ATi Radeon or nVidia graphics cards better?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Saint
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Nvidia
Click For Summary

Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the comparison between ATI Radeon and nVidia graphics cards, focusing on their performance in various applications, driver support, and user experiences across different operating systems. The scope includes technical explanations, user experiences, and debates regarding the quality and functionality of the graphics cards.

Discussion Character

  • Debate/contested
  • Technical explanation
  • Conceptual clarification

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants argue that both ATI and nVidia cards are equally good, with the caveat that ATI has issues with driver quality.
  • Others suggest that ATI performs better with Direct3D applications while nVidia excels in OpenGL, indicating that the choice may depend on specific game preferences.
  • One participant notes that nVidia's lack of open specifications complicates driver support on non-Microsoft operating systems, while ATI's drivers are developed by the operating system developers.
  • A user shares personal experiences indicating that nVidia graphics cards can be troublesome to configure under Linux compared to ATI cards.
  • Another participant mentions a frustrating experience with ATI drivers that refused to uninstall, expressing uncertainty about the overall quality difference between the brands.
  • Some participants highlight that the top models from both manufacturers can adequately run any game, but there is disagreement on which specific models are superior.
  • One participant claims that the ATI Radeon X800 is the best video card, while another counters that such a statement is subjective and not universally accepted.
  • There are conflicting views on the performance of the ATI Radeon X800 compared to the nVidia GeForce FX 5700, with some suggesting it is nearly as good in OpenGL but inferior in Direct3D.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express a range of opinions, with no clear consensus on which brand or model is superior. Disagreements persist regarding driver quality, performance in specific applications, and personal experiences with the cards.

Contextual Notes

Limitations include varying user experiences based on operating systems, personal preferences, and the subjective nature of performance assessments. Some claims are based on anecdotal evidence rather than systematic testing.

Saint
Messages
438
Reaction score
0
Which is better? :smile:
 
Computer science news on Phys.org
This is Troll bait
 
This is sucker
 
They are both equally good cards. Ati just makes bad drivers.
 
As it turns out, ATI is generally better at Direct3d and Nvidia is generally better at OpenGL. So if you're a Doom3 fan, an Nvidia card is probably better for you and if you're a Half Life 2 fan, ATI is better.

The top of the line from both will run any game adequately though.
 
dduardo said:
They are both equally good cards. Ati just makes bad drivers.

Yet, Nvidia won't release the specifications for any of their graphics cards, therefore, not any operating systems have non-propiertary DRI support for their cards. Quite a dilemma.

As far as I know, DRI support for ATI in Linux and any other OS that supports DRI, was not written by ATI, but the developers of those OSs, respectively. If you're using a non-Microsoft operating system, you'll be using drivers developed by the OS developers.

I'm a proud owner of an Nvidia GeForce 2. Does my FreeBSD configuration support DRI at the moment? No, because I'm not going to use the propiertary Nvidia drivers.
 
Last edited:
I'm not a gamer or an artist so I can't talk about the fine points of the graphics, but I can tell you that I have a notebook with ATI Radeon Mobility, a desktop with Nvidia Nforce2 and another desktop (a few years old) with Matrox Millennium G450, all of them set up to multiboot windows & linux.

I've installed various linux distributions (several times on each machine) and the Nvidia box is always the most troublesome. Take a look at discussions of these graphics cards on forums like www.linuxquestions.org[/url] and [url]http://forums.gentoo.org[/URL]. I don't think you can get full functionality out of the Nvidia board under linux unless you install Nvidia's own proprietary driver, and then you have their name (splash screen) pop up in your face every time x-windows starts up.

Running Windows, they all seem fine to me.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
To get rid of the splash screen put this line in the graphics card section of your xorg.conf or xfree86.conf file:

Option "NoLogo" "True"

I run the proprietary nvidia drivers in Linux and they work as well if not better than the Windows version. This is perhaps because opengl is more refined on the Linux side than that of windows.
 
I recall an ATI driver refusing to uninstall because it couldn't find any ATI hardware (video card had been removed surreptitiously by another). Needless to say this was very frustrating and when I purposefully repeated this with another computer (All-In-Wonder card) the very same thing happened again. As far as quality between the two brands my vision isn't qualified to judge any supposed difference.
 
  • #10
Thanks for that tip about the splash, dduardo.
 
  • #11
ATI Radeon X800 is the best video card in the world.
 
  • #12
russ_watters said:
As it turns out, ATI is generally better at Direct3d and Nvidia is generally better at OpenGL. So if you're a Doom3 fan, an Nvidia card is probably better for you and if you're a Half Life 2 fan, ATI is better.

The top of the line from both will run any game adequately though.

Excactly.

There's no such thing as "x800 is the best video card in the world."
 
  • #13
From the test I've seen the ATi Radeon X800 is almost as good with OpenGL as the GeForce FX 5700, but the GeForce FX 5700 can't compete in Direct3d.
 

Similar threads

  • · Replies 11 ·
Replies
11
Views
4K
Replies
2
Views
4K
  • · Replies 13 ·
Replies
13
Views
2K
  • · Replies 5 ·
Replies
5
Views
2K
Replies
22
Views
6K
  • · Replies 2 ·
Replies
2
Views
3K
Replies
3
Views
2K
  • · Replies 2 ·
Replies
2
Views
2K
Replies
5
Views
3K
Replies
5
Views
7K