best ATI brand in terms of image quality...

[Lutel]

Hi!
Because I dont want to stick with Matrox G400 forever (and recently I
want to play some 3D games), I decided to buy ATI 9600XT. I dont care
about overclocking potential or fans quality. The most important to me
is it 2D quality (sharpness - I do much work with Photoshop and text).

Could you give marks (from 1 - best to 6 - worst) to these cards?

Build by ATI
Saphire
Hercules
HiS
Gigabye
ASUS

 

[patrickp]

Hi!
Because I dont want to stick with Matrox G400 forever (and recently I
want to play some 3D games), I decided to buy ATI 9600XT. I dont care
about overclocking potential or fans quality. The most important to me
is it 2D quality (sharpness - I do much work with Photoshop and text).

Could you give marks (from 1 - best to 6 - worst) to these cards?

Build by ATI
Saphire
Hercules
HiS
Gigabye
ASUS

I found that an ASUS 9600XT didn't have as good 2D quality as a Sapphire
9600 Pro VIVO, Lutel, and the Sapphire seems every bit as good as the Built
by ATi cards that I've used before.

HTH patrickp

 

[Tod]

I use to use a Matrox G400 32MB DH, then a Voodoo 5500
I then went to a Sapphire ATI 9100, 2D was about 90% as good as my Matrox.
My current ATI 9600 PRO AIW's 2D is a little better then the 9100s.

 

[Ed Forsythe]

Hi Lute.
Grading those cards would be totally subjective and virtually impossible
unless one had personal experience with each. Based on the reviews I have
read and comments from users, my impression is that the "built by ATI" cards
would be the best. IMHO, most go with the other brands to save money and
perhaps because of anecdotal references to fantastic OCing ability. If you
go with a non-ATI card insure that the clock speeds and all other specs are
the same as the ATI product, and that the card has active cooling.

Buy "Built by ATI" and you can't go wrong. Good luck -

 

[Sham B]

Apart from a few batches of early 9500s, all ATI's have better image quality
than NVidia. At the moment I have a sapphire 9800 pro, and that is rock
solid. I do web design and writing in my day job (use Macromedia, Adobe, MS
word constantly), and can say that the sapphire is rock solid (19 inch
iiyama CRT). No banding, no text ghosting at 1600x1200, 85Hz.
It is comparable to Matrox cards I remember using 2 years ago.

BTW, the prices between the range of available cards is coming down fast.
For example, I got my 9800 pro for 114 pounds exclusing vat and delivery....
you might want to consider going up a few from 9600, because the
cost/performance ratio looks favorable right now. (the upcoming PCI express
is pushing prices down, even though it looks like it will not be a useful
addition for most users for the rest of this year, except for cutting edge
first adopters - ie serious gameheads)

S

 

[patrickp]

Hi Lute.
Grading those cards would be totally subjective and virtually impossible
unless one had personal experience with each. Based on the reviews I have
read and comments from users, my impression is that the "built by ATI" cards
would be the best. IMHO, most go with the other brands to save money and
perhaps because of anecdotal references to fantastic OCing ability. If you
go with a non-ATI card insure that the clock speeds and all other specs are
the same as the ATI product, and that the card has active cooling.

Buy "Built by ATI" and you can't go wrong. Good luck -

Your remarks are not inappropriate, Ed, but I suspect the OP is not in North
America. This will make it difficult for him to source Built by cards,
particularly if he wants the warranty with them.

There's also a particular problem I have with Built by cards: ATi themselves
seem to have stopped making VIVO versions for all but a very few of their
ranges. And, as a European resident, I have no use for a Built by NTSC
All-In-Wonder: unlike VIVOs, AIWs are region specific and, despite the hopes
of some posters here, you can't change it.

patrickp

 

[Ed Forsythe]

Hi Patrick,
Thanks for calling that to my attention. You made excellent points. I had
no idea that Lute was in Poland . From now on I'm adding my state and
country to my sig. I think it would be extremely helpful if others
considered doing the same. Thanks again -