In regards to GPU's

[solracseptim]

I noticed that a lot of the communities builds use Nvidia cards. I use an Radeon HD 6700, is there a difference and what is it if there is?

[Goku]

PS2 is being developed with Nvidia cards, so I tend to recommend their cards whenever possible.

Not exactly sure by what you mean difference. Some say Nvidia has better drivers, but I tend to think that comes down to actual user experience. Performance wise it all depends on what card you get. Build quality wise I would say they are on par with each other and each has its good share of issues with this.

[solracseptim]

Thanks and I suppose I ment quite simply if there were any distinguishing features that were obvious. Also with the game being developed on Nvidia cards would it really make a differece or is it in fear of something like compadability issues?

[Goku]

Nvidia has PhysX and Cuda. PhysX makes game effects like cloth movement look better. Not many games use it, but PS2 does. I doubt you will be missing out on anything if you have AMD though. Cuda is for certain apps, I never had a use this for tech though. AMD doesn't really have anything like this right now.

Games being developed on Nvidia probably will run better and be less buggy, which is why I am having people go Nvidia if possible. However having AMD isn't going to be any issue I think.

[Rbstr]

It's a bit of a crap shoot any given produce cycle who is going to have the crown in performance...hell it might be shared, with some better in certain situations.

I like nVidia right now, reguardless of PS2 for a few reasons:
The 6x0 series so far is better than ATI at the performance/$ though the mid0high to top end.
PhysX...but this isn't terribly important from a game play perspective. What's improved by the card's acceleration is mostly eye candy.
CUDA...but that's less important these days too with Intel's stuff and codecs using DXVA better. If you have a meh CPU and go to CUDA it can help. I feel like using CUDA is more efficient for video playback...but It's hard to say. I do know that my CPU fan will spin up during playback my vidcard won't
I like nVidia's drivers more. ATI's have always felt much less "in the background" than nVidia's.

I don't disregard ATI, though. My laptops have mostly run on ATI.


EDIT: ATI=AMD, in case that's confusing.

[solracseptim]

:thumbsup: thanks guys! answered my question just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing out on anything important. next time I upgrade my card I'll be sure to do some research and maybe consult you guys before I buy. Planetside definitely has an amazing community. All im glad for is that my rig can run it lol

[IIILSDIII]

there are some benefits of ati over nvidia... hydra vision for 1. ati also has a comparable set of instructions that do the same job as cuda, in opencl in other words you can transcode videos on ati hardware just the same as on nvidia. problem is both give poor quality when compared to a cpu transcode of the same file.
if you want physx but have a higher end ati card, then get a midrange gtx 450 or above and put it in the second slot under your ati card. nvidia have unblocked there ban on ati hardware taking advantage of nvidias physix hardware. they removed this block around the 210 driver release so if you have an ati and an nvidia card you can have the best of both worlds... no need for hacked drivers anymore...

bang for buck ati offer quite a bit more in the 7950. it comes in at £50+ cheaper than the gtx 580 and trades blows with it on most every game. i saw a 7950 for £245 the other day so thats even more of a saving compared to the £315 i saw for the cheapest 580
drivers. well this is where ati do let the side down. they have recently announced they will be releasing drivers on an, as and when basis instead of the every month they have been doing since the 5800 series arrived 2.5 years ago. this is not good as it means we could end up waiting as much as 3 months for a fix so nvidia may well steel a lead on this front...
other than what i and others have posted it becomes a personal preference 1s you take the facts and balance the pro's and cons.
if anything you should care more about who you buy off rather than what you buy...
there are still some gfx card manufactures that have very very poor customer and rma services... powercolour being about the worst as they dont even handle there own rma, but leave it to a third party who more often than not refuse to handle the issue...
stick to known good brands. like evga,msi,palit,sparkle and so on. although i have had issues with a few of the aforementioned, i got excellent after sales service from all.
at the end of the day, buy the most power for what you can afford regardless of who makes it and you will be happy... i was pleasantly surprised at my 5870 just as much as i was with my old 88gt...

[Surprise]

Matrox Cards represent!

IMO just buy as highend within your budget, if your buying and intend to use 3d go nvidia, if you want multi monitor support go amd/ati 5xxx 6xxx or 7xxx, or nvidia 6xx. don't make a purchase decision based on physx, its gimicky at best, it does the same thing that havock does but has special drivers to do it. drivers are about the same. base you decision based on charts of games you play most often.

[Rbstr]

bang for buck ati offer quite a bit more in the 7950. it comes in at £50+ cheaper than the gtx 580 and trades blows with it on most every game. i saw a 7950 for £245 the other day so thats even more of a saving compared to the £315 i saw for the cheapest 580

You'd be an idiot to buy an HD7950 when you can get a GTX670 for less.

[IIILSDIII]

i dunno where you do your shopping m8 but the 670 is a 300+ card... the 7950 is less than 250... in the uk that is... also theses a real shortage of high end nvidia cards atm... a lot of review sites are stuggling to get there hands on em there so rare...

[NePaS]

You'd be an idiot to buy an HD7950 when you can get a GTX670 for less.

where? everywhere I look the 7950 tops out at the starting price of the 670.

[Rbstr]

Ack yeah, my bad for the same price. I wasn't paying attention and with the pound pricing and got turned around.

But at the same price and/or within $50 the point still stands IMO.

[NePaS]

Ack yeah, my bad for the same price. I wasn't paying attention and with the pound pricing and got turned around.

But at the same price and/or within $50 the point still stands IMO.

So you are in the US then?

That does tend to change the prices quite a bit tbh,as it stands in the UK the ATI/AMD is the better option for the price(I know some one who has just bought 2 7950's with Ek waterblocks for less than the price of 2 670's),but it seems that everywhere else in the world the Nvid stomps it(I hate this bloody backwards country)

[Vancha]

Where on earth did you find a 7950 for less than £250? I can find a B-Grade for £260 (with shipping) and the cheapest after that is £265. Cheapest 670 is £310.

[IIILSDIII]

it was a couple of days ago m8 http://xbox360.fraffy.com/sapphire-technology-radeon-hd-7950-oc-3-gb-2/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=base&utm_campaign=06%20Jun%202012%2023:17
i dunno how reputable this retailer is but he is legit...

[Rbstr]

So which is he? not reputable or legit?

Any site that says "boost your performances" seems a teensy sketch to me.

[Vancha]

it was a couple of days ago m8 http://xbox360.fraffy.com/sapphire-technology-radeon-hd-7950-oc-3-gb-2/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=base&utm_campaign=06%20Jun%202012%2023:17
i dunno how reputable this retailer is but he is legit...
Er, I don't know about you, but I wouldn't give that site my money. Zero reviews on Google, no WOT information...

Oh, and it looks like others agree. (http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/354586-15-website-genuine)

If you go with any old site, then you can get a 670 for under £300, but your chances of being scammed increase dramatically.

Edit: Oh wait. (http://xbox360.fraffy.com/sapphire-technology-radeon-hd-7950-3-gb-gddr5/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=base&utm_campaign=06%20Jun%202012%2023:17) Bahaha, STAY AWAY.

[IIILSDIII]

he is legit in that he has a shop. i dunno how reputable he is because i have never used him... sorry if my grammar is poor but i am dyslexic so sometimes what comes out isnt what im thinking...
sry if i was confusing...
from what i gather he is a new store thus the low profile but with prices like that im sure if he can keep going and he offers good service his ratings will increase...
there is no risk if your credit card has buyer protection... so even if he tried to rip a customer off he cant...
but hey none of us are buying from him so whats the issue... the price is rite and backs up my point.
i have no issues here but some of you seem to... calm down guys its just a discussion not a flame war.

http://www.waeplus.co.uk/product/224512/SAPPHIRE-TECHNOLOGY-Radeon-HD-7950---3-G if you believe in google rating then look here. still £40+ cheaper than the 670

http://www.google.co.uk/products/catalog?client=opera&rls=en&q=hd+7950&oe=utf-8&channel=suggest&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=12792410096681376410&sa=X&ei=ffHRT6GkKdOk0AWt0cmZBA&ved=0CIsBEPMCMAM or here... 280-290 still cheaper by a margin...

[Vancha]

Look up the definition of legitimate. If you think someone selling an HD 7950 for £65 is legitimate, then good luck to you.

[Ailos]

LOLOL, that site screams "Scam" at every corner. In the very best case, what you're going to get there is a card he stole from someone.


The performance/price thing has been a bit of an upsetting balance recently. Even though the GTX 670 and 680 blow everything else out of the water, the rather high pricing on the 670, and the rare availability of the 680 6 weeks after launch hasn't put much pressure on AMD to actually put their 7950 and 7970 at prices they actually belong (i.e. ~$350 and $400 rather than the $400 and $500+ they've been selling at). But once the markets actually become populated with the full 600 generation of NVidia cards, thing should settle down, and in general, AMD offers more permormance/price at he lower end ($300 and down) while NVidia is pretty much the king of high-end graphics ($300 and up). And since we're all gamers here, we push for as much eye candy as possible, so that means we end up using NVidia's offerings quite often.

[IIILSDIII]

Look up the definition of legitimate. If you think someone selling an HD 7950 for £65 is legitimate, then good luck to you.

ffs have you ever heard of a typo... even ocuk and new egg have occasionally put up the wrong price. seems like you want to make a big deal out of it... i aint say buy off em they were just an example of a price. but because you and some others are a wanting to be arsey abut the fact i proved my point with facts you act like the guy robbed yer granny...
big deal if its a scam site the other 1s i posted arent but there all a lot cheaper than nvidia end of...

jeez its like im talking to a bunch of pedantic 2 year olds...
so let me break it down, for U.
i was asked to show where i saw the price i gave so i did...
i said at the time i wasnt sure about the site.
i backed up my first post with other links to show it wasnt just a 1 off...
now calm down b4 you :cry: :rofl:

[Vancha]

ffs have you ever heard of a typo... even ocuk and new egg have occasionally put up the wrong price. seems like you want to make a big deal out of it... i aint say buy off em they were just an example of a price. but because you and some others are a wanting to be arsey abut the fact i proved my point with facts you act like the guy robbed yer granny...
big deal if its a scam site the other 1s i posted arent but there all a lot cheaper than nvidia end of...

jeez its like im talking to a bunch of pedantic 2 year olds...
so let me break it down, for U.
i was asked to show where i saw the price i gave so i did...
i said at the time i wasnt sure about the site.
i backed up my first post with other links to show it wasnt just a 1 off...
now calm down b4 you :cry: :rofl:
There's no need to get defensive. This isn't about proving a point (and it says a lot that you think it is), it's about making sure none of the people that consist of the 227 views this thread has are lead to believe that the place selling the £245 GPU is a trustworthy vendor to give that amount of their money to.

I look up the prices of countless components and there will always be a few sources selling what I'm looking for at a remarkably low price, with no seller ratings, no WOT rating and shoddy-looking websites (assuming I risk clicking on them at all). They are not the kind of sites you want to be pointing people towards, or even referencing considering the amounts of money involved.

Edit: Something else worth mentioning is, a high Google seller rating is an indicator of trustworthiness, not a confirmation of it. I've been looking around and WAE (waeplus.co.uk) will fail to deliver more often than not. They too are a site that you'll often find having the lowest prices, but don't give your money to them if you're planning on actually receiving something for it. I find WOT (Web of Trust) is a slightly stronger indicator, but even then the only way to be sure is to search/Google for message board discussions of the site (http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=3586327&highlight=we+are+electricals) - in (http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=3885699) - question (http://www.hotukdeals.com/misc/wae-electricals-scammers-don-t-give-them-your-money-1171827).