NVidia or ATI for graphics apps

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CaptainN2

Junior Member
Jun 19, 2002
2
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Hello,

I'm looking for a new card for a rig that I'm putting together for someone that wants to be able to run games and graphics apps (3ds Max, Maya 4, etc) and will not have to upgrade for a while.

I like the price of the 'Radeon 8500 128' and the performance is good for the price, but I'm concerned about the openGL support. Should I go with a slightly more expensive, comparable performer NVidia card (I want to make sure the card is "current" enought) to get the openGL support that NVidia is famous for?

The only issue I have with NVidia is that the longer I have my TNT2 card the more features disapear (like polygon edge antialiasing, when I first got the card bleem could anti-alias, but no drivers since offer the same feature, and now even 2d programs like ZSNES, and others no longer work properly. I don't mind if they drop support for the TNT2 since its pretty old, but they should definately tell someone. And then there's the whole thing with the GeForce4 MX.)

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On another topic, I want to upgrade my computer (AMD 700Mhz Athlon, 256MB PC100 RAM, TNT2 Ultra 32MB, AGP 2x and some other stuff - FIC SD-11 Mobo).

Should I get a new motherboard/ram/cpu or upgrade my video card first? Which will give me better performance imediately until I can upgrade the other?

Also, I play emulated games a lot (like 'epsxe' - the playstation emulator, makes psone games look way better than the ps2 makes them look). Which will make the emulators run faster (they run just under fast enough on my current rig, and newer pc games are starting to stutter)? Is it the same story with regular pc games (meaning video card will make both run faster, or cpu/mobo/ram will make emu run faster but not pc games etc.)?

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Wow that was longer than I originally intended :) If you can help with anything above, please let me know. Thanks.
 
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imported_zenwhen

Senior member
Jun 5, 2002
302
0
0
Question # 1) If you are going to buy a card right now I would say that the ATI Radeon 8500LE 128MB is the best "deal" out there. I love mine, and without *any* difficulty you can OC it to *over* the regular 8500's speeds. Its peformance is on par with most everything else 100 dollars more than it.

You would see no *substantial* benefit paying more for the nearest Nvidia product, the Ti4200. And you would lose out on the obvious 2D quality edge that ATI has owned for quite some time.

Question #2) For the needs you mentioned... you would be better off with the mobo/cpu upgrade. A video card *will not* stretch the usefullness of an old chip as most seem to think it will. Those emulated games were built for systems with very little more power than a TNT 2. They will love the extra bandwidth of some DDR, and an Athlon XP or P4.

Concl.) Get the 1.6a and a nice cheaper board like the P4S333.... I love mine.

OH... and welcome to the boards!
 
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Czar

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
28,510
0
0
Wait a week for the Parhelia comes out.

also the geforce and radeon are not that well suited for 3d apps, but good for the money.
 
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imported_zenwhen

Senior member
Jun 5, 2002
302
0
0
Wait a week for the Parhelia comes out.

also *the geforce and radeon are not that well suited for 3d apps* , but good for the money.
Click to expand...

That statement was verbal ass juice.

Am I blind or did you just block off The entire G-force and Radeon card lines and say that they arent suited for 3D apps?

The Parhelia isnt even out and you are already saying it renders those two lines "not well suited" in what they do best?

I smell a pre-release fanboy.... the screens I have seen so far show it obviously lacks in image quality.
 
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ScottyB

Diamond Member
Jan 28, 2002
6,677
1
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You would think with all that money they "spent" on those programs they could buy a better video card.
 
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Czar

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
28,510
0
0
Originally posted by: xzenwhenx
Wait a week for the Parhelia comes out.

also *the geforce and radeon are not that well suited for 3d apps* , but good for the money.
Click to expand...

That statement was verbal ass juice.

Am I blind or did you just block off The entire G-force and Radeon card lines and say that they arent suited for 3D apps?

The Parhelia isnt even out and you are already saying it renders those two lines "not well suited" in what they do best?

I smell a pre-release fanboy.... the screens I have seen so far show it obviously lacks in image quality.
Click to expand...
well mr knowitall
have you read any of the reviews that compare profesional 3d cards to the mainstream ati and nvidia cards in 3d apps? guess not, the main reason why they arent well suited for it are drivers, they show alot of glitches when displaying models in the viewport.
the reason I say wait for the Parhelia is because I dont know how well it will perform in 3d apps, but its best to wait a week to see

and another thing, what do you mean by ".... the screens I have seen so far show it obviously lacks in image quality"?, please please clarify that statement
 
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imported_zenwhen

Senior member
Jun 5, 2002
302
0
0
Im sorry for the tone I took with you there.... but the guy said he likes the price of the Radeon.. meaning he is going to balk very hard at the price of that Matrox card.

Matrox is optimizing this thing for gaming... so you might see it have the same "flaws" you mentioned in the Radeon and Geforce lines.

My Radeon has no flaws in 3D apps, even overclocked to hell.
 
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Soccerman

Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
6,378
0
0
alot of these graphical glitches aren't due to drivers (I heard ATi had a GOOD openGL driver.. I must be wrong though) though, it's simply the accuracy of the hardware. I think it was Beyond 3D that reviewed the 3DLabs Wildcat III and compared it to I think a Radeon 8500. needless to say there WERE differences, however I don't think that most people would care about a couple of stray dots, because these were zoomed in alot just to see them. Also, in one demo they showed the Radeon 8500 totally not rendering the ground for some reason. I don't think it was innacuracy, so much as driver problems.
 
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Czar

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
28,510
0
0
Originally posted by: xzenwhenx
ooooooooooooooooooooohhhhhh.... a dot.... Im impressed.
Click to expand...
compared to the profesional cards it looks like crap, expecialy if you also compare aa on both cards.
 
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imported_zenwhen

Senior member
Jun 5, 2002
302
0
0
Yeah... I see the ground mising. Is such an obscure result on such an oscure test a damning factor in texture rendering of the 8500 series of cards?

I think not.

You turned this into a discussion about rendering abilities when comparing professional cards to consumer cards, when that was never the discussion to begin with. There is no comparison between a consumer and professional level card when considering rendering capabilities. The two types of cards are not comperable and that is why you pay a premium price for a damn nice Pro Card instead of rendering on a Geforce.

The statement I was maiking is that obviously from the tone and the things that were said in the original post, this guy does not feel like paying that premium price. As was pointed out earlier, it is likely he didnt even *pay* for the 3D SW he was mentioning (you dont *buy* that kind of SW if you even plan to think about using a mid range consumer vid card), and therefore wouldnt be too likely to blow his years allowance on a top level Pro card.

Catch my drift?



 
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CaptainN2

Junior Member
Jun 19, 2002
2
0
0
Thanks guys, for the responses.

You're right I didn't purchase this software and don't plan to for a while (I'll buy it when I start a business). This computer I'm putting together is meant for my brother, who may be attending an art school for 3d animation, and who would like to be able to tinker around at home for in the mean time. (he will probably be using Maya 4 PLE, which I would imagine is meant for consumer cards, and is free)

So my biggest concern was really about compatabililty. Meaning, will the Radeon, which is a better performer for the money, run these apps well enough to learn on, without having to figure out if that funky orb in the sky, is a "glich" or a "feature".

Thanks.
 
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ScottyB

Diamond Member
Jan 28, 2002
6,677
1
0
Originally posted by: CaptainN2
Thanks guys, for the responses.

You're right I didn't purchase this software and don't plan to for a while (I'll buy it when I start a business). This computer I'm putting together is meant for my brother, who may be attending an art school for 3d animation, and who would like to be able to tinker around at home for in the mean time. (he will probably be using Maya 4 PLE, which I would imagine is meant for consumer cards, and is free)

So my biggest concern was really about compatabililty. Meaning, will the Radeon, which is a better performer for the money, run these apps well enough to learn on, without having to figure out if that funky orb in the sky, is a "glich" or a "feature".

Thanks.
Click to expand...

I was just wanking your leg, I have Maya 4.0 also.
 
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