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Plus they are very compatable with games and systems, and they don't suffer from infinite loop errors.
It's not just nVidia cards that are loopy. >>
No, but you VERY seldom here of the infinite loop bug out side of nVidia. The issue is predominantly an nVidia issue, and one can count the number of times on one hand you hear of the infinite loop bug with other bendors cards.
The infinite loop bug is a VERY severe issue, and affects an awful lot of nVidia board owners.
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ATI drivers are amazing, they have features nvidia cards don't even have yet. Plus they are very compatable with games and systems, and they don't suffer from infinite loop errors. >>
I will grant you that ATi's drivers to have a number of features that nVidia's drivers lack, but nVidia still has a couple features ATi is lacking.
And ATi's drivers are FAR from amazing, you wouldnt here so many complaints if they were 'amazing'.... and the initial drivers for the R8500 were a blatant joke with very poor compatibilit stability and many features that were missing.
Their improving, and they've come quite a ways from the state at which they once were.... at this point most remaining problems are relatively minor and most people arent having too many issues anymore.
But a few people still have a little too many problems, and there are some repeatable and consistent bugs that ATi has yet to deal with, and game compatibility still isnt up to the standards of nVidia.
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nVidia has their share of current issues as well. No one is a saint these days. >>
Precisely, nVidia gets way too much credit for their driver support these days. Once upon a time they were rock solid... that time is long past and hasnt been seen in awhile.
It's non unusual anymore to see people seeking help for problems with nVidia boards. And there are numerous repeatable bugs in nVidia's drivers at this point.
Hell, I can count 3 off the top of my head that existed since the 10.XX series and havent been so much as touched since, and another one that was only very recently resolved.
It isnt very hard too pick out bugs in nVidia's drivers anymore.
That said, their still quite good overall, and few would argue their better then ATi's drivers.
Game compatibility is still extremely good, but support for some of their more extraneous features if definitely lacking... TV-Out is still lackluster w/out TVTool, and it took them an awful long time to get their multi monitor support up to par. etc etc.
System compatibility and stability isnt top notch anymore either with the now infamous infinite loop that has gotten so much attention courtesy of nVidia.
I find it amusing that both VIA and Intel are working of fixing the bug when utilized with nVidia graphics cards but nVidia themselves are barely willing to admit there is such a thing let alone try and fix it.
How many people with dually systems were hassled with the NMI parity error until recently?
I've touched upon a couple issues among many, but nVidia is far from the saint people frequently play them off as being.
Neither company is perfect, and for that matter neither is Matrox.... they have quite a few little issues of their own to deal with, though thankfully in Matorx's case none of the issues I'm aware of are terribly severe.
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Why is everyone so obssesed with the 8500??? ATI hasnt been able to release a decent driver for it since its release... Jesus... >>
A number of people are talking about it on the forums because you can get a Retail R8500 for a good $150.
For a card with a much broader feature set then the GF3, and comes stock with HYdravIsion, TV-Out, DVI-Out, admirable anisotropic filtering performance, a visually superior FSAA implementation, and performance that comes very close to that of the Ti500 depending upon the driver set you use.
A hell of a bargain I'd say... people have a right to be talking about it. If the GF4 Ti4200 ever hits quite a few people will soon be talking about it, and for many of the same reasons.
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As for the Ti4200, its actually the end of the GeforceTi500. No wander Nvidia plans to release it later, they want to sell as many GeforceTi500 cards as they can (tough luck though...). But actually its pretty laughable. Nvidia fell on its own trap as everyone is waiting for the Geforce4 cards, thus neglecting the "old" Geforce3. >>
nVidia halted shipments of the Ti500 cores just short of 2 months prior to the GF4 announcement, and they had been in very limited supply for almost a month prior to release of the GF4... quite a few people that wanted one had a lot of difficulty finding anywhere w/them in stock.
The GF3 Ti200 is still managing to sell reasonably well however, and is doing an excellent job of keep nVidia covered in the mid to high $100's price range.
The recently released GF4 MX's are covering the areas below that.
I suspect we won't see the Ti4200 until nVidia absolutely needs it to keep pace with ATi in the $150-200 price range. Right now the GF3 Ti200 is keeping pace with ATi quite well there. Once ATi pulls out the 8500XT at $199 then we will probably see the Ti4200 a few weeks before that to ensure that the 8500XT doesnt steal buyers that might have otherwise been swayed away from nVidia towards the 8500XT which should open up a pretty decent gap between it and the GF3 Ti200.
