ATI or nVidia

[Psycho Fox]

So what video chipset do you think is the best ATI (Radeon) or nVidia (GeForce)?

I do like the passive cooling (no fan) of the ATI Radeon 9600 and under and I find ATI is better at video play back but I find nVidia has better drivers (even for *nix) and has more bang for buck.

[Mango Fett]

I'm not tech expert but recent events have made me decide to toss my two copper bits in.

I recently aquired a GeForce2 MX. It will not work.
I have been trying for almost three days straight to get it to do so, but it fails to run games that even my old generic, shoved inside a gateway, vidcard could play.
And from the info i've uncovered in my searches it seems to me a few people consider Nividia's drivers to be craptacular aster a certain version number. Me? i find them all lackign as i've been throguh around 8 various drivers and no luck yet.

[Wilco911]

It might have something to do with the GF2 line being well past it's lifespan. If you got it used(which it sounds like you did), then I get the feeling it was already having problems before. Does Nvidia even make drivers for it anymore? As far as current cards go, I'm constantly seeing complaints about there drivers from various people, especially in City of Heroes. Things like the ATI cards before the 8200 not working with it at all and misc. problems for all their cards like colors not displaying properly(if at all). This past June I finally replaced my own GF2MX with a GeForceFX 5200(actually got it for less than I had originally payed for my GF2) and have had zero problems with it at all. But then again, I'm also not one of the people who have some "urge" to play at the highest resolution in existance with the highest anti-aliasing possible.

[Mog]

The brands are pretty much similar as of right now, but don't be surprised if some game work better with certain brands in the future just like Doom3 works better with NVidia and HL2 is being made for ATI cards.

I will say this. ATI cards need a bit of tweaking or else the drivers will have problems. Namely they have a nasty error called a "VPU crash." Basically your screen will go blank becuase your video card crashed. ATI never fixed it, but instead applied a "bandage" to it by making a "VPU recover" program that resets the video card when it crashes.

If you want a powerful/ fool proof card, go with NVidia. If you want a strong card with good cooling, no size issues, a cheaper price (usually), and stable framerates ,even with AA/AF on, go with ATI.

In the end it really boils down to preference, just like choosing between AMD and Intel chips. They each have pros and cons that usually equal out.

[Shnay]

I'm in the market for a new card, and am still undecided. I don't know too much about the tech that goes into these cards, so I really don't know what to go with. I had the impression that they were more or less the same, but it seems there are some subtle differences, which can be improtant with a purchase this large.

I was thinking of going with ATI 9800 Pro 128MB, as it seems to be a pretty powerful card for a semi-reasonable price. I've used Radeon cards in the past and haven't run into any real problems, but I don't know if that would change with the latest batch of cards. Also, the main reason I'm upgrading is for HL2, and the fact that the game may work better with an ATI card is a bit of a selling point (even though I'm sure an nVidia one would work fine too).

I'm still not completely sure what I'm going with, but I'll probably end up with the ATI one I mentioned above. I know someone who uses it, and it seems to work very well for them.

[Baltofan]

I voted for nVidia (Geforce) as I got that card.

[Bird Boy]

From experience, ATI cards have never worked right with my PC. Whereas with nVidia I can just pop it in, update drivers and whatnot, ATI requires alot more effort to get working--and then it won't, out of the two different cards that've been bought.

Right now on I'm an older GeForce...I really need to upgrade.

-BB