PNY GeForce Cards

[Demosthenes]

Looking for a new GeForce3 card. Basically, the cheapest one. They all have the same chip in them and perform the same, so the only difference lies in the name and features.

In particular, I was looking at a PNY. It is the lower end of the spectrum pricewise, but has all the features I need. Does someone have any information about PNY? Are they safe to buy?

P.S. Please choke back on your pro-Radeon propaganda. I am not interested in Radeon at the moment and am beginning to believe you all work for ATI. ;)

Respectfully,

Demosthenes

[DrZaius]

Hi Demosthenes,

PNY is well known for quality memory so I wouldn't doubt that they make quality video cards as well. I believe they use 3.8ns chips on their cards too, as opposed to Hercules and LeadTek who use 4ns chips.
Please choke back on your pro-Radeon propaganda. I am not interested in Radeon at the moment and am beginning to believe you all work for ATI.
I'm not a huge fan either way, whatever works is what I recommend. It just happens that ATi works better and is cheaper. ;) It might also have something to do with the fact that they're Candian, we have a few of them in the forum. :D

[glc]

Propaganda? I don't THINK so........

Whatever floats your boat. If you are a gamer and don't care about 2D, go for the GeForce. If you want a better "all-around" card, look at the Radeon. That's all I have been saying and I hardly think that's "propaganda". I happen to have an original TNT PCI card in this old beast, and I have no complaints with it - but if I am going to buy a new card, I will be buying an ATI because I am not a gamer.

If you want a GeForce 3 - go for it. Please don't put the "accusation" into your post - it was not necessary at all in the context of your question.

[Floppyman]

I am a gamer and still use the Radeon. At the time I bought it, it was the better all-around card, feature wise and pricewise, plus it was faster in some spots than the Geforce 2 GTS (at the time of purchase the fastest nvidia card). So far I've been very impressed with it. Games look great, and 2D is excellent too. I had never used ATI prior to buying the Radeon (I had a TNT2 Ultra before this), but I will definetely them again for my next videocard purchase/upgrade.

We don't use any kind of pro radeon propaganda. We only recommend what we think would suit the user best. Remember, the final decision about what to purchase is yours, regardless of what we say.

[Hpro]

Ge-force (NVIDIA) is the trend at present time as it was 3DFX and S3 for a couple years a few years back - what's left of the two latter ones? ATI is here for a very long time and it will be still here when NVIDIA and also S3 have died the same death as 3DFX - I use several 3DFX cards here - but sure I will not replace them if I have to, with NIVDIA or anything with GE-FORCE chipset on it - they just doesn't make it..

Not actually a ATI fan I still use a ATI on one of the comps here - never ever any problems with it..

[Demosthenes]

Oh boy. I specifically put that post scriptum to keep people from going off on that tangent. The original question was for information about a specific GeForce brand for a client. Still, I knew people would tell me to buy a Radeon, even though the client does not want one, so I put that message at the end. But still, people have to force their opinions on others. I did not accuse anyone, I merely predicted their words (and predicted pretty well, judging by the response :) ). If you took that message to be an "accusation" then that is your problem. DrZaius was not offended, so obviously it is not an accusation. The fact is, I am not mad about you liking ATI, any normal person would be able to read into that. My only qualm is that at the first mention of a question about Nvidia, no matter what it is, someone talks about the Radeon and the question sometimes never gets resolved. That is what makes me mad. Otherwise, I do not care what card you endorse. That is the problem in a nutshell.

Now, if you answered my original question, I would not have to write that post scriptum and would not have had to write this. I mean this as respectfully as I possibly can.

Respectfully,

Demosthenes

[Tiretool]

It's hard to go wrong with a GeForce 3 card nowdays. I don't know of a company that strays far from NVidia's reference design for the card itself, and PNY has sold memory at the local Office Depot and Comp USA for I don't know how long. They are a respected manufacturer.

All the quarrels about ATI "this" and GeForce 3 "that" are purely subjective. (At least as far as picture quality goes.) Bottom line is, at the moment the GeForce 3 is the fastest kid on the block. NVidia has produced the fastest kid on the block in video for quite some time now. The whole "ATI's picture quality beats any NVidia card's quality" claim is purely opinion and is very likely based on people's desire to "root" for the underdog (ATI at the moment). I honestly can't see a difference between the two card's 2D picture quality. I truly don't think there is a noticable difference. I've had very good luck and performance from NVidia products so I still ride on the NVidia Bandwagon. And the fact that they make the fastest video card for a non-professional computer (by this I mean "not for doing CAD, and making computer graphics for TV and movies etc.) helps me stay on that bandwagon. If it weren't for NVidia's progress in the computer graphics industry, we might well still be playing crap 2D side scrolling games like Galaxian and Mario Brothers.

And... ATI will still be there when NVidia and S3 are dead? I wouldn't hold your breath until NVidia's gone. You'll be quite blue I'm afraid before that time comes. nForce chipsets are on motherboards now and are getting good reviews. I doubth this will hurt NVidia's future. Where's the ATI chipset for motherboards?

[glc]

No problem - sorry to stir up the hornet's nest, but I just HAD to say something.......:D - and I apologize if I came across in an insulting manner.

To address your question - which is what this is all about - I haven't worked with PNY video cards yet, but I do know their memory is decent. I have no doubt that Tiretool is speaking truth on this.

Sorry to turn this into an ATI vs. Nvidia debate - but you DID leave the door open!

As an aside, as long as we have turned this into a debate - I wouldn't consider ATI an "underdog" - I think ATI and Nvidia are on pretty equal footing right now, leaving the others in the dust. I'm gonna miss Matrox but after the Savage, as far as I'm concerned S3 is better off dead. Too bad 3DFx couldn't keep evolving or they would be up there too instead of out of business.

[Tiretool]

Too bad 3DFx couldn't keep evolving or they would be up there too instead of out of business.

I couldn't agree more. Their presence and their desire to produce cards that spit out fast frame rates always leveled the playing field as far as prices went. If only they had made the decision to ship their chips to other card manufacturers... no doubt they would still be the "original" 3D people and still alive.

[Demosthenes]

After reading what I wrote again (things are always viewed in a different light after time), I guess I deserved those responses. Unfortunately, it is my nature to be overly cynical and biting, much to the annoyance of others. This is a result of the people I have been around and is a habit I always try to break. Perhaps I will put two smiley faces behind an overly cynical comment or use html brackets to enclose my <cynical> statements </cynical>.

All things aside, I am glad that no one finds PNY cards as POS. Thank you once again. This forum makes my life and that of many others less stressful.

Respectfully,

Demosthenes

[Jenni]

I think pretty much ALL GeForce cards are the same, no matter who makes them (except the Abit cards, I've heard some REALLY bad things about them!).

BTW, I think the problem with 3Dfx wasn't that they couldn't evolve, it was that they had some big lawsuits flying back and forth with nVidia. So nVidia bought them out. End of lawsuit. Same thing happened with Aureal/Creative. Doesn't seem like it would be cheaper to buy out the company than to go to court, but I guess it is, lol.