops up each time i load windows; i now have an unknown PCI device.
2. i once REBOOTED my computer, only to have my motherboard give me the beep sequence for "no video card installed." what the heck?? it was working just before i rebooted!
3. video drivers give me no confidence. if ati can make such a great card, why can't their driver package be robust enough? right on their site it says that people should only update their drivers if they're currently having a problem. furthermore, u have to uninstall old drivers first. why can't ati make their drivers good enough so that i can easily update my drivers without worrying if i'm doing something wrong?
4. in my BIOS, i have my AGP set to 8X with fast writes on. in windows, catalyst says 4x and fast writes off. i hit "retest all" and fast writes turns on, but stays at 4x. i keep changing the settings to correspond to what the BIOS says, and it took 3 or 4 reboots for catalyst to finally get 8x correct, but it still says fast writes are off. WTF!??
so besides dx9 support, what's so great about these cards? someone show me that it's worth all this crap. oh, what i'm at it, how can i experience the supposed awesomeness of dx9 support?
i don't understand why people are even against nVidia cards. i think maybe it's cuz they're popular or something, and people need to be more l337. but nVidia has never given me problems in my computer-building endeavors. perhaps i haven't dealt enough with ATI.. but the experience i've had with this single card is just hammering the nail into the coffin all the notions i've gotten from ATI horror stories. last thing, i think, and it could be a big or little point.. but my ati card has a 3-year warranty. my previous nvidia card.. a bfg ti4600.. has a lifetime warranty. if third party geforce makers can give a lifetime warranty, how come an ati-built card can't do the same? i don't know how much water this idea holds.. but.. i'd like a lifetime warranty. gives me more confidence in my card.. something ATI has pretty much totally failed to do.
1. the hardware wizard pops up each time i load windows; i now have an unknown PCI device.
2. i once REBOOTED my computer, only to have my motherboard give me the beep sequence for "no video card installed." what the heck?? it was working just before i rebooted!
3. video drivers give me no confidence. if ati can make such a great card, why can't their driver package be robust enough? right on their site it says that people should only update their drivers if they're currently having a problem. furthermore, u have to uninstall old drivers first. why can't ati make their drivers good enough so that i can easily update my drivers without worrying if i'm doing something wrong?
4. in my BIOS, i have my AGP set to 8X with fast writes on. in windows, catalyst says 4x and fast writes off. i hit "retest all" and fast writes turns on, but stays at 4x. i keep changing the settings to correspond to what the BIOS says, and it took 3 or 4 reboots for catalyst to finally get 8x correct, but it still says fast writes are off. WTF!??
so besides dx9 support, what's so great about these cards? someone show me that it's worth all this crap. oh, what i'm at it, how can i experience the supposed awesomeness of dx9 support?
i don't understand why people are even against nVidia cards. i think maybe it's cuz they're popular or something, and people need to be more l337. but nVidia has never given me problems in my computer-building endeavors. perhaps i haven't dealt enough with ATI.. but the experience i've had with this single card is just hammering the nail into the coffin all the notions i've gotten from ATI horror stories. last thing, i think, and it could be a big or little point.. but my ati card has a 3-year warranty. my previous nvidia card.. a bfg ti4600.. has a lifetime warranty. if third party geforce makers can give a lifetime warranty, how come an ati-built card can't do the same? i don't know how much water this idea holds.. but.. i'd like a lifetime warranty. gives me more confidence in my card.. something ATI has pretty much totally failed to do.