Should I trade Elsa DDR for Radeon DDR?

[bluemax]

Oh crud... Onvia.ca just lowered their price on the Radeon DDR card to $250 Canadian. Just after I get my perfectly fine Elsa Geforce DDR.

Dilemma-time. Do I keep this card with its perfectly fine 2D quality (Elsa, of course) and very nice 3D speed, but slightly sluggish FSAA...
Or send it back and get the Radeon 32MB DDR card for $25 more? Is it really worth it??

Bear in mind this is running off a Celeron 450A...

I've heard some complaints that the Radeon does not work well with all the games out there... how much worse off is it for compatibility than the Geforce DDR?

Is the colour vibrance THAT much better?

Of course, if another Onvia coupon comes up, I'll just sell this card locally and buy a Radeon anyways.
It's a lot of hassle... if I go for it, it better darn well be good! :|

EDIT!! Isn't there a mail-in rebate with the Radeon 32MB DDR?? Is that still in effect? Does it apply to Canadians? If it does, then it's a done deal- unless there's serious issues to sort out with compatibility.

 

[Taz4158]

Get the damned Radeon! Trust me on this. Have I ever let you down?

 

[bluemax]

Okay... how about a bit more to back that up...
The guys at Onvia are going to hate me.

Bought & returned V7100MX
Bought & ?returned Elsa Erazor X2

They're gonna' wonder what I'm up to.
So just how big of a difference I can expect?

 

[Deeko]

I'd say the Radeon will definitly be worth the small extra cost. It will be faster, better quality, more features....

 

[Taz4158]

<< So just how big of a difference I can expect? >>


A large difference in every parameter. As for Onvia, they'll learn to live with you!

 

[lsd]

.

 

[bluemax]

My wife is gonna' kill me. She let me buy the video card (even though the money came from selling my old card exactly!) on the condition I STOP @$%^ING WELL GO ON AND ON ABOUT VIDEO CARDS!!! :Q She won't be happy to see me pack this up and send it away again...

You see my worries? There better be a HUGE difference if both quality and speed, as well as rock-solid reliable for me to take this chance! :Q
Of course, if it's as good as Taz says, I should be a happy camper.

Mind you, why do I bother? I don't play all that many 3D games ANYWAYS! I should have almost just stuck with my V3-3500TV!

I really want Monkey Island 4 though!

 

[bluemax]

Whoa... you thread crap or something? I blinked and I missed that one.

 

[lsd]

No i didn't
I just miss-read something
BTW: you should trade in the DDR

 

[bluemax]

Falling and not getting much attention...
Seriously folks, I need to decide soon...

 

[duragezic]

I'd get the Radeon DDR. It's a well-rounded card and the compatibility is FINE. The drivers kind of suck now (hope you're not running Win2k) but they are getting better.

 

[Taz4158]

What are you waiting for?????????/

 

[bluemax]

ATI won't give me a developers' discount because I suck. I'm not a full-fledged development company is more like it.
I now just have to contact ATI Sales and see if there's a mail-in rebate still in effect, and whether I can utilize that here in Canada.
One can only hope.
If there's a rebate I'll do it - if not, I don't think it's worth the bother. Noone can tell me that I'll see much difference so it's a lot of effort for little (no?) gain.
Everyone just says &quot;yes&quot; or &quot;no&quot; with no reason to back it up.... :| Oh well... I should have expected that.

 

[kendogg]

Well I don't really know much about either card.... but maybe you can read up on some reviews right here on anandtech.com and decide for yourself?

 

[BenSkywalker]

Trade it in.

The Radeon DDR is much faster then a GeForce DDR in all non pro 3D applications.

The Radeon has excellent 2D quality with nearly all monitors.

The Radeon has the best video playback support out of any card, bar none.

The Radeon edges out the DDR in feature support.

The Radeon DDR is much faster then a GeForce DDR in all non pro 3D applications.

The Radeon is a generation ahead of the GF DDR, if you had a GF2 I would say not to bother, but you should see a noticeable performance difference between the Radeon and your DDR, particularly with some of the more intensive games coming out(no idea about MonkeyIsland4, or if you are serious about it, but Giants absolutely crushes the GeForce DDR(FPS drop to sub 10 in many areas at 10x7 32bit) if you want to play at high res with all eye candy on).

 

[Taz4158]

<< Everyone just says &quot;yes&quot; or &quot;no&quot; with no reason to back it up.... Oh well... I should have expected that. >>


As much as I'd like to see you get one you can't expect us to do your homework for you, or to know what your tastes are. Do a Google, search here, there is a lot of information if you're willing to look for it.

 

[bluemax]

Hey, give me some credit - I've researched these darn things to death... I know all about the extra texture unit (2pipes x 3textures versus DDR's 4x1 and the GTS's 4x1-2 (only 2 if you take ugly bilinear filtering)).
People talk about its extra colour vibrance, but I guess that's something I'll just have to see for myself.
Speed... I may not see it on my 450A, but I won't run this CPU forever.

Well, maybe I should go for it... The only people saying &quot;no&quot; are the &quot;nVidiots&quot; who are totally stuck on 'em. Maybe I should sell it, although with that GTS deal, I might have a hard time with that...

I hope Onvia doesn't give me a hard time... I have to convince them I have a GOOD reason to return it before they give me free shipping for the return.
&quot;It works perfectly, but the customer just doesn't want it...&quot; Doesn't sound good does it..

 

[goggleax]

Wanna trade? I have 2 Radeon's 32 DDR and I kinda wanna play around with a GeForce. I'll trade you one of my Radeon's for that Elsa? Although I am in Ohio (USA) so we may have to be creative with the shipping.

Either way... LMK

work e-mail(days) weiherw@nationwide.com

 

[dsuspense]

goggleax:

I have a Gladiac GTS 32Mb DDR that I might trade you for the radeon.
You interested?

 

[goggleax]

dsuspense, very possibly.

bluemax and I spoke over e-mail and he said he would get back to me sometime tomorrow (Sat.)night. So he has dibbs. If that doesn't work out, we can def. talk. Cool?

LMK.