I'm now an ATI convert

[T1000]

Just wanted to drop the ATI newsgroup a line to say HI.

After 5 years with Nvidia cards I have made the switch to ATI, namely a
Powercolor Radeon 9800pro 128meg. This card is by far the most exceptionally
stable, well rounded and best performing graphics card I have ever owned.

Not only is in benching far higher than the fx5900 I was playing around with
originally.. notwithstanding benchmarks the real world performance is head
and sholders above anything in the Nvidia camp I have used. The framerates
are constant, rapid movement in 3d games is sikly smooth, and I can, for the
first time, throw my old gaming res up from 1024x768 to 1280x1024 and then
on top of that, throw AA and AF and all the other eye candy into the mix and
still get exceptional gaming.

I look at these 5900s... with their monster cooling solutions (even the
single slot cooling designs are ludicrous), cores running at 84c... loud
fans, huge size etc.. then I look at my simple, elegant and reasonably sized
ATI card with a single fan and a modest heatsink and wonder why I waited so
damn long to make the switch.

The catalyst drivers were always to my mind a bit flaky... but since the
release of Cat 3.X I've noticed that the drivers are rock solid and offer
everything a gamer could possibly need. The drivers I'm using with the
9800pro (Cat 3.6) are rock solid.

I upgraded my entire system during my Vid card upgrade.. and with the fx5900
in it I was wondering if I had faulty Ram, mobo etc coz during heavy
benchmarking and burn-in I was indeed getting random crashes from time to
time. With the ATI installed I have run 3dmark 2001 for 8 hours straight..
and apart from a quite warm ambient case temp after the testing, there was
not a single hiccup.

Looking forward to spending some more time around here over the coming
months.

To any others resisting the switch to ATI so frequently spouted at various
sites, magazines etc... BELIEVE ME.. IT'S TRUE.. ATI OFFER A BETTER
SOLUTION.


Cheers,

T1000

 

[GuitarMan]

Just wanted to drop the ATI newsgroup a line to say HI.

After 5 years with Nvidia cards I have made the switch to ATI, namely a
Powercolor Radeon 9800pro 128meg. This card is by far the most exceptionally
stable, well rounded and best performing graphics card I have ever owned.

I'm happy for you...now that you switched to ATI, you can drop the NVidia NG
and quit cross-posting?

 

[k y l e]

owned.

I'm happy for you...now that you switched to ATI, you can drop the NVidia NG
and quit cross-posting?

Oooooh someone sounds a little ratty

 

[F r e e]

I upgraded my entire system during my Vid card upgrade..

LOL!!!!!!!!!

Yeah, so this is a realy 'cientific' comparison....!
Man, so much word wasting and then you say this....

Free

 

[Wayne Youngman]

"T1000" wrote in

Just wanted to drop the ATI newsgroup a line to say HI.

After 5 years with Nvidia cards I have made the switch to ATI, namely a
Powercolor Radeon 9800pro 128meg. This card is by far the most exceptionally
stable, well rounded and best performing graphics card I have ever owned.

Hi,
yes dude, I am in agreement with you. I too am coming from being a long
term nVidia GPU user, and yes it certainly is an *EYE-OPENER* seeing what a
9800 can do. Somehow it made my monitor work better/clearer in 2D also .
Still didn't test any DVD's/DivX yet but I'm sure it will rock . .

Did you have a butchers at these things:

ATI Developer Demos
http://www.ati.com/developer/demos.html

Wayne ][

 

[Ed Forsythe]

Hi T,
Glad you're happy. I was a Matrox fan for years but when they abandoned the
3D market I had to switch. After much research (ATI vs. nVidia) I decided
on ATI. Bought a 9500 Pro and haven't looked back. Matrox has always been
famous for their 2D stuff and beautiful display but I think that, at this
point, ATI is at least as good and of course light years ahead of Matrox in
3D. I think I'll stick with the 9500 Pro when I build my new box this
fall/winter and I'll upgrade when the ATI 10000 Pro is available ;-)

 

[Lester Piglet]

Hi, me too. I was a solid Sparkle 4mb user and I upgraded to a Rage Fury
Maxx, no more sparkles for me.

 

[neopolaris]

Woopie-it's a video card

 

[Anybody]

*yawn*

 

[Strontium]

*plonk*

-
Anybody stood up at show-n-tell, in
[email protected], and said:

 

[McGrandpa]

Just wanted to drop the ATI newsgroup a line to say HI.

After 5 years with Nvidia cards I have made the switch to ATI, namely
a Powercolor Radeon 9800pro 128meg. This card is by far the most
exceptionally stable, well rounded and best performing graphics card
I have ever owned.

Not only is in benching far higher than the fx5900 I was playing
around with originally.. notwithstanding benchmarks the real world
performance is head and sholders above anything in the Nvidia camp I
have used. The framerates are constant, rapid movement in 3d games is
sikly smooth, and I can, for the first time, throw my old gaming res
up from 1024x768 to 1280x1024 and then on top of that, throw AA and
AF and all the other eye candy into the mix and still get exceptional
gaming.

I look at these 5900s... with their monster cooling solutions (even
the single slot cooling designs are ludicrous), cores running at
84c... loud fans, huge size etc.. then I look at my simple, elegant
and reasonably sized ATI card with a single fan and a modest heatsink
and wonder why I waited so damn long to make the switch.

Hey T, I own both ATI (all made by ATI) and Nvidia (1 Asus, 2 PNY, 2
Creative Labs). I can tell ya now that the PNY cards are pretty much
pure reference boards, and my FX5900 isn't anything like you say yours
is. What brand and model is it?
The next vid card on my list to get isn't even on the shelves around
here (Houston). The stores can't get either ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 256 meg
cards or FX 5900 Ultra 256 meg cards. The stores say they have em in
stock (some of the stores do) and when I get there, they are 128 meg
cards.

The ATI cards, as fas as I can see right now are all .15m die and the
FX5900's are .13m die. They seem to run about the same temp too. Both
have variable fan speeds. And the FX5900 has a very nice and quiet
radial fin fan with open heat sink. It's very nice actually.

I want to skip the FX 5900 Ultra 256 and get a 9800Pro 256 for myself.
Both seem to retail for $499 US.

But I'd rather see the ATI board in .13m die.

And I haven't had any problems running either ATI or Nvidia cards on my
systems....so far. You may well have had a card with flakey ram.
McG.

 

[Strontium]

-
McGrandpa stood up at show-n-tell, in
[email protected], and said:

Hey T, I own both ATI (all made by ATI) and Nvidia (1 Asus, 2 PNY, 2
Creative Labs). I can tell ya now that the PNY cards are pretty much
pure reference boards, and my FX5900 isn't anything like you say yours
is. What brand and model is it?
The next vid card on my list to get isn't even on the shelves around
here (Houston). The stores can't get either ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 256
meg cards or FX 5900 Ultra 256 meg cards. The stores say they have
em in stock (some of the stores do) and when I get there, they are
128 meg cards.

I dealt with this issue, as well, when looking for the 9700np. I'm in
Houston, as well. The only thing I could find, on shelves, were the
9600pro/9800pro/9800/9600. Ended up getting the card, online. The 9700 was
at the price-point/performance that I was looking for, at the time. I'll,
probably, be doing the online thing again when I get the 9800pro or nonpro.
Sapphire does not seem to be available, locally. At least, all the places
I've searched.

 

[McGrandpa]

-
McGrandpa stood up at show-n-tell, in
[email protected], and said:


I dealt with this issue, as well, when looking for the 9700np. I'm in
Houston, as well. The only thing I could find, on shelves, were the
9600pro/9800pro/9800/9600. Ended up getting the card, online. The
9700 was at the price-point/performance that I was looking for, at
the time. I'll, probably, be doing the online thing again when I get
the 9800pro or nonpro. Sapphire does not seem to be available,
locally. At least, all the places I've searched.

I know there are some good folks at a few vendors locally that can hunt
one down. Never sure what their price will be, but never over SRP so
far
It may take them a couple weeks, but I think they can find one and bring
it in.
If you're interested....Electronics Outlet on I-10 @ Uvalde
(Northshore).
In the way between Conns and Smile Store. Ask for Hoang. He's the
owner. I have to cobble up a few more pennies before I go in this time

McG.

 

[Strontium]

-
McGrandpa stood up at show-n-tell, in
[email protected], and said:

I know there are some good folks at a few vendors locally that can
hunt one down. Never sure what their price will be, but never over
SRP so far
It may take them a couple weeks, but I think they can find one and
bring it in.
If you're interested....Electronics Outlet on I-10 @ Uvalde
(Northshore).

Interesting. I worked at a chemical plant called Merisol (previously
Merichem), right there on Haden road (right behind where someone is,
apparently putting in a shopping mall from the recently cleared trees right
there across from Sam's). If you smell a funny smell, whilst in that area,
it's them. It's a phenolics plant. I, still, smell it when driving by that
intersection on I10 to and from work from a plant in Baytown. Stinky
bastards I used to get looks and hear people say 'it smells like a
hospital, in here', when I worked there if I went to a store straight from
work. That shit permeated my clothing! On a side note Uvalde Malt 'n
Burger rocks! I drive, over to that side of town, just because of them at
times. Gotta love those mom 'n pop burger joints!

In the way between Conns and Smile Store. Ask for Hoang. He's the
owner. I have to cobble up a few more pennies before I go in this
time
McG.

I will keep that in mind, Mr.McG. I've found Axiontech.com exceptional for
monitors (and, so far, for hard drives), as far as pricing. They remind me
of NewEgg, but with tax added as it's not internet only sales when you do a
'pickup'. Either way, I prefer the 'physical' location, to internet sales.
Have you used this vendor, before? The are out by 59 and beltway 8
(southwest).

<snip>

 

[Ron Merts]

You upgraded the entire system and then believe that your improvement in
performance is wholly due to a new video card? You probably would have
gotten even better results had you upgraded everything else and kept your FX
5900. The only reason you're not crashing so much is you ditched that old,
under-powered PSU. What did you upgrade from a Pentium III with PC-133
memory to a Pentium 4 with HyperThreading and Dual-Channel DDR400 memory?

Ron

 

[McGrandpa]

-
McGrandpa stood up at show-n-tell, in
[email protected], and said:

I've never actually seen a Saphire. Those pretty red ATI boxes are
filling shelves though. PNY is really popular for Nvidia cards and
lately, there are fewer of these to select from. Stores are favoring
ATI.

Interesting. I worked at a chemical plant called Merisol (previously
Merichem), right there on Haden road (right behind where someone is,
apparently putting in a shopping mall from the recently cleared trees
right there across from Sam's). If you smell a funny smell, whilst
in that area, it's them. It's a phenolics plant. I, still, smell it
when driving by that intersection on I10 to and from work from a
plant in Baytown. Stinky bastards

Try growing up a few blocks from a creosote and aromatics plant, like
the one on Clinton Dr. in Galena Park. *What* sense of smell??? They
may be a small unit there, but they compete fiercely with roadkill
skunks! Ya can't figure out which is worse.
Ha, so you don't stay in Baytown. My favorite junkyard used to be where
San Jacinto Mall is now. They have the closest Electronics Botique to
me.
Next is Baybrook Mall, I-45 at Clear Lake.

I used to get looks and hear
people say 'it smells like a hospital, in here', when I worked there
if I went to a store straight from work. That shit permeated my
clothing! On a side note Uvalde Malt 'n Burger rocks! I drive, over
to that side of town, just because of them at times. Gotta love
those mom 'n pop burger joints!

Yep, I go to EJ's Malt n Burger on Market in Jacinto City a lot for
lunch.
Like for the last 21 years anyway But I have a pretty good variety
of eateries close to work so packing a lunch is not an option for me.

I will keep that in mind, Mr.McG. I've found Axiontech.com
exceptional for monitors (and, so far, for hard drives), as far as
pricing. They remind me of NewEgg, but with tax added as it's not
internet only sales when you do a 'pickup'. Either way, I prefer the
'physical' location, to internet sales. Have you used this vendor,
before? The are out by 59 and beltway 8 (southwest).

Yep, same vicinity as the CompUSA on Sam Houston Pkwy @ 59S.
That be a long drive though. Have you tried Best Computer USA on I-45
at Fuqua? They're in a sorta strip center, there's a Sears Appliance
store and Joes Crab Shack. Joes is a good landmark there, right on the
corner at the intersection. I've picked up a number of mobos and CPU's
there, and they're real good for accessories, cabling supplies, ram.
They have 3 locations and a website too. Their online list isn't really
complete. You'd have to walk in to see what an assortment they have
I call em my toy store.
http://www.bestcomputerusa.com/

I have Axiontech up on the browser now. I like pictures of the stuff,
they got em. They got a lot of stuff there man Weeeellll what do I
need for which system now?
McG.

 

[Strontium]

Whoa! This is getting long. I'll snip, a little
-
McGrandpa stood up at show-n-tell, in
[email protected], and said:

I've never actually seen a Saphire. Those pretty red ATI boxes are
filling shelves though. PNY is really popular for Nvidia cards and
lately, there are fewer of these to select from. Stores are favoring
ATI.

I've seen the same thing, i.e. stores seem to favor the built by ATI cards.
Have seen a couple of Abit versions, at Fry's, though.

Try growing up a few blocks from a creosote and aromatics plant, like
the one on Clinton Dr. in Galena Park. *What* sense of smell??? They
may be a small unit there, but they compete fiercely with roadkill
skunks! Ya can't figure out which is worse.
Ha, so you don't stay in Baytown. My favorite junkyard used to be
where San Jacinto Mall is now. They have the closest Electronics
Botique to me.
Next is Baybrook Mall, I-45 at Clear Lake.

Damn straight, I don't live in Baytown! I'll never live in the vicinity of
my workplace Given that my workplaces are capable of exploding and
taking out neighboring towns Used to work at Solutia, in Alvin. One of
the byproducts of AN production is HCN. They keep two huge storage tanks of
liquid HCN. It's, also, used as a catalyst in the production of AN. If
one, or both, of those tanks was to rupture.....I'd just pray that we have a
southward blowing wind on that day!

Yep, I go to EJ's Malt n Burger on Market in Jacinto City a lot for
lunch.
Like for the last 21 years anyway But I have a pretty good variety
of eateries close to work so packing a lunch is not an option for me.

I cook, at work. We've got a kitchen, in the lab.

Yep, same vicinity as the CompUSA on Sam Houston Pkwy @ 59S.
That be a long drive though. Have you tried Best Computer USA on I-45
at Fuqua? They're in a sorta strip center, there's a Sears Appliance
store and Joes Crab Shack. Joes is a good landmark there, right on
the corner at the intersection. I've picked up a number of mobos and
CPU's there, and they're real good for accessories, cabling supplies,
ram. They have 3 locations and a website too. Their online list
isn't really complete. You'd have to walk in to see what an
assortment they have I call em my toy store.
http://www.bestcomputerusa.com/

Cripes The Tidwell location has been my main store, for 4yrs, now.
However, I use them for mainly motheboard, memory and processors. Never use
them for peripherals or cases. They, definitely, have the best
mobo/memory/processors at the best prices. They, usually, use Micron
throwbacks. Never had one problem with any module I've purchased from
either location. Just purchased a 512MB Micron PC3200 module, from the
Fuqua store last week in fact. Was in the afternoon and did not feel like
dealing with 290 traffic, at that time.

I have Axiontech up on the browser now. I like pictures of the stuff,
they got em. They got a lot of stuff there man Weeeellll what
do I need for which system now?
McG.

Hehe. Just found out about this place, myself. It's where I'm gonna be
getting my next monitor from (unless I find a better price). They've got
some pretty competitive prices for retail!

 

[Diavire]

Read

"> I upgraded my entire system during my Vid card upgrade.. and with the
fx5900

in it I was wondering if I had faulty Ram, mobo etc coz during heavy
benchmarking and burn-in I was indeed getting random crashes from time to
time."

"And With The FX5900 In It"
I take it "IT" is the upgraded system, what the heavy benchmarking and
burn-in indicates as well

duh.

--
-DmD-
[w00t2]Proxivire
Angst
P.R.O.X.I.V.I.R.E.: Positronic Replicant Optimized for Xenocide and
Infiltration/Vigilant Individual Responsible for Exploration

 

[Diavire]

Read

"> I upgraded my entire system during my Vid card upgrade.. and with the
fx5900

in it I was wondering if I had faulty Ram, mobo etc coz during heavy
benchmarking and burn-in I was indeed getting random crashes from time to
time."

"And With The FX5900 In It"
I take it "IT" is the upgraded system, what the heavy benchmarking and
burn-in indicates as well

duh.

--
-DmD-
[w00t2]Proxivire
Angst
P.R.O.X.I.V.I.R.E.: Positronic Replicant Optimized for Xenocide and
Infiltration/Vigilant Individual Responsible for Exploration

I upgraded my entire system during my Vid card upgrade..

LOL!!!!!!!!!

Yeah, so this is a realy 'cientific' comparison....!
Man, so much word wasting and then you say this....

Free

 

[Diavire]

exactly what this newsgroup is about, no?
so why read the group if you're tired of hearing about videocards

--
-DmD-
[w00t2]Proxivire
Angst
P.R.O.X.I.V.I.R.E.: Positronic Replicant Optimized for Xenocide and
Infiltration/Vigilant Individual Responsible for Exploration