- Dec 1, 2006
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Firstly, please pardon my rather *ahem* strong language in the subtitle.
I may be in the market for a new computer, complements my moving company. (For the unabridged version of my tale, you may click here, though I would advise against it unless you have some time to kill.) The computer they broke is an Alienware, vintage late 2004, given to me as a graduation present. So I'm looking at my replacement options and I'm not entirely sure I understand what I see.
I see on several system configuration sites, Alienware included, that many of their high-end computers offer motherboards branded as "nForce", which I presume is constructed or at the very least approved by nVidia. On these same sites, I notice an odd absence of choice when it comes to putting graphics cards in. It's GeForce or it's nothing at all.
I'll be frank: I'm an old-skool 3DFX fan in the worst of ways. My hostility towards nVidia goes all the way back to their Riva 128 cards and is, for the most part neither rational nor open to compromise. So long as I'm able to do everything on this motherboard that I could otherwise do with someone else's board, I'm "all right" with having nVidia brand my very soul with their logo, lightly. If, however, I'm only able to use nVidia/GeForce graphics cards on an nForce motherboard, and cannot otherwise be convinced of the benefit of locking myself into one side (we'll call it the "Dark Side") of the GPU hardware coin, I see no compelling reasons to turn my back on Radeon cards entirely.
So, stupid question time. Can I slam a Radeon GPU into an nForce motherboard or am I forever bound to use GeForce hardware on a motherboard such as that?
I may be in the market for a new computer, complements my moving company. (For the unabridged version of my tale, you may click here, though I would advise against it unless you have some time to kill.) The computer they broke is an Alienware, vintage late 2004, given to me as a graduation present. So I'm looking at my replacement options and I'm not entirely sure I understand what I see.
I see on several system configuration sites, Alienware included, that many of their high-end computers offer motherboards branded as "nForce", which I presume is constructed or at the very least approved by nVidia. On these same sites, I notice an odd absence of choice when it comes to putting graphics cards in. It's GeForce or it's nothing at all.
I'll be frank: I'm an old-skool 3DFX fan in the worst of ways. My hostility towards nVidia goes all the way back to their Riva 128 cards and is, for the most part neither rational nor open to compromise. So long as I'm able to do everything on this motherboard that I could otherwise do with someone else's board, I'm "all right" with having nVidia brand my very soul with their logo, lightly. If, however, I'm only able to use nVidia/GeForce graphics cards on an nForce motherboard, and cannot otherwise be convinced of the benefit of locking myself into one side (we'll call it the "Dark Side") of the GPU hardware coin, I see no compelling reasons to turn my back on Radeon cards entirely.
So, stupid question time. Can I slam a Radeon GPU into an nForce motherboard or am I forever bound to use GeForce hardware on a motherboard such as that?