In the know?

[IraAstrum]

I am looking to build a new unit pretty soon however it's been quite some time since I've built anything so I am totally out the loop in terms of "what's hot & what's not"

I was always under the impression that Nvidia cards where more reliable and Ati you got more speed for your money.

is this still the case?

I am looking for a card that will run dual monitors (24") very easily.

Will be using the system with 3D packages such as Maya / Max and will be playing games.

thanks in advance for any help

Ira.

 

[thegoonden]

These days you definitely get more FPS/£ with ATI, and there is certainly no great cluster of ATI card failures. However, many, including myself who use both cards fairly regularly will tell you that NVidia's drivers (particularly the user end of them) are a bit more pleasant to interact with than ATI's.
Shortly some ATI fanbois will be along to deny that and falsely swear they can do everything NV does and better too. Then some NV fanbois will come along and make all sorts of stupid anti-ATI claims, and so on and so on.

 

[siumatfung]

budget?

 

[spitzoid]

Do you have a budget?

As thegoonden said, there are some people who prefer ATI and others who prefer Nvidia, and each will defend their preference with blinkered stupidity. Also, you will probably find an equal number from each side with horror stories of their experiences.

It seems to me that each company has good offerings in different price ranges, and of course this changes every couple of months when new cards are released.

My advice is to decide on a budget, find the card from each brand in that range, and then check a couple of "official" reviews from trustworthy tech review websites (http://www.techpowerup.com/, http://www.anandtech.com/, etc) rather than relying on the mainly biased views of forum members.

But I can guarantee you one thing, what you buy now will probably be out of date in 3 months.

Good luck!

 

[IraAstrum]

I do not have a budget really just after a decent card that is going to do the job and is more future proof than not, so I am really looking towards the high end range.

I have been Nvidia bias in the past due to the last Ati card I brought overheating regularly. However after reading other threads this doesn't seem to be the case any more?

thanks for the advice so far.

Ira.