Video card decision

[Yoda9864]

I'm going to be upgrading my video card withint 1-2 months and I'm not sure whether to get ATI or nVidia. I've researched them high and low, looked at comarisons and benchmarks, and I'm still not sure which way to go.

I'll either be getting an ATI 9800 or 9800pro, or an nVidia FX 5900 or 5950. Or something comparable.

I've heard many people say that ATI's driver issues are still pretty prevalent in many games. My brother is having troubles with drivers right now with his 9600. I'm a bit nervous on that regard. But there is no doubting the power behind the 9800 series.

I've been a loyal nVidia customer for quite a while now. Started with the GeForce 2 GTS-V and am now at a GeForce 4 Ti4200. I have yet to have one driver issue in my 4/5 years of gaming.

I know the FX's had a rough start (bulky, loud, not powerful enough). But I really think that nVidia pulled it together and made the 5900/5950 competitive cards, beating out the 9800 series in serveral benchmarks.

Right now, I'm gridlocked as to which to buy. I geuss I still have over a month to decide before I upgrade, but I hate being undecided.

What do you guys think? Lean toward ATI or nVidia. Or should I wait till a week before the upgrade to see how the field is?

The hardware that will supplement by video card is a 2500+ Barton, an 8xAGP ready mobo, and 768mb DDR-2700 (hopefully up to 1.2gb before I upgrade my video).

[Ace195]

looked at comarisons and benchmarks

Not to be nitpicky or anything yoda but you mis-spelled comparisions.. Anyways from what I've seen of the ATI video cards and myself running a Nvidia, I would choose ATI in a heart beat. But when you get ati I would spend the extra money and get the XT so I wouldn't have to upgrade for a long time... Upgrading is a b*tch... But ATI all the way thats what my laptop runs it runs a 9600 pro and it works wonderful even compared to my Nvidia card

[Jonbo298]

Get an Asus 9800pro. A weee bit expensive, but it has the same cooling at the XT version (if you feel like flashing the bios to XT speeds). Or if you want. You can save abuot $75-$100 and get a 9800pro (other then Asus obviously) and be set for awhile. I love Ati and will probably never go Nvidia.

[Null]

i prefer Nvidia, i love thier drivers MUCH better then ATI's.

ATI's current set of cards are better then the current nvidia's.

But im wiating to see what the Nvidia's NV40 chip will do, that comes out soon. they claim its VERY high powered compared to current cards. and ATI's new brands are father off then nvidias.

it flip flops back and forth between them. Nvidia had the better cards, now ATI does, no doubt Nvidia will have them again sometime then back to ATI. All in all it doesnt truely matter becuase the power of each is so high it doesnt matter which you choose you wont notice a diff.

i do like nvidia drivers much better tho.

[Happydude]

ATI for me

[Ace195]

Oh I agree completly with the whole driver thing.. ATI doesn't have very good drivers.. I love my ti4400 It runs better then the 9200 up to the 9500 and it's much older but, I'm looking more for speed then anything else ATM.. So I'll stickwith my Nvidia in my desktop andmy ATI in my laptop

[Jason1]

Id say it depends on if you plan on playing HL2. If you do, ATI is an absolute no brainer because its been designed for ATI from the ground up, and runs better on them.