ThomasGreen
asked on
9700 pro to what ?
Hi, ok first my specs;
Amd Atlon XP3000+
1GB ram
Ati Radeon 9700 pro
Cataclyst 4.7
Seagate Barracuda 80gb HD
Windows XP pro Sp2
Asus X-Series motherboard
Anyway i have games such as FarCry, Doom 3 ect.., Now farcry will run on full graphics and run quite well with hardly any slow down, Doom 3 on the other hand will run fine on Medium Graphics at 1280 x 1024 and ok on High graphics on 1024 x 768.
I was told recently that i should upgrade my graphics card as it was starting to get outdated which sounds right to me.
What really convinced me was when i got a Demo on Medal of Honor Pacific Assault and it would hardly move on High Graphics at 1024 x 768 and still didnt really run all to well on medium, im pretty convinced that it is my graphics card as all my other parts i think are up to scratch for gameing, i need a second opinion on that.
Anway its my birthday comming up and its enevitable that i am going to get one but i was in 2 minds which one to get.
My first Choice was an ATI Radeon 9800XT as i can get one of these for around £180, higher than that is the X800 which exedes the £300 mark and i aint paying that.
What im asking it will the ATI Radeon 9800XT be a major step from the 9700 pro, im sure it is but i really need to ask, also im not to sure about Nvidia cards and dont really keep up with them, I know ATI like the back of my hand when it comes to there products but i have always been warey since earlyer this year my brother bought a new pc and got a GeForce FX 5600 Ultra which was about £120 and wouldnt even run Halo, it was a terrible card and i have never been to sure about them since.
Well i want a graphics card that will run Doom 3 on High Graphics at 1280 x 1024 and Medal of Honor PA the same, and of course the upcomming Half Life 2, my brother now has a 9800 pro and it seems to run doom 3 pretty well on high so an XT would certainly be a lot better, plus i can get it so cheap.
I just need your opinion, should i get the 9800XT ?
Amd Atlon XP3000+
1GB ram
Ati Radeon 9700 pro
Cataclyst 4.7
Seagate Barracuda 80gb HD
Windows XP pro Sp2
Asus X-Series motherboard
Anyway i have games such as FarCry, Doom 3 ect.., Now farcry will run on full graphics and run quite well with hardly any slow down, Doom 3 on the other hand will run fine on Medium Graphics at 1280 x 1024 and ok on High graphics on 1024 x 768.
I was told recently that i should upgrade my graphics card as it was starting to get outdated which sounds right to me.
What really convinced me was when i got a Demo on Medal of Honor Pacific Assault and it would hardly move on High Graphics at 1024 x 768 and still didnt really run all to well on medium, im pretty convinced that it is my graphics card as all my other parts i think are up to scratch for gameing, i need a second opinion on that.
Anway its my birthday comming up and its enevitable that i am going to get one but i was in 2 minds which one to get.
My first Choice was an ATI Radeon 9800XT as i can get one of these for around £180, higher than that is the X800 which exedes the £300 mark and i aint paying that.
What im asking it will the ATI Radeon 9800XT be a major step from the 9700 pro, im sure it is but i really need to ask, also im not to sure about Nvidia cards and dont really keep up with them, I know ATI like the back of my hand when it comes to there products but i have always been warey since earlyer this year my brother bought a new pc and got a GeForce FX 5600 Ultra which was about £120 and wouldnt even run Halo, it was a terrible card and i have never been to sure about them since.
Well i want a graphics card that will run Doom 3 on High Graphics at 1280 x 1024 and Medal of Honor PA the same, and of course the upcomming Half Life 2, my brother now has a 9800 pro and it seems to run doom 3 pretty well on high so an XT would certainly be a lot better, plus i can get it so cheap.
I just need your opinion, should i get the 9800XT ?
How much memory does the 9800xt come with. If it also comes with 256mb then I would go for the ATI card.
I personally have a Geforce FX 5900, which is fine.
I have heard that the ATI cards are better at DX9 games (pixel shaders) which Doom 3 and Half Life will make heavy use of.
That's why I would go for the ATI card.
I personally have a Geforce FX 5900, which is fine.
I have heard that the ATI cards are better at DX9 games (pixel shaders) which Doom 3 and Half Life will make heavy use of.
That's why I would go for the ATI card.
Ya i think you should still go with 9800XT! It's a great card and you can OC it too!!
For my experience most of the times ATI picture looks better than GeForce does.
If you want more info you can go with http://www.pcstats.com/NewsView.cfm?Category=171
or http://www.tomshardware.com/
For my experience most of the times ATI picture looks better than GeForce does.
If you want more info you can go with http://www.pcstats.com/NewsView.cfm?Category=171
or http://www.tomshardware.com/
ASKER
The 9800XT is 256 yeh.
I went on tomshardware and it had a benchmark for Doom 3, the 9800XT came near the bottom under the X800 and some other Nvida card, but i do always trust ATI and i know the 9800XT is supposed to be ace.
So you think it will be a big improvement from my old 9700 pro ?
I went on tomshardware and it had a benchmark for Doom 3, the 9800XT came near the bottom under the X800 and some other Nvida card, but i do always trust ATI and i know the 9800XT is supposed to be ace.
So you think it will be a big improvement from my old 9700 pro ?
The 9800xt will be a noticable improvement on your 9700.
http://sharkyextreme.com/hardware/videocards/article.php/3211_3110611__7
That link shows a significant improvement in 3dmark 2003, which I believe tests Direct X 9 performance.
http://sharkyextreme.com/hardware/videocards/article.php/3211_3110611__7
That link shows a significant improvement in 3dmark 2003, which I believe tests Direct X 9 performance.
Thomas do not waste your money the 9700Pro and 9800XT are almost the same card the cores are the same with Minor differences. I play far cry and doom 3 at 1600 X 1200. Here are my 3Dmark Scores 1 is my 9800 PRo flashed to XT http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k3=2582717 03 7519 3DMARK 03 . Now I just got this card it is absolutely Killer at 1600 by 1200
http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k3=3048737 3DMark 03 6800GT Air cooled
My 9700 Pro overclocked got almost 7000 just to give you an idea as you can see the XT got 7519 overclocked to the MAX. My advice wait for the 6800Gt or just get a plain 6800 it will do about 9K. The 9800XT with 256 is not going to give you more than 2 FPS more at the res you want to play. But your 9700 Pro will be fine at medium. I have 9700 PRO 9800Pro 9800XT 9700 All in wonder X800 Pro and 6800GT all i can say they are all great cards but this 6800GT is Amazing and I lean twards ATI as you can see. But this NVidia card beats up on them all. Also looks amazing on screen effects Doom 3 1600x1200 on Ultra Quality settings runs 60FPS the games limit.
http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k3=3048737 3DMark 03 6800GT Air cooled
My 9700 Pro overclocked got almost 7000 just to give you an idea as you can see the XT got 7519 overclocked to the MAX. My advice wait for the 6800Gt or just get a plain 6800 it will do about 9K. The 9800XT with 256 is not going to give you more than 2 FPS more at the res you want to play. But your 9700 Pro will be fine at medium. I have 9700 PRO 9800Pro 9800XT 9700 All in wonder X800 Pro and 6800GT all i can say they are all great cards but this 6800GT is Amazing and I lean twards ATI as you can see. But this NVidia card beats up on them all. Also looks amazing on screen effects Doom 3 1600x1200 on Ultra Quality settings runs 60FPS the games limit.
gor_c not to knock you but. You said this,"I have heard that the ATI cards are better at DX9 games (pixel shaders) which Doom 3 and Half Life will make heavy use of." Nvidia owns Doom 3 as of now your links are old. The 6800GT even beats the X800 XT PE which is hardly even available yet. http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/gf6800-oc_6.html Here are some newer benches
Of course the 6800GT is good, a good performance/price ratio for a high end card. However it costs a good few hundred pounds still, so it depends on how much Mr Thomas Green wants to pay.
True Doom3 is better on the Nvidia cards, but the situation will be reversed for Half life 'cos ATI is partnering with Valve on that one.
If you're looking for Doom 3 performance, you may want to get a GeForce 6xxx series card. I like ATI but nVidia is simply destroying them in the Doom 3 performance arena There is supposed to be a new card coming out, the GF 6600, which will be very fast in Doom 3 (i believe 1600x1200, high quality, at 40fps) for around $200 USD. I am not sure when it will be available in AGP, supposed to be PCI-X at first, but for that price you can't really beat it. I have a Radeon 9600 and i was going to upgrade to 9800 Pro but i've decided to wait for the 6600. I just can't justify paying $500+ for a FX 6800 or Radeon X800XT.
If you're willing to shell out that kind of money though, your best bet is probably a FX 6800. If you can wait for the 6600, that's also a good solution. If you're really looking for something now, probably a Radeon 9800 or FX 5900 series will be the best choice as they are not too expsnive, though the 5xxx series and all Radeon cards do not have, at least as far as i know, do not have the optimizations that allow Doom 3 to perform at such levels.
If you're willing to shell out that kind of money though, your best bet is probably a FX 6800. If you can wait for the 6600, that's also a good solution. If you're really looking for something now, probably a Radeon 9800 or FX 5900 series will be the best choice as they are not too expsnive, though the 5xxx series and all Radeon cards do not have, at least as far as i know, do not have the optimizations that allow Doom 3 to perform at such levels.
Hi Guys the 6800GT is around $399 IMO the best value or High Performance value so far. the other 6800s have pipelines disabled that cannot be reenabled due to core defects. Anyway in the UK I do not know the prices on some things are way different then in the USA.
Also gor_c the 6800GT comes with doom3. As for half life mabye in 2 more years it will be out :>( Bummer I still have a certificate for it LMAO.
I've got a Geforce FX5900XT (this is only 128MB) and i am able to run Doom 3 on High settings at 1024x768 resolution. I can OC it very slightly on stock cooling and throw in 4xAA. That's my experience. And i've always gone with Nvidia, as i've never had any problems with them, so i figure why mess with a good thing.
ASKER
All good points, but i am in a budget here, under £200, i can get the 9800XT or Nvidea equivilant, my 9700 pro is ony 128 and i have heard great things about the XT models, but now i am in 2 minds, can someone suggest mabey a better Nvidea card for perhaps the same price, if you got www.Kelkoo.co.uk it searches shops and prices, the cheapes Xt was about £185, if there is a better Nvidea card there in the same price range i woud love to know, but i also heard that AIt cards are more compatable with everything where as Nvidia cards tend to be optinised for percific things.
http://www.pcnextday.co.uk/product_detail.asp?stype=5&productcode=1511-4090&group=AGPNV&pgroup=VID&ref_site=kelkoo awsome card here. If not I would wait the 9800XT is not going to give you much over what you have. Very small increases. If you cant get the 6800GT wait a few months its a waste to go from a 9700 Pro to a 9800 XT you will be dissapointed in the increases only beacuse the 9700 Pro is an AWSOME CARD just about the same as the XT you want. My advice Get a zalman heatpipe and overclock. I know guys who have overclocked 9700 Pros that smoke the XT. Goodluck.
BTW the card listed above will give you about double the performance of the 9800XT and I am an ATI guy so take what you want from that 233 but I do not know what vat is.
http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k3=2269486 Here is a 9700 Pro score overclocked just to give you an idea of what your card is capable of thats about over 2000 more than the 9800xt is going to give you stock.
ASKER
Ok it seems that my card is ok, so what can i buy to push it to its full potential ?
ASKER
I just had a look at a few heatpipes and alot of hem say compatable with most vga cards that have the 3mm holes or something, does my 9700 pro have these ?
Also will there be a noticeable difference ? im not sure what this overclocking means but i think it has something to do with the speed as it is clocked in or something, and you say this overclocks an XT, so there will be a difference.
Oh and what is the best heatpipe i can buy, that will fit future graphics cards so im conserving money.
Also will there be a noticeable difference ? im not sure what this overclocking means but i think it has something to do with the speed as it is clocked in or something, and you say this overclocks an XT, so there will be a difference.
Oh and what is the best heatpipe i can buy, that will fit future graphics cards so im conserving money.
ASKER
Also i find my hard drive gets extremely hot, so much so that i can burn my self on it, do you think i should get some sort of cooler for that ?
That might be a good idea, there are some hard drive coolers on the market.
Heat build up on your hard drive might cause your drive to be less reliable, or reduce the lifetime.
Heat build up on your hard drive might cause your drive to be less reliable, or reduce the lifetime.
http://www.overclock.co.uk/customer/product.php?productid=17747 This heatpipe is the best on market make sure to get the side fan it attaches to pipe about 5 bucks. http://www.dabs.com/uk/productview?quicklinx=30W8 heres the sidefan. http://www.kelkoo.co.uk/ctl/do/search?siteSearchQuery=zalman+heatpipe here is all of the products heatpipe coolers for hard drive but you could probally get away with a fan hows your case cooling.
http://www.guru3d.com/rivatuner/ Best overclocking utility on the market make sure you have the heatpipe first so you dont cook your card.
BTW save the retail sinks from your 9700 Pro in the future if you get an X800 or something like that you can still use the heatpipe on new card.
ASKER
Do i have to remover the fan from my graphics card to fit any additional devices ?
Yes the heatpipe replaces the Fan. All of the hardware and instructions come with the heatpipe. It cools the card much better then the crappy retail fan.
IME the rad 9700 Pro is the worst card of its type. it might be only another '100' on the top but the 9700 pro was such a let down in performance that anything else is better. Remember the RAD 9700 Pro came out over 2 years ago. So despite the name being 100 less than its big brother - its an old crappy card. i should know ive got one and it cost me £300.
however, i have noticed that whilst its a crap card, its way better than its predecessors. gamers should not be ashamed of running games with low gfx settings as even the 9700 pro still looks good wityh everything on low.
hf
however, i have noticed that whilst its a crap card, its way better than its predecessors. gamers should not be ashamed of running games with low gfx settings as even the 9700 pro still looks good wityh everything on low.
hf
sloopeth are you kidding ME??? The 9700 Pro is the card that changed it all. That card is going down in the history books as the card that almost took out Nvidia or made them rework everything. Now you want a crap card try a Nvidia FX 5200 256 MB ram you will be lucky to run 2 year old games and it scores about 2500 in 3dmark 03. I have a 9700 Pro and on doom 3 it lets me run 1600 by 1200 @39FPS on Quality settings pretty amazing in my books for a older card. Tell me the Difference between your 9700 Pro and the 9800XT. I think you might not have your facts straight. Besides for clockspeed its all there in the 9700 Pro 8 Pipelines virtually the same core R300 Series so is the XT ram is very similar also. If you overclock both of them you will be lucky to get an extra 10% out of the XT over the 9700 Pro looks around do some research almsot the same cards different cooling on the XT but that is easily fixed with a heatpipe.
It looks like the options are:
Overclock current card
or buy nvidia fx 6800 (vanilla or GT)
Depends on how much you want to spend at the end of the day.
You pays your money, you gets your choice...
Overclock current card
or buy nvidia fx 6800 (vanilla or GT)
Depends on how much you want to spend at the end of the day.
You pays your money, you gets your choice...
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