The PC (Personal Computer) is a highly configurable and upgradable gaming platform that, among home systems, sports the widest variety of control methods, largest library of games, and cutting edge graphics and sound capabilities.
@thenexus: Ignore hematurge, go get the HD5770 since it's the only DX11 card out that's cheaper. You could go nvidia, however your on a budget and their cards are powerful.
" Hey there. As of a few months back, I've been looking into getting myself a gaming rig. I figured now's as good a time as any to get one. I would in that case buy components myself and build it instead of just buying one. Would be cheaper this way. My question for you, however, is if there is an actual advantage with one of the two different manufacturers. Could be anything (Crossfire or SLI, etc.) I'm talking about significant difference in performance or other specifics. And which one you feel I should go for. I should probably add that I don't really have a set budget for it yet since it'll be a while before I can buy all the parts. Also know that I haven't got my eye on a specific product yet. I'm guessing the question seems somewhat dodgy, and if I stumble onto some fanboy war thing then I am sorry. Was not my intention. (and if this topic has been brought up before, feel free to lock this one. Didn't seem to find anything in search. But I could've messed that up for all I know= "
I would definitely buy an ATI video card if you are looking to save bucks and sacrifice very little.
For the little sum of 80$ you can buy an ATI videocard that can play any current gen game on High to MidHigh easily. Get the ATI 4850.
If you want an NVidia card, I'd buy the 7900GTO. They are very cheap now and can play games like Just Cause 2 and Modern Warfare 2 without a hitch. I own one and it works wonderfully. Feel free to ask me any questions, just quote me or reply so it appears on my reponse bar that way I know you asked me something. :)
My only experience with either is my current laptop, with ATI, its been giving me problems. My roommates bought new computers with Nvidia. I don't know which is better.
I just want to add that that XFX hd5850 has problems, only with a few bad apples out of the batch, however the problem exist. Maybe others reading it should buy a different brand because someone on the forum had that problem and I almost bought that card. I'm sure it's powerful and it's good, however that's why I like nvidia cards, they have a lifetime waranty and they stand behind their products, especially evga. I have alot of nvidia cards, they don't break down like ati cards. I mean everyone I knew who had a hd4850 back then, right now their card broke down, almost everyone. It's unfortunete because back then that was the budget value best bang for your buck card. I just wanted to say my opinion.
I'm still deciding whether I should give ati another try, they fixed their stuttering problem, now everything is fast, however I don't trust their heatsinks since their cards by default are way higher than nvidia's. Honestly a fermi will set me back $400 with tax canadian, i'm not sure I want to pay that, yet ati cards aren't cheap either, only $50 more I can get an nvidia which I know won't have any problems breaking down and will have a heatsink that will be able to handle the heat. I know the fermi 470 runs really hot and it can handle it.
@HitmanAgent47: That's just completely untrue. The 7950GT, 7900GT, 8800GT, 8800GTX, 9800GT, 9600GT, etc... all had bad stock coolers. ATI or Nvidia, it doesn't matter, both companies tend to cut costs as far as coolers are concerned, which is why I usually use a third party cooling solution. Also, I find it funny that I've never had this stuttering problem you keep mentioning with any ATI card I've ever owned, but had it with my Nvidia cards. I also find it funny how you diss ATI's cards for being "hot", but when the same can be said for Nvidia, suddenly it's OK because those can "take the heat". All GPUs can take the heat, most of them can go up to 90-100C and still function. And almost everyone with a 4850 had their card break down? I have 3 friends, all of which own HD 4850s and none of them ever had an issue. I have another friend with an HD 5870, also, not one single issue. Another one had an HD 3850 for 3 years.. also not one issue!
You're obviously extremely unreasonably biased to Nvidia, especially with all those fun "facts" you like to throw around. Nvidia does not offer a higher quality product than ATI does, ATI cards do not randomly break down, nor are their drivers any worse than Nvidia's (Nv4disp.dll BSoD FTW!), take it from someone who actually tried both more than once over the years. Both have their pros and cons, both offer things that the other might not.
When you're looking to buy a card, look at what both companies offer and don't listen to the fanboys on either side. Both companies offer good and reliable cards, and both have their pros and cons.
ATM, Fermi VS HD 5800, I'd go for a 5800 card if I was looking to upgrade, no doubt about it . I'm currently sufficiently pleased with my card (which happens to be Nvidia), though.
@SlasherMan: I'm just browsing newegg randomly, I started with the hd4850 which you claim are perfect. I know like a dozen ppl outside this forum with their cards broken. I'm only saying, I always expect this with ati cards, that's directly contridicts your baseless claims. I'm impressed with the recent 5000 series though, seems like it doesn't stutter anymore. I'll be looking into any flaws of those cards, I used to own one ati card a long time ago, had the same problems then as now. With nvidia, your paying extra for quality, not just the name. Yes I trust nvidia and i'm proud of it. Don't get me started on fan problems and overheating, or drivers. My cards don't stutter, it's just they don't run fast enough at times yet they don't stutter.
Pros: Good price for what you should get, VaporX technology sounds interesting.
Cons:
Picked up my first card in June, and it worked fine for awhile. Soon green graphical artifacts appeared in games. Also a couple of times the screen would just go black and the fan on the card would spin up to full speed until I restarted my computer. This only happened while web browsing, never gaming, making me think it was an issue with the card not overheating or power.
I returned that card and got a replacement from Newegg. This second one worked fine for around a month but is starting to exhibit similar problems to the first, now it will just lock up while playing games and I've got the black screen of death a couple of times. I'm going to have to return this one also, hopefully my next card wont be defective.
Other Thoughts:
I see other reviewers on Newegg are experiencing defective cards, I would highly recommend staying away from this card until Sapphire is able to fix these issues. The 4850 isn't exactly a bleeding edge design, these issues shouldn't exist. This doesn't exactly give me a lot of confidence for purchasing future products from Sapphire.
Pros: When it works, its fine.
Cons: This thing crashes on a regular basis. At least once a day. Never had this problem with my 2900XT. I recommend not to buy this card, stick with an MSI because those always work.
Pros: the concept is nice.
Cons:
simply did not work. The first card had 75 degree idle temps, 108 load, and then my system would freeze. After the RMA, got a second card. temps were fine, if I could get the system to boot. Lots of freezes and crashes immediately after putting the card in.
Other Thoughts: Have an Antec P182, 4 fans, one blowing directly on the card. Nice Corsair PSU. No other card has given me this kind of trouble. Have a Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L mobo. Unclear why this card had so many issues. Moving on to somethine else.
Pros: Worked well for a month.
Cons:
Stopped working 30 days after purchase...1 day too late for a NewEgg RMA. I haven't been able to get a response from Gigabyte in order to get a replacement.
Pros: Good specs & 1GB for the money, runs rather quiet
Cons:
My first one lasted a day. Nasty vertical lines and you're done. If you see them, don't even bother trying it in another PC (I can vouch). NewEgg is usually fast with RMAs but this time around it is taking longer than I would like.
Other Thoughts:
This card looked great in my HD HTPC for about 20 minutes. I got 1920x1080p on my 47" Vizio. Looked spectacular & then the ugly vertical lines. System doesn't freeze, but the drive just explodes
ATI is my personal choice, obviously you'll want to go with DX11, for which you'll need a compatible card. You could go for the current Nvidia Gen (which so far is pretty bloody expensive, but are, in terms of raw power, the best on the market), or you could go for ATI, I recommend the 5870, it'll probably drop in price pretty soon, is a bloody good card offering only a marginal loss of performance compared to the top Nvidia card (by marginal I mean you probably cannot physically notice the difference) and is cooler, more efficient and quieter.
@HitmanAgent47: Wait, you're going around spouting nonsense in every thread and yet accuse me of baseless assumptions?! Really? You're basing your opinion over a handful of people's experience out of millions of cards sold. You're basing your opinion on one bad experience you've had with one card! I'm sorry, I didn't take you seriously before and I'm not now. I just felt someone has to call out the BS at least once, just so not everyone is mislead.
BTW, I can quote random bad reviews from random people about Nvidia cards, too! That MUST mean Nvidia is so bad and their cards are all unreliable, right?
Pros: Only Pro I had for this card was it's specs.
Cons:
Bought this in sept., but only installed the week of christmas and have had nothing but problems with it.The card ran very hot even with the fans and had overclocking issues. Driver and incompatability issues with my vista 32 OS and games I'd try to play such as Age of Conan. And so far trying to get any warranty service has been a pain.
Other Thoughts: You'd be better off using an 8500gt model than this card for whatever you plan to do computer wise. Which is esactly what I did went back to using my 8500gt card.
Pros: It is a single-slot. 256-bit memory interface. Have not had any heating or noise issues as others have complained about. Starts up quiet.
Cons:
Had to RMA this card twice. The first time, the card was producing a FUZZY/WAVY screen even during POST. The 2nd time, the HDMI would not output correctly. Will never purchase ASUS cards again.
Does not drive 3 monitors at once. I purchased this card hoping to drive 3 monitors (1 DVI, 1 HDMI, 1 D-SUB), but NVidia software will only let you drive 2 of these three at once.
Did not come with a much-needed HDMI-DVI adapter. I run two digital monitors and so this is a must-have.
Other Thoughts: Fairly long video card; poses a problem when working inside your case.
Pros: Worked great for 9 days
Cons:
only worked great for 9 days
Other Thoughts: Fan decided to take a permanent break after 9 days. RMAing it....I have done two builds and bought many items from New Egg this is the first that I have had problems with.
Pros: I can't say that they don't have bad quality items since I have bought stuff from them before and been happy with it.
Cons:
Like the reviewer below me, he bought this card hoping that it has 2 6 pin pci connectors and not 1 but unfortunately, I was also the unlucky buyer who received the 1 6 pin pci that came with this card.
On TOP of that, the card was basically DOA and had to be returned AND now they are giving away a free cod5 game! Talk about bad luck but PNY should sell the exact item they advertise on their site like the reviewer said below. Man, I should of gone with EVGA too, I was deciding between the two and I chosed a bad road.
I've used a HD4850 for almost two years without any problem, driver troubles, etc. Very satisfied with ATI for the moment, they've got every segment of the market covered.
Nvidia fan for a while now. It performs for the bucks you throw in and it WILL support any game you run on it. ATI is awesome too, but i get pissed off if i have to wait for them to release a fix so that a game can run properly. So Nvidia is your best bet.
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