The Graphics Card Poll

Today, graphics cards are an important part to any computer. For gamers, choosing the right type of graphics card can make all the difference in benchmarking frames per second and graphics quality. Artists use high-end graphics to create amazing pieces of art and other uses include watching films.

Currently, the market has two main contenders, Nvidia and ATI (Array Technologies Incorporated), with Nvidia's GeForce range and ATI's Radeon range. There is currently alot of choice in the market since both companies are competing on 'Graphics Card King' and so, new models from both companies are released every few months.

In order for graphics cards to work correctly, graphics card drivers relating to the graphics cards maker must be installed. Nvidia's driver set is known as 'Forceware' and ATI's driver set is called 'Catalyst'. The buzz word at the moment for graphics cards is Nvidia's 'SLi' and ATI's 'Crossfire' modes, which roughly means connecting two identical graphics cards together to run as one.


While having tried both graphics cards vendors, I have found Nvidia's graphics cards and driver set to be the most stable.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Well I've only had one, but it's worked pretty well for me.....GeForce 6600GT....about a year since I've gotten it, and It still runs my games fine....starting to show its age though when playing Fear and to an extent Quake 4 at higher qualities.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

NVIDIA. Drivers are infinitely better.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I voted nVidia simply because it's all I've used. I watched my friend having trouble once with his ATI stuff as well.

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I've got an ATi in my laptop now, and have used some nVidia cards before, and all I can say is that I definately prefer nVidia. The ATi drivers tend to be bad, and the card gives me much more trouble than my desktop nVidia.

I was speaking idiomatically.

ATI hasn't had a really good midrange video card since the Radeon 9600XT. That, combined with the fact that their high-end cards use lots and lots of power, makes me prefer nVidia by a bit.

Both brands work fine, though...ATi's drivers have gotten a lot better since the pre-Radeon era, at least, and the All-in-Wonder cards are a lot better than the various GeForces with VIVO hardware stuck on as an afterthought. And nVidia's worked hard on parts quality and power use since the GeForce FX cards.

I really don't understand where all of the complaints about Catalyst drivers come from. The only game that's given me trouble is Deus Ex, which runs too fast on my laptop's X300 video chip, and I think that might run too fast because SpeedStep on the processor breaks the game's timers. Catalyst Control Center is overweight, ugly, and annoying, but it's optional.

the odd part to this is that I always seem to wind up buying ATI cards anyways...either because of sales, because they're the only ones avaliable, or, in the case of the X800XL, because it was the fastest fanless card out there. :\

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I'm indifferent on the choice between Nvidia and ATI; I use them both and they work extremely well for me. I suppose ATI's catalyst drivers do seem more clunky than Nvidia's forceware (even with the Omega drivers.)
But I haven't gotten any odd glitches or BSODs from either of them. The only factor that keeps me from choosing one over the other is their price to performance ratio.

As for cards I've bought and tried (or still in use:)
Radeon 9100
Radeon X800GT
Radeon mobility X1400
GeForce FX 5950 ultra
GeForce 6800
GeForce FX 5700 Go

FELIPE NO

nVidia for sure. It seems the 7600GT and 7900GT are by far the best card for the money. While ATI peddles the x1800GTO for $250, it has performace much more like the $200 7600GT and no where near that of the $300 7900GT. I was an nVidia fan up to the GeForce 2 series, then ATI pulled off the brilliant 9xxx series; just to drop the ball with the x800 series. So I'm rooting for nVidia since their GeForce 6 series hit the ground. They have great performance for the price, especially since the GeForce 7 was introduced to the world.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by Yume

While having tried both graphics cards vendors, I have found Nvidia's graphics cards and driver set to be the most stable.

I agree. I've had no trouble with my graphics card, and the drivers have caused very few problems. i had to update them a while back, but since then it's all been okay. There's nothing wrong with ATI, but i prefer the GeForce card range.


Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Relic

Catalyst Control Center is overweight, ugly, and annoying, but it's optional.

Actually, the CCC is mandatory now and there is no other way to configure driver options. Which is the single reason I will switch back to NVidia for my next graphics card.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Rock

Actually, the CCC is mandatory now and there is no other way to configure driver options. Which is the single reason I will switch back to NVidia for my next graphics card.

That is incorrect. CCC is not mandatory. Note here where you can download just the Display driver. Secondly, there are third-parties that develop ATI drivers-sans CCC. Also CCC is very intuitive if you actually use it.

Originally Posted by Arainach

NVIDIA. Drivers are infinitely better.

This might have been true in pre-2000... But if you noticed at all, ATI has driver updates nearly monthly to improve older products and to update to newer games. Speaking of, they released Catalyst 6.5 today and gave me Adaptive AA for my x800xt.

Now that I cleared that up, I think personally that both have great solutions on the market. Nvidia is the way to go with low-end gaming (ie 6600GT etc.). With non-gaming lowend, they are pretty dead even. With high-end gaming it really depends on the features you want (aka less heat/noise w/ SLI option vs. HDR+AA+HQAF). Personally, if money was no object I would buy the X1900XTX and be done with it cause it is a better card than the 7900GTX. But all said, its just a preference issue with current generation cards, NOT a "one is way better for the money than the other" issue.

BTW... ATI has great card deals here. I picked up a X800XT-PE for like $200 6-9 months before the X1800 were announced.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I was under the impression that Arainach was/is a Linux user. If you had tried each brand on Linux then you'd have to agree that ATI is far behind. On Windows, ATI seems to have caught up to an extent though.

That being said, drivers are only one part of the puzzle.

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Originally Posted by PUG1911

I was under the impression that Arainach was/is a Linux user. If you had tried each brand on Linux then you'd have to agree that ATI is far behind. On Windows, ATI seems to have caught up to an extent though.

Sorry.. Linux wasnt on my radar with the comments I made.

Linux = Nvidia pwns ATI

I was speaking idiomatically.

I currently use an ATI 9600 Pro, but I'm not really "loyal" to any one company. ATI at the time when I got it was just best for the money.

Next card I'd buy would be an NVidia, simply because they're better in terms of performance with what's out there now.

How ya doing, buddy?

all I ever had was ATI card, but I still vote undecided because I didn't try bote to make an opinion. I'M still on AGP card and the next will be the jump to PCi-e and I'll probably go for an Nvidia card, for a change...

FELIPE NO

I like both manufacturers; in my eyes they have both strengths and weaknesses. For once NVIDIAs low end card seem to be faster than the equivalence on ATI. But in high end card they are both good technologies IMO.

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nVidia for sure! I always had Riva and GeForce cards in my PC. Riva TNT 2, GeForce 2 MX 200, GeForce Ti 3, GeForce MX 5200. Next one in line is GeForce MX 6600 but I'll have to wait for it =(. So nVidia rulez!!

How ya doing, buddy?

Mx 6600? Seriously, you should go for something a bit better than that. like a 6600 fanless or a 6600GT at minimum. The MX line has always been less then the standard versions (like Radeon SE's) so I'd be wary of that MX tag. Less bang for your buck with those cards.

There's nowhere I can't reach.