[2008 IQ is unacceptable]

with ati's latest drivers should i run into any issues in any game that i wouldn't run into on my 8800gt?

Here's a check list containing the things i'm concerned about:
_linear_mipmap_linear; is the hd 4850 iceq4 1 GB capable of this?
_t-junctions; will the problem with t-junctions cause any graphical anamolies?
_s3tc; is it forced, or is it app controlled? I'd hope for the latter, but i'm not banking on it. I'd like to disable it since i don't notice the difference in frame rate when disabling it.
_extensions limit; nvidia's drivers have an option to limit the ext; ati's don't. will this cause any problems?
_conformant texture clamp; nvidia has 3 options; ati has none.

Be sure to let me know=] I'll appreciate it.

[Davros]

1: yes
2: no
3: its controlled by the app (in some games you'd want it)
4: dont know
5: because nvidia need 3 options, ati dont

you really do like worrying about minor things dont you

ps: shine mapping may still be broken on ati hardware in freespace2 open

pps: have you bought it yet? if not get a 4870 a 4850 isnt a big upgrade over a 8800gt

[Humus]

Originally Posted by Davros

2: no

Actually, all hardware have artifacts with t-junctions. With antialiasing enabled the issue is significantly reduced though.

[Davros]

Davros defers to the mighty Humus - even though he still hasnt done a bloody fireworks screensaver

[2008 IQ is unacceptable]

Originally Posted by Davros

1: yes
2: no
3: its controlled by the app (in some games you'd want it)
4: dont know
5: because nvidia need 3 options, ati dont

you really do like worrying about minor things dont you

ps: shine mapping may still be broken on ati hardware in freespace2 open

pps: have you bought it yet? if not get a 4870 a 4850 isnt a big upgrade over a 8800gt

Thanks for answering my questions=]
Yes, i have it already; i'm putting it in my antec 300 when that comes; I got my 8800 gt replacement (brand new, not refurb, to my surprise=) and that wouldn't fit in my coolermaster case (YTF, I don't know, maybe I didn't use all of the right screws) and my x1650gt didn't ever fit perfectly, so i'm waiting for my antec 300 and my 2nd panaflo 120mm ultra speed fan.

So when those 2 things come, I'm going to put all 3 video cards in it.

Right before i took everything apart, i used norton's partition magic 8.0 (was kind of steep at $~78 but I had to buy it so I didn't have to buy all of my downloads again) so i'm going to setup vista 64 on the new partition right after I get everything put together, then enjoy dual-booting.

But anyway, you're right about the 4850 being no faster than an 8800 gt. The 8800 gt has just 8 less texture units (i think) and more shader power (ati's shaders are 160 (divide 800 by 5, since ati's shaders are 1/5 the power of nvidia's) shader units @ 625 MHz vs 112 @ ~1.5 GHz), same number of ROP's, clocked @ ~625 on both boards. The memory bandwidth between the 2 is about the same, although there's 1 GB on my iceq4 and only 512 MB on my 8800gt.

I would've gladly bought the 4870, but there wasn't an iceq4 board for it, very unfortunately.

I guess my next upgrades will be the sony bd-rom drive, and the onkyo 606 receiver, some good speakers, the tripplite 6ft hdmi cable, and some monster speaker wire.

Unfortunately, when I buy all of that, there still probably won't be any pc games on bd-rom and in lpcm 5.1.

[Tim Murray]

Monster Speaker Wire: an integral part of this setup!

[Davros]

Naturally, you know impure copper wire stops some of the electrons from getting through

[digitalwanderer]

You're not using ordinary screws to put those cards in, are you 2008 IQ is unacceptable?

[Psycho]

Originally Posted by 2008 IQ is unacceptable

The 8800 gt has [...] more shader power (ati's shaders are 160 (divide 800 by 5, since ati's shaders are 1/5 the power of nvidia's) shader units @ 625 MHz vs 112 @ ~1.5 GHz)

good one ... looking forward to you trying it out when you have both cards...
Most of the time (when doing 3d/color stuff, as we usually do..) it's much much closer to the 800 shaders. On the completely shader limited glsl stuff I'm currently doing (raytracing/raymarching), the 4850 is probably like 2-4 times faster, at least it's running circles around the gtx260..

Regarding the original question I don't know what you want to run, but generally you'll probably see most problems with the different level of glsl conformance. And ofcourse weird state combinations that are bugging.

[nutball]

Originally Posted by digitalwanderer

You're not using ordinary screws to put those cards in, are you 2008 IQ is unacceptable?

VooDooScrews(TM) for the win. They make your colours more vibrants, etc.

[Betanumerical]

Originally Posted by 2008 IQ is unacceptable

But anyway, you're right about the 4850 being no faster than an 8800 gt. The 8800 gt has just 8 less texture units (i think) and more shader power (ati's shaders are 160 (divide 800 by 5, since ati's shaders are 1/5 the power of nvidia's) shader units @ 625 MHz vs 112 @ ~1.5 GHz)

Ah what?. Where did you get that idea from?.

[digitalwanderer]

Originally Posted by nutball

VooDooScrews(TM) for the win. They make your colours more vibrants, etc.

Gotta remember to hook up the ground wires to 'em though.

[2008 IQ is unacceptable]

Originally Posted by Betanumerical

Ah what?. Where did you get that idea from?.

IIRC, guru3d said to divide ati's shaders by 5 to equal the number of nvidia shaders.

[Betanumerical]

Originally Posted by 2008 IQ is unacceptable

IIRC, guru3d said to divide ati's shaders by 5 to equal the number of nvidia shaders.

link please.

[Davros]

not quite the link you want but similar

my second post and then the next two posts
http://forum.beyond3d.com/showthread...&highlight=ang

[Betanumerical]

Originally Posted by Davros

not quite the link you want but similar

my second post and then the next two posts
http://forum.beyond3d.com/showthread...&highlight=ang

Thanks for that, I wasn't aware the ATI card wasn't dual issue.

[2008 IQ is unacceptable]

1. Should I have any IQ, artifact, stability, or compatibility issues on my iceq4 1GB HD4850 with ANY opengl games (with 8.10 drivers) that I wouldn't on an 8800GT (I'm asking b/c I'm ditching it)? MDK 2 seemed to work great, but that's the only opengl game i've tried so far.

2. Why are nvidia's opengl drivers said to be better than ATI's other than in terms of performance (if nvidia has other opengl advantages beside performance)?

3. Why doesn't ati have the conformant texture clamp and gl ext limit options like nvidia does?

[CarstenS]

Originally Posted by 2008 IQ is unacceptable

IIRC, guru3d said to divide ati's shaders by 5 to equal the number of nvidia shaders.

I'm really looking forward to the day, when someone says you should divide someones clockrates by a certain amount, just because their generator crystals are inferior to the other one of the companies in question.

[Humus]

Originally Posted by 2008 IQ is unacceptable

3. Why doesn't ati have the conformant texture clamp and gl ext limit options like nvidia does?

ATI only has conformant texture clamp. No need for any out of spec clamping behavior.
Any compatibility fixes necessary will be handled by Catalyst AI anyway for the legacy apps the may need it, rather than leaving it to the user to check boxes that most people don't know what they mean anyway. Enabling non-conformat clamp or limiting the extension string length is not something you ever want to do except for known buggy games.

[Davros]

So your distching the ati card because its not as good - and your making this decision based on 1 game that works perfectly!! - were you dropped on your head as a baby
where does your logic come from

[2008 IQ is unacceptable]

Originally Posted by Davros

So your distching the ati card because its not as good - and your making this decision based on 1 game that works perfectly!! - were you dropped on your head as a baby
where does your logic come from

I'm ditching my 8800gt, and I just said I wanted to know if opengl games (besides the only one i've tried so far) run as well on ATI as they do on nvidia.

Hope that clears things up=]

[Betanumerical]

Originally Posted by 2008 IQ is unacceptable

I'm ditching my 8800gt, and I just said I wanted to know if opengl games (besides the only one i've tried so far) run as well on ATI as they do on nvidia.

Hope that clears things up=]

IIRC Nvidia has nearly always been faster at OGL then ATI.

[ShaidarHaran]

Originally Posted by Betanumerical

IIRC Nvidia has nearly always been faster at OGL then ATI.

Last time I checked it was ATi that had the lead in all the popular OGL games ATM, but settings and resolution affect the outcome of the test results of course.