Why are so many dumping ati back to nvidia?

[solofly]

blame should rest on Blizzard as the idea of releasing a PC game in 2010 without AA support seems simply insane. And perhaps ATI will integrate AA override support by the official launch of the title

http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=958&type=expert&pid=3

The last game I bought from Blizzard was WC3 and now Im wondering if I should get this thing...

 

[SlowSpyder]

http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=958&type=expert&pid=3

The last game I bought from Blizzard was WC3 and now Im wondering if I should get this thing...

Yea, Blizzard would certainly be first to blame in my opinion. How they didn't add that to this game is beyond me. It's 2010, AA should be pretty standard. It sounds like AMD isn't really to blame, but at the same time their competitor is going above and beyond to make AA work. So it's certainly a feather in Nvidia's cap, even if not really a ding against AMD.

 

[akugami]

AMD's lack of an AA profile for Starcraft is a fail. AMD shoulda included it in their drivers by now. For those with AMD cards, you can use RadeonPro or ATI Tray Tools to enable AA so you're not outta luck.

And AMD's lack of AA in Starcraft is highly off topic. Shoulda been in new thread.

 

[MrK6]

AMD's lack of an AA profile for Starcraft is a fail. AMD shoulda included it in their drivers by now. For those with AMD cards, you can use RadeonPro or ATI Tray Tools to enable AA so you're not outta luck.

And AMD's lack of AA in Starcraft is highly off topic. Shoulda been in new thread.

Well, is it a reason "so many are dumping ati back to nvidia?"

 

[Wreckage]

AMD's lack of an AA profile for Starcraft is a fail. AMD shoulda included it in their drivers by now. For those with AMD cards, you can use RadeonPro or ATI Tray Tools to enable AA so you're not outta luck.

It could be a reason people are going to NVIDIA. Other games that have NVIDIA only features like Just Cause 2, Mafia II, Metro 2033, etc. Could be. Obviously the performance between a 460 and a 5850 would not be reason enough to switch.

And AMD's lack of AA in Starcraft is highly off topic. Shoulda been in new thread.

Maybe a mod could split out this part into its own thread.

 

[Qbah]

Well, is it a reason "so many are dumping ati back to nvidia?"

The thing is... it's not only SC2. It's most UE3 games. If you're running them from Steam there's no way to force AA. With retail copies there are workarounds (change to ut3.exe). But it's a lame workaround and doesn't work for Steam games. Not to mention even with retail copies, authorization issues with DLC pretty much kill this way too.

You can force AA on nVidia cards by making profiles in nHancer for specific executables. You can link the driver-level AA in UE3 to any executable (can't do that on ATi and it's only implemented for "ut3.exe").

I most certainly did not buy a HD5850 to run my games without AA... Really pisses me off sometimes. And it will REALLY piss me off if that hotfix won't be here tomorrow. I did not pre-order my SC2 copy to wait a week to play it in full glory.

EDIT: But let me be clear. Even though it's something that upsets me on occasions, it's not something that would make me switch from my HD5850 to a GTX460/GTX470. I value:
1. Noise
2. Performance
3. IQ
In that order. GTX470 is totally out due to noise, GTX460 is slower.

 

[Scali]

Well, they don't say "nVidia: The Way It's Meant To Be Played" for nothing..

And well, nVidia comes from the Latin 'invidia': envy or jealousy

 

[Arkaign]

The thing is... it's not only SC2. It's most UE3 games. If you're running them from Steam there's no way to force AA. With retail copies there are workarounds (change to ut3.exe). But it's a lame workaround and doesn't work for Steam games. Not to mention even with retail copies, authorization issues with DLC pretty much kill this way too.

You can force AA on nVidia cards by making profiles in nHancer for specific executables. You can link the driver-level AA in UE3 to any executable (can't do that on ATi and it's only implemented for "ut3.exe").

I most certainly did not buy a HD5850 to run my games without AA... Really pisses me off sometimes. And it will REALLY piss me off if that hotfix won't be here tomorrow. I did not pre-order my SC2 copy to wait a week to play it in full glory.

EDIT: But let me be clear. Even though it's something that upsets me on occasions, it's not something that would make me switch from my HD5850 to a GTX460/GTX470. I value:
1. Noise
2. Performance
3. IQ
In that order. GTX470 is totally out due to noise, GTX460 is slower.

It's a bit apples to oranges, but :

The 460 1GB overclocked is *slightly* faster than stock 5850, and noise is equal (according to AT review/roundup). Power consumption favors the 5850 though.

Of course the 5850 can be overclocked, and that will send it beyond 460's reach, but I would assume that would also increase noise a bit as well.

 

[mv2devnull]

A more generic form of the question is: why some users do purchase new hardware when their current setup appears adequate to regular user.

There can be multiple reasons for that.

 

[pmv]

Some sort of observer-bias, probably.

Also, some people have loads of cash and no drug habit so they have to dispose of it some other way.

Me, I'm _still_ waiting for prices to fall. Its like waiting for a glacier to melt. Looked like something might shift with the 460 release, but, nope, 58x0 prices here haven't budged (other than _one_ retailer offering _one_ model about 10% cheaper than previously).

 

[Axon]

I've been tempted by the 5850 and the 5870, but just can't justify the cost v. performance bump from my 4890. The only nvidia card currently interesting to me is the GTX 460 (for my LAN rig), which looks like a winning piece of hardware.

Otherwise, I'm waiting to see what's coming down the pipe for the next gen. The 4890 still does everything I want it to do. Crysis and Metro hold no interest for me. So why drop $300+? I realize its hard to fight the technolust, but sometimes you gotta draw the line.

 

[darkewaffle]

It does seem like there are a lot of 5xxx cards popping up in FS/T and other forum markets, or I thought it looked that way. So far though, I'm absolutely loving my 5770. Does everything I need it to, and probably more.

 

[akugami]

It could be a reason people are going to NVIDIA. Other games that have NVIDIA only features like Just Cause 2, Mafia II, Metro 2033, etc. Could be. Obviously the performance between a 460 and a 5850 would not be reason enough to switch.


Maybe a mod could split out this part into its own thread.

I don't think the issue is big enough for anyone to move from an ATI card to an nVidia card. I've looked at the screenshot comparisons and while it's noticeable, you'd really have to be zoomed in to notice the majority of the differences. I'd question anyone who has the time to compare screenshots in the middle of an RTS game. Especially one as frenetically paced as Starcraft 2.

Furthermore there is still no solid data to support speculation, and it is speculation, that a lot of people are moving from ATI to nVidia. I think we have to wait for sales data before we can make that conclusion.

 

[Wreckage]

I don't think the issue is big enough for anyone to move from an ATI card to an nVidia card. I've looked at the screenshot comparisons and while it's noticeable, you'd really have to be zoomed in to notice the majority of the differences. I'd question anyone who has the time to compare screenshots in the middle of an RTS game. Especially one as frenetically paced as Starcraft 2.

Furthermore there is still no solid data to support speculation, and it is speculation, that a lot of people are moving from ATI to nVidia. I think we have to wait for sales data before we can make that conclusion.

I started a new thread for the AA issue.
http://forums.anandtech.com/forumdisplay.php?f=8

It's 100% pure speculation. Even with sales data we won't know why someone bought card x. This thread seems like more of a "slow news day" discussion.

 

[nyker96]

I have a feeling this thread is going to turn into 30pages. I don't think there's a need to read the same NV vs ATI type of thread again and again just with different title. sigh, just let is rest.

 

[SHAQ]

How many people does the OP know that have done this? It sounds like a generalization based on anecdotal data.

 

[Qbah]

The thing is... it's not only SC2. It's most UE3 games. If you're running them from Steam there's no way to force AA. With retail copies there are workarounds (change to ut3.exe). But it's a lame workaround and doesn't work for Steam games. Not to mention even with retail copies, authorization issues with DLC pretty much kill this way too.

You can force AA on nVidia cards by making profiles in nHancer for specific executables. You can link the driver-level AA in UE3 to any executable (can't do that on ATi and it's only implemented for "ut3.exe").

I most certainly did not buy a HD5850 to run my games without AA... Really pisses me off sometimes. And it will REALLY piss me off if that hotfix won't be here tomorrow. I did not pre-order my SC2 copy to wait a week to play it in full glory.

EDIT: But let me be clear. Even though it's something that upsets me on occasions, it's not something that would make me switch from my HD5850 to a GTX460/GTX470. I value:
1. Noise
2. Performance
3. IQ
In that order. GTX470 is totally out due to noise, GTX460 is slower.

I would like to apologize as it seems I'm way wrong here with the AA thing. I just did some AA testing with Steam's Borderlands and it definitely works. No .exe changes required, just force through CCC. And the performance hit is significant (going from 55-60 the whole time to 30-50 with Adaptive AA x 4 box). Some of the modes give graphical anomalies (SSAA, AAA wide/narrow-tent, edge-detect). But there's an improvement for sure in quality, even with AAA x 4 box. Will test ME1/ME2 later this week.

I was sure it wasn't working right... I tried it when I got my Radeon (and when I had my previous one) and it wasn't definitely working... Well, I'm happy now

 

[happy medium]

I see some people, even ATI fans,are getting a little upset with Ati's drivers.
No big improvements since the 10.3's here.

I would think it's just Nvidia old faithfulls, that just prefer Nvidia more and just switched to ATi until
Nvidia made something in the 200/250$ point that wasen't so power hungry or noisey. Or mabe just because they can?

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2092859

 

[apathy_next2]

I bet Nvidia is still in the heats of many people. The smart ones bought Ati when their products were/are(whatever side you are on) better. Now they have a great chance to jump on the 460 ship and they are doing it.
It could also be that 460 is an amazing card and is close to a 5850 for a cheaper price. Kind of like that 4890 compared to a 275, 285, I forgot which. Sure nvidia had the better perforce but you could get similar with ati for much less. It was a better value.
Fermi sli scaling is bar none as well.
The features contuine.

I agree 5850 for a 460 is not the best move, but for someone looking to get a vid card the 460 is a solid choice, depending on your needs is better buy than a 5850.

Hey also not a bad time to dump your 5850s because you know price cuts are coming! Keep that in mind, you cold make some money as well.

 

[OCGuy]

I wish I bought a 470 for my secondary machine instead of a 5850 now. At the time I bought, 5850 was the better choice though.

 

[Modelworks]

I wish more people would sell off their ATI cards for Nvidia. I could use a few more of them

 

[Wreckage]

I wish more people would sell off their ATI cards for Nvidia. I could use a few more of them

I saw some for sale over at Hardforum (when the site is running). Their FS/FT section is even bigger than AT's (which is pretty good).

Here is someone trying to trade a 5850 for a 460.
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2092852

Maybe there is a trend? :hmm:

Probably not a very big trend though.

 

[netxzero64]

my friend sold his MSI 5870 lightning for a GTX 460 LOL! very stupid

 

[SlowSpyder]

I wish I bought a 470 for my secondary machine instead of a 5850 now. At the time I bought, 5850 was the better choice though.

Out of curiosity, why? Just because the 470's current prices? Overclock the hell out of that 5850, they beg for it.