GeoForce or Radeon

[Karibu]

That is a sad story, David. However, you are entitled to compensation. I would go to them and threaten to contact police if they would not support you similar card. Propably they would give you another card if only to avoid bad attention. You could also tell them that you will post your story in several computer associated web forum if they would not help you.

I have heard similar stories about other persons difficulties with big companies and those who persuade their case strong enough, usually win their case, because big companies do not want to have bad reputation/overly big scene over few hundred dollars.

Oh yes, I have Radeon 8500 in my system. I have had problems with several games (ie. Ufo Aftermath and Homeworld 2 won't run) and sometimes with movies. Sometimes my computer crashes and throws warning that graphic card could not be connected. However, I am unable to say if my problems are because of graphic card, motherboard or bad IRQ's. I suspect my motherboard is crap one, so I have no exclusive evidence that Radeon 8500 would be bad card. However, I would propably go for Geforce now.

[ June 05, 2004, 12:25: Message edited by: Karibu ]

[Caduceus]

I have a GForce nVidia a couple generations old and have had no problems with it. I would recommend going to
http://www.cnet.com
and looking at their reviews of things. They explain all the bitz and perks fairly clearly.

Wildcard

[Roanon]

I agree that the NVidia drivers have been better, but they still are ok.
And due to my past experiences with ATI drivers + support (or the non-existance thereof) a LOT of things will have to happen before I ever buy an ATI product again. Not just a few fractions of percentages on a questionable performance table. I am used to bad support, but was really surprised by a barely hidden "you have bought it, we have your money, don't expect anything more from us" attitude.

[Baron Munchausen]

Psst...

There are also more companies than just ATI and nVidia in the video card business! Do you need the fastest 3D you can possibly get? I think only Doom/Quake players really need the ultimate frame-rates. If you aren't a Doom/Quake junkie you might find a Matrox card to be acceptable. They have consistently been rated as best in 2D image quality for ages and ages. Their latest generation has good 3D even if it's not as screaming fast as the two leaders. I hear some of the ancient powers of video chipsets are re-awakening, too. Hercules is still out there. Not to mention some of the generics like Acer/AOpen and whatnot...

[ June 05, 2004, 19:03: Message edited by: Baron Munchausen ]

[Captain Kwok]

I think I'd probably go with Nvidia next time I buy a video card as well. I suspect my ATI card is behind my mysterious device driver errors that strike me once or twice a day - to which I've yet to solve.

[David E. Gervais]

Originally posted by Karibu:
That is a sad story, David. However, you are entitled to compensation.

Perhaps, but am I intereted? Not one bit. If they offered me a new computer system to go with the card I'd say "No." Replace my 'Lost' ATI? No thanks. Nothing they say or do will ever change my opinion of them. There loss not mine. You know the old saying, Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. Well, this is one cat you can't skin twice.

I have several friends with ATI cards and they have had no problems. (one of my friends had the exact same problem as me, a resistor fell off, but he is an electronic technician by profession and he simply re-soldered it on the card and that fixed his problem.) BTW: the resistor that fell off did not prevent his computer from running, but he could not run any 3D games. they would simply crash to desktop or cause his computer to reboot. If this sounds like problems that you have, you might want to check if a transistor is missing from the graphic card.

code:

---

 ______________________________

|                              |

|                   ---        |

|                  |   |       |

|         XX        ---        |

|                              |

|___                   ________|

    |_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|_|

---

XX marks the approximate spot where the loose trasistors were on both my friends card and mine.

Anyway, It's all history now. I'd much rather look to the future. (And I know that SEV is a part of my future, so I'm very happy. )

Nuf said, Cheers!

[Karibu]

Originally posted by David E. Gervais:
BTW: the resistor that fell off did not prevent his computer from running, but he could not run any 3D games. they would simply crash to desktop or cause his computer to reboot. If this sounds like problems that you have, you might want to check if a transistor is missing from the graphic card.

That is clearly my problem. Those games I mentioned, crashed on desktop and sometimes rebooted my computer. Thanks for advice, David. I'll check my card for missing/faulty transistors.

btw. What means "Nuf said"?

[ June 05, 2004, 20:39: Message edited by: Karibu ]