ATI or Nvidia?

[P40Hawk]

Guys, building a new machine specifically for SF2, the best CPU in my price range (it seems) is the AMD AM3 Phenom II X4 955 3.2GHz. I have a vague recollection that nvidia GPU's are better for SF, in any event the two contenders in my price range are ATI HD 5750 1GB GDDR5 or nVidia GTS 250 1024MB GDDR3, which to choose to suit the CPU? And SF2.

[Slartibartfast]

Personally I would go with the ATI as your going to be running an AMD chipset... I use ATI with AMD's and my SF2 OFF FSX never have given me cause to complain... I have been running them that way for the past 10 or so... So much that my next new PC has the Black Edition of the chip you will be running with an ATI Video card...

 

But thats me I have seen some good looking stuff with the NVidia cards as well...

[+Dave]

ATI cards killed two of my computers. Never been let down with Nvidia.

[+X RAY]

nvidia forever

[Spinners]

Never tried ATI but NVidea has never let me down and I'll almost certainly go NVidea for next years new 'play' PC.

[+Brain32]

Guys, building a new machine specifically for SF2, the best CPU in my price range (it seems) is the AMD AM3 Phenom II X4 955 3.2GHz. I have a vague recollection that nvidia GPU's are better for SF, in any event the two contenders in my price range are ATI HD 5750 1GB GDDR5 or nVidia GTS 250 1024MB GDDR3, which to choose to suit the CPU? And SF2.

 

Yes SF1 for some reason works much better with nVidia, however if you are going to run SF2 I can't say there's a difference according to what people report.

So basically the choice is yours.

I exchange cards guided solely by price/performance ratio and I never had problems with any of them and I often did nasty stuff with them, OC, volt mods, custom cooling(I mean custom, custom not aftermarket )

I'd look more into manufacturer brands than into chip makers, so far I had personal expirience with:

Gainward and Leadtek for GeForce cards

Gecube and Sapphire for ATI cards

They are not usually the cheapest ones but those I can really recommend.

[SFP1Ace]

In SF2, using ATI card (Radeon 4890) I suffered noticable drops in FPS when using EO guided weapons and/or turning radar on (but the latter only in avionics60.dll aircrafts like F-4). Also I couldn't switch the Vsync off, no matter what I tried in options.ini or in catalyst control panel, my FPS were limited to 60. I have none of the aformentioned issues with my new Nvidia GTX 460 SLI :)

[+Wrench]

NVidia, all the way, baby!

 

wrench

kevin stein

[Panama Red]

I use Crossfire 4890's and have zero problems with SF2 games.

[+sony tuckson]

Been using Nvidia for years

 

lately swtiched to ATI HD5850... it is better...it even make bugs dissapear from projects I work on....(some stuff was visible at close range, which shouldn't be, now it's perfect)

[P40Hawk]

I currently have an nVidia card (8600) so I'm familiar with them, I'm happy there seems to be no issues with nVidia in SF2. I was also concerned that the AMD CPU wouldn't really be compatible, but the mobo (Gigabyte 74GMT-S2)seems to be designed with nvidia GPU's in mind.

 

The only concern I have left then is GDDR3 V GDDR5. Thoughts?

 

And thanks for the help BTW guys :)

[P40Hawk]

Unfortunately a 5850 is out of my range (by a couple of price points), what nVidia card did you step up from Sony?

 

Definately can't go any further (new) than a 5750, although I can now go to the 965 3.4 CPU.

[SFP1Ace]

Unfortunately a 5850 is out of my range (by a couple of price points), what nVidia card did you step up from Sony?

 

Definately can't go any further (new) than a 5750, although I can now go to the 965 3.4 CPU.

 

If your going ATI/AMD I'd wait a little bit for the new series of 67XX/68XX graphic cards :). Even if you won't buy them, then at least prices prices of 57XX will drop then :)

[+Muesli]

I have an NVidia GTX460, and I love it! NVidia never disappointed me.

[ktickner6767]

I just switched to an ATI Radeon HD 5670 with superb results in SF2. However, I have had good results with Nvidao cards also in the past. The ATI 5670 just came down to $74 with a $20 mail in rebate. I assume because the new 6XXX series card will be available soon.

[Lexx_Luthor]

ATI only here, never had a problem. However, that said, the ATI HD 5000 series is far overpriced for its performance since the beginning, and apparently has not come down yet, or has even increased (not sure).

 

Czech this out, one of the best places to get a large scale look at video card opinions...[H] forum ~> http://hardforum.com/

 

From what I've heard, don't bother with HD 5750 as a crippled 5770. Get at least 5770 -- or -- for a "somewhat" cheap starter card *and* a backup to your eventual expensive gaming SuperCard, back down to a slower 5600-something.

 

My contrarian suggestion is to get an inexpensive HD 4850, the high end common stock of the 4000 series, or equivalent inexpensive Nvida card (I have no idea about them or what they are called). My Gigabyte 4850 is faster than an Asus 5770 that I also tried, and ditched. Later, you can buy a super expensive current gen card, but save money now, and have a good backup for your later card.

[+SkateZilla]

Unfortunately a 5850 is out of my range (by a couple of price points), what nVidia card did you step up from Sony?

 

Definately can't go any further (new) than a 5750, although I can now go to the 965 3.4 CPU.

 

Go 6800 Series, Stay away from the GF100/4xx Series, the GF110/5xx series will be out this year with several fixes.

[SFP1Ace]

Go 6800 Series, Stay away from the GF100/4xx Series, the GF110/5xx series will be out this year with several fixes.

 

Yup, nothing beats Geforce 6800 Ultra! . On a serious note Skatezilla's right. Up to recently, Nvidia geforce 460GTX was probably best bang for the buck. Now it seems that ATi 6850/6870 seem to be at least as good deal. Then again, Nvidia will respond with GF110, it's a neverending circle. There's always some better hardware on the horizon .

Performance (and price) wise GTX 460 1GB is comparable do ATI 6850 which in turn places iself (performance wise only) between older Ati 5830 and 5850. Ati 6850 offers lower power consumption, but GTX 460 1Gb overclocks better and seems to run cooler. Difficult choice indeed!

 

EDIT: Oops I've noticed that these two are probably beyond your price range...

Edited November 2, 2010 by SFP1Ace

[xclusiv8]

Stealing the thread for a second...

 

I am going to buy a new GPU but i dont really know which one. I dont wanna bottleneck my CPU so could you guys plz help me.

Ive been looking at the GTX 460 andthe 470. I have a Q6600 @ 3.2Ghz and i run all my games at 1080p

 

So what do you guys think. Will the 460 or 470 make my cpu the bottleneck?

 

Thanx

 

Edit: Forgott to mention that i have a 8800GTS 512 now and it just cant handle 1080p in all games. Specially SF2

Edited November 3, 2010 by xclusiv8

[SFP1Ace]

Nah, you'll be fine. Most modern games are still GPU limited rather than CPU. Unless you want to go SLI. Or unless you ment SF2, SF2 is ALWAYS CPU bottlenecked :D. My Q9650 at stock 3.0 GHz is more or less similar to your Q6600 @ 3.2 GHz performance wise, and I only overclock it to 4.4 GHz when benchmarking OR playing SF2 series. I think that says something ;)

Edited November 3, 2010 by SFP1Ace

[xclusiv8]

Nah, you'll be fine. Most modern games are still GPU limited rather than CPU. Unless you want to go SLI. Or unless you ment SF2, SF2 is ALWAYS CPU bottlenecked :D. My Q9650 at stock 3.0 GHz is more or less similar to your Q6600 @ 3.2 GHz performance wise, and I only overclock it to 4.4 GHz when benchmarking OR playing SF2 series. I think that says something ;)

 

Well i do play mostly SF2 series but i figure that any upgrade from my 8800 is a good upgrade

[SFP1Ace]

Yup, GTX 460 or 470 will have more Video RAM than 8800 which can be handy, when using all these hires terrain repaints and skins

[+hgbn]

I have a Gainward GTX 460 goes like Hell card.. Factory OC edition it run with anything maxed out in NF4+ in an average 59 fps with a over clocked E6600 cpu + 2 GB ram...Highly recommend card IMHO

[fatkat357]

How well does SF2 fly using either an HD 4550 or a Geforce 9500GT? It's not so much a price problem as a PSU problem - I'm not upgrading my power supply and want a card that is spec'd to my Inspiron 530's PSU.

[Lexx_Luthor]

Not great. SF1 here. I used 4550 and it worked but severely limited performance. You need a real gaming card. SF2 may be perform worse, or better, with 4550. Dunno.

 

I took an old Athalon cpu fan and screwed it into the 4550 heatsink. Kept it completely cool to the touch.