I'm torn between...

P

Parmenides

Supreme [H]ardness
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Apr 25, 2006
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I really want the ati's 4890 for it's nice price for performance. I plan on keeping my next card purchase for a while, and the 4890 will do nicely for me.

but Nvidia has PPU, and games like dragon age will use some of that.....

Choices....
 
I dunno. I don't think the PPU justifies the extra cost. A 4890 is awesome and to get equal performance out of nvidia, you'd need a GTX 275 which will cost quite a bit more. Go with the 4890 and enjoy!
 
I would call it a toss up, the prices at newegg are only +$15 or so on the 275. I have one system with each and they are both great
 
PPU's are SUCH a waste of time. So few 'good' games actually take advantage of it and the PhysX options almost never effect gameplay at all and add very little to actual "graphics wow".

Kinda lame, imo. Get the HD4890 if it suites your needs.
 
Have you played UT3 maxed out with Physics enabled?
Warmonger?
Gears of War (some people say it doesn't support it, but it does on mine, has the option to enable on or not on mine)
(They all look nice and I enjoy playing them at max:) )

Enough said, but I really think future games will have more support and built in nicies esp when nvidia got PhysX and Ati now Havok.
 
I have yet to buy a game that makes use of it. the demos nvidia put out are kinda cool but that's about it. I can't really recommend paying more for it. now if you know you going to be playing a game that uses it then go for it. but much like DX10.1 it just isn't worth much. hell less really, at least with DX10.1 when it is supported it provides a performance improvement. (I think I can count the 10.1 games on one hand though)
 
It was brought up again in tomshardware analysis of prototype that ATi has some oddball issues with shadowing. Kyle mentions this as well in his L4D Q. This has been a partial factor for me.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/prototype-performance-benchmark,2350-3.html

We scrutinized both GeForce and Radeon screen captures and came to the following conclusion: the image quality is close between the two competitors, but the Nvidia drivers and hardware generate darker shadows than their ATI counterparts, which is a difference we also observed in our Burnout Paradise analysis.

Which is better? That's certainly subjective. And to be honest, we didn't notice the difference until we directly compared screenshots. After we realized the difference, we noticed that the Nvidia cards would give us nice depth when the sun was in a position to provide good shadows. Alternatively, when we were deep within the cityscape and under the shadows of buildings, the Nvidia cards delivered a darker city with less contrast and definition compared to the Radeon cards.
Click to expand...


http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTU4OSw4LCw5MA==


On the AMD video cards, the shadow of the highlighted rifle on the wall flickers on and off. But on the NVIDIA video cards, the shadow was stable.

Article Image

In the screenshot above, on the AMD side, there are odd lighting artifacts in the form of strange lines going through the shadows cast by the player's flashlight. But on the NVIDIA side, the shadow looks as it should. Note that the grainy quality is simply a result of the game's “Film Grain” option.

Article Image

This screenshot shows the same defect, but perhaps a little more severe. Again, the AMD video cards are exhibiting odd lighting artifacts throughout the cast shadows. And again, the NVIDIA video card does not have the problem. The sliver of light cutting through the darkened part of the bathtub on the top half is a reflection of the light on the inside surface of the bathtub, not a visual defect.
Click to expand...
 
Depending on your MB.............

Buy a GTX 275 and then get a cheap 9800 GT to use for physx if you are really wanting to go all out.

Persoanlly, Physx has yet to thrill me......Warmonger is lame, a little extra dust and some cloth that flaps in the breeze.
The GRAW series does have some extra kick to explosions......but nothing tha would sell me on it.

To each his/her own.
In my humble opinion.....and I've had GPUs from each company.....nvidia owns the driver selections and they are keen to keep on top of things. That's the main reason I use GeForce cards.I am not trying to start anything..........it's just my single observational opinion.
 
Matthew Kane said:
Have you played UT3 maxed out with Physics enabled?
Warmonger?
Gears of War (some people say it doesn't support it, but it does on mine, has the option to enable on or not on mine)
(They all look nice and I enjoy playing them at max:) )

Enough said, but I really think future games will have more support and built in nicies esp when nvidia got PhysX and Ati now Havok.
Click to expand...

I have, but even without PhysX, these games run and look identical as far as gameplay is concerned. Adding PhysX only adds a little bit to the 'wow' factor and doesn't really contribute to actual gameplay.

It's not like back with the N64, if you didn't have the expansion pack then most games wouldn't run to their full potential. Without this, you're losing like 1% of content that's in the game.

Show me a 'good' game where it really beefs up the game play.
 
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