yet another radeon vs gf2 pro dilemma

[Alex]

hey i know this is like the most common question but id like to hear what you guys think:

i currently have a viper2 32mb .... i recently bought a 64mb radeon vivo ddr (mainly cuz of price).
i live in brazil. since i bought the radeon in america i can sell it at a high price here (its in the box still, i havent opened) and buy an asus geforce2 pro 64 mb ddr.

the thing is as far as driver support and 3d performance, correct me if im wrong, but the gf2 owns the radeon...as for 2d... well truth is the viper2 is really cutting it for me just fine so as long as the gf2 is up to par with the viper2 im cool with that.

does it look like ati will smarten up with drivers? i dont plan to use the vivo in the radeon. im essentially a hardcore gamer and am very intolerant with slow load times and lag etc... lol (arent we all?!)

thx!

 

[BenSkywalker]

You may have a Radeon SE in that box which is faster then the normal Radeon scores you have seen, although it could be one of the "old" Radeons also. The GF2Pro will be faster overall in FPS, but if you are comparing a Radeon SE to a standard Pro then there likely isn't going to be a huge difference. The Asus GF2s do have some of the worst 2D of any of the nVidia boards, are you able to pick up a Gainward, Elsa or VisionTek Pro for a like amount of money? If so then they likely will satisfy your FPS needs better without suffering nearly as bad 2D as the Asus(and the Gainward GeForce2 Pro450 in particular is nearly an Ultra in performance).

 

[CaiNaM]

not sure I would agree with the visiontek, as I've read many complaints regarding it's 2d. part of it depends on the resolution/refresh you normally run on your 2d desktop. up to 1024x768 they are all acceptable, but above that not all the gf2's maintain decent 2d iq.

I have read many good post of the 2d iq with leadtek, and having an elsa I know it's good from experience.

the gainward may be hit or miss.. the 2d on their gf3 is the same as my radeon, but the ther first gainward gf2/pro in my wife's machine was fine up to 1280, but not as good as my gf3 at 1600x1200.. I rma'd it and the new one is better. the only difference I notices was the rma replacement had a newer bios, but dunno if that had anything to do with it or not.

 

[Alex]

thx for the help!!

thing is ill be running 1280x1024 on 32bit color....

like the viper2 can do it fine... therefore the asus geforce 2 pro can?

theres no other deal... its the asus or nothing.. plus in brazil asus is the most common....

how do i know if my radeon is new or old?

 

[BenSkywalker]

"how do i know if my radeon is new or old?"

Checking the RAM to see if it is 5ns or 5.5ns

 

[BaDNaN0TH0N]

the visiontek cards are usualy very good, since they make them for elsa. and elsa is known to have some of the best geforce 2d since they dont use cheap filters

 

[EMAN]

If your a hard core gamer by all means go with Nvidia.

 

[dfloyd]

My Ati Radeon was hit and miss, at times I would love its beautiful colors and graphics and at times I would hate it (UT, Rogue Spear, etc). Too much hit and miss. I guess 3dfx spoiled me with the compatiblity they used to have. Everything I threw at my Voodoo III and Voodoo II ran like a champ. Sold my Radeon and got a Gainward Geforce III Powerpack Gold now and could not be happier. Even on a 600 mhz Athlon I run Max Payne at 1024 x 768 x 32 color with 32 bit textures all features max, Anistropic filtering and 4x fsaa with no slow down. God I love it. I used to hate Nvidia and am still not sure I like them as a company (Act too much like Intel imo). But they make one hell of a good video card.

 

[Alex]

i guess thx!

thing is the driver thing is really a big issue for me cuz nothing pisses me off than running software or not at all....

benskywalker: is there any way i can check that without atually unpackaging the card? and without actually runnign it?

just curiosity i guess... i think ill go with nvidia...

i like to think of them as AMD... the underdog thats coming to power!!! 3dfx was intel... but 3dfx is D E A D... hmmm does that premeditate intel`s demise?

 

[CaiNaM]

<< the visiontek cards are usualy very good, since they make them for elsa. and elsa is known to have some of the best geforce 2d since they dont use cheap filters >>



visiontek does build them for elsa, but to elsa's specs... just because they both use the 'reference' design does not mean they are the same card, and it's quite probable that visiontek could use the less expensive filters, as well as other components to meet their low pricepoint .

 

[CaiNaM]

<< thx for the help!!

thing is ill be running 1280x1024 on 32bit color....

like the viper2 can do it fine... therefore the asus geforce 2 pro can?

theres no other deal... its the asus or nothing.. plus in brazil asus is the most common....

how do i know if my radeon is new or old? >>



you may also find this article to be of interest:

ATI Radeon 32DDR vs nVidia GeForce2 GTS

keep in mind that this isn't even the "pro", but rather the gts. the radeon with faster mem would do sligthly better as well....

 

[dfloyd]

Actually you would be mistaken if you thought of Nvidia as AMD as they themselves have always wanted to be the next Intel. 3dfx just wanted to make graphics cards (For the most part). Nvidia wants their names on every chip sold. Just like Intel does. I know its just business but they are anti-competitive when it comes to companies carrying more than just their products. Just look at Hercules and the Kyro. They do make a good product though. But they are much more like Intel than AMD.

 

[Alex]

i suppose you have a point

 

[Rand]

nVidia acts a lot more like Intel and Microsoft in their monopolistic attitudes and anti-competitive practices.

I would agree they make excellent video cards, with good driver support.... but as a company they could hardly be worse.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

The way I see it is that anyone can argue it either way (but then I again I would also recomend not to even bother).

1. Intel produces products (Pentium) which are high priced and low performing when compared to the low priced AMD products. nVidia produces very high performing products in comparison to competitively priced products of, let's say from ATI.

2. There is only one Intel. nVidia and ATI both produce GPUs for casual video rendering and for the professional level as well. Both companies produce multimedia solution products and both companies have a hand in the hardware of next gen console systems. ATI and nVidia have many products of which are similar performing with similar prices. Does this mean the Video market has two Intels? No I think not. As long as a company is producing a very good product for a more than a fair price, I have no problem with it. I even encourage it.

We are certainly not comparing apples to apples here now are we?

3Dfx went under because it could not survive the intense video chip market, arguably one of the toughest competing markets in the computer industry. 3Dfx did produce very excellent products in its younger and ultimately better days. 3Dfx gained a firm foundation as the top dog in the video card industry, a foundation that would take large amounts of TNT and TNT2 as well as strongly applied GeForces, to shatter.