Are ATI Video Cards any good?

[Bill Ross]

If that is not a stupid question?

Bill

 

[David H. Lipman]

From: "Bill Ross" <[email protected]>

| If that is not a stupid question?
|
| Bill
|

I use both a ATI video card (VGA) and an ATI video capture card.

I have always been happy with ATI.

 

[_R]

If that is not a stupid question?

Bill

I'm probably not the person to ask, as I use video boards mostly for
2D graphics and text, mostly for software development. Over the
years I've had horrible luck with ATI. It's always a driver or
firmware problem or something, and it inevitably costs me $40 or
so on long distance calls, listening to hold music, and finally being
told that the firmware on that particular (new) board has a problem.

I've heard lots of similar stories, so I've never understood the
popularity of ATI. However, some must have good luck with them or
they would not be selling at all.

 

[Brad Clarke]

I've heard similar stories from my co-workers...they've had horrible
luck with compatability issues.

Both of the have had no problems with nVidia based video cards.

 

[Gordon Scott]

If that is not a stupid question?

Bill

I've used ATI cards for years and years.
There are those that swear up and down about problems, but then again
they might not know how to follow directions.
As a rule I find a stable set of drivers and dont upgrade to the latest
just because they are newer. Unless the newer drivers are fixing a
specific problem your having, or adding a feature you want/use then be
lean in your driver upgrading.
I suggest you DONT install the catalyst control centre. ATI has a habit
of adding features thjat THEY think ppl want, which end up messing up
other things, when they should spend their time fixing what is already in
need of fixing. Personally i think thier application writing ppl are
sadists. But I love thier products and graphics. I'm just not really fond
of thier inhouse software.

Anyone who spends $40 on phone calls to tech support, hasn't heard of a
clean system build, is too lazy to search an faq, too busy to ask in a
newsgroup, or has too much money to waste.

ATI 2d is way more easy on the eyes than any nvidia offering ever.

 

[Chris Catt]

Hi, got to any NVidia forums and you'll find an equal number of references
to buggy drivers as well. It's all down to a matter of personal choice
really, no one manufacturer is worse than the other. Post up some system
specs and we'll see if we can help you further. What you want to run as
software will help as well, i.e games programmes.....
ChrisC

 

[Ben Pope]

If that is not a stupid question?

My 9800 Pro has treate me well enough to just go out (well, stay in -
gotta love the internet) and buy an X800XL.

Thats despite using Linux a bit and having wafty 3D drivers for Linux,
but they are working on them, and they are getting closer to the Windows
drivers in performance.

Ben

 

[S.Heenan]

I've used ATI cards for years and years.
There are those that swear up and down about problems, but then again
they might not know how to follow directions.
As a rule I find a stable set of drivers and dont upgrade to the
latest just because they are newer. Unless the newer drivers are
fixing a specific problem your having, or adding a feature you
want/use then be lean in your driver upgrading.
I suggest you DONT install the catalyst control centre. ATI has a
habit of adding features thjat THEY think ppl want, which end up
messing up other things, when they should spend their time fixing
what is already in need of fixing. Personally i think thier
application writing ppl are sadists. But I love thier products and
graphics. I'm just not really fond of thier inhouse software.

Anyone who spends $40 on phone calls to tech support, hasn't heard of
a clean system build, is too lazy to search an faq, too busy to ask
in a newsgroup, or has too much money to waste.

ATI 2d is way more easy on the eyes than any nvidia offering ever.

I have to agree with Gordon on all three points. Just yesterday I upgraded
to the 6.14.10.6517 for Windows XP. They didn't work as well as previous
drivers, so I rolled them back. No call to tech support, no need to perform
a clean install.


2D is better than Nvidia although not as good as Matrox.

 

[timmy]

ati / nvidia on intel platform work quite well...I'de recomend an
nvidia card with amd platform, especially if it's nforce.
fyi

 

[timmy]

ya, and don't you hate that "mmc" software crap ?
it's so top heavy with all that "dao" install crap...
Im using intervideo windvr3 with my aiw and it records straight to
mpeg and doesn't require "anet" and doesn't create a blooted database
of files of which I know where to find...oh ya and it doesn't crash!

nice product and drivers, but as you said...poor inhouse software,
it's crap...and like "GS" said, definately stay away from "ccc"
fyi

 

[Ben Pope]

ati / nvidia on intel platform work quite well...I'de recomend an
nvidia card with amd platform, especially if it's nforce.
fyi

May I ask why?

Ben

 

[timmy]

It may be just my intuition, but there seems to be some
re-occurring postings to indicate that there may be some relation to
this phenomenon...nothing I can prove or swear by, except the simple
fact that "nforce" is made by nvidia, yes ? So why would they want to
optimize there chipsets for an "ATI" product that is their direct
competitor.
If I had an "nforce" board, I would buy nvidia, hands down...but if
you look ay all the eroneous postings throughout this group, you
probably have already come to that conclusion as well.
I'm not picking a winner here, just a safe bet...

 

[Ben Pope]

It may be just my intuition, but there seems to be some
re-occurring postings to indicate that there may be some relation to
this phenomenon...nothing I can prove or swear by, except the simple
fact that "nforce" is made by nvidia, yes ? So why would they want to
optimize there chipsets for an "ATI" product that is their direct
competitor.
If I had an "nforce" board, I would buy nvidia, hands down...but if
you look ay all the eroneous postings throughout this group, you
probably have already come to that conclusion as well.
I'm not picking a winner here, just a safe bet...

nVidia chipsets have AGP / PCIe buses that follow the spec for each BUS.

Each AGP / PCIe card meets those specs and can run.

You can run an ATI card on an nVidia chipset, or a nVidia card on an ATI
chipset. It makes no odds.

The performance tweaking ability for chipset-graphics cards interface is
minimal if anything.

You may have a point that nVidia probably design and test their chipsets
and graphics cards together, but I doubt performance is affected either
way. Of course that configuration is more tested initially, but by the
time these things come to market, they pretty much work across the board.

I'm running an ATI card on an nVidia chipset and it's flawless.

My new system is an X800XL with nForce4 - I'm expecting that to be fine too.

Ben

 

[timmy]

thats great to hear, I was considering nforce4 with ATI's top end
x850xt in favour of nvidias 6800ultra. Keep us posted on the new
system as well !

 

[_R]

I've used ATI cards for years and years.
There are those that swear up and down about problems, but then again
they might not know how to follow directions.

Anyone who spends $40 on phone calls to tech support, hasn't heard of a
clean system build, is too lazy to search an faq, too busy to ask in a
newsgroup, or has too much money to waste.

Sorry if my reply touched a nerve. BTW, that would be $40 on phone
calls AFTER searching through FAQs and asking in newsgroups. And FYI,
none of the ATI techs had a clue about problems, so it's no wonder
that the FAQs and newsgroups didn't cover them. It's a shame you
weren't around to help. <g> Then again, maybe you're not running
multiple hi-res DVI monitors.

Re 'following directions,' I write software for a living, including
device drivers. I've never had trouble installing any other brand of
video board. I spent $40 on hold cause my client wanted to use them.
I hope that clarifies things for you.

If you've had good luck, then stay with 'em.

 

[Ben Pope]

thats great to hear, I was considering nforce4 with ATI's top end
x850xt in favour of nvidias 6800ultra. Keep us posted on the new
system as well !

Of course.

There's a new page on my website:
http://www.ben.pope.name/a8n_faq.html

Which is pretty empty at the moment.

First job is to throw my old Deathstar in the new build and install
Gentoo Linux.

When thats done and I'm happy with it, I'll be swapping components from
this machine into the new one, such as the Raptor, and installing
Windows. Then making it usable as my primary machine.

Then (hopefully) putting the Deathstar in this machine and Transferring
the Gentoo install on this machine over to it (I'm not sure of the
logistics yet!) to run full time as a Linux Server for... err... whatever.

That might take a few days, but no doubt I'll be firing up the odd game
to see how it flies. Perhaps Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, if it's out
by then.

I can't wait.

Ben

 

[Jay T. Blocksom]

From: "Bill Ross" <[email protected]>
Newsgroups: alt.comp.periphs.mainboard.asus
Subject: Are ATI Video Cards any good?

[snip]

First, put your entire query in the BODY of your articles.

If that is not a stupid question?

[snip]

A stupid question? In the interest of public civility, I'll decline comment
on that. But it is unquestionably so general as to be pointless. ATI has
been manufacturing video cards for at least 20 years. There have been,
literally, HUNDREDS of models; and like any manufacturer's products, some of
them were/are better than others.

Similarly, some folks will repeatedly have horrible experiences with even the
simplest and most drop-dead reliable products, while others will routinely
perform feats of near-magic by getting flaky not-ready-for-retail products
working smooth as silk.

Perhaps if you gave *some* clue as to what you are trying to accomplish, you
could get some meaningful answers.

--

Jay T. Blocksom
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