[Maeldun]

meh, i dont know [bleep], but i read this somewhere can i can relate to it a lot and from what ive seen its pretty accurate. id drop my ATI for a nvidia in a heartbeat if it wasnt [bleep]ing integrated.

" You know Bobro, I used to think that too. I stubbornly wasted more time trying to find a soltuion instead of placing my ATI card on Ebay and purchasing a cheap Geforce 6800 or 6600 at New Egg.

After years of being on message boards and slowly noticing that most problems are users with ATI cards I one day saw a simple post. "Sell your ATI and buy a Geforce card". I told myself, hey you know what, maybe it's that simple.

I have not looked back since.

For all you ATI users out there the ATI video cards are so bad that they made a special piece of software called "VPU recover". What this does is it prevents your computer from rebooting or freezing up during games. Something which should never happen in the first place! So the fact that this thing exists should be a red flag for you guys. NVidia cards dont have this because they dont need to "mask" their hardware or drivers the way ATI does. preventing you from seeing the REAL problem.

The history of Catalyst drivers go way back. However, I can remember so many games out there that failed with new drivers or any Catalyst drivers at all. I have seen the 9700 and 9800 series ATI cards get the infamous "loop error" where the computer reboots. This happens mostly with Via chipsets by the way. In fact, ATI cards in general are well known for their random rebooting of computers. Of course your computer wont reboot at all, if VPU recover is enabled. This defeats the point because VPU recover usually boots you from the game anyway..lol

Another thing (I know this is getting long) is that ATI drivers are very messy to uninstall and re-install. They leave back pieces of information from previous drivers forcing you to use a "driver cleaner" program. (yes, driver cleaner programs should also be used for Geforce cards too sometimes) One time an ATI installation sent me back to Open GL 1.1, forcing me to play Neverwinter Nights at a slideshows pace.

I do not work for NVidia. I am just trying to save you some time. I love games but I hate all the troubleshooting. I have not had any problems with any Geforce cards I have purchased."




Discuss.

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You have had a bad experience but ive been here a while now and i dee as many if not more problems with nvidia cards on here, the odd catalyst problem on here is often a lack of computer knowledge or something done wrong on the computer builders end, ive used both brands and ive had no bother with ATI compared with a bit of bother with nvidia with poor drivers and the lack of VPU recover which means when the card crashed the whole computer would go with nvidia, not a good thing.

So exactly opposite experience and from a technical view point its very close between them and ATI do have the edge and the better drivers(they have one alot of awards for the catalyst drivers. You should also always use a driver cleaner each time, nvidia have problems when upgrading drivers as well they just dont offer a cleaner like ATI does. Read the instructions in the first place and you wont have as many problems.

Irrespective of brand you should always get the best card for the money you have, and Nvidia or ATI is unimportant both have as many faults as the other.

PS, ATI has one of the best tech support out of anyone(another thing they won awards for) you should try calling them if you have problems they are always willing to help and are very knowledgable.

Edited by warriorscot, 14 February 2006 - 03:35 PM.

[warriorscot]

You have had a bad experience but ive been here a while now and i dee as many if not more problems with nvidia cards on here, the odd catalyst problem on here is often a lack of computer knowledge or something done wrong on the computer builders end, ive used both brands and ive had no bother with ATI compared with a bit of bother with nvidia with poor drivers and the lack of VPU recover which means when the card crashed the whole computer would go with nvidia, not a good thing.

So exactly opposite experience and from a technical view point its very close between them and ATI do have the edge and the better drivers(they have one alot of awards for the catalyst drivers. You should also always use a driver cleaner each time, nvidia have problems when upgrading drivers as well they just dont offer a cleaner like ATI does. Read the instructions in the first place and you wont have as many problems.

Irrespective of brand you should always get the best card for the money you have, and Nvidia or ATI is unimportant both have as many faults as the other.

PS, ATI has one of the best tech support out of anyone(another thing they won awards for) you should try calling them if you have problems they are always willing to help and are very knowledgable.

Edited by warriorscot, 14 February 2006 - 03:35 PM.

[Maeldun]

thanks for the info.

and this isnt just a 'bad experience.' this is ati not giving a [bleep] about my hp computer, and then the manufacturers not giving a [bleep] about my computer. a lack of drivers = me not happy, ati should do something.

[Neil Jones]

Why should ATI give a stuff about your HP computer? They didn't make it. They just made the card that ultimately went in your HP machine.

Anyway there's nothing wrong with ATI graphics cards, VPU Recover only crops up if something happened to force the card into that state; usually the card's gone faulty or the drivers are kaput or somebody's presssed the wrong button or etc etc etc.

I have seen the 9700 and 9800 series ATI cards get the infamous "loop error" where the computer reboots. This happens mostly with Via chipsets by the way. In fact, ATI cards in general are well known for their random rebooting of computers.

So you're generally saying ALL ATI cards are poor based on the problems that the 9700 and 9800 series had? Two cards in the history of dozens if not hundreds of graphics cards ATI have ever made.

Anyway I've had ATI for years. Never a problem with it. Any "random rebooting" has always been down to something else. I'd happily buy ATI again when I upgrade next time.

[Maeldun]

why would ATI release any drivers at all, if it wasnt ebcause they gave a stuff about our cmputers? they give a stuff because its in their best interests to do so.

ive had to go get some home made drivers, thank god they exist. omega drivers worked without a hitch, and have delivered at least some performance imporvement, better than i was before.

[Thebinaryman]

i think it goes as follows:
low-mid range: nVidia
mid-upper mid range: ati
uppermid range to high end: nvidia

ati has won the market for cards around $250, but thats all i will give them, today, there are only a few cards i would buy, all nVidia:
mx440 (pci, for tv out purposes, and for a cheap classic gaming rig)
fx5500 (only for a pci only old comp)
fx5950 ultra (if i can ever find one, i've always wanted to have one of these, even if it takes me my whole life to find)
6600gt
6800gs
7800gt
anything else is too expensive, and isnt wortth it dollar for performance comparison

i'm a cheap skate, the comp in my sig cost me $273! (had processor, and cdr lying around house) and plays ut2004 highest settings!

it is a fact that nvidia has the best linux suppourt. i hear it is a pain to install ati drivers on linux and get the working correctly, if you even can. in 10 minutes i had nvidia hardware glx accelleration working and configured properly on fedora core, and was i have always been very pleased with nvidia's performace.