Graphics Card purchasing advice

[Colster]

I'm considering selling off my 9600GT for an upgrade. At the price I want to pay there seem to be two options:

ATi 4850 512Mb (http://www.ebuyer.com/product/146705)

or

nVidia 9800GTX (http://www.ebuyer.com/product/158713)

Benchs seems similar between the two, possibly edged by the ATi but I remember reading about problems forcing higher AA with the ATi in TDU. Has this been resolved by a driver update or a workaround?

[kalniel]

Good question. I'll check later tonight if I have time (just bought a 4870 512mb myself).

[Aut0-Lavado]

Hi i would recommed the 4850.

[Colster]

Hi i would recommed the 4850.

Hmm ur ebay one is about a tenner more than a new one btw

Went for a 9800GTX+ in the end, should be here tomorrow :)

[Aut0-Lavado]

I'll say a bit more, if you want to be able to flick the enable hardware physics option in physx games with out a huge frame loss then get the nVidia.

If not then both are not that far apart, both suffer from some really bad driver issues than can be caused by the make of the card and the bios version or simply poor driver support. Check offical forums for lots of threads on these for both Nvidia and ATI.

@colster, that explains alot, bought it from pcworld on impulse about a month ago for £145 or £150 can't remember. Was bought for crossfire config but it dragged the 1gig card down too much to keep it. So replaced it with in a couple of weeks.

[Boca67]

The ATI card is the superior card BY MILES. There isn't even a decision to make here.
It's superior to that 9800 GTX in every way.

[Colster]

Hmm they disagree

http://media.bestofmicro.com/Q/3/114987/original/tdu2.png

Plus I heard problems of forcing higher AA with the ATI and my old card will do 8 comfortably so going back to 4 wasn't an option.

[kalniel]

Didn't know you were gaming at 2560*1600 colster.. I'd consider a card with more ram in that case, next time.

[Colster]

Didn't know you were gaming at 2560*1600 colster.. I'd consider a card with more ram in that case, next time.

lol it's a fair point...no i don't but the scores dont differ much between the 2 cards anyway, to say the ati is miles better simply isn't true

Maybe this one is a bit nearer

http://media.bestofmicro.com/2/6/112830/original/038.gif

[pogostickio]

There is a workaround for the ATI cards. Take a peek at this thread.

http://forums.eu.atari.com/showthread.php?t=88911

It shows how to force AA x 24 through the ATI catalyst control centre. I can't confirm it because I'm using an ATI 3850 AGP. What I mean is that when I did it I wasn't sure of any increase in image quality. But I did notice my game took a hit of 15 fps when I tried it out. I should be able to see a difference now though. I just bought a 42" telly / monitor. :)

[pyrre]

There is a workaround for the ATI cards. Take a peek at this thread.

http://forums.eu.atari.com/showthread.php?t=88911

It shows how to force AA x 24 through the ATI catalyst control centre. I can't confirm it because I'm using an ATI 3850 AGP. What I mean is that when I did it I wasn't sure of any increase in image quality. But I did notice my game took a hit of 15 fps when I tried it out. I should be able to see a difference now though. I just bought a 42" telly / monitor. :)

I tried that some time ago, but didn't see any difference in image quality. didn't check if I lost any fps though.

[M_3628905]

As far as benchmarks and web site reports, etc go - the ATI is better, but for some reason if it were me - I'd probably still go with an nVidia card. Well, me on your budget would do that, ME me would go buy the new 295 model :nuts:

edit: Woot! my card is still right up the top in 2nd place :)
Ok, so it's an old chart - and if you check the nVidia drivers page, they reckon new drivers have increased their cards performance by quite a decent percentage (can't remember number of the top of my head - 10-30% maybe?)