Hi all! heres my 2nd thread asking about the various gfx cards . Which brand works best with LFS, Nvidia or ATi?

I don't think there's a definite answer to it, as LFS is graphically far too simple to really show any significant difference of a certain card brand coping better. It is more down to the actual card model, not "ATi" or "nVidia".

I understand that certain cards of each company works better than the other and vice versa but I'm talking on an average perspective of all the cards of each brand. Also, which is more ahead in terms of new technological development, that kind of thing.

But what information do you get from an "average" of all their cards? If ATi produced 10 mediocre cards and nVidia 8 shitty and 2 awesome, nVidia would be worse on average, but it would still have the faster cards. Kinda pointless, huh?

From a technological point of view... well, I'm kinda out of the loop there, so I'd wait till Jakg comes by - besides spamming he does seem to know his way around gfx cards quite well (). Anyhow, the latest trends seem to be Shader Model 3.0 and DX10 support, both of which are completely irrelevant to LFS. Regarding card performance, I don't think there is a clear winner, it always seems like the latest (ridiculously overpriced) generation of cards of one brand is slightly faster than that of the competition, so the "fastest card award" constantly switches around.

The only thing that really separates ATi and nNvida seems to be the driver support, which is from what I've heard vastly superior for nVidia cards.

thanks - nVidia tend to have better cards and drivers (bigger company) while ATi's drivers aren't great), but ATi cards tend to be cheaper -although one card may be better (ie 7900GT vs X1950 Pro) they've cut the price to make it sell well (so price wise it becomes 7900GS vs X1950 Pro) were that card is favourable.

Buying because of the brand is stupid, depends what price range your after.

Of course certain cards like the 7950GX2 & ATi HD2900XT are just lemons, steer clear.

Well, I'm not exactly on a free budget. I was thinking, what kind of good rig which I could get between 300-500 pounds? (including processor, motherboard and card)

Quote from AndroidXP :

The only thing that really separates ATi and nNvida seems to be the driver support, which is from what I've heard vastly superior for nVidia cards.

You must be kidding Android,
NVIDIA just released 94.24 drivers after SEVERAL MONTHs.Thats what I am calling customer support.ATI update the drivers at least every month now.

There is always something wrong with drivers on both sides.Its not simply black or white for each of the brand.I remember times of GF2&GF3 series where was much less problems with the drivers.ATI CCC,which kidna reminds me CCCP,is resources hog but quite nice "when" it works correctly. NVIDIA old control panel is really quick one but doesnt fit what people expecting nowdays with fancy stuff.The new control panel still cause a lot of issues especially LONG loading.Its really not simple and I have been only talking quickly about the drivers.

When we talk about hardware NVIDIA lead a bit now in the top end cards but loosing a lot in mainstream where are made most of the money.NVIDIA has nothing to offer against X1950PRO.This is now in mainstream simply the much bang for the money.While NVIDIA might lead now with top end card which support DircetX 10,Shader model 4.0 I am really worried about the DX10 performance in like 1 year when full DX10 games will come.

I remember the FX line from NVIDIA which simply was llosing by huge way when DX9 games came.Was a bit dissaster for NVIDIA.Well ATI isnt better now with HD2900XT.Its seems either very bad optimised drivers as this card sometimes have performance like 8800GTX even almost ultra and sometimes loos against ther own product like X1950XT.Dunno.Maybe something wrong with hardware or maybe their really produced it in mind to support mostly DX10.

As I said its not that simple and every brand offer something.I am always choosing what has best performance/money ration on the market and really doesnt care if its ATI or NVIDIA.I really dont understand the people lile ATI,NVIDIA sucks.

I am missing 3rd option for vote.There should be definately one.
I couldnt vote for any of the option above because it wouldnt be true.

Agreed, the poll is useless. By the best card for your budget, really. I've owned plenty of both over the years, I have no favoureti. Currently own two ATIs and one nVidia. And the ATIs are in an SLI board, all nicely mixed.

Wow Bob, perhaps you also managed to fit an AMD processor on an Intel board too?

And probably typing Dvorak with QWERTY key markings!

I'm not really sure which card offers better performance, reliability or images, but it seems that a lot of people have problems getting their ATi cards to work with particular games whereas Nvidia customers don't seem to have quite so many problems. Whether that's a driver issue, a support issue, or a compatibility issue I just don't know.

I went with Nvidia again with my last build, partly because I have never had significant problems with the brand and I also because went for the N-force gear on the motherboard as well.

A little word about drivers too, most games and support sites always urge you to use the absolute latest driver for your card, but I'd take that advice with a pinch of salt.

I dont like Nvidia prices, just like intel's, amd and ati is usually better buy thought for mid end customers, i had to go nvidia this time with the 8600gt (was pretty cheap,cheaper than a x1650 for example) since ATI did not have a proper competitor, if it id i would have bought ATI hehe...

Quote from DEVIL 007 :

You must be kidding Android,
NVIDIA just released 94.24 drivers after SEVERAL MONTHs.

Hmm, maybe you're just considering official nVidia drivers, but there seems no lack of drivers here.

100 series - for 8800's

the "unofficial" ones are borked, they went 92's>94'>93's>93's>94's and most were buggy and/or slow

Heh, I'm running the 160.02 on my 6600GT... without any problems whatsoever.

don't ya love .inf mods?

To be fair the performance is no better though, is it not?

I'm happy with my 92.20's from XtremeG, these .24's are better, but i can't get the nVidia control panel for some reason The XtremeG drivers let me have both

Well, I can't confirm or deny that, as I stopped caring about those (rather artificial) benchmarks long ago and LFS is not really a good measurement either. The only thing that slightly annoys me is that they force that stupid new CP on you, but I only needed it to set up LFS gfx options once, so that's no biggie.

just use nHancer for profile's, it explains what each one does and it's limitations (like max AA is x8 over 1280*1024) and unlocks a few more

Jakg would it be possible for you to do a league table of graphic cards just keep it simple something like :

.................................Nvidia..........................ATI................Poss FPS

Price - No Lmit.................A..............................B.....................?

Medium ..........................C..............................D ....................?

Budget............................E..............................F.....................?

Table the best card for each


And then just list the Dogs to steer clear of.

:X

Technology changes fast, one card might be faster, but the "dog" just got a price cut and became a very good buy, and then changed again inside of a week (happened before!)

Just post and His Royal Geekiness will take a looksie - what be your budget?

Quote from CELTIC100 :

Jakg would it be possible for you to do a league table of graphic cards just keep it simple something like :

Have you seen this table, I find it quite helpful, and depressing to see where my card is

Quote from ajp71 :

Have you seen this table, I find it quite helpful, and depressing to see where my card is

i can't see a link, but here i ... and i hate SLi/Crossfire

Cheers Jakg that list is just what I was After

By that list it looks like my 8600gt is not bad at all hehe, but is the x1900GT better than x1950GT ???

In terms of anisotropic filtering the new Nvidia cards have the best image quality ever for gaming cards.