View Full Version : Making the switch to ATI
After owning almost every NVIDIA card (from the TNT basic onwards) except for the FX series I'm making the switch finally to ATI. Reading all the reviews comparing the latest ATI 9800pro to the latest 5900FX I'm convinced (from my perspective) the ATI 9x series are the better products across the board today.
Early driver quality with the ATI series video cards was the show stopper item sometime back but now from the reviews the ATI drivers are top-notch.
Yes - the 5900FX beats (minimally) the ATI 9800Pro in *some* benchmarks I believe the 2D/3D picture quality issues with 5900FX is disappointing. It's one thing to have blazing performance but it's another issue when picture quality is not up to par.
To spend $100 more for the 5900FX ($499) over the ATI 9800PRO ($399) with minimall performace lead and worse picture quality overall with the FX series is not worth it - IMHO..
My ATI 9800 pro should be here in a couple of days and I'm excited to be trying out something new with the best performance/cost (from my perspective) and picture quality on the market today. Tomorrow is anyone's guess and next week - is anyone's hype :D
jimbob0i0
06-26-03, 10:34 AM
Good for you. I had owned evry NV card (pretty much) from TNT to ti4600 when I made the switch to my 9700pro... haven't looked back. It is a wonderful card. Just one thing to note however - make sure you clean the last of the NV gfx drivers from the registry and associated areas - a driver cleaner will help. You don't wont conflicts ruining your experiance ;)
As painful as it sounds....I reformat my drive and re-install Windows when upgrading something this major. No point taking chances with registry settings done by NVIDIA to modify buffer settings etc..... I know there are tools to clean the NVIDIA drivers but reformating is 100% safe :)
deejaya
06-26-03, 02:20 PM
I used Driver Cleaner from Driver Heaven, I've played a bunch of games today, no crashes, no artifacts, great performance. Follow the readme for this and you should save yourself a format. It's only a hardware change.
schuey74
06-26-03, 03:29 PM
I upgraded from a Ti4600 to a 9800Pro last week and all I did was uninstall the Dets, shutdown, swap cards, boot up, and install both the control panel & the cat 3.4s before rebooting and gaming. I haven't had a single problem yet. I had planned on a re-format but unless I need to, I won't.
I had tried the same thing with two different 9700pros a few months back and I could not get the cards to run anything 3D. The only difference between my computer now and then is all the windows updates & Norton AV updates. Go figure!
howard stern
06-26-03, 06:19 PM
WOW I am also thinking about the 9800 Pro and making the switch. I hate to leave Nvidia but there hardware is just not up to the job anymore and there image quallity is getting worse all the time to keep up with ATI. I can't believe I am even saying this since I have been with Nvidia since the TNT days.
Originally posted by howard stern
WOW I am also thinking about the 9800 Pro and making the switch. I hate to leave Nvidia but there hardware is just not up to the job anymore and there image quallity is getting worse all the time to keep up with ATI. I can't believe I am even saying this since I have been with Nvidia since the TNT days.
Just made the switch to 9800 PRO 128MB and all is well :D
All I can say is, get the 128 version for now. Unless you wanna play games all maxed out on high resolutions, there is no need for 256 now.
I imagine this will be the same in Doom III. If you read the review on tom's hardware of the 5900 Ultra I believe, where he tested it on the Doom III preview, he will tell you the same thing.
Great card, no probs!!! :D
garikfox
06-27-03, 10:48 AM
Ditto... :)
Richard999
06-27-03, 11:49 AM
I echo the thread's sentiments. I too have owned every NVIDIA card from TNT to GF4 Ti4600.
I had high hopes for the GFfx, but sadly those hopes never achieved fruition. The FX5900 Ultra is a day late and $100 too much. I purchased a Radeon 9800 Pro a couple weeks ago, and have been extremely satisfied. It has met my expectations and therefore proven itself to be a worthy upgrade.
As far as I'm concerned NVIDIA had better have something very impressive up its sleeve. Because as it stands I'll be giving ATI a first look when it comes to upgrading next time around.
digitalwanderer
06-27-03, 12:28 PM
Originally posted by kimh
As painful as it sounds....I reformat my drive and re-install Windows when upgrading something this major. No point taking chances with registry settings done by NVIDIA to modify buffer settings etc..... I know there are tools to clean the NVIDIA drivers but reformating is 100% safe :)
Reformatting is the bestest way to make sure everything is ok; but I have changed from a GF2 to Radeon7200 to GF3 to 8500 back to GF3 again on a dual-boot 98se/XP set-up without reformatting either install without any problems before. :cool:
Just if you're going to do it that way, make sure you look up a damned good driver cleaner tutorial for both companies dealing with both OSes. It really isn't that hard to clean-out all the remnants of an old card install once ya get the hang of it.
(DriverHeavens drivercleaner tool works great too, I just really prefer to do it by hand for some odd reason. :rolleyes: )
My ATI 9800Pro showed up today but I can't open the package until 7/14 (my birthday)....Talk about "blue balls". I will just need to hold out for two weeks but in the meantime I can drool over the box when my wife is not looking - LOL
The card is gonna :headbang: for sure.
I'm going to :alc: tonight to ease the pain...16 days and counting...
St Lobus
06-28-03, 08:19 PM
I have been strongly considering switching from my Ti4400 to a Radeon 9800. Does anyone here know what kind of performance gains I can expect in games? My sys specs are in my sig. I play mostly WC3, NWN, Asheron's Call 2, Splinter Cell, and some Raven Shield.
If it's just a small improvement over my current card, I may hold out, however, if I will notice a big difference in performance and the IR mode in Splinter Cell run full speed, I may pick it up. If there's a site that has comparisons between the two cards or if someone's asked what kind of improvement to expect before, just point me kindly there, and I'll leave everyone alone...for now. :)
The easiest is to download and complete a full set of 3DMark 2003 benchmarks. On the ATI 9800 Pro I've seen scores anywhere from 13000 to 16000. Compare your results to these approximate numbers.
Originally posted by kimh
The easiest is to download and complete a full set of 3DMark 2003 benchmarks. On the ATI 9800 Pro I've seen scores anywhere from 13000 to 16000. Compare your results to these approximate numbers.
I believe those scores are from 3DMark01 rather than 3DMark03. On 3DMark03 results vary from 3000 to ca. 6000 depending on resolution. ;)
howard stern
06-30-03, 12:36 PM
Well I took the plunge, I bought an ATI 9800 Pro from Newegg, I have one thing to say. Nvidia is in deep poop, this card rocks and is so much faster then my TI4600 and the video quallity is so much better in games that its just Jaw dropping. BF1942 at 1024*768 32 bit color and all other settings maxed out 6x FSAA and 16x AA and the game is smooth as silk. I would rate this card an A++.
digitalwanderer
06-30-03, 01:01 PM
Originally posted by howard stern
Well I took the plunge, I bought an ATI 9800 Pro from Newegg, I have one thing to say. Nvidia is in deep poop, this card rocks and is so much faster then my TI4600 and the video quallity is so much better in games that its just Jaw dropping. BF1942 at 1024*768 32 bit color and all other settings maxed out 6x FSAA and 16x AA and the game is smooth as silk. I would rate this card an A++.
So you DID end up making the jump? Glad to hear it was a good experience for ya. :cool:
schuey74
06-30-03, 01:41 PM
The jump is big and there just appears to be very few, if any problems at all w/ the 9800s. The 9700s apparently had some growing pains as the "new ATI" was just coming out but Nvidia is definetely in quite a bit of trouble if there NV40 is not completely amazing. If they're equal or even just close, I'll be going the way of the R420. ATI has most definetely impressed big time. I now understand why Digi seemed a lot like a fanATIc......it's hard not to be excited about a company that is putting out products that exceed expectations while the "other company" is doing the exact opposite!
Now get ready for the ultimate oxymoron. I think I got a bum GPU, it would get artifiacts over 400 on stock cooling and now peltier cooled it hits only 440 without artifacts or crashes. I sure hope my R420 does better!
garikfox
06-30-03, 07:30 PM
Well. From my R350 which is Awesome, hmm R420, WOW Im gonna get Stoned now, lol (inside joke) woohoo, I can see Bud being grown called Radeon 420, LoL :)
Oops - you are right - I meant 3DMark 2001 SE and not 3DMark 2002. No idea what the 9800Pro pulls under 3DMark 2002...
Originally posted by kimh
My ATI 9800Pro showed up today but I can't open the package until 7/14 (my birthday)....Talk about "blue balls". I will just need to hold out for two weeks but in the meantime I can drool over the box when my wife is not looking - LOL
The card is gonna :headbang: for sure.
I'm going to :alc: tonight to ease the pain...16 days and counting...
as much as waiting goes you might be better off pulling it out and testing it first just to make sure it works. i mean what if you take it out on your b-day and find out it doesnt work and you need to rma it and by then depending on where you bought it, might be too late to rma it. in anycase it might be wise to just take it out and see if its working.
goofer456
07-01-03, 06:16 AM
Originally posted by kimh
Oops - you are right - I meant 3DMark 2001 SE and not 3DMark 2002. No idea what the 9800Pro pulls under 3DMark 2002...
You mean 3dMark 2003?:D
Originally posted by goofer456
You mean 3dMark 2003?:D
I really didn't want to be a smart a$$ and point that out again :p
Doh - messed up again....3DMark 2003 is what I meant.
I need to try and get some sleep. My unopened ATI 9800Pro sitting upstairs on the counter is giving me sleepless nights. Only 13 days to go....
I'm not able to sleep lately pondering the impressive picture quality and wicked frame rates....
I have good use planned for my current GeForce...I have a table that doesn't sit squarely on the basement floor and wedging something under one of the legs should do the trick :)
digitalwanderer
07-01-03, 09:22 AM
Go and download the animusic demo from ATi (http://pdownload.mii.instacontent.net/ati/misc/demos/ATI-9700-PipeDream-Demo-v1.1.exe) RIGHT NOW!
Mindblowing! :eek:
Originally posted by digitalwanderer
Go and download the animusic demo from ATi (http://pdownload.mii.instacontent.net/ati/misc/demos/ATI-9700-PipeDream-Demo-v1.1.exe) RIGHT NOW!
Mindblowing! :eek:
Dead link
but you can find some demos here (http://www.ati.com/developer/demos/r9700.html) including animusic
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