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What are the pros and cons of NVidia and ATI?

GIBURROWS

GIBURROWS

GIBURROWS

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I have always been an ATI guy but only because I haven't had the balls to try something new.

I don't have the need for SLI or Eyefinity as of yet but just would like to know who gives you more bang for you buck, so to speak.
 
To begin with, I am not talking about ATI vs NVIDIA. But NVIDIA has an advantage with their cards and CUDA cores being able to be used with a few Adobe products. If you do any kind of multimedia work look at what NVIDIA can do for you. I've used both ATI and NIVIDA in the past and I have recently sold my 5850 (what a card) for a NVIDIA because I am not much of a gamer but would benefit from the support NVIDIA Cores to Adobe products.

On that note I know ATI cards are gaining support from software vendors but it is not as widespread as NVIDIA. For gaming not much in it.
 
GIBURROWS said:
would like to know who gives you more bang for you buck, so to speak.
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It depends how much you want to spend on a card, do your homework when you want a new card and read up and compare reviews/benchmarks as much as possible, price changes/special offers can make or break a buying decision imo.
 
tommybhoy said:
It depends how much you want to spend on a card, do your homework when you want a new card and read up and compare reviews/benchmarks as much as possible, price changes/special offers can make or break a buying decision imo.
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This. It depends on your requirements, and changes over time. If your looking to buy NOW post your system specs and requirements and we can provide some ideas.
 
He isn't a nice man, the way he headbutted Shearers foot when he was at Leicester was disgusting.

4gb of Ram
i3 clarkdale 2.9 overclocked to 4.0
SSD 60gb
2x 2TB F3 samsung drives
800w extreme silent PSU
ATI 5770
932 HAF case (big enough to house all)
 
GIBURROWS said:
I have always been an ATI guy but only because I haven't had the balls to try something new.

I don't have the need for SLI or Eyefinity as of yet but just would like to know who gives you more bang for you buck, so to speak.
Click to expand...

I find quite often people don't seem to have good experiences when either moving from ATI/AMD to nVidia or the other way around nVidia to ATI/AMD seems generally best to stick with what you know.
 
tommybhoy said:
2 x Sapphire 'Dirt 3' 6950's(maybe flashable) if you can get them for £200 each(haven't seen any on sale yet as they are just out) or 2 GB 6950 Frozr II/III's in xfire. Fastest bang for buck by a long shot, faster than any single card out there by a quite a margin:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/299?vs=305

Or

3Gb 580 if you only want a single card.
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Actually in terms of bang for bucks (if your including overclocking and flashing in there) they only edge out the GTX470 due to the extra VRAM, you can still pickup GTX470s at £140 price point if you look around - which for a pair £280 v £400 puts the 470s ahead on bang for buck if the VRAM doesn't hold you back (and assuming you get atleast an average overclocking pair of 470s).
 
not a fan boi either way, i choose what is best bang for buck at the time im buying but i have had cards from both camps and i prefer nvidia over ati.

the cards in question were a 5870 and a 5970 both caused me more driver trouble than i care to remember.

had a gtx470 and now a 580 and never had a single issue
 
Rroff, a pair of 470's is good value, but trail a bit behind the newer 6950's in a dual card configuration:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/299?vs=312

If your talking about last gen gpu's then 5850's in xfire would be the winner as they can be had for as low as £204 v's the 470's £280:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/303?vs=312

As his budget is £400, I gave BBFB at that price point.
Last generation of cards won't be as good in shader/tessalation intensive games though imo.

F1aw1ess said:
not a fan boi either way
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Sounds like it! :rolleyes:
There is always a post about an Amd driver issue, even though the op stated 'I have always been an ATI guy' and has obviously had so much driver issues he stayed with Amd... Oh dear.
 
tommybhoy said:
Rroff, a pair of 470's is good value, but trail a bit behind the newer 6950's in a dual card configuration:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/299?vs=312
Click to expand...

At stock yes - but if your talking about overclocking and or flashing cards then the 470s on average clock to stock GTX480 performance and most of them can go a little beyond - easily in overclocked 6950 ballpark performance - yes the overclocked/flashed 6950s will be a little faster but probably not worth an extra ~£100 for a few percent extra.
 
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^ I find that when you overclock a card, you do get higher fps, but the pay off is lower minimums, smooth gameplay isn't always guaranteed by the higher overclocks.

I don't know what an 800w extreme silent PSU is so I don't have a clue whether it's up to the task. If it's not, then you have to factor in power draw as well and he might need to change his psu for 470 sli as well, which eats away at the saving.

The 6 series would probably allow for a higher amount of IQ settings that can be applied too, due to the extra vram.

Whether they are worth the extra £64(£182 elsewhere)?
I don't know, that's open to debate/individual, just like is the 580 worth the extra cash over a 570/6970? You always pay extra for that little bit extra grunt.
 
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Well my point was the 6950 CF isn't the "Fastest bang for buck by a long shot", the 470 is a decent contender and so was the 480s when you could get them at £200 tho not sure if anywhere still does them at that price now.

Never seen any problems with GPU based minimum fps with overclocked nVidia GPUs they usually rise nicely with overclocks, might not be the same story with AMD as I don't have as much overclocking experience there and the architecture is different.
 
Max "bang for buck" has gotta be 2* mid range cards.

How about 2 * MSI GeForce GTX 460 HAWK "Super-OC" 1024MB for £128each!:eek:

At 1920*1080 1GB is fine for now and you can clock the hell out of those! Be a bit slower than 470 Sli, but cheaper, cooler and quieter.

Plenty of change from your £400!;)
 
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