Geforce 3 Vs. radeon 8500

[WIllROP]

i am thinking about buying a new video card for gaming and cant decide whether i should buy a geforce3 or a radeon 8500, can you help?

[iisbob]

Be happy too!

INMHO G3 is the way to go; reasons being- ATI is lousy with driver support, ATI has shown some good picture quality-but lousy game performance, Lousy driver support from ATI, I've played Quake III and a few other games on a collegues system who has an Raedon 8500 ( w/dual monitor support )-don't compare visually or speed wise to the G3 rendering, Lousy driver support from ATI, Raedon does have better TV out support for their cards-if you wanted to watch TV on your PC, http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/rolleyes.gif ATI has lousy driver support, The newest games are being encoded to fit the Geforce3's new chipset features ( games will no longer be generically encoded for " general " OS usage-now they'll be targeted towards the advanced graphics options the new Geforce GPU's offer, true the Raedon is less expensive-but you get what you pay for, and did i mention that ATI has lousy driver support?! http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif




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iisbob
""I was gratified to be able to answer promptly, and I did. I said I didn't know."
Mark Twain

[hiredgoonz]

I would say that nVidia has the BEST driver support, but I wouldn't go so far as to say ATI has LOUSY driver support...(at least not anymore)

I think ATI has definitely learned how important continual driver updates are and they have been doing an excellent job as of late with keeping up...
www.tomshardware.com (http://www.tomshardware.com) has some excellent reviews of the new Radeon and GF3, with benchmarks, and the two cards are pretty much neck and neck for performance...

And, Bob, I won't disagree with you about the targeted game coding, but look where that got 3DFX http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/wink.gif

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When all else fails, read the instructions.

[-=RWA=-Justin]

on another tangent... i have a PNY Geforce 2 MX400 pci card, how do i know which driver version i have, and if its worth downloading a new driver?

[hiredgoonz]

It's almost always good to run updated drivers...

You should be able to check the driver version by going to the display options in the control panel...under settings click the advanced tab and then properties...on the adapter tab there should be a properties button...

OR, you can right click "My Computer" go to Properties and then Device manager...look for your display adapter and check the driver tab for the provider version and date...

OR, you can go to Start, Run and type dxdiag and hit enter...it will give you a bunch of info on your system and should tell you what drivers you're using...

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When all else fails, read the instructions.

[-=RWA=-Justin]

yeah, thanks for the direct X diagnostic tip. its interesting to see which drivers i am missing. MISSING! hehe, oh well, i guess ill download the latest http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/tongue.gif

[iisbob]

And, Bob, I won't disagree with you about the targeted game coding, but look where that got 3DFX..

Good point, however i think Nvidia has already thought about this { at least i would hope they have http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/rolleyes.gif } and are prepared to take this in stride.

Interesting to note that at the Guru3d there was an article from oversea's posted wher ATI supposedly is in a " backroom " discussion with Nvidia on the new chipset architechture programs.

This would be great because it would allow an owner of either card to be able to benefit from the newer capablilities in upcoming games.

About the driver support; i have to say i stand by my earlier statement-my friend has constant problems with his Raedon-and all ATI can tell him over the support lines is too wait for their next patch.
http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/rolleyes.gif

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iisbob
""I was gratified to be able to answer promptly, and I did. I said I didn't know."
Mark Twain

[diurnal]

Geforce 3, but the looks are the same.

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Sledgehammer will save the day!