ATI graphic cards question

[Messerschmitt]

Since now ATI is being owned by AMD, would that mean it's not the best choice to own one if you are running on a Pentium? Is there any relation between the graphic card and the processor, such as in a HD4870 would run better on the AMD rather than a Pentium?

Just asking, since I have never owned an ATI, I only had nvidia (4400 TI and 8600 GTS which it seems its already obsolete), and I was looking at that HD4870 which looks really good, for a very reasonable price.

Also how it's the driver support for the ATI cards? Any programs you can use with them for monitoring temps, and clocks?

Thanks

[weEvil]

There is absolutely no relation in between the graphics card and the processor.

Software will run differently depending on your setup. Driver support is as good as nVidia's.

[Zxian]

Like weEvil said, there's no relation between the processor and the graphics card. ATI's driver support is excellent (in some ways better than nVidia's) and the drivers themselves are rock solid.

[Messerschmitt]

Thanks for the feedback.

I just bought myself a HIS HD4870.

However my current motherboard only has a 1.1 PCI-E rather than 2.0. Does that mean the card performance is only half of what it can provide? How does this translate in FPS and performance in rendering graphics.

Should I really invest in a new motherboard that can support PCI-E 2.0?

[Zxian]

There is a difference in the bandwidth capabilities of PCIe 1.1 and 2.0, but most cards today still wouldn't max out a PCIe 1.1 x16 slot.

The best way to check your card's capabilities is to get a benchmarking tool like 3DMark and compare the scores against systems with similar specifications.

[puntoMX]

Should I really invest in a new motherboard that can support PCI-E 2.0?

Like Zxian said, you could benchmark it however you will not see any diference in performance with that card between a PCI-E 1.1 and 2.0.

[Messerschmitt]

Thanks for the info, good to know I can save my money on a new mobo