Nvidia VS ATI: Which is Better?

Nvidia and ATI nearly completely dominate the market for video processors today much like AMD and Intel have dominated the Central Processing Unit market in the past. While many people opt for Nvidia based GPUs (Graphical Processing Units) due to their enhanced PhysX capabilities and streamlined architecture, there are just as many who would say that ATI is ahead of the game.

The debate of ATI VS Nvidia has been long running and there was a time when I would have been completely pro Nvidia, but that time has passed. The current technologies shown by both Nvidia and ATI astound the senses in ways that weren't even imaginable in the years past.

Before I begin this article, I'd like to start off with a simple bullet chart outlining the differed technologies that produce nearly the same image quality. Some of these technologies are Nvidia exclusive and others are ATI exclusive. I will be covering both sides of this debate, so it's important to understand the mechanical workings of each card design and their flaws.

Nvidia,

• * Ageia PhysX (Nvidia bought out Ageia and implemented their technologies in 2008.)

• * Shaders (Both Nvidia and ATI use shaders; however, the term is Nvidia exclusive.)

• * Cuda architecture (ATI has the equivalent openCL compliant Stream architecture.)

• * SLI (The configuring of multiple graphics cards to work in synch.)

ATI,

• * PhysX processing with special drivers or a 3^rd graphics card.

• * Stream processors (The equivalent to shaders)

• * Stream architecture (Making these shaders capable of more than just shading operations.)

• * Crossfire (ATI counter to Nvidia SLI having the same effect in a broader spectrum with a more balanced load.)

The short of it is that Nvidia and ATI are both at the forefront of their own technology and both can render breathtaking scenes. Many games are optimized right from the start for Nvidia based graphics cards, but this doesn't mean that you can't play them on a comparable ATI.

Since AMD acquired ATI and began taking over manufacture and distribution, ATI has gained a considerable amount of ground in processing speed and memory transfers. However, Nvidia is still capable of the same effect with a slower card.

Letting GPU core speeds determine your purchase is not wise as it would leave much to be calculated. Merely the number of shaders cannot very well determine which card would be better either. Perhaps the best conclusion would be that if your mainboard chipset is AMD an ATI should perform better using it, and likewise if you bare a Nvidia chipset an Nvidia card would be better. Nearly al benchmarking results come out the same. Nvidia based games typically leave Nvidia cards a marginal lead and the rest may have a margin of enhancement for ATI over the Nvidia based cards. The reson for this is the varying technologies between these manufactures.

Matching your video chipset can allow you to use extended features such as hybrid SLI and Geforce power to further enhance your games. Any mainboard featuring a Geforce 8 or higher can be configured to use the onboard graphics as a PhysX unit. Currently Nvidia is implementing Hybrid SLI configurations which will allow you to combine cards with your onboard unit.

The problem with Nvidia based SLI is that the cards used must all be synched at the same speed whereas, in Crossfire configurations each card operates independently like a multi core processor configuration. The load is weighted to both cards and the one with least load will calculate the needed operations.

When you compare this design to the Nvidia requirement of owning two cards in the same Geforce line and both cards being perfectly synched to the lowest speed available; you can see where Crossfire may be bringing ATI into the lead. Corssfire VS SLI benchmarks are very hard to properly analyze as the board chipsets and varying board technologies may carry some weight in the results as well. ATI and Nvidia being competitors with differing technologies cannot be run in SLI and Crossfire respectively on the same board.

The simple summary of all of this information is to say that everyone is right. Either of these GPU manufacturers will be more than adequate for your gaming needs. On the other hand, which card is a better fit for you, will depend on smaller things like which chipset your board uses, how big your power supply is, and finally which games you actually want to play.

List of games supporting Nvidia and the "play it the way it was meant to be played" logo

* By no means is this all inclusive for more games follow the Nvidia game list link in the references section.

Crysis

Crysis : Warhead

Crysis 2

Havok

COD : Black Ops

Bioshock 1 and 2

References,

Nvidia game list

AMD webpage

Benchmarking