New build - NVidia vs Radeon

[Razzi]

Hi all!!

I am planning a new build, the first in quite a while.
My last few builds have used Nvidia graphics cards, my current has a GeForce 7800GT 256Mb (about 4 years old now, it was the latest thing when I got it).
My earliest machines used good old Voodoo2 12Mb x 2 cards, and ever since I discovered GeForce cards I have been using them but have NEVER even looked at a Radeon card before.

What are peoples' experiences with graphics cards - I imagine there are the same preferences for individuals, like some prefer Macs some prefer PCs, some prefer Intel some prefer Amd, and some prefer GeForce some prefer Radeon.
But is there a definitive "this type is better than this type"?

 

[Rroff]

There is no definitive "this type is better than this type", both have their ups and down. One thing I would say is most people seem to have the biggest problems in this regard when going from one brand to the other regardless of which they used before often it seems better to stick with what you know.

nVidia generally tend to have higher quality drivers - no doubt the "both have their problems" brigade will be along in a moment but in reality they are ignoring the scales involved. Thats not to say AMD drivers suck, but generally tend to have a few more issues.

 

[FiXiT]

Both seem to be as good as one another, the only thing I would say is that Nvidia are a little quicker on releasing up to-date drivers.

 

[COYS]

Best bet is to decide how much you want to spend, then compare the cards in that range that offer you the best frame rates at the resolution you play at.

 

[FiXiT]

Agree with COYS, get a ball park figure on what you want to spend, also have a think of what games you want to play as one card maybe more optimised to play certain games better than the other.

 

[arc@css]

I haven't found that much difference as yet, but so far I find Nvidia to have better software, and AMD have more robust, longer lasting hardware. Some of the Radeons I've had so far have been built well, solid as a rock.

 

[Razzi]

There is no definitive "this type is better than this type", both have their ups and down. One thing I would say is most people seem to have the biggest problems in this regard when going from one brand to the other regardless of which they used before often it seems better to stick with what you know.

nVidia generally tend to have higher quality drivers - no doubt the "both have their problems" brigade will be along in a moment but in reality they are ignoring the scales involved. Thats not to say AMD drivers suck, but generally tend to have a few more issues.

Thanks for that Rroff. I must admit I have always found that the nVidia cards and drivers I have had in the past have installed first time every time, the driver install was very smooth. The only graphics card problems I have ever had was when one of my dual Voodoo2's started producing flashing pixels.

 

[Razzi]

Both seem to be as good as one another, the only thing I would say is that Nvidia are a little quicker on releasing up to-date drivers.

I agree that whenever I checked in the past there always seemed to be a new driver released, and would usually update it - but not always. It always used to irritate me slightly when some companies would constantly release a steady stream of updates to their software, and when people have problems with their system the first response would always be "have you got the latest drivers?". Even though their system may have worked absolutely fine with old drivers for the past 6 months but something has upset it why would a new driver be able to fix it?
I was always of the "if it aint broke then dont fix it" mind, although obviously sometimes there is a problem that needs to be fixed!

 

[Razzi]

Agree with COYS, get a ball park figure on what you want to spend, also have a think of what games you want to play as one card maybe more optimised to play certain games better than the other.

Thanks FiXiT and COYS - I'm tempted by one of the 2G Radeon 6950 cards for around £230 that could be sneakily upgraded to a 6970 by flashing the BIOS to turn on the extra shaders, I'm not aware of anything similar for any of the nVidia cards (but I could be wrong of course)?

 

[Razzi]

Thanks FiXiT and COYS - I'm tempted by one of the 2G Radeon 6950 cards for around £230 that could be sneakily upgraded to a 6970 by flashing the BIOS to turn on the extra shaders, I'm not aware of anything similar for any of the nVidia cards (but I could be wrong of course)?

Oops forgot to mention the games - at the moment I only seem to play COD4, Unreal Tournament 3 and Quake 2 action mod (dont laugh at the back there - its old but I love it!) although of course any old card would do for Q2!

 

[Sayso]

If i was getting a GPU now it would be the 6950 or 570...i would go for the 570 or one of the new 560s if you want to OC

 

[Razzi]

I haven't found that much difference as yet, but so far I find Nvidia to have better software, and AMD have more robust, longer lasting hardware. Some of the Radeons I've had so far have been built well, solid as a rock.

I've hardly ever had any hardware issues (touch wood ...) - I've had around 10-12 pcs over the past 20 years and the only things I can remember failing were one keyboard where half the keys suddenly started giving random characters, a 3dfx voodoo2 that started to display some areas of the screen with flashing pixels and a couple of HDD head crashes. No problems with my 3 or 4 nVidia cards, but maybe I've just been lucky so far
Ooh and a dodgy power supply!

 

[FiXiT]

Thanks FiXiT and COYS - I'm tempted by one of the 2G Radeon 6950 cards for around £230 that could be sneakily upgraded to a 6970 by flashing the BIOS to turn on the extra shaders, I'm not aware of anything similar for any of the nVidia cards (but I could be wrong of course)?

Not totally sure but talking to my son who’s got 2 x 6950’s, Ati have done something to their latest released 6950’s to stop your upgrading them to 6970’s.

 

[Razzi]

Not totally sure but talking to my son who’s got 2 x 6950’s, Ati have done something to their latest released 6950’s to stop your upgrading them to 6970’s.

Oh dear, so they've started blowing the fuses to physically disable the extra cores once they have decided what to sell the chip as Well never mind, it would have been a bonus to get a little bit extra for free, but just getting a new card would be good enough anyway. Thanks for the heads-up!

 

[KNiVES]

As a guy who owns a crossfire setup AVOID AMD

 

[ThePengu1n]

As a guy who owns a crossfire setup AVOID AMD

Why? I run 2 2GB MSI 6950's with no issues at all, as do the majority of people out there.

 

[steve45]

Same here bud, i have had 0 issues with my CF MSI 6950 TFIII's, would recommend and i will choose CF again in future builds.