Quality/Longevity concerns regarding ATi

[eriznik]

I was all set to buy a new ATi Radeon card...specifically, the Asus 4870 1GB Dark Knight, that is, until my current ATi card started with the artifacts (again).

Let's back up a little for some history.

I had been a long time nVidia customer, all the way back to the days of the GeForce 2 (circa 2000 I think). I always liked their cards, never had driver problems, and most importantly, every nVidia card I ever had never broke. However, about a couple years ago, I built a new system and decided to give ATi a go and bought a X1900 GT.

The card was very nice, and I swear the colors seemed richer than any previous nVidia card I had owned (might just be my imagination). All was well until about the 8th or 9th month of having the card when it began producing artifacts in games. They steadily got worse over the course of about 2 months until the card would just freeze up within 10 minutes of game play. OK, that was the first card I had break on me through normal usage. I figured it was bound to happen sooner or later. I had it replaced with a new X1900 GT. And guess what, deja vu. Card worked great for about 8 months until over the last couple weeks when I started noticing the same type of artifacts appearing in games (btw, I should point out that I clean my case regularly to keep the air flowing, and the case is very well vented with several fans). The artifacts get worse (more frequent and persistent) every time I play a game.

Which brings me back to present. I am now having second thoughts about getting another ATi card. When I got my first ATi card, I was all worried about drivers (that seemed to be what everyone complained about). But I never have had driver problems with ATi (or nVidia). It seems it's the quality of the hardware itself that has failed me in regrads to ATi.

I know the GTX 260 216 and the 4870 are damn close in performance and I could care less that one is 4 frames faster than the other in game x at resolution y with AA z. I know either card will run any game I am interested in smoothly. What I care about is that the card produces nice image quality and that the hardware will last (at least two years worth of longevity).

So keeping in mind that I am not particularly loyal to either company, I was wondering if anyone else has experienced consistent quality and/or longevity problems with the cards of either company. I am just looking for input and opinions based on personal experience. Should I go back to nVidia or stick it out with ATi?

 

[Andrew1990]

I have had both experiences with both companies chips. I had to RMA a geforce 6600 several times because it kept overheating due to a passive design before they replaced the card with an ATI X800XT(Gigabyte). I also had a Radeon 9600 poop on me after about 6 months and sappire(The cards brand) told me it wasnt even their card when it was clearly their name on it.

I have also had good cards from both. My old Radeon 9200 never died and went strong for years and I have several Geforce 2s and 3s I still use as back up cards.



Every company is bound to have several bad cards in a bunch that they ship.

 

[SolMiester]

Ok, My personal opinion is, that since the 8xxx series, NV has had equal or better IQ than ATi, hardware wise, I think both team have had their fair share of hick up, however it is MHO that ATi card have the worst cooling systems, and noisiest fans. There are some that say NV has hot loud cards also, however I haven't experienced that.

It has been many users experience with ATi driver releases of late that new games fixes are done monthly at the expense of breaking other games performance, however unless you have the x2 sandwich, this isnt a big issue....

The problem with checking the forums for product issues from the 2 camps in that you will only hear of the problem cards, not from those who are happy with their purchase.

For me, I just cant be bother with driver updates every month, or finding the best driver for the game I am playing at the moment...

Best bang for buck maybe the ATi 4850 at present, however I have had 2 out of ATi cards fail on me v 0 out of 3 NV cards....

Make of that as you will.....

 

[SlowSpyder]

The only cards I've ever had fail on me were two Nvidia based (BFG actually) 6800's. I wouldn't worry too much about it either way, just like me with the 6800's sounds like you just had a run of bad luck.

Since you've been burned by failing cards before, I'd just get whichever is the better buy for you (the GTX260 or 4870) with a good warranty. Also, the Asus card you mentioned does use a upgraded cooler, that should help keep it cool and extend the life... but honestly I would think a reference 4870/GTX260 would be fine... just make sure you're happy with the warranty of what you get.

I was looking at the Sapphire Toxic edition 4870 myself... looks like they have a 2 year warranty which should be fine for me, but if you plan on keeping the card for longer then that obviously that won't do it for you.

 

[Bateluer]

I ran a Radeon 9600 Pro for 18 months, a 6800GT for 2 years, a Radeon X1900XT for about a year, a Radeon HD 2900XT, and currently a Radeon 4870 since July.

Prior to the 9600 Pro, I had a GF3 Ti200 and before that a GF1 DDR, and before that a Voodoo 3 2000 . . .

 

[LordGestle]

I have had hardware failures on both sides, so I wouldn't consider one being better quality than the other. The gpu heatsinks are a good point, but both sides have good and bad. Example the 9800GTX has a nice dual slot heatsink stock. However the <=9800GT are not the greatest. Same goes on the ATI side. Higher end models have nicer cooling compared to midrange.
However, one area that Nvida has ATI beat is warranty service. I have yet to see as many threads stating "EVGA, XFX, BFG was kick a$$ on my RMA" on the ati side. For as many great experiences I see for those partners I probably see as many "Sapphire is not answering my emails, they want 15$ RMA fee, they don't have a replacement in stock and told me I can take this lesser card or wait 4+ weeks" and/or some other story.
I have seen a few good reports with Visiontek, and as they are the only lifetime warranty vendor I would go with that partner if going with ATI. They still charge a RMA processing fee, but I wouldn't dare going with an offshore partner. Offshore is great for reducing price but terrible for support.
If you want a guarantee to have smooth RMA if a problem were to occur, I would stick with EVGA, BFG, or XFX.
Just for reference I have 2 ATI Cards (HD4850, 3850) and 2 Nvidia cards (260gx, 7600GT), but I have owned many starting from 3DFX Voodoo 1.

 

[Goldfish4209]

Before I knew any adequate amount about computers I got a crappy ati on black friday that failed, then a crappy nvidia that failed. This has no real significance.

Now I have a 3870, going strong for about a year now.

 

[dguy6789]

All of my old ATI cards still work to this day, only one of my old nvidia cards still works.

 

[IlllI]

if you oc you probably have a higher chance of it failing after a while.

that being said, i still have to radeon 9800s and an x800 running perfectly to this day

 

[Creig]

I have a GF256 in my garage computer that has been working 24/7 for I don't know how many years now. My daughter's computer has a soft-modded 9500 non-Pro (aka 9700) that has been cranking away for years as well. If either the 260 or the 4870 will work fine for you and you say you want either one to last for at least two years, then just pick one of the cards that has at least a two year warranty.

 

[SolMiester]

Originally posted by: Creig
I have a GF256 in my garage computer that has been working 24/7 for I don't know how many years now. My daughter's computer has a soft-modded 9500 non-Pro (aka 9700) that has been cranking away for years as well. If either the 260 or the 4870 will work fine for you and you say you want either one to last for at least two years, then just pick one of the cards that has at least a two year warranty.

Thats got to be circa 2000....nice!

 

[eriznik]

Thanks for all your input everyone. I guess it's a total crapshoot when it comes to video cards. Maybe it was just the X1900 GT model in particular that was cursed. Anyway, I think I am going to go ahead with the Asus card after all. It has a 3 year warranty which is good enough, and from what I have read about the dark knight line is that the upgraded heatsink/fan works superbly well. I figure I should at least give ATi a full three strikes before calling them out. Cheers everyone!

E.