A Survey on Nvidia and ATI Graphics Cards

[Cybercoco]

I'm sure you've seen your fair share of "Nvidia versus ATI" threads, and this isn't meant to be just another one of those. I am working on an English final assignment that I decided was going to be an analytical report comparing Nvidia and ATI. I figure one of the best ways to gather data on this is by going to the gaming and PC communities that care about this topic.

I put together a few brief questions below. I am posting this to several gaming and PC community sites. Your participation by answering these questions would be greatly appreciated. I don't want to take up too much of your time, so simple answers (ex. yes or no) is all that I need. But if you wish to expand and discuss your opinion more, you're certainly welcomed to. Please keep it civil.

Thank you for your time.


1. Which graphics chipset brand do you prefer: Nvidia, ATI, or would you use either one?

2. Which factor do you lean more towards when buying a new graphics card, price or performance?

3. Is buying the latest graphics technology important to you?

4. Do you consider tests and reviews from computer news publications or websites (ex. PCWorld Magazine or Tom's Hardware) when choosing a new graphics card?

 

[FalseChristian]

I'm sure you've seen your fair share of "Nvidia versus ATI" threads, and this isn't meant to be just another one of those. I am working on an English final assignment that I decided was going to be an analytical report comparing Nvidia and ATI. I figure one of the best ways to gather data on this is by going to the gaming and PC communities that care about this topic.

I put together a few brief questions below. I am posting this to several gaming and PC community sites. Your participation by answering these questions would be greatly appreciated. I don't want to take up too much of your time, so simple answers (ex. yes or no) is all that I need. But if you wish to expand and discuss your opinion more, you're certainly welcomed to. Please keep it civil.

Thank you for your time.


1. Which graphics chipset brand do you prefer: Nvidia, ATI, or would you use either one?

2. Which factor do you lean more towards when buying a new graphics card, price or performance?

3. Is buying the latest graphics technology important to you?

4. Do you consider tests and reviews from computer news publications or websites (ex. PCWorld Magazine or Tom's Hardware) when choosing a new graphics card?

1. I prefer nVidia for it's better Control Panel.

2. Performance.

3. No.

4. Yes, always.

 

[Cythreill]

1. Nvidia
2. Performance, price is important too though.
3. No, it's a waste of money. Only upgrade if you will get good enough improvements over what you got.
4. Yes, all the time. Anandtech, Techpowerup, Hexus are probably my favorite sites for this.

 

[Powermoloch]

1) Either
2) price
3) No
4) Yes, Very much.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

1. Which graphics chipset brand do you prefer: Nvidia, ATI, or would you use either one?

2. Which factor do you lean more towards when buying a new graphics card, price or performance?

3. Is buying the latest graphics technology important to you?

4. Do you consider tests and reviews from computer news publications or websites (ex. PCWorld Magazine or Tom's Hardware) when choosing a new graphics card?

1. ATI
2. Price, as in price/performance
3. A qualified no.
4. Yes but, never the ones mentioned.

 

[mindwreck]

1) Either
2) price/performance is what i look for
3) No
4) Yes

 

[Arkadrel]

1) AMD (ATI)
2) price (if I have ~200$ spend, I stay under it)
3) No
4) Depends on the sites, reviews can be twisted to the point where theyre all but lies.

 

[nemesismk2]

1. AMD

2. Price

3. No

4. Yes

 

[Grooveriding]

1. Either but prefer AMD all things being equal/near equal
2. performance
3. yes
4. definitely 100% but only give credence to anandtech, hardocp and a few others

 

[mosox]

1 AMD

2 Neither, the company must not try to mislead or hurt the customers in order to make more money and must use open source solutions whenever that's possible. Also I don't like them controlling the way I use my hardware (hardware DRM). I have no problem in spending more in buying from a decent firm that shows me some respect.

3 No

4 Only with a big grain of salt, many review sites sold out to hardware companies.

Edit: Wait, is your last question supposed to help some big HW companies to assess their need to buy off more review sites? Or to set the right price for those who sold out already?

 

[alcoholbob]

1. Either; ATI of late due to power efficiency.
2. Performance
3. Sometimes
4. I look at all tests to limit testing condition and application suite bias

 

[Mezzanine]

1. ATI
2. Price (vs performance)
3. Sometimes
4. Yes but only sites like Anandtech, TPU and sometimes HardOCP. Others I take with a grain of salt in case they're on the payroll.

 

[GaiaHunter]

1.Either.
2.Performance at a certain Price point ($200-250).
3.Depends on the technology impact.
4.Yes, but only websites.

 

[ShadowOfMyself]

1 - Either
2 - Price
3 - No
4 - Yes

 

[dakU7]

1. Which graphics chipset brand do you prefer: Nvidia, ATI, or would you use either one?

2. Which factor do you lean more towards when buying a new graphics card, price or performance?

3. Is buying the latest graphics technology important to you?

4. Do you consider tests and reviews from computer news publications or websites (ex. PCWorld Magazine or Tom's Hardware) when choosing a new graphics card?

1. Either
2. Price/performance
3. It's not important, more like a hobby.
4. No doubt.

 

[nitromullet]

1. I'll use either, but I generally end up with NVIDIA. I've been happy with both, and I've had issues with both...
2. Performance, but price does matter
3. Yes. I like to check out new features
4. Yes, definitely

 

[SolMiester]

1-nVidia
2-Price
3-no
4-Not those mentioned but yes!

 

[thilanliyan]

1)I tend to prefer ATI just slightly (mostly because my ancient waterblock still fits on them), but of my last 5 cards (DX10+ cards), 2 have been from ATI and 3 from nV.
2)I set a budget and get the best performing card in that price range
3)yes
4)yes I do check reviews

 

[hdfxst]

1-I prefer ATI but i use whatever fits my budget
2-price,150 dollars is the max i will spend
3-no
4-yes

 

[Schadenfroh]

1. Nvidia, CUDA and PhysX are nice to have, but not critical. As a matter of fact, I would prefer OpenCL win. I mainly prefer nVidia for the drivers, which seem to be better supported on operating systems other than Windows. I also dislike CCC, seems bloated to me. I only install the drivers (no CCC) on my ThinkPad (which has an ATI GPU in it).

2. Price

3. No, as long as it can play the games I want to play. I recently upgraded to a previous generation card.

4. Yes and that website is Anandtech.com

 

[darckhart]

i think you also need to specify if you want these graphics cards questions directly related to gaming or not (ie, some people buy specifically for gpgpu applications.)

i assume you mean for gaming:
1. either. but if all things are equal, prefer ati
2. price, followed closely by performance
3. no. if my current gear cuts it, i don't mind 3-4 generation gaps. my longest gap was gf2 -> gf6
4. somewhat. most review sites never use the settings i require, so i end up just using the sites to determine the general agreed upon performance for a particular chip and make guesses on what performance will be at my desired settings.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

1. which ever suits my needs better
2. performance at my price point ($200-250)
3. only if it brings a large improvement over what i currently have
4. websites only

 

[GodisanAtheist]

1. Which graphics chipset brand do you prefer: Nvidia, ATI, or would you use either one?

2. Which factor do you lean more towards when buying a new graphics card, price or performance?

3. Is buying the latest graphics technology important to you?

4. Do you consider tests and reviews from computer news publications or websites (ex. PCWorld Magazine or Tom's Hardware) when choosing a new graphics card?

1) Either

2) Both, but if I had to pick one, Performance. I buy new graphics cards for my primary PC because they are faster not because they are cheaper.

3) Absolutely not.

4) Yes, its the closest thing we have to empirical data regarding GPU performance. Without reading reviews, how can someone reliably know how much more performance they will get from a new card?

 

[load81]

1. Usually AMD but Nvidia for my main this round due to the cheaper 570 having the same performance as AMD's best single gpu but having more features that I would use.

2. Performance if the price isnt out of reach like the 580.

3. Yes I buy one or 2 new cards each series.

4. Yes..Tech Power Up,Anandtech,Hardware Canucks,Hardware Heaven, and Alienbabletech.

 

[nvidiaintelftw]

1. Nvidia
2. Performance
3. Yes
4. Always