nvidia - How much of a difference is there between video card manufacturers?

07
2014-07
  • Solignis

    If I am looking for a video card and I have already selected a specific chipset (for example, the NVIDIA GTX 770), is there really a large degree of difference between the companies who construct the physical cards?

    I was thinking about brand x but brand y looks just good. Is it really all just marketing?

    • Answers
  • Keltari

    There are measurable differences between a 770 from brand A and brand B, however with so many brands and possible differences, the answer is very broad. Amount of memory, outputs, clock speeds, memory speeds, heating/cooling, noise, etc, all play a factor.

    Your best bet is to find a website that reviews both the cards you are looking at. These websites will post their metrics on the cards and rank them by performance.


    • Related Question

    compatibility - Can I use an ATI based video card at the same time with nVidia on-board video card?
  • Michael Butler

    My new computer -- AMD Athlon X2 250 -- has a built-in nVidia chipset with 1 VGA port. I'd like to also use my ATI X300/X550 256MB PCI Card for an additional monitors.

    Is it possible to make use of both of these competing company's cards in the same system on Windows 7 x64?

    Or, would it be possible to choose one as the primary (for example, the ATI card) and install ATI drivers, but to let the other one just use a basic video driver so it won't conflict?


    • Related Answers
  • ssube

    Yes, you can. You just need drivers for both. I've never done it personally, but have heard of it being done quite often and it usually works just fine.

    Unfortunately, nVidia has some rather... questionable, code in their drivers related to their physics software ("PhysX") that will cripple the some of the functionality when you have an ATi card in as well.

    You may want to look into getting a newer nVidia card, or ATi card, to replace the x300/x550, but it should work.

  • Phanto

    In theory, yes. I haven't tried it myself either. (Never had the chance to.)

    I think this depends on a number of factors. Many BIOS's have settings which allow you to set the primary GPU.

    You can also try disabling one of the GPU's in Device Manager if you encounter a bizarre conflict.