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Nvidia stock?

jamieboo

jamieboo

jamieboo

Associate
Joined
29 Oct 2009
Posts
369
Hello all
Really wondering what I should do for the graphics card for my build.
Everything has arrived and is waiting to be put together now - except the gfx card. I had ordered a gtx 285 (from elsewhere) but they contacted me to tell me that they were actually out of stock - which I understand is the trend with Nvidia cards right now - so I cancelled.
The reason I'm going for Nvidia rather than the currently more generally recommended ATI is that I'm building the machine for music production. Having researched this with other DAW builders it seems that if the machine is used for music production, then for some reason Nvidia cards prove much less problematic than ATI - so they all recommend Nvidia.
I could go for a cheaper, older Nvidia, but I'm also a bit of a gamer so would like a nice juicy card - and in this regard ATI is more recommended.
So I'm not sure what to do. I'll probably stick with Nvidia, even though their price performance ratio is not so competitive now. But they're so hard to find now. I gather Nvidia is in a bit of trouble, but are retailers likely to get more stock in before Fermi finally appears?
I can't wait for more than a couple of weeks. I'm just wondering if I should grab whatever dregs of gtx 285 I can now, or wait a few days/week to see if more stock somes in.
What do you reckon?
Thanks
 
Considering NV are only now producing 295s last I heard, you're gonna have a hard time finding stock. I can honestly see no reason why ATI would perform any worse than NV unless Cubase uses CUDA :/
 
Thanks for the reply.
So you reckon if I'm going to stick to my (possibly silly) intention to get a gtx285, I should do it now before they all disappear?
 
just checked out the two software names you gave. There is no mention anywhere that its optimised for nv cards.

I personally would give NV a miss. i'm with Hairybudda, i can't see why you would buy a dieing card.
 
Yeah, there's no officially stated recommendation for NV. But I've spoken to several guys who build DAWs and they say that machines they've built with NV cards have turned out much better than ATI machines (in terms of things relevant to audio production): less bugs, less latency spikes, less problems resulting from shared IRQs, less noise. I admit, a lot of the specifics I have forgotten, I just remember that after researching it I felt pretty convinced that Nvidia were the way to go.
 
I'm sure you know what your doing with a PC, but realistically your going to be paying an arm and a leg for these slight things.
Id be postive in saying, these people you have spoken to have just more experience with Nvidia or there could be other reasons such as there using a Nvidia chipset maybe? Or just other slight hardware conflicts. As a lot of those reasons sound just like typical, ATI haves BAd DRiVers!?!
Reason im saying this is, I've always been told and thought ATI are better with media production and viewing.

Also buying a new DX11 card would give you the ability to future proof games.
Plus adding it uses very little power, its built to the same standard as nvidia cards, its now very quite, and has the power to natively add extra monitors down the line.
Which is without a doubt one of the best upgrades you can do when doing Image/sound/video production.
 
Thanks unknownsock
Hmm... you could be right. Experienced builders do sometimes stick with what they're familiar with and therefore possibly miss improvements elsewhere.
However, a key concern for me is IRQ sharing. As far as I know you can no longer manually assign IRQs, and if the resulting IRQ lottery throws up a situation where a GFX card shares an IRQ with an audio interface, then that can lead to problems (latency etc) - and apparently these problems are a tad more likely if it's an ATI card.
But yes, this may just be a problem of the past... Dammit, I don't know!
 
If you have already researched the ATI vrs NVIDIA and made your descision then dont let this forum sway you against it, at the moment the OCUK forum is very pro ATI.
as for stock there seems to be 285's, 275's and 260's in stock here at this very store.
 
jamieboo said:
Thanks unknownsock
Hmm... you could be right. Experienced builders do sometimes stick with what they're familiar with and therefore possibly miss improvements elsewhere.
However, a key concern for me is IRQ sharing. As far as I know you can no longer manually assign IRQs, and if the resulting IRQ lottery throws up a situation where a GFX card shares an IRQ with an audio interface, then that can lead to problems (latency etc) - and apparently these problems are a tad more likely if it's an ATI card.
But yes, this may just be a problem of the past... Dammit, I don't know!
Click to expand...


If hthis is the case, and I heard similar things from audiophiles, then I would stick to Nvidia.
 
Really, You've heard similar things D.P.? Thanks, I was beginning to think I'd hallucinated all my research! :)
I dont really wanna spend much over £270, so the only ones in stock here for around that price are by Palit and Gainward. I've never used either company before (I'm a BFG chap) are they any good? Also they're both dual fan designs - are they found to be good? Do they generate more noise?
Thanks
 
This was some years ago mind, but I had a flatmate who did some sound engeering and remixing etc and I remember a few conversations about IRQs and gfx cards. He swore by Nvidia cards, but he also used Linux which pretty much force you to use Nvidia.
 
You can buy from another store if you specifically want something that OCUK don't have.

I've always been a fan of BFG's warranty, so wouldn't buy anything else given the choice.
 
u say ur a bit of a gamer aswell , i dont see why u dont get a 5850 and save some cash in the meantime
 
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