Valve + nVidia = LOVE

I have a 7600GT in my PC. I was thinking about buying a more powerful
card for it, something like ATI 3870 or nVidia 8800GT. I identified
the cards of each manufacturer which were suitable for my purpose
(short length), and the reasons why I want this or the other card.
(Though, comparing these cards was like comparing apples with
oranges... each card had prominent qualities in different areas... and
moreover, I was not able to find out facts about the cards.) One day I
wanted HD3870, and the other day I realised this had to be 8800GT.

Well, yesterday I started the TF2. First, a Steam initiation window
appeared... and a part of it was the banner "nVidia -- the way it was
meant to be played". Well, th efate is sending me a signal: nVidia it
is. Even the maker of my most favorite games, Valve, left the
sponsorship of ATI/Radeon, and crawled under nVidia. Yes, 8800GT it
is. I planned my trip down to the local discount shop where I would
pick up the card.

Though, in the evening of the same day, a thought occured to me. I
asked myself, what games I am playing, or about to buy which require a
larger card performance ? In order to play the Source engine-powered
games (the only games I care about), the 7600GT card is totally
adequate. I can play with every image quality setting max out. I have
two games installed on my computer which I fell would benefit from a
more powerful card: Oblivion and Silent Hunter 4 (in the latter game,
I installed the mod with the hi-res textures of the water which
require higher performance). But I am a very occasional player of
these games.

I decided that I would buy a 8800GT only when I am faced with an
interesting game which requires a performance higher than can be
provided by 7600GT. That will be the only thing which will truly
motivate me to go out there and buy 8800GT. It may take another half a
year, at least. The 8800GT will get cheaper by then (30-40% cheaper),
the new, improved versions may appear, or a new card will appear
altogether.

Still holding on...

On Mar 1, 7:34 pm, "Sleepy" <nos... RemoveThis @here.com> wrote:
> "Beladi Nasrallah" <nasra... RemoveThis @inbox.com> wrote in message
>
> news:4e958606-5202-4f0d-97d6-58a513ed34b5@s13g2000prd.googlegroups.com...
>
>
>
>
>
> > I have a 7600GT in my PC. I was thinking about buying a more powerful
> > card for it, something like ATI 3870 or nVidia 8800GT. I identified
> > the cards of each manufacturer which were suitable for my purpose
> > (short length), and the reasons why I want this or the other card.
> > (Though, comparing these cards was like comparing apples with
> > oranges... each card had prominent qualities in different areas... and
> > moreover, I was not able to find out facts about the cards.) One day I
> > wanted HD3870, and the other day I realised this had to be 8800GT.
>
> > Well, yesterday I started the TF2. First, a Steam initiation window
> > appeared... and a part of it was the banner "nVidia -- the way it was
> > meant to be played". Well, th efate is sending me a signal: nVidia it
> > is. Even the maker of my most favorite games, Valve, left the
> > sponsorship of ATI/Radeon, and crawled under nVidia. Yes, 8800GT it
> > is. I planned my trip down to the local discount shop where I would
> > pick up the card.
>
> > Though, in the evening of the same day, a thought occured to me. I
> > asked myself, what games I am playing, or about to buy which require a
> > larger card performance ? In order to play the Source engine-powered
> > games (the only games I care about), the 7600GT card is totally
> > adequate. I can play with every image quality setting max out. I have
> > two games installed on my computer which I fell would benefit from a
> > more powerful card: Oblivion and Silent Hunter 4 (in the latter game,
> > I installed the mod with the hi-res textures of the water which
> > require higher performance). But I am a very occasional player of
> > these games.
>
> > I decided that I would buy a 8800GT only when I am faced with an
> > interesting game which requires a performance higher than can be
> > provided by 7600GT. That will be the only thing which will truly
> > motivate me to go out there and buy 8800GT. It may take another half a
> > year, at least. The 8800GT will get cheaper by then (30-40% cheaper),
> > the new, improved versions may appear, or a new card will appear
> > altogether.
>
> > Still holding on...
>
> in another post of yours (which I can't find now thanks to OE) you indicated
> you were
> mostly happy with your 7600GT (which was a budget card when it came out)
> which is why I
> suggested the 9600GT instead of the 8800GT. The only game where you'll see a
> benefit
> from the 8800GT is Crysis - and one game aint worth spending £140 on.
>
> I play Oblivion on a 3850 at 1280x960 High Settings and its fine-

The idea of my post was that Valve went from under the sposorship of
ATI and to nVidia. I made that conclusion when I saw the nVidia banner
in the Steam window when it was automatically upgrading Steam.
However, if I go to TF2 video settings window, it still touts Radeon
as the card "the game is best played with".