Nvidia VS ATi

[legba]

I feel really un-educated asking this question but I would rather feel dumb than prove it by wasting money. I am upgrading from a 939 AMD chip. I was going to go with the AM2+ Proc. but while I was reading about new features I keep reading that AMD is going all ATI support. I have never really liked ATI before so I dont know alot about them. I wanted to buy a 8800GT or possibly a 8800ultra or something similar for this build.

What kind of impact is a ATI chipset on the MB going to have on my video card choice? would I be better off switching to a ATI video card? Would it make any difference if I dont plan to use crossfire or SLI?

Obviously I am not up to speed on chipsets or their impact on my PC. Any suggestions about a good resource to learn about chipsets would be helpfull.



My current system was built as an experiment just to learn how to build a good PC because I HATE buying cheap crap(Dell/Gateway etc.). So I built cheap crap to learn with.

Currently I am running a Epox 9npa +SLI system board with an AMD Athlon64 4000+ @2.4 Ghz, 2 gig Kingston HyperX @ 400mhz, 2 X Biostar 7600GS in SLI, WD 320GB HDD. SoundBLaster X-FI Extream Fatl1ty series sound card. Pioneer DVD/CD RW. CM 690 case and a Thermaltake Toughpower 750 PSU.
I wanted to start out buying a new video card because I can use it right away. I am planning to buy a new MB, Proc and RAM. Obviously buying the wrong video card first off would be pretty dumb.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated as well as any light shed on the chipset delima.

Legba

 

[caskachan]

Using AMD chips does not mean youre stuck with AMD chipset

in my own personal experience, the AMD chipsets fall behind the newest NVIDIA chipsets , or at least the midrange value sector that is

Biostars Nvidia 7025/7050 chipset rocks the socks off the AMD chipset for the same AM2 socket and the amd costs over 20 bucks more!

lets say they fare exactly the same, well with nvidia you could get a dual/triple 16x vid port mobo or an AMD one with 4 vid 16x ports, but frankly if you arent already doing sli, what makes you think you will do 4x crossfire? and imagine the cost, yet no one has reviewed a 4x crossfire to even show it is worth it

i aint no intle nor amd nvidia ati fanboy i just get what gives the most bang for buck at the current tech avaliabilty, so my recomendations

Any Nvidia based chipset either for intel 775(quad support) or AM2+ support, loards of ram ddr2 or 3 depending, and at least a 8800GT with the newer g92 procces, unless they new ati ones cost much less of what ive seen (close performance to the 8800gt but the price doesnt mark up for what ive seen)

 

[legba]

Thanks Caskachan. That is helpfull information. I still havent found a AM2+ MB with anything other than ATI chipsets on them. but I have only started trying to figure out the new MBs comming out. I am kind of behind the times, I was thinking AM2 at first. I did not realize that everything was already moving on again../sigh

 

[realibrad]

May i ask, why are you going with a AMD cpu? What features are you talking about. Right now, Intel has a much better mid to high range set of cpu's.

 

[legba]

Brand loyalty mostly. I feel comfortable working with AMD. I have also heard a few rumors from people I know who work closely with Intel talking about some built in features of Intel chips that arent welcome in my builds(spyware type).
Dont get me wrong, I have been thinking about the switch to intel for awhile now. I am just more comfortable with AMD.

 

[underbyte18]

same here. I wan the phenom!!!

 

[bwdsmart]

Brand loyalty mostly. I feel comfortable working with AMD. I have also heard a few rumors from people I know who work closely with Intel talking about some built in features of Intel chips that arent welcome in my builds(spyware type).
Dont get me wrong, I have been thinking about the switch to intel for awhile now. I am just more comfortable with AMD.

how can spyware be integrated into a cpu? just curious what you heard.

 

[rantarave]

nvidia for the win

at least right now

 

[3Ball]

Brand loyalty mostly. I feel comfortable working with AMD. I have also heard a few rumors from people I know who work closely with Intel talking about some built in features of Intel chips that arent welcome in my builds(spyware type).
Dont get me wrong, I have been thinking about the switch to intel for awhile now. I am just more comfortable with AMD.

I have no problem with you wanting to go AMD. Though I feel it is the worst decision you could make considering it seems you have the money to spend on a really nice system since you mentioned an 8800 Ultra, but I thought I would inform you that what you heard is complete crap. The only thing that an Intel CPU will do in relation to spyware is help you to remove it faster when it becomes a problem. Just thought I would point that out!

As far as the chipset goes. If you go with an ATI chipset it will not affect the way your nVidia card performs. Hope this helps!

Best,

3Ball

 

[3Ball]

same here. I wan the phenom!!!

Why?

Best,

3Ball

 

[underbyte18]

It is mostly preference I guess. I am thinking heavily on the Q6600 and the dual 8800gt for crysis.

Does anyone know the scale for ghz between amd and intel?

Ex: 5000+ X2 is 2.6ghz -what is the intel counterpart closest to it?

 

[xjustice09x]

Does anyone know the scale for ghz between amd and intel?

Ex: 5000+ X2 is 2.6ghz -what is the intel counterpart closest to it?

It may depend on which benchmarks you look at, but the 5000+ @ 2.6Ghz should be close to a 6420 @ 2.1Ghz.

 

[3Ball]

It is mostly preference I guess. I am thinking heavily on the Q6600 and the dual 8800gt for crysis.

Does anyone know the scale for ghz between amd and intel?

Ex: 5000+ X2 is 2.6ghz -what is the intel counterpart closest to it?

Yea what is said about pretty much nails it. The way I usually look at it. For the C2D's with 2mb of cache the AMD equivalent is usually around 300 - 400mhz above it and for the C2D's with 4mb of cache it is more like a 500 - 600mhz difference.

Best,

3Ball