#268825 - 04/11/2005 18:16
nVidia and ATI.
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veteran
Registered: 08/05/2000
Posts: 1429
Loc: San Francisco, CA
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Ok, I've had enough of nvidia and my BFG 6800 card. I got Newegg to take it back with a 15% re-stocking fee.
I want to replace it with an ATI based card. I play HL2 and games like it.
Recommendations for a PCIe based card? I use a Dell 2405FPW and need 1920x1200 resolution.
Still ATI 850xt?
- Thanx
- Jon
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#268826 - 04/11/2005 19:06
Re: nvidia and ATI.
[Re: jbauer]
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addict
Registered: 01/03/2002
Posts: 599
Loc: Florida
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What problems did you have with the 6800? Did you use the drivers from nVidia or the card manufacture? Since you play HL2 (and other first person games) you may want to get a Geforce 7800GT or Geforce 7800GTX. I would personally go for this card. Since all the benchmarks that I've seen show the newest ATI card only reaches the performance of the Geforce 7800GT and the Geforce 7800GTX is about 3% to 5% than the Geforce 7800GT.
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Chad
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#268827 - 04/11/2005 20:36
Re: nvidia and ATI.
[Re: Attack]
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veteran
Registered: 08/05/2000
Posts: 1429
Loc: San Francisco, CA
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Quote:
What problems did you have with the 6800? Did you use the drivers from nVidia or the card manufacture? Since you play HL2 (and other first person games) you may want to get a Geforce 7800GT or Geforce 7800GTX. I would personally go for this card. Since all the benchmarks that I've seen show the newest ATI card only reaches the performance of the Geforce 7800GT and the Geforce 7800GTX is about 3% to 5% than the Geforce 7800GT.
I was using the nVidia drivers. I keep getting studdering and then a reboot when I play HL2. I hear that the 66.89 drivers may help, but beyond that, I am having a bootup problem where I have to keep trying to boot - The Dell 9100 gives me an error code "2 4" which means "video card problem".
Also, the card I bought has 2 DVI ports, and one doesn't work properly, so I'm stuck with using just one.
Plus, the guy at BFG told me that HL2 was really optimized for the ATI chipset - which is why the studdering and other problems are popping up.
So ATI folks, what to get?
- Thanx
- Jon
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#268828 - 04/11/2005 23:17
Re: nvidia and ATI.
[Re: jbauer]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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I would advise any card that doesn't have an obvious manufacturing defect.
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Bitt Faulk
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#268829 - 04/11/2005 23:24
Re: nvidia and ATI.
[Re: wfaulk]
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veteran
Registered: 08/05/2000
Posts: 1429
Loc: San Francisco, CA
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Quote:
I would advise any card that doesn't have an obvious manufacturing defect.
Hm. I don't get it. Which do have an obvious manufacturing defect? It's not so obvious to me!
- Jon
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#268830 - 04/11/2005 23:27
Re: nvidia and ATI.
[Re: jbauer]
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veteran
Registered: 08/05/2000
Posts: 1429
Loc: San Francisco, CA
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Quote:
I hear that the 66.89 drivers may help
I take that back. The BFG 6800 with 66.89 drivers still cause HL2 Lost Coast to studder and reboot.
WTF! Is this a common issue?
- Jon
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#268831 - 04/11/2005 23:29
Re: nvidia and ATI.
[Re: jbauer]
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addict
Registered: 01/03/2002
Posts: 599
Loc: Florida
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It sounds to me like the Dell powersupply can't handle this video card. The 7800 series draw less power from what I remember. Does the card have a molex connector on it? Do you still have the card?
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Chad
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#268832 - 04/11/2005 23:32
Re: nvidia and ATI.
[Re: Attack]
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veteran
Registered: 08/05/2000
Posts: 1429
Loc: San Francisco, CA
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Quote:
It sounds to me like the Dell powersupply can't handle this video card. The 7800 series draw less power from what I remember. Does the card have a molex connector on it? Do you still have the card?
Still have the card. Yes, it has a Molex connector and that's connected. The Dell came with a 375 watt PSU. I have 4 sticks of memory, 2 DVD drives, 1 SATA hard drive, and a Sound Blaster Live, and a 2.8 dual core Intel processor. The guy at BFG calculated that I need about a 350 watt PSU.
You think it's the problem? I'll replace it if you feel sure...
- Jon
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#268833 - 05/11/2005 00:01
Re: nvidia and ATI.
[Re: wfaulk]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 25/12/2000
Posts: 16706
Loc: Raleigh, NC US
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You said the card fails to drive one of its output ports and causes the computer to reboot. Sounds like a bad one to me. Then again, I may be overestimating the reliability of modern x86 architecture.
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Bitt Faulk
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#268834 - 05/11/2005 00:07
Re: nvidia and ATI.
[Re: wfaulk]
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veteran
Registered: 08/05/2000
Posts: 1429
Loc: San Francisco, CA
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Quote:
You said the card fails to drive one of its output ports and causes the computer to reboot. Sounds like a bad one to me. Then again, I may be overestimating the reliability of modern x86 architecture.
Well, one DVI port works perfectly, the other shows some screen interference.
Argh, I shouldn't have bought a Dell!
New PSUs aren't that pricey - BFG makes a 550 for < $100. Or... I saw you guys talking about the PC Power and Cooling ones...
Or... http://www.tomshardware.com/howto/200507...on_and_seasonic
The 600 watt won one of the top honors for $140...
- Jon
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#268835 - 05/11/2005 00:12
Re: nvidia and ATI.
[Re: jbauer]
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carpal tunnel
Registered: 30/10/2000
Posts: 4931
Loc: New Jersey, USA
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Doesn't Dell us a non-standard ATX power supply pinout? I know they used to. Not sure if they still do. You may want to check into that first.
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-Rob Riccardelli
80GB 16MB MK2 090000736
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#268836 - 05/11/2005 02:02
Re: nvidia and ATI.
[Re: jbauer]
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addict
Registered: 01/03/2002
Posts: 599
Loc: Florida
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Try unpluging the DVD drives and see if that helps. I believe Dell uses a non standard powersupply pin layout, check before you buy anything. I will never build another PC without a PC Power and Cool power supply.
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Chad
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#268837 - 05/11/2005 18:08
Re: nvidia and ATI.
[Re: jbauer]
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veteran
Registered: 25/04/2000
Posts: 1525
Loc: Arizona
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Quote:
So ATI folks, what to get?
I run HL2 at 1280x1024 on my X800XT (AIW) without any problems at all. Not sure if it'd push 1900x1200, but wouldn't surprise me really. We have some 6800 Ultra cards here at work and I'm not really impressed with them (besides having to return two of them for replacements - that might just be PNY though). If one of my applications didn't have a ton better support for NVidia over ATI, I think I would've gone with more X800XTs.
That probably wasn't a lot of help  All in all, I love my X800XT.
- Tim
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#268838 - 08/11/2005 04:43
Re: nvidia and ATI.
[Re: robricc]
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enthusiast
Registered: 17/08/2000
Posts: 334
Loc: Seattle, WA. USA
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Last I checked, Dell power supplies also have a "backwards" back panel. The fan and power plug are on opposite sides as standard power supplies... and the cases are usually configured to make it impossible to use an off the shelf part.  And for what It's worth, I have a new BFG 7800GT that works pretty well...
_________________________
Brian H. Johnson
MK2 36GB Blue, currently on life support
"RIP RCR..."
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