GPU chipset manufacturers!!!

well somebody else might have done this and i hope nobody done this but ill give this poll anyway.
SO here:
which chipset company do you like?

 

Just hope this doesn't go on to an ATi vs nVidia flame fest...

 

nVidia make better Linux drivers, so I'm more partial to them. ATi are catching up though.

 

ATI, I feel as if they perform and overclock better.

Although I have no problems with Nvidia.

So whatever's cheaper and performs better.

 

Personally I think each manufacturer has its strengths. For instance with equivalent gen cards ATI seems to have the performance edge while Nvidia has better stability.(of course Nvidia has the 8800GTX/GTS out so they have performance and stability right now) Intel has compatibility on their side. Running OS' other than XP is much easier on the GMA than just about any other graphics solution.

A lot of times its just when you ask the question because the better manufacturer is often decided by who put out their cards last. The 8800GTX is a prime example of this, until that card came out ATI had a significant performance edge. Now this all applies to desktop GPUs but notebook GPUs are kinda rule breakers, in that the latest card out is not necessarily the best-X1700 vs Go7700 anyone?

 

Does it really matter?

 

I agree with this, except I would change the quote to read partial, instead of impartial.

In any case, the nVidia and ATI cards are the best since they are dedicated. Would anyone wanting GPU performance choose Intel? I think if you are choosing GPU chipsets, then battery life isn't a concern, and its only performance.

 

LOL, from the poll I would say not to many are concerned with battery life then.

 

is anyone going to vote for Intel. LOL

you for got about:
- SiS
- S3
- Trident
- 3dfx
- Matrox
- XGI
- Power-VR

 

...and Tseng Labs.

My sentiments exactly.

 

You're correct, my mistake. It's what I get for posting too late in the afternoon.

 

Hmm, I don't really think so.
Obviously it's too early to judge the current generation (as only NVidia has a product out), but last generation ATI didn't really have a "significant performance edge". As far as I know, the 7900's were doing pretty well, and of course the 7950GX2 spanked almost everything (although I don't know if that should be included in the comparison?)
The generation before that?
That was Geforce 6, and I don't remember that falling behind at all either.
Then of course we had Geforce 5, which sucked...
And before then, everything from ATI sucked...

On the other hand, I can't say I'm aware of any problems with stability on ATI either, so I'll have to disagree with both your performance and stability claims.

If anything, I'd say that the last three years have shown a tendency of NVidia putting out the best models at launch. And at the refresh half a year later, ATI catches up (and maybe performs a few percent better)
That is, 6800 vs X800: 6800 won
6800 (what did NVidia even put out here?) vs X850: The X850 was *slightly* faster, I believe, although it still didn't support SM3.0

And then the next "major" generation launched:
7800 vs X1800: 7800 won
And the refresh:
7900 vs X1900: **** close one, although again, ATI may have got just a few percent faster.

Of course another trend seems to be ATI's schedule gradually slipping, to the extent that now they're going to launch a new generation about the same time as NVidia launches the refresh. That might change the picture a bit.
That is, now we have 8800 vs X1900: Huge win by NVidia
And presumably soon:
8900 vs X2800: Of course impossible to tell yet, but considering NVidia will be on their refresh of the architecture, they may come out looking pretty good.

(One explanation for this just occurred to me. Could it be because ATI is so busy supplying GPU's for both Wii and the 360 that their PC business has fallen behind schedule? It seems a similar situation to what happened to NVidia trying to juggle both Geforce 5 and the original XBox's GPU)

Compatibility for Linux, maybe. But for games compatibility, I believe both NVidia and ATI leave it in the dust. (Although I don't own a GMA, so can't test for myself)

 

I agree with that statement. ATi has always seemed to release a good product but it always seems to have driver/stability issues. Some examples being the heat issues of X800 series. Initial driver problems with virtually the whole x1K series. etc.

Haha i so agree. But when they catch up I think you might have understated 'a few percent better':
http://www.hothardware.com/viewarticle.aspx?page=5&articleid=908&cid=2
http://www.techspot.com/review/28-radeon-x1950pro-vs-geforce-7900gs/
http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/07/05/vga_charts_vii/page4.html#3d_mark_2005

 

I have nothing against ATI or Nvidia, although i must say i used to be a little more on the ATI side, but that's changed, now i'm a little more on the Nvidia side. Just think they make the better graphic cards at the moment.. So i voted Nvidia

 

If i can give my opinion since when i started noticing (current):
9000 series > 5 series
x600 < 6600 = x700 (which came later when x600 discontinued)
higher end x800/x850 > higher end 6800
budget x800 < budget 6800
x1600 < 7600 = x1650 (which came later when x1600 discontinued)
x1950pro >= 7900gs (although gs was unrivaled for a long time)
x1900/x1950 256mb > 7900/7950gt (although gt was unrivaled for a long time)
x1900XTX = 7900GTX
x1950XTX < 7950GX2
unrivaled < 8800
R600 ?? 8900

 

I'm a fan of both NV and ATI, I wouldnt mind having a third option I could support. Direct competition is the only reason we have such capeable cards today. Through the years I've owned many cards from both companies, and I dont see that trend changing anytime soon. They both crank out good products, and each generation both companies will have their own individual strengths and weaknesses. I dont buy anything based on a name, I pick my products based on what matters, price/performance/features.

 

ATI's R600 should be competing against nVidia's G80 core. Its speculated that the R600 should be release some time in the coming couple months, and engineering samples will be sent out sometime during this month. By looks of it, it should compete very well with nVidia. It mostly depends on how fast ATI can get the card to the consumer market. The G81 will probably just be a die shrink of G80, and should invlove some architectural tweaks.

 

Another thing to consider is what games you play. Like OpenGL games run better on Nvidia cards while DirectX titles seem to favor ATI cards. So like in my search for a notebook I am looking a lot more seriously at the X1700 than the Go7700. While the Go7700 is a bit more powerful a x1700 will be able to turn features on in games like Oblivion that the Go7700 cannot.

@Jalf that is interesting, but you know while ATI had the 512MB X1950XTX out there was nothing that could come close to it even the x2 7950GT (even though it had 1024MBs of ram--twice the amount the ATI had) could not come close according to some benches I saw. (I will post the link soon as I find it) Even when competing with the 8800GTX the X1950XTX beats it in some games and benchmarks loosing on just a few others. Though the GTX does seem to have a slight edge.

I really do like both brands, if I build a desktop I will most likely us an Nvidia card since stability would be a priority for me. But like I said before most of the time the best is the one with the last card out. Right now its Nvidia with its 8800GTX soon ATI will probably intro a card to beat that. The CPU market used to follow that system to but hopefully ATI has taken a lesion from their partner AMD and wont fall behind to much before sending their next platform out.

 

I kind of doubt that =/ , it would definitely just be a driver issue for gtx.

edit: yea heres a review of the x1950xtx from yesterday vs the 8800/7900 series with latest drivers.
http://www.hothardware.com/viewarticle.aspx?page=4&articleid=889&cid=2

 

I like ATi, because this laptop has the first discrete graphics chipset I've used, and it's an ATi.
Also, at the time, there weren't any laptops I liked with an nVidia graphics card.
If there had been, I'd be saying nVidia for the same reasons.
I'm not particularly fussed either way.