Which is Better? Ati or Nvidia

[Whitehawk]

Me and a mate of mine have been having an ongoing argument between which is better. Ati or Nvidia. We want to hear which u think is better and why.

[muno]

Which is better, bmw or mercedes benz?

There's no answer to that question. Mercedes goes faster, bmw is more fuel efficient.
You can however say, 'ati radeon pro9800 is better than nvidia geforce4mx440'.

[HeadBand]

it depends on what series...i would take 9000 over fx series but ti over 8000 series

[Whitehawk]

we are basically comparing the fastest models like the 5950 U
and the 9800 XT for power and value for money.

[Kruzin]

Niether.
Matrox blows them both away in every respect except raw FPS.
Better clarity, color saturation, overall image quality, AA, TV-out, multi-monitor, driver stability, customer support, and total features.

[Whitehawk]

whats the matrox like for gaming?

[muno]

Kruzin did say 'except raw fps'.

Parhelia cards cost alot, and perform like gf4mx420
I wouldn't get matrox for a gaming rig. If I was rich though, I'd get one and 5 plasma displays.

[Kruzin]

For gaming, it's great, as long as you aren't into counting FPS.
If you like to watch 3dmark scores, and grade a card soley on that, Matrox isn't for you.
First and foremost, nobody else offers a card that can do triple monitor surround gaming. This alone makes my Parhelia a card nobody can touch.
Then there is the image quality, outstanding FAA (almost no performance hit for using 16xFAA), better mipmapping, etc.
Basically just an overall better looking and more imersive experience.

[muno]

Excatly, if you're rich and can afford to have surround gaming, there's nothing that beats matrox.

I'm still poor, though.

[Kruzin]

Well, I'm FAR from being 'rich'.
Used CRTs can be found quite cheap. Running a 21"+2 17" that in total cost me ~$200.
Granted, the cards are expensive, but not much more than the others guy's 'premium' cards...