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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
 
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?
 
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.
 
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!
 
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
 
Hi MCH
If I were to get an ATI, I would indeed get a 5850, but I'm a little reluctant to because of the issues discussed earlier in the thread.
Thanks
 
I reckon I will go with Nvidia, probably a gtx 285, but going back to a point from the original post? Do you think more stock is going to be appearing, or should I hurry up and get whatever's left now?
Also, are cards with dual fans good/quiet - eg the Palit and Gainward cards left on overclockers.
Are Zotac, PNY, Inno3d any good?
 
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