Need new video card, can't decide NVidia or ATI (positive input only, NO Fan Boys)

[Wurrmm]

Here is the deal: NO FAN BOYS!!!! I am finally getting around to replacing my aging GF3 Ti500 and I have done a decent amount of research, but I really don't know what to do. My choices are the 9800 pro 128 or the 5900 Ultra, and I would even be willing to possibly wait for the fall refreshes of both. Price is of no concern but I want rock solid operation in all the games I play. These games include Jedi Knight 2 and 3, Neverwinter Nights, Mechwarrior 4 Mercs, Elite Force 2, Tomb Raider AOD, No One Lives Forever 2, Army Operations, and I will be getting Deus Ex 2 when I can. My main concern with ATI is the flickering I keep hearing about. The only think that really turns me off to NVidia is that the IQ is not as good as ATI and generally Performance is better on the ATI.

I could really use some input and any more known issues with both would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Genx87]

Here is the bottom line.

Todays games both cards are pretty neck and neck. Tomorrows games is still kind of up in the air. Personally I buy video cards for todays games because history has shown buying hardware for tomorrows applications in the PC industry is futile. Nothing ever works out and you are disappointed.

Some fanboys will tell you the IQ on the Nvidia cards is lower. To be honest I doubt anybody is going to really notice at the speeds you are playing the game. This goes both ways imo. Sometimes you get anomolies from both sides of the camps.

Your best bet is if you dont need to upgrade to wait and see what the NV40 and or R420 have to offer. We are within a 3-4 months of those cards being available and they should be faster across the board.

BTW if you go with a 5900 I suggest getting a plain jane 5900 for ~250 bucks and overclocking it to ultra speeds

 

[Ronin]

Originally posted by: Genx87
Here is the bottom line.

Todays games both cards are pretty neck and neck. Tomorrows games is still kind of up in the air. Personally I buy video cards for todays games because history has shown buying hardware for tomorrows applications in the PC industry is futile. Nothing ever works out and you are disappointed.

Some fanboys will tell you the IQ on the Nvidia cards is lower. To be honest I doubt anybody is going to really notice at the speeds you are playing the game. This goes both ways imo. Sometimes you get anomolies from both sides of the camps.

Your best bet is if you dont need to upgrade to wait and see what the NV40 and or R420 have to offer. We are within a 3-4 months of those cards being available and they should be faster across the board.

BTW if you go with a 5900 I suggest getting a plain jane 5900 for ~250 bucks and overclocking it to ultra speeds

 

[Wurrmm]

I definately agree with you on that, but I don't think I could wait another 3-4 months. There is always something new around the corner, and my new P4 system is eager for a better video card to compliment it. I am not a big fan of the OCing so I am now leaning 5900 Ultra or it's new refresh. I just hope the refresh comes out soon. I might as well stick with NVidia considering that is what I am already using and I know the drivers, but I am still open to change. As far as Half Life 2 is concerned, I will likely have a new card by the time it comes out now that it has been pushed back again.

 

[rbV5]

I play Army Ops of the games on your list with my 9700pro, and it runs like a champ. I've never experienced the flickering myself. Drivers shouldn't be an issue with Catalyst.

 

Hey Wurrmmm.

I can speak for the 5900non ultra only, but the difference between the non ultra and the ultra is 50MHz on the core frequency which isnt much. You can also get 256 MB of DDR with the ultra. I know you said money isn't an issue, but there is really not much difference between the two to justify a 150.00 price difference. My 5900 cranks everything I play which are: Unreal Tournament, Unreal Tournament 2003, Unreall II, Giants, Command and Conquer Generals, Neverwinter Nights (which will always play better on nvidia hardware), Splinter Cell, and a few other oldie games not worth mentioning.

Image Quality as Genx has said is negligable between ATI and Nvidia these days. Just check out Anandtechs recent review on the 5950 and the 9800XT.

I believe that ATI has solved the flickering issue with the 3.7 cat drivers, but nvidia has done a great job with there soon to be released 52.14 drivers. So its your call.

The only other thing I would like to add is that I own both a eVGA 5900nu and a Sapphire Radeon 9700non pro. Out of these two cards, which I like both, the 5900 has much more power of course and its not a fair comparison. Should be comparing it with a 9800non pro which I dont have. But, and this is a big deal to me, the ATI card did have some compatability issues with my motherboard which is what prompted me to purchase the 5900 in the first place. ATI may offer a bit more performance than nvidia right now, but to be fair, nvidia offers a bit more compatability and stability.

I am no fan boy by any means. I like both ATI and Nvidia for different reasons. But I finally decided to stick with nvidia. I love the power and it works in every game you can throw at it. Im not saying nvidia doesn't have some issues here and there, but it is has far less issues than ATI in MY experience.

Hope this helps you out somewhere.
GM

 

[lordtyranus2]

I strongly reccomend a 9800 nonpro if you can find one and BIOS flash. If you can't get that, I'd take the 5900 if you aren't worried about DX9 games.

 

[Lonyo]

9800 non-pro or 5900 non-ultra.

Overclock them to pro/ultra speeds, should be fine, even at stock speeds they're pretty good.

Go for whichever you can get cheapest/has the best bundle etc.

If you like Doom 3/Quake based games (OpenGL mainly) get the 5900 (based on reviews/previews), if you prefer DX games (especially DX9 - judging from previews/reviews etc) then both are pretty much the same, the 9800 possibly slightly ahead.

 

[NYHoustonman]

After going from a Ti4400 to a 9800 Pro, I can say that I definetly made the right choice, myself. Just compare benchmarks, and for the most part the 9800 Pro has been faster in tomorrow's games, and although NVidia's new drivers seem to have solved this, I don't think they can make up the lead entirely (and according to those preliminary benchies from HL2 that one of the Anand guys put up, it doesn't look like they have), and both cards are on about the same level in today's games. Now, either is a great option, but as of right now I like the direction ATI is headed in, and IMO the 9800 Pro is a better choice.

 

[kza]

Overclocking on Nvidia boards is so easy. It's built right into the driver, you just have to enable it using coolbits. It even has an auto-detect so that you can get the most stable overclock speed. My 5900 went to like 442/914. The 5900 is the best card to play Neverwinter Nights. I've tried 9800np also and the 5900 is a lot faster in this game, especially at the overclocked speed. Since this is the only game that I really play right now, future games aren't on my mind since I'll probably get a new card when all the new games uses newer features.

 

[Torghn]

From Anand's Big video card round up:

ATI is still the recommendation, but NVIDIA is not a bad card to have by any stretch of the imagination

 

[DarkKnight]

i just bought a refurb 9700pro on newegg.com I couldnt wait any longer either. Plus the 9700 and 9800 won't go any lower cause the 9600Xt isgoing to be 199, so might as well get ur card now.

 

[lordtyranus2]

Refurbished? How did that go for you?

 

[VIAN]

I would recommend for you to wait it out for the nextgen cards, R400 and NV40, to come out and buy one thats suites your fancy then. If you can't wait that long though, I would suggest getting a 9800 Pro or XT, preferrably XT. I chose this card over the 5900 Ultra because ATI's card has the HLSL native to it unlike Nvidia with CG native to it. Games function using HLSL and not CG. Better performance with ATI right now.

 

[Rage187]

"Games function using HLSL and not CG. Better performance with ATI right now."


What main stream games are you referring to?

 

[pukemon]

While I myself don't buy performance video cards because they're too noisy and I don't game on the PC, from what I recall, the Built By ATI cards supposedly have very quiet fans onboard, if that's important to you.

 

[ATIPete]

I personally recommend the nVidia cards. I have a 9800pro right now and have nothing but problems with it. Normally I'd say it's an isolated incident and that I have a defective card. But my friends are all having similar problems with their ATI cards. When I had the nVidia card I never had any hassles or issues at all. I'd rather loose 5FPS in DX9 games and actually not have any worries.

 

[Wurrmm]

Wow...thanks for all the great input. Keep them comming. However, does anyone know when the new FX5950 (I think that is what they are calling the new refresh) will be comming out?? I can wait for that one but I will not go past early November.

 

[xSauronx]

id put off buying either until a new game you really really want comes out, and you get to see how each card does in that game.

i was going to get a 9600pro/9700np in a couple months, but with hl2 delayed for up to 6 months, im not worried about a video card right now. hell, think what a 9800 pro will cost in 6 months (ive got a ti200 oced to ti500 speeds) hen something replaces it, or think of how well the replacement card is going to do. id say wait to see how the official nvidia 50 series drivers do before you buy anything though, should be out soon i think. thats what id do anyway if i was ready to spend 400 bucks on a video card and wanted to do it right now.

 

[Big Lar]

I admit, I havn't read any input in this thread other than yours, so heres my take, I have been running nvidia for about 3 years, and before that tried 1 or 2 ati cards, with Matrox thrown in the mix. I recently purchased a 9800 pro, All I can say, is that I will Never go back to nvidia. It has much...much better visuals, and is very fast. Hope this helps.

 

[Wurrmm]

I could almost care less about new games comming out. I will worry about new games 6 months from now when the new NV4x and R4xx come out. For now, I think I am going to stick to an NVidia card becasue it will do everything I want it to do for the games I already have. So basically it is down to either the FX5900 Ultra and FX5950 Ultra. I will most likely get the first casue it is alrealy lower in price, I can get the Asus V9950 for $437 and it comes with Gun Metal. I might not want to wait a month for the FX5950.

 

[Viper96720]

I've never understood the what should I get threads. It is your money after all. People with ATI say get it same for those with Nvidia. Then you have those that had problems
with one or the other say get the other one.

 

[Wurrmm]

IMO, talking about it does kinda help me become more decisive. I have also been out of the computer loop for a month or so and hearing what people have to say does help.

 

[Mem]

I replaced my GF2 Ti (which is in my old backup system now so I own both Nvidia and ATi cards)with a Sapphire 9700NP about 4 months ago,I`ve had no problems with ATi drivers or gaming and I game a lot both online and offline,image quality is excellent as well.

Between the two right now I would go with ATi as they seem to have the edge right now.I`m using DVI output now but never had any flickering when I was using analog(VGA) output.

 

[ponyo]

There is search button. This topic is nothing but fanboy bait and has been discussed countless times on other similar threads.