Would really appreciate some advice from the forum regulars
Thursday, June 19th, 2003 - 6:48pm
First off, I just wanted to take a moment and thank everyone here. Your presence has made this forum on of the nicest communities that I've ever been in online. Elysium and Certis, you guys should be proud.
Now on to my asking for advice.
I had dropped out of playing PC games because I had just gotten tired of the upgrade game, and the games that were coming out just didn't seem worth the effort. I jumped on the console thing and got an Xbox, which I do truly love. But after seeing some of the new PC games on the horizon, I think it's time to upgrade again. I've already decided on a decent m/b (Asus Motherboard for AMD Athlon XP/Duron Processors, Model# A7N8X Deluxe) and a decent Barton processor, but I'm totally at a loss about the video card. I was thinking Geforce 4, but I've heard that the ATIs have really come a long way. I was hoping that you all could share a little experience with me, as it has been a LONG time since I bought a video card, and I feel seriously out of the loop.
Thanks for taking the time to read my post. I look forward to hearing some of your experiences in this area.
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I moved from a GeForce 4 ti4200 to a Radeon 9500 Pro and to be honest while the Radeon looks a bit better and run a bit smoother the difference isn''t huge. Like many have said, ATI has come a long way in terms of stability although your odds of having some glitch or another in any game are greater than if you ran a GeForce 4 of some type. Developers seem to test a lot more with GeForce cards than ATI''s. Of course, Direct X 9 features are available for future games on the newer Radeons. To get an Nvidia card that supports them you have to buy into the FX series.
I suppose the real question is what games do you want to play on your PC?
Certis beat me to it. - Elysium
Budget wise it depends I''ve been a bit of an Nvidia fanboi but I have to admit that the Radeon 97-9800 cards are pretty superior to the Geforce 4''s. That''s pretty much top buck unfortunately. Cheaper cards like the GeForce Ti4200, GeforceMX cards, and the Ati 9000 cards are pretty good value for money.
I''m currently using a GeForce 4 Ti4200 mid range card, though When Half Life 2 comes out I will be shelling out for a new Radeon 9800 card. I''m not even considering one of the new GeforceFX cards as apart from the size the damn things as noisy as my Vacuum!
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Sites like www.tomshardware.com and www.anandtech.com have great reviews of video cards. Currently the Geforce FX is the fastest card on the market, it is, however very loud, large, and pricy. It does indeed sound like a vacuum cleaner and will occupy both your AGP and top PCI slot.
I run a Radeon 9500 Pro and I''m quite satisfied with that. I''m not a power gamer by any means and I won''t shell out a bazillion dollars on a single upgrade. I''m really in Certis'' camp here, there''s minimal differences between the two in terms of speed and price. It all depends on who you love.
I gotta tell you, I loved the TNT''s and the original Geforce but I''m glad there''s competition out there.
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We are. Thanks very much for that.
As for the card, I don''t think I''ve ever been more pleased with a card than I have my current GeForce 4 TI4400. While a bit pricey, though much less than others, I still don''t think most games come close to tapping its full potential right now. I also recall Certis having to recently switch out his Radeon for his GeForce 3, and getting basically the same level of performance. But, then, I''m not really a cutting edge card guy. My main concerns are stability, compatibility, and to a lesser degree performance. I''m not that worried that I might miss out on DX9 bells and whistles (after all, many of DX8''s features aren''t really often implemented). For those reasons I''ve been very satisfied with the 4400.
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I would go Geforce 4 ti4200, best bang for you buck video card on the market.
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If you want better visuals nothing beats a 9700/9800 Pro right now... then you can game with AA and AF on and still have above 40fps..
Once you get hooked on playing with AA and AF its extremely tough to go back to playing without them...
It''s like playing a great looking Xbox game and then firing up a medicore PS2 game..the visuals look that much different.
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First and most important... how much you are willing to spend. Right now cool new stuff came out, like Intel with their 3.06+ P4 processors that have Hyper-Threading support, and their motherboards have the new support for the Serial ATA''s... that will run pretty penny, however AMD''s are good for the money you pay for it. So it''s more of a budget line shopping. Video cards, GForce4 would serve fine. I currently have the G4 4600, and i have no complains running games. So, basically set the budget, and like Reaper said there are few good site where you can get good info on the hardware. Good Luck...
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Sad as it is, but forget about hyperthreading. You have to optimise your app/game to work on dual processors for this to have any benefit. And as it currently stands the amount of people using dual cpus are too few to justify the costly effort.
I''d go with one of the ATIs. Reports are that you can upgrade a 9500pro to a 9700 pro without modifying the hardware. I did not dig any further into that, but I know the 9500 pro is permanently sold out in the shops here.
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I''m with TheGameguru - AA and AF make every game look so much better. I''m running many games at 1280x1024 (native res of my flat panel) with 4xAA and 8xAF - looks great and plays smooth.
WARNING on that software 9500-9700 upgrade: it doesn''t always work. Back when I tried it I believe the success rate was reported to be in the neighborhood of 50%. The reason is said to be that many 9500''s were originally tested as 9700''s at ATI and failed, so the failed pipelines were disabled and they became 9500''s. The result of the soft upgrade in that case is horrible visual artifacts, which happened when I tried it. I returned it and later ended up buying a genuine 9700 Pro, and it kicks ass.
Thanks for all the suggestions, everyone! Did some reading after all the advice, and I think I''m leaning towards the ATI line. Has anyone here ran a Radeon 9600 pro?
Money can't buy you happiness...but it can buy you a boat big enough to sell right up next to it!-David Lee Roth
If you can still get a 9500 Pro for a decent price (around $175ish) I''d get that card over the 9600 Pro.. Despite the lower number the 9500 Pro is a better card than the 9600 Pro. Not a huge difference but it is a better card.
The 9600 Pro is a great card for the money though... and most retailers are pricing the 9500 Pro''s around $195 now and in that case I''d get the 9600 Pro for $160ish
Aint nothing new about the world order..it's been playing since the day they put George Washington on a quarter
85's face the truth you're too dumb.
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