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Upgrade time (Read 950 times)
janskjaer
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Upgrade time
03.07.04 at 20:59:20
 
Ok, it's now time for an upgrade.  I finish work in two weeks and go back to Uni in October. In the meantime, I have to do a few 4000 word reports for University before I go back  Cry, but that should leave me with some allocated time to gaming! 8)

However, I am in need of an upgrade to the old graphics card if I'm to play any decent games!
I would turn my head to the latest 3dfx card (as you all obviously would) but seeing as there will be never such a thing, I have to look for alternatives, unfortunately. Undecided

Time to ditch the old GeForce2 Pro and get a beefier card. But what?  ??? I'll admit, the GF2 Pro has served me well, running any game with medium/high visual settings right from July 2001 when I got it! (As I said in a previous post, it had no problem running Hidden & Dangerous 2 @ 1280 x 1024, 30fps, full highest visual seetings including complex real-time shadows and full environment mappings). But saying that, I wouldn't go back to nVidia.

1) Because of the money-grabbing strategies I believe they incorporate and they way they try to confuse the customer with their 'XT' and 'LE' versions of cards, which 'XT' clearly opposes the rules that ATI goes by.
2) A personal vendetta against them due to their harsh treatment towards 3dfx's staff, their loyal customers, colleagues and 3dfx company as a whole. Angry
3) Frankly, I see nVidia's cards as lagging behind ATI's rival card (e.g Radeon 9600 vs. GeForce 5700, Radeon 9800 vs. GeForece 5900/5950 etc..).

As a student, I cannot afford the prices of a Radeon 9800 card, so instead I was looking at the 9600 Pro (256Mb). A powerful card, but good value for the money.
However, will this card be able to support games of the future, well enough? e.g. Doom 3, Half-Life 2?

Or does anyone recommend a better all-rounder, good power and performance, against value for money.  ???
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DenisF
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Re: Upgrade time
Reply #1 - 03.07.04 at 21:15:50
 
Id'e say wait for the ATi X600 prices to drop, but if you *must* buy one now, go for the Hercules 3D Prophet 9600 pro
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« Last Edit: 03.07.04 at 21:18:07 by DenisF »  

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paulpsomiadis
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Re: Upgrade time
Reply #2 - 04.07.04 at 03:24:30
 
Definately a Radeon of some description matey...but I'd avoid the budget ones and save up for the PRO cards... Wink

Such as 9700Pro, 9800Pro or X800. Grin

They may be a HUGE wad of cash, but it's worth it in the long run as you'll not need a new GFX card for quite a long time! Cheesy

I myself own a modded 9500 (modded to a 9700Pro) and it wipes the floor with my uncles 9500Pro card! Grin 8)

Ya' know it makes sense! Smiley

Nuff said! Tongue 8)
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Re: Upgrade time
Reply #3 - 04.07.04 at 03:30:51
 
Hm, since I tested and experienced a whole bunch of Radeon Cards :

I'd agree, that you shouldn't settle for anything below a Radeon 9700pro (325/315MHz).

With the upcoming Doom 3 / Halflife 2 , and the already existing GPU-eater FarCry, you'll need a Card that packs the right punch to deal with them at decent quality Wink

Lower models (e.g. Radeon 9600/pro/XT) would still run those, but you certainly don't want to start fiddling for compromises (reduced Details) to get a minimum fps out of your new Card right away.

Right now I'm evaluating/using a Radeon 9800pro (380/340MHz), and the performance and Quality observed is very good for the money Smiley
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janskjaer
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Re: Upgrade time
Reply #4 - 04.07.04 at 12:53:16
 
Thanks for the tips guys, this sure helps!  Smiley

@DenisF - When do these X600 cards expect to appear, and how long will we be waiting for them to arrive on the customer market?

@paulpsomiadis - Cheers matey. Cheesy I heard the 9500 cards were good as they could be softmodded to 9700. But if yours is a 9500, how did it beat a 9500 Pro?  ??? Is this because you softmodded to 9700, and your uncle did not?

@FalconFly - Cheers for the info bud. One of my mates owns a 9600 (cannot remember if it's either a Pro or XT) and he said he had trouble running FarCry at top quality even on his card.

I do want a card that will last a couple of years, but I don't want to fork out a great wad of cash.  I just don't know which to start looking at.
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Re: Upgrade time
Reply #5 - 04.07.04 at 13:20:52
 
Quote:
I do want a card that will last a couple of years, but I don't want to fork out a great wad of cash.


Hehe, that's a slight Problem, as usual in the Graphics world Wink
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janskjaer
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Re: Upgrade time
Reply #6 - 04.07.04 at 13:53:40
 
I bought the Creative 3D Blaster Voodoo2 in December wither '96 or '97 (I can't remember! Embarrassed).  It originally cost me £188.00.Shocked
6 Months later I went and bought a second one for only £70!!!8)
And 3 months after that, I bought a Creative 3D Blaster Banshee for £99. I remember having a voucher for the Electronics Boutique store (now GAME, you'll know it Paul!  Wink) where if I bought a 3D Accelerator I got Half-Life for FREE (Bearing in mind HL had JUST come out!).  The store obviusly didn't know their standard display adapters from accellerators and I managed to get a brand new JUST CAME OUT Banshee for a discount price, plus Half-Life for FREE!  Grin RESULT!
However, I was one of the very first to experience the conflicts between the cards, forcing me to install a Glide Switcher from Creative!
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janskjaer
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Re: Upgrade time
Reply #7 - 04.07.04 at 14:26:21
 
The other thing is, is that I will be running this card in my current machine, which is an AMD Athlon XP 1500+ running on a MSI KT266 Motherboard.
If I was to spend big bucks and go and get either a a Radeon 9700 Pro, or a 9800 Pro, would I really benefit using either of these cards on a AGP 4x? That is the maximum speed the my AGP bus will run at.
Will I benefit, because if I will not, would I be better settling off with something like a 9600 Pro? Will I see the differences between the 9600, 9700 and 9800 series on my machine, or would I need a more up to date system to notice those differences?


Also I have noticed there is a Radeon 9550. Is it based on the Radeon 9500 GPU or the Radeon 9600? Either way, is 9550 better than 9600?
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DenisF
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Re: Upgrade time
Reply #8 - 04.07.04 at 14:36:45
 
If you *only* have an AXP 1500+, you really shouldn't spend your money on anything better than a 9600pro

your cpu will become a bottleneck even for a radeon 8500
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janskjaer
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Re: Upgrade time
Reply #9 - 04.07.04 at 15:08:09
 
How come it causes a bottleneck? What features start to unimprove when I run the cards on a mid-range PC?

Would it still be worth my while looking at the ATI Radeon 9600XT 256Mb, with the machine I have?

So what is better between the 9600 Pro and the 9550?
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« Last Edit: 04.07.04 at 15:58:43 by N/A »  
 
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DenisF
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Re: Upgrade time
Reply #10 - 04.07.04 at 16:54:09
 
"How come it causes a bottleneck? What features start to unimprove when I run the cards on a mid-range PC?"
you won't be missing features, just speed.

It's like running a voodoo5 on a Pentium-II

Anyway, the 9550 is a heck lot slower than 9500/9600, stay away from it.

Id'e say that if you can find a 9500pro right now, go for it don't even think twice.


here's an example;
...

note the difference between the 9500pro and the 9700pro when used with an Athlon 1000, only 1.9fps difference!!!
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« Last Edit: 04.07.04 at 20:29:11 by DenisF »  

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Re: Upgrade time
Reply #11 - 04.07.04 at 18:08:56
 
*ugh*

Nice Hammer Wink
But I think THG just doesn't like direct Linking to their Images...
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DenisF
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Re: Upgrade time
Reply #12 - 04.07.04 at 18:36:49
 
If people at rage3d can link to THG, i'm sure tom won't mind about my little linky  Tongue Grin
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Re: Upgrade time
Reply #13 - 04.07.04 at 19:00:03
 
Apparently he does, since it doesn't work *g*
(to avoid confusion : I just see THG's generic Placeholder for blocked Image Links)
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« Last Edit: 04.07.04 at 19:00:53 by FalconFly »  
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DenisF
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Re: Upgrade time
Reply #14 - 04.07.04 at 19:56:07
 
what the poop ???

iv'e even done a couple of forced refresh [ctrl+f5] and i still see it  ???
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