Nvdia vs. ATI on Vista for FFXI

[Fhqwghads]

I recently upgraded to Vista. Now, thanks to Nvidia's shitty drivers for Vista, my framerate is horrid in FFXI (and AoC, but who cares.) I've tried a bunch of their betas, as well as several of their WHQL certified release drivers. Nothing has helped. Even the releases that were supposed to be specifically for FFXI suck. I am done with Nvidia.

Does anyone else have experience with ATI on Vista playing FFXI? If you do, which card do you have, etc. I'm looking for newish cards with DX10 support.

[Stromgarde]

Not DX10 compatible, but my HIS X1950 runs it fine and dandy. Takes up two slots, but was pretty damn strong and quiet when it came out.

[Delta_9]

ati3870 in one desktop and ati4850 in another both running vista, haven't had any problems

My laptop is nvidia+vista; fps is horrid

[Isiolia]

I have a 3650 in my HTPC (running Vista), as well as a 3200HD integrated. Both work fine with FFXI. If I were looking to purchase a new card for my gaming machine, I'd probably look at a 4850 or 4870.

[Scuzzelbutt]

Which Nvidia card do you have?

I have the Nvidia 7300 GT for my MacPro running Vista Ultimate 32 Bit, looks pretty good. ALOT better than my Xbox 360.

[Octavious]

I use a ATI Radeon HD 2600 and it works quite well for FFXI. I checked on Tiger and ATI has a beasty-looking card Visiontek Radeon 2600 XT X2 Quad Video Card that has so many bells and whistles I got a semi-stiffy reading through them. I like the HD 2600 though it works well for FFXI, lets me dual monitor or connect to my HDTV when I want to. It maxes my frame rate when running one account at the 29.4 mark, the only time I recieved a drop in frame rate was running 3 accounts at the same time (i'll post a picture later) which I don't think you'll do often so it's probably not a big deal. >_>

edit: based on what Isiolia said too, I would assume the HD series for ATI works pretty well since mine is a HD 2600.

(this is the newer one I saw on tiger, holy crap this card looks yum :3 i want a new card now)
http://images.tigerdirect.com/skuima...-2600-XT-2.jpg

[Zosi]

I have a HD3870 and it runs pretty much everything I throw at it (including FFXI) just fine. However, if your budget can afford it, there's no reason you shouldn't get a HD4850. Fantastic card, reasonable price.

[Shuemue]

I'm not running Vista, nor have I installed FFXI, but I know that I really fucking like this HD4850, and I know both blabj and Eanae have the same card and play FFXI

[Pikarya]

Vista + ATI x1850 XT + Omega Drivers = 29 FPS everywhere, even while dualboxing in front of AH.5 FPS drop while dual boxing in aery.

[Fhqwghads]

*NICE*. Ok, going ATI then.

P.S. I have an 8800 GTS.

[Tymon]

That makes me sad, that you would have to give up such a nice card (8800GTS) because of the drivers :/

I also recommend a 4850.

[Octavious]

That makes me sad, that you would have to give up such a nice card (8800GTS) because of the drivers :/

I also recommend a 4850.

Now I could be crazy, but if the card's drivers aren't working...what other reason would there be to keep the card ...? I mean I like shiny things like the next guy, but it seems like faulty drivers would be a valid reason to ditch the card. >_>;

[Darwinion]

I did a lot of research (including asking for advice on here) before ordering my new PC. Which is why I specifically went ATI for the card. HD4850 to be exact. I'd heard so much shit about NVidia with FFXI that even though some .174 driver had fixed many issues the damage was still done as far as I was concerned.

[Shuemue]

Honestly, if I had a decent box with 8800GTS in there, I'd keep that intact for general gaming and build a budget machine for FFXI, overclock an e2180 and throw the HD4850 at it.

[Isiolia]

It is a nice card, shame that it's not working for what you need it for.

[virusiidx]

I'm running a 3870x2 and it runs great, i would definitely go for the 4850 though, i've been wanting to upgrade to that. I used to have an HD2600xt and it lagged on anything that glows (avatars, crystals, etc...). But yeah 3870 or 4850/4870, gogo!

[Amele]

*NICE*. Ok, going ATI then.

P.S. I have an 8800 GTS.

which drivers are you using? I was under the impression that 8800GTS worked fine (with certain drivers)

also, is this a general vista issue or just an FFXI issue?

I have a 9800GX2 for the record, works just fine.

[Fhqwghads]

Seems to be Vista in general. I noticed lower framerates with Age of Conan also. I've tried many drivers, including their recent beta, their recent WHQL, a few older betas that were supposed to work with FFXI but didn't do squat for me, and on and on.

It's not a total loss though. My fiancee's PC will get the 8800 GTS, I get a new card, and hopefully I'll be able to get the "best" framerate for FFXI I can (which is the laughable ceiling of ~30FPS.) That, and I'll keep my fingers crossed that I can finally play Half-Life 2 without it crashing.

[Amele]

Seems to be Vista in general. I noticed lower framerates with Age of Conan also. I've tried many drivers, including their recent beta, their recent WHQL, a few older betas that were supposed to work with FFXI but didn't do squat for me, and on and on.

It's not a total loss though. My fiancee's PC will get the 8800 GTS, I get a new card, and hopefully I'll be able to get the "best" framerate for FFXI I can (which is the laughable ceiling of ~30FPS.) That, and I'll keep my fingers crossed that I can finally play Half-Life 2 without it crashing.

I'll check which drivers I'm using when I get home; (9's and 8's should use the same) and let you know. maybe they'll work for you.

[mootsfox]

I use a ATI Radeon HD 2600 and it works quite well for FFXI. I checked on Tiger and ATI has a beasty-looking card Visiontek Radeon 2600 XT X2 Quad Video Card that has so many bells and whistles I got a semi-stiffy reading through them. I like the HD 2600 though it works well for FFXI, lets me dual monitor or connect to my HDTV when I want to. It maxes my frame rate when running one account at the 29.4 mark, the only time I recieved a drop in frame rate was running 3 accounts at the same time (i'll post a picture later) which I don't think you'll do often so it's probably not a big deal. >_>

edit: based on what Isiolia said too, I would assume the HD series for ATI works pretty well since mine is a HD 2600.

(this is the newer one I saw on tiger, holy crap this card looks yum :3 i want a new card now)
http://images.tigerdirect.com/skuima...-2600-XT-2.jpg

The only thing noteworthy about that card are the four DVI ports. Even then two HD4850's would be cheaper and around 4-5 times as powerful.