hey guys,
I've been lurking on this forum for a while, and decided to pipe in because I'm just horribly confused as to what to purchase in terms of a video card. Currently I'm settling with a crappy Nvidia 5200 card that just isn't doing the job anymore, and I want to upgrade to one of those newfangled cards recently announced by Nvidia and ATI. I've always had Nvidia cards, and have never experience ATI products, and I'm not extremely hardware-savvy. This is what I gather:
ATI's offering is a faster card, and has single molex connection and lower power requirements. Nvidia's card might eventually BECOME faster with updated drivers, but it also offers more features than the ATI card. Is Shader 3.0 REALLY that important? It seems 2.0 can do everything 3.0 can, but it's just a bit slower.
My gut action is to go with the Nvidia, only because I'll be upgrading from another nvidia card, and have had great experiences with their cards. I do have a 480 watt antec trueblue PSU in my case, so power requirements shouldn't be a problem. But it seems ATI really is the better option?? I'm VERRRRRY confused since with every comment BLANK is better, someone has an argument against it. I plan on spending about $400 for the card (so obviously not the HIGHEST end card, but definitely the next level). Thoughts? Thank you!
adam
I've been lurking on this forum for a while, and decided to pipe in because I'm just horribly confused as to what to purchase in terms of a video card. Currently I'm settling with a crappy Nvidia 5200 card that just isn't doing the job anymore, and I want to upgrade to one of those newfangled cards recently announced by Nvidia and ATI. I've always had Nvidia cards, and have never experience ATI products, and I'm not extremely hardware-savvy. This is what I gather:
ATI's offering is a faster card, and has single molex connection and lower power requirements. Nvidia's card might eventually BECOME faster with updated drivers, but it also offers more features than the ATI card. Is Shader 3.0 REALLY that important? It seems 2.0 can do everything 3.0 can, but it's just a bit slower.
My gut action is to go with the Nvidia, only because I'll be upgrading from another nvidia card, and have had great experiences with their cards. I do have a 480 watt antec trueblue PSU in my case, so power requirements shouldn't be a problem. But it seems ATI really is the better option?? I'm VERRRRRY confused since with every comment BLANK is better, someone has an argument against it. I plan on spending about $400 for the card (so obviously not the HIGHEST end card, but definitely the next level). Thoughts? Thank you!
adam