Buying a new Geforce?

[NepSquare]

I've been a nvidia fan for a looong time now, but I've seen the market grow for Ati a lot lately. Do ATi cards have any advantages over Nvidia's in context with Chanka?

I'm trying to buy a new GFX card but I get a bit disoriented at times due to other people's opinions on how they work on regular games. But I DON'T CARE ABOUT PC GAMES and their fps's. I just want to have a nice gfx card to start tweaking on Chanka and other emu's...

Please give me a push in the right direction...

 

[Clements]

Won't make much difference to be honest, you have a DX9 card already that should work well in at least 1024x768 resolution - Chankast is CPU intensive so the CPU upgrade will make more difference, but you have a 2.8GHz processor already. Perhaps overclocking your processor would be a good way of improving your FPS without paying money.

 

[BalleBal]

I've had a NVidia card for a long time also, and saw ATI do it's best to keep up but never seem to meet it's match.
But until the Radeon 9700Pro arrived ATI proved to be more than a match for "Good old NVidia".
Ive had every GeForce card you could imagine: GeForce, Geforce 2 GTS. GeForce 3, and the GeForce Ti4600.
But when i came to purchase my next card i decided for a Radeon 9800Pro, and i am satisfied with my choice.
Mainly it seems that ATI's color spectrum is much better and true to the original colors.
The 2D side of the card has better colors than my GeForce ever did, maybe it's just me?
But i've always heard that ATI excels in these properties, so if you're not interested in 3D performance ATI will be your most likely choice imho.

I think my next graphics card will be an ATI too, as i'm a satisfied customer and don't think NVidia will do any better any time soon.
It's always a neck to neck race, just like Intel and AMD do all the time.

Keep reading hardware reviews about these cards, and then make your decision it can make a world of difference.
Hope you'll succeed!!

L8

 

[NepSquare]

Thanks for your feedback you guys!

I just upgraded my pc, and the fx5200 (is it really a dx9 card?) was the only thing left out of my old pc. (that and like four hd's) Although I do have good, near to great performance with Chanka, it's not the speed I'm worried about.

I've been reading some other threads about pixel shading and other features my current card doesn't support. Buying a new one is purely as an investment with future compatability in mind.

I'll try looking into some more ATi reviews while I'm at it, although I am more interested in 3d than in 2d lately (wonder what shifted my world?).

So far my eye is on the fx5950 Ultra and the 9800 XT (thanks for the tip)...
They're sure pricey...

 

[cooliscool]

Yes it's a DX9 card. Architecturally (as in features), the 5200 is no different from say a 5950U, but it is much much slower. Hell, my Ti4200 owns a 5200 in terms of speed. Buying a new card won't make Chanka look any better (aside from FSAA which is faster on say a 5950u).

And yes, being a DX9 card, it does support pixel shader 1.1-2.0. Whoever told you it didn't needs to be slapped, very hard.

 

[Clements]

Your FX 5200 is fully DX9 compliant, in fact, it extends beyond DX9 comfortably, Vertex Shader 2.0 and Pixel Shader 2.0.

An FX 5950 is overkill for Dreamcast emulation - I achieve framerates of 50-70 fps in Soul Calibur souly because I bought a fast CPU (deliberately because I emulate more than I play PC games). All a FX 5950 will enable you to do is play games in very high resolutions like 1280x1024 and above with filtering with no speed impact. If you play in 1024x768 or lower, expect almost no performance gain from 5200 > 5950 at all.

The 5950 has almost no extra features over a 5200 either - Nvidia made their FX line to have the same features from budget to top end. The exception is stuff like Ultrashadow which is not used in Chankast.

By all means get the 5950 or 9800 XT, just don't expect much improvement in Chankast.

 

[NepSquare]

I misled myself into believing that it needed to be upgraded. I could've sworn that it wasn't a dx9 card (I think I need to slap myself, cooliscool).

Thanks again, both of you, for your input. After not upgrading/buying anything for the last 2-3 years, (except my recently bought cpu + mobo + mem) I think the only thing that has to be upgraded is my hardware knowledge.

I think I'd better focus on emulating again, so my girlfriend can spend our money on new shoes\bags and we'd have a happier life.....hmmm.

On second thought wha about a new...?

Juzzt kidding~!


I think you guys are great, I haven't posted anything on any board for the last 2 years, and I've never had fast feedback as you guys give at Emutalk!

Thanks... Over and out!

 

[fivefeet8]

If your thinking about a fx5950u or 9800xt, get yourself one of the newer 6800 non ultra's. It's more future proof(if there even is such a thing) than both of those past generations and actually costs less too. The 6800 non ultra is also actually faster than both of them and has better quality AA than the 5950 ultra. It also has far more hidden FSAA options than any current video cards out there.

2d quality on nvidia and Ati are pretty much on par these days on the Fx and Nv40 cards.

 

[poison_dart3]

But ATI cards available for the same prices in each class as GeForces are faster.

 

[fivefeet8]

But ATI cards available for the same prices in each class as GeForces are faster.

Faster in what? The 6800nu cost the same or less than a 9800xt and performs better in most situations. An nvidia 6800gt priced the same as an Ati x800pro performs better in most situations as well(no suprise really, 16 vs 12 pipes). And now it seems Ati will be releasing suped(higher core/ram speeds) up r360 cores for it's low/mid end parts. No hardware 3dc for them.

 

[l00pus]

Im a big Nvidia fanboy myself but I use an ATi for my Chanka use only because I have this in a full featured Arcade machine with mame, girigiri, and Chanka. To me ATi cards work much much better hooked to a TV then an Nvidia. The Television options are much more robust and the image quality is much better. Just my 2 c and I realize this probobly dosent pertain to you

 

[poison_dart3]

Faster in what? The 6800nu cost the same or less than a 9800xt and performs better in most situations. An nvidia 6800gt priced the same as an Ati x800pro performs better in most situations as well(no suprise really, 16 vs 12 pipes). And now it seems Ati will be releasing suped(higher core/ram speeds) up r360 cores for it's low/mid end parts. No hardware 3dc for them.

Are you crazy? Don't you know that ATI just released a brand new Radeon X800XT which one is on the top of most major benchmarks. Don't believe ? Check out some websites or magazines. I also changed my NV card to ATI, 'cause these cards have some other features, that NV cards don't have.

 

[cooliscool]

On the flip side, NV cards have some features ATi cards don't.

Fanboyism is very very fucking dumb. KThx.

 

[fivefeet8]

Are you crazy? Don't you know that ATI just released a brand new Radeon X800XT which one is on the top of most major benchmarks. Don't believe ? Check out some websites or magazines. I also changed my NV card to ATI, 'cause these cards have some other features, that NV cards don't have.

No, maybe your crazy. Look at the benchmarks of the 6800 nu and 6800gt against a 9800xt and x800pro. Ati Faster at similar price points? No.

Now if your gonna talk about the high end parts only, the 6800 ultra and X800xt are pretty much neck in neck in most cases, with the 6800 ultra winning in almost all OGL games with almost any setting and the x800xt winning some d3d games and Far Cry by a few FPS at 1600x1200 4xAA/8xAF.

ATi has features that Nvidia doesn't have, but Nvidia also has features that ATi doesn't have.

 

[Clements]

Are you crazy? Don't you know that ATI just released a brand new Radeon X800XT which one is on the top of most major benchmarks. Don't believe ? Check out some websites or magazines. I also changed my NV card to ATI, 'cause these cards have some other features, that NV cards don't have.

Like what? Truform? :happy:

I'd take a 6800 U over a X800 XT any day, for many reasons which I won't state now.

 

[fivefeet8]

Im a big Nvidia fanboy myself but I use an ATi for my Chanka use only because I have this in a full featured Arcade machine with mame, girigiri, and Chanka. To me ATi cards work much much better hooked to a TV then an Nvidia. The Television options are much more robust and the image quality is much better. Just my 2 c and I realize this probobly dosent pertain to you

What cards are you comparing(nv/ati) for TV out quality and options? Also what options are on ATi's TV out that isn't on Nvidia cards?

 

[poison_dart3]

Maybe not so many things on TV Out, but still many other. ATI cards have sharper and more colourful video quality. ATI cards are also the first choice for home video and internet streaming video ( Fullstream technology ). They perform more sharper video quality.
With Smoothvision technology it is possible to increase FSAA and AF without a bigger loses on FPS in games. Smartshader technology enables a lot of film effects in games. And of course, better performance, Hydravision, Truform and few other things. Only Catalyst drivers aren't so good as they should be.

 

[rcgamer]

where did you copy that from. looks like an ad . except of course the last sentence. wich kind of makes the rest moot.

 

[fivefeet8]

Maybe not so many things on TV Out, but still many other. ATI cards have sharper and more colourful video quality. ATI cards are also the first choice for home video and internet streaming video ( Fullstream technology ). They perform more sharper video quality.
With Smoothvision technology it is possible to increase FSAA and AF without a bigger loses on FPS in games. Smartshader technology enables a lot of film effects in games. And of course, better performance, Hydravision, Truform and few other things. Only Catalyst drivers aren't so good as they should be.

I think Ati have been known to have better 2d image quality in the past but with the most recent graphics cards from nvidia, they are pretty much even now. Smarkshader? Haha. I've read complaints on how people are cheating in MP FPS games by using a certain smartshader effect. Nice to check out a few times, but not much else. Copying and pasting from Ati's websight is pretty funny though. :icecream: I'm not gonna respond to them. It's funny, but some of those feature you listed, Nvidia has something similar, just named differently.

Features I'm aware of on Ati cards that Nvidia doesn't have something similar.

-TAA
-SmartShader
-hardware 3dc(can be done in software)
-Truform

Features Nvidia has that Ati doesn't have something similar:
-Super Sampling AA
-Hybrid Super Sampling + Multisampling AA modes
-Digital Vibrance
-Image Sharpening
-3d Stereoscopic
-Image quality settings all available through the Control Panel.(disable/enable all af/tri optimizations)
-Shader Model 3 support.

 

[poison_dart3]

That your NVidia only cheats people. NV still sells GF4MX cards ( in the middle of 2004!) for about €60. The trouble is that these cards don't support Pixel and Vertex shader, so gamers can kiss goodbye a lot of great games such as Doom3, Silent Hill 3, Crazy Taxi: High Roller, Sands of Time, Pandora Tomorrow,... Meanwhile same priced ATI cards can run all those games listed.