2nd hand graphics card. Ati or Nvida?

[B@Th*nG]

2nd hand graphics card for £100~. Ati or Nvida?

Hi guys,

Just looking at a 5870 for the £100 mark and have hear mixed things about about the ati and nvidia offerings at that price bracket. The Ati's seem to use less power but have worse drivers, is that the case? Should i just get a 460 instead as it's a bit cheaper and wait until the new offerings come out and buy a newer older card then, if that makes sense?

B@

 

[CaptainRAVE]

Have had equal issues with ATI and Nvidia drivers. Don't believe everything you read around the interwebs

 

[SkeeterUK]

I got a 460 for 80 quid off the MM here just the other day. Yet to arrive but by all accounts a great card for the price. It is the 1gb version as the 768mb version is quite a bit less powerful not just because of the lower ram but the bandwidth of the memory which makes it slower. But i got the 1gb version so should be good.

Plus apparently the 460s can overclock dead easy which i might try to go straight to 800mhz on the core and maybe if i can push it to gtx 470 speeds of about 880 or so. Tho i might settle for 850. The asus one is supose to be a great cooler on it too and quiet.

Must admit i duno about the 5870 but i think the 460 beats it when overclocked easily well i think i read that.

Plus for me i dont like ati, when i had their cards i couldnt force aa or tweak settings like i can with nvidia (nvidia inspector) and i find the quality of drivers much better than ati ones.

 

[goodl]

had 5870s in crossfire, never again. Call me an Nvidiot but I haven't had a tenth of the issues since I went back to the green team. I'm sure the same isnt true for everyone, but my experience wasn't great. It was nothing I couldn't sort out, but it was real annoying since I rarely if ever experienced any problems in the past with 6800GT,7800GTX,8800 GTX SLI,GTX 280SLI, Went ATi, then back to nVidia with single GTX480

 

[liquidex]

If it is a single card the Ati should be fine. Had no problems with my last one. Only times people seem to have problems are when they are using a multi gpu setup.

The 5870 is still a very powerful card, equal to the 470 on the Nvidia side, the 460 when overclocked only matches or just beats a 5850 while using a lot more power.

EDIT. Check out Radeonpro. It is like nHancer for Ati before nHancer stopped being updated.

 

[*Chris]

I've had 5 graphics cards: ATI x850xt, Nvidea 7950GT, Nvidea 8800GT, ATI HD4870, Nvidea GTX470.

Both ATIs were new, all Nvideas were second hand. Only problem I've ever had is a DOA ATI HD4870 but I don't really think you can generalise to be honest, chances of something going wrong are pretty slim in all cases!

 

[mickyflinn]

Gtx 460 then sli at a latter date if apllicable.

 

[tommybhoy]

goodl with that post you are an Nvidiot fanboi!

Red or green they are both good/bad as each other when it comes to drivers.