Geforce 5900 Ultra or Radeon 9800 Pro 256MB

[Celuvka279]

I've been debating on which of these cards to go after. I am an avid fan of Nvidia, but with all of the threads on Nvidia's lack of power in their new card, I'm not sure to go with the 5900 Ultra. Of course the specs on the 5900 Ultra are impressive, but when it comes down to business, it relatively fails compared to the 9800 Pro 256 MB card. I have of course seen the results for both cards in Half Life 2 and am disappointed in the 5900 Ultra. Then I saw a benchmark for a DoomIII special ID preview and the 5900 ultra kicked the 9800 Pro's butt. I would go for the 9800 Pro 256Md card if it weren't for ATI's problems with their driver's and for all of the reviews that I have read about the anomalies that the 9800 Pro's causing during gaming. I would like some honest opinions on both of these cards as well as some clarification on the 9800 Pro's problems with the tearing and flickering and the over heating. So tell me what you all think of these cards, as it would help me in deciding as to which one to go for.

 

[Corporate Thug]

i see you are new wto the forums, welcome.

if u use the search feature, there are a million threads like this.

either way, if u look on the hompage, you will see the Half Life 2 benchies. ATi is simply blowing Nvidia away in these benchies and other pixel shader 2/ DX9 benchmarks. I would recommend a 9800 pro or a 9800 pro XT if u cacn wait a little while

 

[modedepe]

Hmm another person with concerns about 9800 overheating...strange. I'd get the 9800 pro. It's as good or better than the 5900 in pretty much all benches, except for that doom3 bench. I know it's possible nvidia will be able to get their performance up in hl2 through new drivers, but I'm not sure, and I'll have to see it before I believe it.

 

[jiffylube1024]

I'd recommend a 128MB card. Read as many reviews as you can to get a broad picture to decide between the Radeon 9800 Pro and the GF FX 5900, but I must say stick with a 128MB card. Double the memory, unfortunately, nets you about 0-3% performance gain on either card, and costs significantly more.

 

[gramboh]

I just switched from Nvidia to a Radeon 9800. I had been a long time exclusive Nvidia user (since Riva 128) and was paranoid about ATI's shoddy drivers, but I have yet to experience any driver related issues in a wide array of games using the Catalyst 3.6 and 3.7 drivers, very satisified with my purchase so far.

 

[MDE]

9800 Pro. Cheaper, probably quieter, and arguably better image quality.
Look at the first line of my sig for other advice .

 

[Pete]

Neither. I'd wait for the faster revisions of both cards, due in roughly two months (announced end of Sept., ostensibly available one month later). I don't think current cards are fast enough for 256MB, which is really only needed at 16x12 w/4xAA or higher.

 

[1ManArmY]

9800 PRO you can get for about 350.00 vs 440- 490 for the 5900 Ultra, dont have any prices on 256 mb 9800 PRO. EVGA 5900 NU were going for 250 so a lot of choices out there. If you want a DX9 card the choice is obvious ATI!

ATI driver's are fine you just have watch how you go about upgrading to the next versions.

 

[Celuvka279]

Originally posted by: 1ManArmY
9800 PRO you can get for about 350.00 vs 440- 490 for the 5900 Ultra, dont have any prices on 256 mb 9800 PRO. EVGA 5900 NU were going for 250 so a lot of choices out there. If you want a DX9 card the choice is obvious ATI!

ATI driver's are fine you just have watch how you go about upgrading to the next versions.

What specifically do you mean when you say that you have watch how you go about upgrading to the next versions on the drivers for ATI's cards?

 

[edmundoab]

ATi 9800 is the way to go.

 

[Corporate Thug]

Originally posted by: MonkeyDriveExpress
9800 Pro. Cheaper, probably quieter, and arguably better image quality.
Look at the first line of my sig for other advice .

IMO IQ is simply better, nothing to argue about

 

[INemtsev]

I would get the 9800 Pro, the image quality is much better....the filtering is more effective on it......I am happy with my 9800 Pro so far....drivers rock stable

 

[Rogodin2]

You should do a reformat if possible-if not do a clean install.

Don't just uninsall the nvidia drivers and install ati drivers.

rogo

 

[Schadenfroh]

yeh, i was a nvidia guy, but then i made the switch over to 3dfx