T_BEAR

I am considering on getting a new graphics card for xmas. What card do you guys think I should get...nvidia or ati? I am thinking about getting an ATi X800 series card becuase of the how well their 9800 series lasted. I want a good card that will last a good 2 years. I currently have a 9600pro but its not cutting it in the newer games. I only have a agp slot

NewsWrthy

well the X800 is an awsome card, but it is PCI express, so if you have an 800mhz fsb cpu and want to upgrade you mobo to the pci express it works at x16 instead the x8 that the agp cards use. I would sugest an 9800pro or a 9700pro but stay away from the Saphire cards the run at 128 bit instead of 256bit. unless you have a saphire card now I wouldn't really replace a 9600 unless going to pci express.

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TheFeniX

ATI > NVidia one month.
NVidia > ATI another month.

ATI and NVidia both make solid all-around cards. What I can tell you is that price vs. performance is what you should be looking for. I buy NVidia only because I've found them better than ATI in the <$200 market ($200 US is the most I spend on a video card).

If price is your game, check benchmarking sites (God forbid I give you any links for fear of reprisal) and find the most cost effective while sacrificing the least amount of FPS for OpenGL games (which most games are based off of).

If performance is your game, then buy whatever gives you that extra 2 FPS you'll never notice.

Conclusion: Neither NVidia nor ATI is greater than the other. It's really a matter of preference.

EDIT: actually, I should add I am biased towards NVidia because for years ATI made completely craptastic drivers for their cards. I noticed many complaints after Windows XP came out (in case you didn't know, any video driver made by MS does not include OpenGL support) that ATI took a good 2 months to come out with an XP compatible driver. They have since "cleaned up their act," but the effect hit me hard and I still don't trust their cards 100%.

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USN_Squid

I agree with Fenix. Also, if you're running a 9600 pro you should be able to do better with the games that are out now. What's the rest of your system and what games are you playing?

Overlag

all wrong im afraid

not all sapphire cards are 128bit memory, only a small selection of 9800"pros" was 128bit and they now have to be CLEARLY labeled that they are 128bit.

and x800's are NOT PCI express only, all X800 cards come in both flavors of PCIexpress and AGP

and PCI express works fine with any cpu mhz, it doesnt matter, as long as the board has PCI express, which he doesnt

so anyway
Bottom end: 6800 standard with 128mb
Mid range: 6800gt is the better choice. X800pros are there but alittle slower than the gt
topend: X800XT and the 6800ultra are neck and neck, totaly depends on what you play.

personaly id choose the X800XT from the top end

most games are Direct3d now, but ANY opengl game will be better on Nvidia hardware.

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From Adam Webb

RandomGuy

If you care to run linux you had better stick with nVidia.

T_BEAR

Well my computer is a P4 3.2 800 fsb with 1 gig of ram. It is very fast but is lacking in the graphics department. The 9600pro that came with the computer is different than most retail 9600pro cards. It does not have a fan was is clocked much lower. It is suppose to be a silent card for bussiness I think......thanks gateway. I plan on playing games like HL2 and hopefully other games will adopt their engine. I hear the only good thing about the nvidia cards is that it owns ati at DOOM3. I don't think that many game manufacturers will be adopting the Doom 3 engine but I may be wrong.

=DdogG=

I proved this wrong in another thread with links to newegg. it took all of three minutes, and all I did was search ati and saffire.....

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Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. -Albert Einstein
The two most common elements in the universe are Hydrogen and stupidity. -Harlan Ellison

If all else fails: "rm -rf /"

TheFeniX

Meh, I should have said "most the games I play." I still have a grudge against DirectX for reasons I won't go into here. Suffice to say that if I'm given the choice, I've found OpenGL the much better way to go.

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Overlag

shame 95% of the gaming producers dont though fenix

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From Adam Webb