nVidia/ATI : Be honest and rate your bias...

[gooeykat]

I lean more towards nVidia, when I built my first computer I couldn't find a mainstream card from ATI that could compare to 6600GT. It seemed to me that ATI has always catered more to the high-end buyer (until recently). And I don't like rewarding a company for arriving late to the party. My next card was a 7600GT which also rocked and which, when it came out, had no competition from ATI (again, frustrated by the lack of alternative). For my latest card I wanted to go with a high end DX10 card. Well gee, here we are again, with nVidia having the only option available. I researched both cards (G80 and R600) heavily and am so glad I didn't wait on the R600. When it does finally come out in April (or later, they keep pushing the date back), it probably will be faster than the G80, but then again I would of had to wait an extra 6 months to get it. Some other reasons, being in the advertising industry, I appreciate the fact that nVidia seems to be alot better at Marketing and PR. Also, they also based in the good 'ole US of A. Call me patriotic. Although now that AMD has purchased ATI, that isn't as much of a factor.

 

[prolfe]

I'm sympathetic to Nvidia, mainly because my first experience with performance GPU's was 3dfx, and when they got bought by Nvidia I followed them to Nvidia's camp. More than that, though, was the godawful Rage Pro with 8 megs that I bought when I built my first PC from scratch. (previous comps were heavily modded out-of-the-box PCs). That card couldn't get out of it's own way, and it would exhibit artifacts and eventually lock up when I played FF7 on my PC. I replaced it with a Monster Fusion and never looked at ATI again.

I know everyone cares so deeply about my opinion, so I posted as soon as I saw this thread, so that everyone could sleep at night! :lol:

 

[geminireaper]

Im totally in the middle. I have owned quite a few of each. When its time to build/buy a new machine I take a look at the current market. What is the top performer and then make my decision based off of cold hard facts not anyones opinion.

 

[gooeykat]

I like nVidia...

Simply because they have a better time-to-market than ATI.

Example: I needed a very good AGP card. What was there? Only the 7800GS from nVidia (I am not counting the 7900GS, because it's unaccessible to me). Nothing from ATI. The X1950XTX AGP only came out months later.

If anyone wants the cream of the crop in GFX today, what is the only option? nvidia!!!

ATI's extremely slow time-to-market hurts them really bad. If they had a better "response time", I'd certainly be buying ATI.

I do have one ATI card and it's fairly good.

Now that nVidia is leaving many nice features behind (like TV-in), and ATI does have it built-in, ATI is more and more becoming a serious option. But too bad their products take too long to be released.

Here, here...I wish ATI was more serious about getting products out when they say they will. I am all for making as good a product as you possibly can, but timing also has to be taken into consideration.

 

[zornundo]

I have owned three cards, 3dfx Voodoo 3 3000, nVidia GeForce 3 ti 200, and ATI Radeon 9800 Pro. I just recently purchased the 8800 gts (hurry up and get here!!) Don't have much bias, I just bought what fit at the time.

 

[Anoobis]

Ruby was hotter than Luna.

 

[s4fun]

Need another category to the vote, something along the lines like
"utter disgusted by both ATI and nVidia"

 

[lp231]

My first card was an Ati Rage XL at 8mb
then I upgraded to a Rage128 which is 32mb.
After using that for a while, I've decided to get a card that
support DirectX 9. During that time, there we're
the Ati 9700 and 9500Pro, but those we're out of my range.
And then there is the Nvidia GeForce FX5200, which fits within
my budget. As of now I'm using a 6600GT.
Later on if Ati's midrange cards has a lower price and
it's performance is better than Nvidia's mid-range, then I'll
get myself an Ati.

BTW: Just went to CompUSA the other day and saw an
Ati 8mb PCI video card for $35 dollars! 8O

 

[Prada0007]

Well its quite logical to gain a liking to a company or brand that has given you personally good products over time. Some ppl are ATI fanboys(myself inculded) because they got a bad nvidia card and don't like things about nvidia. Where as every time they use an ATI card is was good for them. Same for Nvidia fanboys.

The optimal choice would be to make your decision generation by generation looking at what both sides have to offer. I think saying liking one more than the other is not logical is illogical in itself. Though all of this is just my opinion don't put to much emphasis on it.

I see what you are saying but just because you had a problem with one or even two cards/drivers/whatever other problems there could have been, doesn't mean that all the cards that that certain company makes should be avoided.

That's arguing like my frind that saw the THG video of the cpu's where they take the heatsinks off. Just because that AMD cpu didn't make it he'll never buy it in his life.
Your right it doesn't mean all there stuff is bad, but the average person will just switch at the first sign of trouble. If the company they switch to doesn't ever give them any problems they wouldn't really see any reasons to go try the other companies.

 

[kaotao]

Need another category to the vote, something along the lines like
"utter disgusted by both ATI and nVidia"

I still think it's user error.

Back on topic...

Most of the cards I've owned are ATI, but I have no serious bias either way. I have no problem recomending either. They both have their plus' and minus'.

 

[Gneisenau]

I don't know how else to say it, being brand loyal is crazy, it flies in the face of logic.

Damn straight it does...

If by brand loyality, you mean prefering one brand over the other normally then I would say not always. Is it not a good idea to include past experiance in future decisions?
If by brand Loyality, you mean prefering one brand over the other no matter what, then I would agree with you.

I have owned more nVidia than ATI. I have had 100% bad luck with ATI, and 100% good luck with nVidia. I knew before I was tempted to buy one that the mx400 was trash, so I have the luxury of forgetting about that POS.
My experiance with ATI has ranged from trouble with drivers, to failures. I'm sure it's more my luck then ATI being junk, but for me, where ATI goes trouble seems to follow.
I am happy with my nVidia products and until I get screwed or see where they are making crap, I see no reason to tempt fate again with ATI.

 

[Busto963]

I am not a hard core gamer, so image quality (color, contrast, focus etc) are more important to me than fps. And I have never owned an "N" card.

That said, ATI has royally pissed me off with its lack of support for its mobility radeon 1400 card and funky catalyst control center interface. ATI does not provide a driver for this card (foisted it on the computer manufacturer) , and I cannot run CivIV, certainly a modestly demanding application from a graphics perspective.

 

[capnbfg]

I voted for "Quite Sympathetic to ATi".

As long as the ATi card in which I am interested performs about the same as its nvidia counterpart, then I don't even consider the nvidia product. I don't completely discredit nvidia though, as I will still recommend nvidia's midrange products to people who want the best cost/performance. I just stick to ATi for my own systems because I still don't trust nvidia after the ordeal with GeForce 5xxx driver cheats.

 

[Busto963]

Also, they also based in the good 'ole US of A. Call me patriotic.

Nothing wrong with that. 8)

 

[Oldguy]

Of the 5 boxes currently operating at home: 3 ATI: 9700,9800,X800 last 2 builds/rebuilds Nvidia 7950 & 8800GTX. Couple of 9600's and Nvidia 6 series in bags as emergency backups Moderately annoyed at Nvidia at the moment for their DX10 driver issues. Next build delayed because of these issues and I have become willing to wait for the ATI releases and performance numbers because they have, historically, managed to release with servicable drivers out of the gate. (remember the moves from DX8 to 9?). Some ATI concerns due to possible impact of AMD acquisition and future intel support, but that will probably have more impact on my winter 07 build when there will be a need to re-evaluate every major component. Overall willing to move between the two (and the 2 cpu camps as well) based strictly on results. Shameless self interest.

 

[Dade_0182]

Your right it doesn't mean all there stuff is bad, but the average person will just switch at the first sign of trouble. If the company they switch to doesn't ever give them any problems they wouldn't really see any reasons to go try the other companies.

Yeah, all about the average joe. I've had 2 bad Nvidia cards but the 7600 I'm running now is top notch. It all depends on what type of person you are. If you can't let go then it's your own fault.

I had trouble for a while but that was with the 4 and 5 series Nvidia cards. When I saw the 6600gt in action for the first time, I loved it and forgot all about my "grudge" if you can even call it that.

 

[Dade_0182]

If by brand loyality, you mean prefering one brand over the other normally then I would say not always. Is it not a good idea to include past experiance in future decisions?
If by brand Loyality, you mean prefering one brand over the other no matter what, then I would agree with you.

the latter option

 

[The-Darkening]

I'm neutral in the GPU market. I get the best I can buy. My last two card were nVidia (6600 GT and 7600 GT) but my previous one (Radeon 9600 XT) was a wonderful card. I liked ATi drivers too, because the nVidia ones are a little bloated thanks to UDA. 60 megs for a driver... wth???

Still I buy my graphics card with performance in mind. Don't care if it says Ati, nVidia, Craptastic, etc...

Now in the CPU market I'm a little Intel biased... But that's another story.

 

[Dade_0182]

Nice cards, all 3 of them. I wanted a 9600xt and couldnt find one cheap enough here in sa to suit my budget at the time. only one of them I didn't have.

 

[SSS_DDK]

Nvidia for development (Linux OpenGl support), and since i can't afford two up to date systems at once.... Maybe now ATI will start supporting Linux/OpenGL.

 

[Gilthanass]

I put down quite sympathetic to ATI.

Personally, I had some bad experiences with ATI before, so I moved to nV. Have had GeForce cards for the last many years. I like nV, and they have, unarguably, the best card out there. they are winning. I bought a video card just 2 days ago, and it was an nVidia card.

So why do I say I support ATI? because on some level (non finacial) I do. I am from the town they grew up in (Markham represents). I have always been a huge AMD supporter (though again, my brand new rig is an Intel, I feel that even though I support one side or another, voting with my dollars has to be based on merrit, or else capitolism falls appart) and since they merged, I feel like I should support both.

So, I am with ATI in spirit, and I wish them the best; however, I will buy their cards if and only if their price/performance beats nV. If I lived any other way I would be a hypocrit.

 

[Tyhr]

Last card was the ATI Radeon All-In-Wonder. Physically still works fine after all those years.

Just upgraded my mb, and got an Nvidia 7600GS.

Why? Driver support. Too many headaches with ATI's driver conflicts in the past.
Plus Nvida is supported by Linux better.
Nvidia cards are also "supported" better on OS X.
Nvidia has better OpenGL support (very important to me)
Nvidia more dual DVI options than ATI.
Nvidia also fully supports Matrox's "Dual/TripleHead 3 monitors in 1 device", while ATI does not. I don't have it, but I'd rather keep as many future options open.

I've always believed ATI has better IQ, but it's their lack of driver support and quality that made me choose Nvidia for my last solution.

I'm totally neutral (if anything, I cheer for ATI as they're the underdog). But I'm buying on what best suits me at that particular point in time - whoever that is.

BTW - I don't play many games - I do video effects, so fps means nadda but stability is king.

 

[Dr_asik]

[Not actually in reply to Thyr]

I am scientific kind of guy. The purpose of this poll was to rate the forum's overall bias. My hypothesis was that this forum was very neutral in average, but with a slight ATI bias. As is turns out, my hypothesis was right.

I'm glad to see this hasn't turned into a flame war as certain people predicted. Potential flame wars starters generally contains some kind of sub-50 IQ attack to either company like "ATI sucks so bad lolllzz" or "nVidia is such crap lolllzzzz".

Well, as the poll stands right now 76% (156 out of 207) of the people who visit this forum are at least slightly in favor of one company. 53% of these are for ATI, and 47% for nVidia.

Little more than 1% of visitors (2 out of 156) are shameful of their bias. <

A whooping 24% of the people proclaim themselves completly neutral. Not a small feat.

So, we may say that TGForumz are almost completly neutral in average, with a very slight bias in favor of ATI.

 

[Dr_asik]

Of course this poll was subject to different interpretation which I should have made more clear, though I chose the wording carefuly. One interpration could be that even the slightest bias = brand loyalty. This was not my point of view. Brand loyalty begins with fanboism, when the attachement to a company (or hatred of the rival) starts dictating the actual choices of products regardless of objective qualities of these products. As most people seem to have understand, being "sympathetic" was nothing more than a positive feeling towards x. For instance, I'm quite sympathetic to ATI for no other reason than that all (2!) video cards I have owned have been ATI and served me very well. You'll see me recommending nVidia cards on the forum where it makes sense though. So I couldn't rate myself a fanboy.

 

[4Ryan6]

Personally I have no loyalty, I own cards from both companies, when its my time to upgrade I buy whats on top, I don't give a crap who made it. :lol: