Graphics Cards: Massive ATI vs Nvidia Labs Test
All the current chipsets from both the big gaming guns – ATi and Nvidia – tested, reviewed and rated.
Until recently, the graphics card market was a bit of a one-horse race, but the past few frenzied months blew things wide open again. The unveiling of ATi’s dual-processor Radeon HD 3870 X2 gave Nvidia’s GeForce 8800 series cards some much-needed competition at the enthusiast end, while the battle for the mid-range is more competitive now than at any time in recent memory.
Both camps have DirectX 10-compatible cards across the board, from budget Media Center offerings right up to huge gaming monsters, so the time is finally right to put the two line-ups through their paces. We’ve rounded up every ATi and Nvidia chipset from the current generation of cards, along with a cutting-edge test rig and some of the most demanding games of the moment.
Rather than focus on individual cards, we’ve concentrated on the chipsets and each one is dissected in the feature table on page 60. We don’t restrict our awards to specific cards or models because there are simply too many manufacturers and minor variations to make that feasible.
Instead,we round up what you should be looking for, from which brands specialise in overclocked, silent or customised models, to how to customise your own cards.
We also look at the various technologies emerging in the graphics card market.
If you want to know what GeForce Boost and Hybrid CrossFire mean to the performance of your PC, turn to p66, where we explain what the introductions from Nvidia and ATi actually do. Finally, on page 69, we examine the current state of CrossFire and SLI to see whether they’re great ways to boost your frame rates or a road to frustration and missed potential.
It’s an exciting time in the world of 3D graphics, and an uncertain one, so if you’re in the market for a new card, the following pages will help you make that critical buying decision.
Click Below for Test Results on the Next Page...
Browse this article:
NextThis Group Test appeared in the June, 2008 issue of PC & Tech Authority Magazine
|
Faustino
27 June 2008
|
I found Asus, Gigabyte and Leadtek versions of the A-list 9600 GT for $163, generic at $143. Phenomenal value. The best card I could find for $200 ten months ago, when the newer medium-range cards were pretty hopeless, was the Sapphire ATI Radeon X1950 Pro. A massive improvement since then. I bought the 9600 GT the day before seeing it made your A-list! Good decision!
Comment made about the PC Authority article:
Graphics Cards: Massive ATI vs Nvidia Labs Test?
All the current chipsets from both the big gaming guns – ATi and Nvidia – tested, reviewed and rated.
What do you think? Join the discussion. |
|
scottath
5 July 2008
|
Only one thing i didn't like - they didn't include the new ATi cards in the tests.
If they had of this would be one of the most comprehensive roundups around - still pretty good - though about a month behind the times [lack of ATi HD48xx cards] |
|
cmdhit
7 July 2008
|
This article needs to be continuous...
The mid-high range cards are coming out and prices are dropping.
I hear the ATI cards that are comparible to nvidia 9 series are way cheaper and have better quality and speed. And that was early this month... what a difference a few weeks does to an article. |
|
Kalomari
8 July 2008
|
Purchased an ATI 4850 a week ago. It was pretty good timing since at that time I my budget was set for an Nvidia 8800GT. Considering the price was quite in the $230 range the recently released card seemed a better choice. I'm quite happy with the decision. At the end of the day, you can't keep waiting for prices to drop or for the next generation of cards to be released. Happy gaming everyone :) |
|
gyro666
9 July 2008
|
There is something of a paradox whereby Nvidia graphics cards appear to be the more popular, but crossfire capable Motherboards are more prolific. This ultimately limits your choices, as attention must be given to both Mobo AND GPU choice if there is ANY intention to run SLI or Crossfire.
Having recently pondered just such options prior to a system build, the choice only became more difficult when discovering that games have their own preferences for GPU type anyway. The conclusion was that a single Graphics card was the safer option,( 8800GTS in my case), and the focus then shifted to Mobo features and connectivity. Thanks to all the PCAuthority reviews and comparisons, for the tech savvy that enabled the choice to be made and a satisfactory build to be completed.
|
|
.:Cyb3rGlitch:.
9 July 2008
|
There's an issue with Crossfire which makes the single GTX 280 a better option. Crossfire only scales well on high-end motherboards with a cost of $250+, so the idea of 2 x 4870 being better value than the single GTX 280 loses its validity. On the other hand, the GTX 280 can function well on a P31 chipset which has already been phased out by the P43/P45 generation. Once you factor that in (including the recent price drops) the GTX 280 is the best value performance card. |
|
Jim.Dude
31 July 2008
|
Only if you're comparing the GTX 280 with anything SLI or Crossfire. A single 4850 offers considerably better bang for buck, when you consider the whopping price difference - i.e. $250 vs. $650. |
|
.:Cyb3rGlitch:.
31 July 2008
|
Jim.Dude wrote:Only if you're comparing the GTX 280 with anything SLI or Crossfire. A single 4850 offers considerably better bang for buck, when you consider the whopping price difference - i.e. $250 vs. $650.
Yep. I'd probably get a single HD4870 since it's so powerful. |
|
Jim.Dude
31 July 2008
|
Aye, ATI/AMD really came through with the goods on this one. I mean, that the 4870 beats the GX280 in Crysis is saying something, when the 3870 could barely run it! :-P Although it atm it doesn't look like the 4870X2 is scaling that well... :-(
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3354&p=9 |
|
.:Cyb3rGlitch:.
31 July 2008
|
Crysis seems to be a little lackluster in terms of optimisation. :P |
|
Jim.Dude
31 July 2008
|
Yeah it's funny, they made a game with rubbish coding and it became famous overnight because no card can deal with it! If they'd polished it a little more it'd probably just be yet another generic FPS. |
Comments have been disabled for this article.
