ATI vs nVidia Video Cards

[Litewriter]

A couple of years ago (release 4 or 5 maybe), there was a problem that ATI was not fixing, that caused the video driver to return to default color management when a P2E slideshow was played. I resolved it at the time for my use by simply buying a graphics card based on nVidia. However, it meant I couldn't show anything on my laptop, at least not if I wanted accurate color and brightness. Now I'm in the market for a new video card, to run under Win7 64-bit. There are plenty of nVidia cards, but I'm having an annoying problem with the video driver, even though I've downloaded and applied every update from nVidia. I'd like to switch to ATI, but the old problem I had makes me hesitant. Does anybody have any recommendations? My primary use of my computer is as a photographer, and being able to show accurate color and brightness is a must.

Thanks,

Randi

Litewriter

[nobeefstu]

Randi,

How old and what model is the nVidia video card ?

Before going to the added expense of buying a new video card ... make sure you have exhausted all measures to install the nVidia drivers.

When issues persist ... its best to completely uninstall the old nVidia video driver(s) before installing the update driver. This gives a clean slate to start from. Newer nVidia drivers have this option available when appling a update/install.

[Igor]

Hello Randi,

The problem with color management (manual settings) was with versions since 5.0 under Windows XP only. I'm sure it's a fault of ATI/AMD company. I had a conversation with a person from ATI. He've confirmed this problem and said that it's not a high priority problem for ATI. They concentrated on 3D games. That very sadly.

There are no such problems under Windows 7 and Windows Vista (at least with my old ATI video card). The explanation is very simple - ATI/AMD had to adapt their drivers for the new user interface called Aero Glass, because new Windows use Direct 3D mode as PicturesToExe.

[Litewriter]

> How old and what model is the nVidia video card ?

It's an EVGA 8800 GTX card. Have done the uninstall/install with each update, but the problem (occasional freezes, comes back from hibernation with 'video driver error, has been restarted' message) persists.

> Before going to the added expense of buying a new video card ... make sure you have exhausted all measures to install > the nVidia drivers.

Good advice, but I'm getting ready to rebuild an older PC specifically to run XP SP3, so that my old scanners and a PCI IDE card will work. Also to give my husband a text processor <g>. Since I have most of the parts, it's actually cheaper to do this than to buy newer scanners (I have an Nikon LS1000 and Epson Perfection 1240U flatbed). This is a good opportunity to replace the graphics card in my Win 7 box.

[Litewriter]

The problem with color management (manual settings) was with versions since 5.0 under Windows XP only. I'm sure it's a fault of ATI/AMD company. I had a conversation with a person from ATI. He've confirmed this problem and said that it's not a high priority problem for ATI. They concentrated on 3D games. That very sadly.

There are no such problems under Windows 7 and Windows Vista (at least with my old ATI video card). The explanation is very simple - ATI/AMD had to adapt their drivers for the new user interface called Aero Glass, because new Windows use Direct 3D mode as PicturesToExe.

Thanks Igor -- this is the info I needed. It may be time to go back to ATI now that I know that problem no longer exists. Hmm, I wonder if it's fixed on the laptop! I haven't tried since installing Win7 32-bit on that old beast, but I know I put in new drivers from ATI.