Post # 9700: POLL - any Nvidia users going to the darkside?

[joinT]

Truthfully I'm still quite happy with my R8500 64mb. I can get close to 10K 3Dmark's & any game looks as gorgeous as can be. In all the recent reviews out, it seems the R9700 is whipping the 128mb Ti4600. I'm just curious to see how many (if any) Ti4600/GF4/Nvidia users are seriously contemplating picking up an ATI based 9700 video card, also a good way to celebrate 9700 posts

VOTE~!

 

[Mem]

Not at the moment,I`m quite happy with my GF2 Ti,I`ll be upgrading by the time Doom3 comes out but at the moment just enjoying all the reviews etc and looking forward to the other 3D cards coming down the road .

 

[joinT]

Same plan here. With my R8500 I have no REAL pressing need to upgrade the video - but all the reviews I've seen for the 9700 so far are GLOWING. Just curious as to what it would take to capture the Nvidia user group

 

[SSXeon5]

Originally posted by: joinT
Same plan here. With my R8500 I have no REAL pressing need to upgrade the video - but all the reviews I've seen for the 9700 so far are GLOWING. Just curious as to what it would take to capture the Nvidia user group

Yeah im building a new rig and keeping my p3 rig for my TV, and other crap Im defently grabben the Hercules 3D Prophet 9700 128MB God that thing is so sick!

SSXeon

 

[GrumpyMan]

I have a VT G3 original overclocked that is still working very well for me now and plays all games. When I come across some game that won't play well then I will definately consider this card if it has good 2-D which is very important to me. And from what I have been reading it will. Besides the price might be lower by then.

 

[Creig]

Definitely. The computers in my house have 1 GeForce3 Ti200, 1 GeForce2 GTS-V, and 2 have GeForce 256's. But as soon as the newer revision of the R300 (R350?) All-In-Wonder is released on a 0.13 micron wafer, DDR-II & the 2nd texture unit on each pipeline I'll be picking one up.

The main reason that I stayed away from ATI so long was their horrible record for driver releases. They would never update them and seemed not to care if they ever did. Now they seem more commited to end-user satisfaction (a.k.a. - NVidia) and their hardware is impressive, to say the least.

Although I seem to be pro-Nvidia, I'm actually pro-whoever-can-give-me-the-best-bang-for-the-buck-with-the-fewest-driver-problems. And for the first time in years, that happens to be ATI.

 

[digim0rtal]

I've had a Voodoo 3, Radeon, GF2, GF3 Ti500, Radeon 8500, and GF4 Ti4500....


I must say that I have had better luck with the ATi products, and I will be trying to stick with them from here on out.

 

[joinT]

Originally posted by: Creig

Although I seem to be pro-Nvidia, I'm actually pro-whoever-can-give-me-the-best-bang-for-the-buck-with-the-fewest-driver-problems. And for the first time in years, that happens to be ATI.

well put

 

[SupermanCK]

Originally posted by: joinT

Originally posted by: Creig

Although I seem to be pro-Nvidia, I'm actually pro-whoever-can-give-me-the-best-bang-for-the-buck-with-the-fewest-driver-problems. And for the first time in years, that happens to be ATI.

well put

same goes here

 

[bunnyfubbles]

Is a horrible driver record still a valid argument against ATI? I keep seeing people post that they are going to wait for nVidia's next chip and their primary reason is that ATI has horrible drivers that are hardly ever updated. WTF is that? I don't know what those people are thinking, sure I am aware of ATI's past reputation with drivers for products pre 7500/8500 but as far as I'm concerned ATI got it right with the 8500. With terrible drivers for the 8500 upon the product's preview, it seems to me that ATI has kicked driver development into high gear and they haven't slipped up a bit so far. During the time I have had my 8500, drivers were not only very solid but frequently updated, especially if you looked into grabbing the beta leaks of which I never had problems with leaked drivers over official ones. On top of that updated drivers have greatly improved performace. The 8500 once had trouble competing with a GeForce 3, now it not only outshines a GeForce 3 Ti 500 but it is nipping that the heels of a GeForce 4 Ti 4200. WTF is wrong with ATI's drivers? Frequent, stable, and fast. Are those bad qualities to have for drivers? Maybe I've been mislead all this time.... :| ATI has even gone and made Linux drivers for the 8500...really horible service there considering ATI hasn't had driver support for Linux ever as far as I know.

To top it off the 9700 has solid drivers to start out with with only minor bugs that are bound to be quickly fixed. I doubt the drivers for the 9700 are as "fast" as they'll be so I won't be surprised if we see further enhanced performance from the 9700 down the road.

I'll probably end up with some version of the R300 upon the debut of the NV30. Why? The Ti 200 and Ti 4200 budget solutions from nVidia came later than their more expensive counterparts, so we probably won't see an NV30 power board for very cheap any time soon. And by the time the NV30 debuts, there are bound to be price drops and other incarnations of the R300 with a lower price tag. I'll just have to wait and see which chip is to be in my next video card...

 

[joinT]

I have to agree. Drivers for Radeon & up haven't been that bad at all. I'm tempted to just skip the 9700 & wait to see what comes after from ATI.

 

[Actaeon]

Running a GF3 Ti200 @ 240/544, it plays my games just fine. Also considering how much it cost, and my rig isn't so great (Still using SDR, and a classic Tbird Athlon), I have no real need for this upgrade, as a new mobo and CPU would probally be best.. I don't consider myself a Nvidia fanboy, but I have always used Nvidia cards, and love them, but the R9700 really impresses me, espically with AA and AF kicked in.

Basically, if I had the needs for it, the money, and a rig worthy of using an R300, then yes, I would purchase one...

But, thats not the situation, so I will not purchase one.

Not sure which of those to vote on... so perhaps, give the options of "I'd like to see the results", or "No Need/No Money".

 

[BFG10K]

At this stage I'm 99% sure I'll be upgrading my Ti4600 to a Radeon 9700 Pro. ATi's initial drivers look excellent and the speed and image quality of the card looks great too.

 

[joinT]

Originally posted by: Actaeon

But, thats not the situation, so I will not purchase one.

Not sure which of those to vote on... so perhaps, give the options of "I'd like to see the results", or "No Need/No Money".

If you aren't considering an upgrade - then vote no

 

[joinT]

Originally posted by: BFG10K
At this stage I'm 99% sure I'll be upgrading my Ti4600 to a Radeon 9700 Pro. ATi's initial drivers look excellent and the speed and image quality of the card looks great too.

That's the kind of response I was looking for. Seeing if the 9700 had made any converts

 

[Wolfsraider]

darkside hmmm... nice choice of words

i will be looking at this card as my next upgrade so yes

 

[Saist]

Considering I've used ATi, Nvidia, Matrox, and 3Dfx, to say the Radeon 9700 converted me is not quite true. If anything, it's encouraged me that there will be competition back in the video market. I mean, look at the Intel vs. AMD deal. Intels turning out higher and higher chips like never before in answer to the Athlons, and AMD's "Hammering" right back. Some one pointed out on a Ziff Davis forum that if there wasn't AMD, we'd probably still be under 700mhz on our Pentium II's with Intel running the show.

ATi has finally upped the ante on Nvidia, and as this site itself mentions, still has room to grow with the 9700. Matrox has the Parhelia, which is rumored to be going back into the labs for a gaming edition... 3dlabs is now owned by Creative...

Mm, competition. I wonder what graphics cards we will be looking at next summer if ATi, Nvidia, and Matrox keep this up...

 

[geoff2k]

My first 3D card was a Voodoo Rush-based hercules stingray. Not a great beginning. ;-) I quickly jumped over to Nvidia based cards, and went from a TNT to a TNT2 to a Geforce2/MX400 (my current card).

I'm now in the market for new cards for two home machines, and ATI is getting serious consideration. They definitely seem to be getting their act together on the driver side, and the 64MB 8500 is at the "right" price point.

The plan is to buy a 8500, and if it works out, buy a second ATI-based card for the other box. If not, I'll sell the 8500 and buy another round of Nvidia.

 

[joinT]

hehe, this is a pretty nice discussion going on here

Wolfsraider - is this your sig? LOL funny to see you in this thread

-------------------------
Intel or AMD - who cares?! Nvidia or ATI - who cares?! Windows or Linux - who cares?! It's about the experience. The technology. It's the journey, not the destination. There is no end point. No perfect buy. No perfect company. No perfect chip. Stop looking for your identity in a piece of hardware!
author= smp
although ati just made it more interesting

geoff2k - you'll definitely be happy w/ the R8500

 

[AdvancedRobotics]

Well, I'm not an nVidia user, and no I'm not going to the darkside. In fact, I'm going to neither side, as I am selling my computer. My parents computer has a Viper 330, and my laptop has... I have no clue (its an old ibm 560e).

But next year I will most likely be building a new computer, and, again, I will be on neither side, I will most likely get the Parhelia then. And I want to get a VooDoo 5 PCI (just for fun--I just really want this card, no particular reason, just want it for collectors sake).

I don't pick sides, I pick whats best for me. And whats best for me is neither ATi nor nVidia at this point.

 

[joinT]

Originally posted by: Asuka
Well, I'm not an nVidia user, and no I'm not going to the darkside.

- how did this thread interest you ?

 

[AdvancedRobotics]

Originally posted by: joinT

Originally posted by: Asuka
Well, I'm not an nVidia user, and no I'm not going to the darkside.

- how did this thread interest you ?

I wanted to know why you called ATi the darkside...

Never did find that out by looking around, but I thought I'd post anyways!

 

[joecool]

keeping with my "strategy" (i'm cheap & poor) of buying the last generation of gpu's when the new one comes out, even tho i'd LOVE to get the 9700, i'll probably be getting a ti4600 sometime soon. with the prices around $250 & dropping, i figure a little patience ought to get me a truely kick-ass card at a bargain price in a month or so. and then, of course, when the nv30 (or whatever the new nvidia part is supposed to be called), i'll be upgrading to a 9700 ...

 

[PeeluckyDuckee]

Still holding up on my Voodoo5. Owned a couple of ATI cards and many variations of the Geforce line of video cards, even owned a Matrox G400 too. I'm not the kind that you can possibly classify as being on one side or another, so bringing me to the darkside or lightside or toastyside does not apply. I get what's simply best bang for the buck at that moment in time. If ATI happens to have it when I lay out the dough, then it shall be them. From the looks of it right now, my next upgrade will be from ATI.

 

[joinT]

Originally posted by: Asuka
I wanted to know why you called ATi the darkside...
Never did find that out by looking around, but I thought I'd post anyways!

ahh, it's because after my GF2 MX Dual-Head, I got a Radeon & never bought an Nvidia card again.