Radeon Or Geforce?

[Rafal Haczek 1612]

Sorry to open another topic but my previous one turned into a 'to RAID or not to RAID' discussion and I would like to keep questions clear.

After around a week of reading, calculating and analyzing I'm almost ready to order my new PC tomorrow.

As Mathijs wrote, choosing a GPU indeed is the hardest decision. It is clear to me that there are two graphic camps: ATI and GeForce.

It is not easy to find an objective post comparing two similar cards from both sides. That's why I'm asking here once again.

Generally I will follow Mathijs and others advice, however I am able to spend a bit more money.

So, let's say I will buy the E8400 processor and 2GB DDR2-800 RAM.

As for the card, it could be either Radeon 3870 or GF 8800GT (the price difference is not big, so let's skip it).

From what I read here and at AVSIM Hardware Forum, both cards have their advantages, however the GT8800 is more often concerned to be better.

The final conclusions that made me think a lot are:

3870:

- very good image

- good frames

- very good drivers (both Catalyst and Omega)

8800:

- a bit worse image

- better frames (much better in heavy clouds!)

- drivers and nhancer problems (Ripmaster mentioned that)

So, not to be too boring:

I'd like to ask you, especially those having experience with both or any of these cards - what should I choose?

Is it true that Radeon has FPS problems with heavy weather?

The whole PC will cost around 650-680 euro (with the discount I have at the shop).

Thank you very much in advance.

Best regards,

Rafal

FS9.1

Windows XP home SP2

PC until tomorrow:

AMD Athlon 64

Radeon 9800 Pro

2GB RAM

P.S. How do you edit the topic title?

[ManuelL 71]

I don't know much about hardware. But for FS9 you could in my opinion possibly settle for less. With my 8800 GT (1GB, overclocked), 2GB ram and E8650 I get over 50 fps flying the PMDG 737NG over Seattle with all sliders maxed out.

[Marc W. 0]

Rafal,

if it's not urgent, wait a month or two ... new GPU series are about to hit the market!

(Nvidia GeForce 10 series "GTX 2xx" and the AMD Radeon "R700" iirc ... )

cheers,

[Rafal Haczek 1612]

I get over 50 fps flying the PMDG 737NG over Seattle with all sliders maxed out.

Wow! What a great FPS number!

Would you mind three questions?

- how are your FPS in the cockpit while approaching a large hub (EDDF, EGLL, EHAM, KLAX, etc) full of AI in bad weather?

- do you have any driver or nhancer problems using your 8800GT?

- do you have significant problems with blurry ground textures (yes, I know, they cannot be eliminated in 100%)?

if it's not urgent, wait a month or two ... new GPU series are about to hit the market!

Thanks Marc, but it IS urgent for two reasons:

- I promised the shop manager to come and make a deal tomorrow

- I'm much too excited to wait anylonger (shy smile here) plus my present PC cannot run FS9 properly anymore...

Best regards,

Rafal

[Marc W. 0]

Thanks Marc, but it IS urgent for two reasons:

- I promised the shop manager to come and make a deal tomorrow

- I'm much too excited to wait anylonger (shy smile here) plus my present PC cannot run FS9 properly anymore...

Mmm ... in that case I'd go for the 9600 GT ... nice price, nice speed

[Rafal Haczek 1612]

Marc,

Thanks for pointing my attention to 9600 GT.

What do you think is its advantage over 8800GT (I guess we're talking about 512MB)?

I've just checked and the 9600 is not so much more expensive than 8800GT so, if justified, no problem for me to pay extra.

9600GT SILENT 512MB 2xD EN9600GTSILENT/HTDI/512M - 504 PLN = 148 euro

HD3870TOP 512MB AVIVO EAH3870TOP/G/HTDI/512/A - 488 PLN = 144 euro

At the AVSIM Hardware Forum board Ray Proudfoot wrote to me:

For FS9 either card will be fine especially with the E8400 (that's about my 3870 - 8800 question). I trebled my frame rates going from a P4 3.0Ghz, 128 Radeon 9800Pro to my system below. The performance issues with the 3870 relate to FSX and they are substantial. Since I switched to a 8800GTX flying in heavy cloud is no longer a problem.

(...)

FS is always CPU bound but the E8400 has so much muscle you'd have to use a pretty rubbish graphics card before FS9 became poor with a E8400.

The ATI is a good choice for FS9 with its superior image quality. I haven't done any direct comparisons in FS9 between my former 3870X2 and the 8800GTX but they should both be excellent.

I wonder what you think of this opinion.

I am sorry for my being a bit pesky today, but I'm really excited and also worried about tomorrow's decision.

I will have to live with its consequences for some time....

Best regards,

Rafal

[Robert S 75]

Rafal,

The attention should be spent over your RAID 0 configuration....JUST KIDDING!

Strictly for FS9, get the cheaper of the cards as going to a 9600 won't yield much in the way of FPS improvement over the 8800GT. I found an article on Tom's hardware written in May that simply stated: "the best graphics card for the money is currently the 8800GT". If you can spend the extra, then realize the 9600 may be the better card for OTHER games.

Have fun! Oh, and tell the shop manager that the Aerosoft forums insist you get an extra 5% off!

[Rafal Haczek 1612]

The attention should be spent over your RAID 0 configuration....

You've made me ROTFLing for 5 mins way below my keyboard level.

I love this English sense of humour. Monty Python's Meaning of Life is one of my life's most crucial films (gives it a meaning).

tell the shop manager that the Aerosoft forums insist you get an extra 5% off!

You bet I will, which will only contribute to the long-time customer's discount I get anyway.

Best regards,

Rafal

[Iron.Eagle 0]

hey rafal, i think the question nvidia or ATI is one of belief. read somewhere it doesn't matter.

As far as I am concerned i've gone for nvidia all my life now and never had problems that had their roots in my graphics card. furthermore i hate that the ATI driversq because they always install so much rubbish that only messes up your start menu entries. as for nvidia, just go to the internet, load the universal nforce driver, execute the *.exe and forget the rest.^^ (no additional start menu entries, just the driver)

i'd say go for the 9600 as the price difference is only 4€, that is relatively seen equal to zero

[ManuelL 71]

Would you mind three questions?

- how are your FPS in the cockpit while approaching a large hub (EDDF, EGLL, EHAM, KLAX, etc) full of AI in bad weather?

- do you have any driver or nhancer problems using your 8800GT?

- do you have significant problems with blurry ground textures (yes, I know, they cannot be eliminated in 100%)?