FX5900 or 9800pro 128?

MaxxxRacer · Aug 12, 2003

I have been looking at the reviews from just about every website and they 2 cards are so close together in performance. Jsut to clarify im takling about the 5900 non ultra adn the 9800pro 128mb. As far as the fx cards having vivo built in isnt really much of a sel lfor me, i care about performance and visual quality. As far as price goes, the 2 are within about 10 dollars of eachother so that really doesnt matter..

So any advice on which one would be better would be really helpful right now.

If anyone wants to know im running xp2600 oced to 2.35ghz, Corsiar pc2700ram running synchrnysly, wd800, A7N8X Deluxe, slk800, and the bottleneck in the system... geforce 2 GTS.

cleeve · Aug 12, 2003

Both cards are lightning fast, so you have to decide which suits your own needs better.

If you're interested in visual quality in addition to speed, then you'd probably be happier with the 9800 PRO. It's pretty much agreed upon that the Antialiassing implementation is noticably superior to the FX 5900.

Also, look at lots of benchmarks... see how they both perform on games that you own and play alot.

You can't really lose with either of these cards. Good luck!

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Radeon 9500 w/256 bit memory bus @ 367/310
AMD AthlonXP 2000+
3dMark03: 3439

coolsquirtle · Aug 12, 2003

get the FX5900

why?
cause they roxer!!!!!

Proud Owner the Block Heater
120% nVidia Fanboy
PROUD OWNER OF THE GEFORCE FX 5900ULTRA <-- I wish this was me
I'd get a nVidia GeForce FX 5900Ultra... if THEY WOULD CHANGE THAT #()#@ HSF

TKS · Aug 12, 2003

Also, don't forget that Nvidia 'optimized' the benchmarks in UT2K3 so those will be biased. If that is the only game you play go ahead and pick up the 5900. If you do others...investigate the benchmarks from various sources and make your selection that way.

Kids, just because I don't care doesn't mean I'm not listening
Homer Simpson

TKS

MaxxxRacer · Aug 13, 2003

Hmm. The games that i play are quake 3 (urban terror mod) UT2k3, battlefield 1942, Enter the Matrix, Morrowind, and splinter cell. There is half life 2, Doom3, and Halo, but they arnt out yet..

TKS, i wasnt aware that nvidia optimized their drivers for UT2k3. If i remeber right, the 9800pro beats the 5900 in the UT2k3 benchmarks so that is kinda funny.

Thanks for the info guys... I will check out some more benchmarks..

coolsquirtle · Aug 13, 2003

FX5900~!!!!

Proud Owner the Block Heater
120% nVidia Fanboy
PROUD OWNER OF THE GEFORCE FX 5900ULTRA <-- I wish this was me
I'd get a nVidia GeForce FX 5900Ultra... if THEY WOULD CHANGE THAT #()#@ HSF

daddywags214 · Aug 13, 2003

Based on your game list, I'd say go 9800 Pro. For Quake III, it doesn't really matter. The nVidia would probably run it faster, but we're comparing 350fps with 370fps. You can't tell the difference, therefore it doesn't matter. Now, with UT2k3 there is the current nVidia scandal, so do some research on that; I don't know all of the details. Sadly, I don't know much about Matrix or Morrowind, but I don know that you'll find better Splinter Cell performance with the 9800 Pro. As for the final 3, all are DX9 spec shooters, and it is common knowledge that the 9800 Pro has superior shader performance in real-world applications. The closest example I can find is 3dMark03's Game test4 Mother Nature.

Who dares, wins.

coolsquirtle · Aug 13, 2003

but....but.....but the FX5900 LOOKS BETTER~~~~ BEAT THAT

and Doom3~~~~ nVidia'll have something that'll make their FXs pwn 9800pro in doom3 ehehehehehehhehehehe

Proud Owner the Block Heater
120% nVidia Fanboy
PROUD OWNER OF THE GEFORCE FX 5900ULTRA <-- I wish this was me
I'd get a nVidia GeForce FX 5900Ultra... if THEY WOULD CHANGE THAT #()#@ HSF

simwiz2 · Aug 13, 2003

Quake III: The 5900. It doesn't matter at low resolutions, but with max AA/AF/res, even Q3 drops into the double digit FPS, and it is there that the 5900 may have a noticable benefit.

UT2k3: Either card. The 5900 is quite a bit faster, but it cannot do full trilinear due to driver "problems".

Splinter Cell will run faster on the 9800.

Doom III seems to be getting optimized for nVidia, so it *should* run faster on the 5900, but that is just speculation.

HL2 supposedly had an AA problem with all current hardware that was fixable on ATi and not nVidia, but AFAIK it has been fixed on nVidia. However, 5900 *might* be slower in HL2 due to shader performance.

TKS · Aug 13, 2003

Take a look <A HREF="http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=NTAz" target="_new">here</A> which states how [H]ard|OCP is fed up with Nvidia. Then you will find a link on the first page to <A HREF="http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=NTAwLDE=" target="_new">here</A> which details the UT2K3 optimization scandal. The bottom line is that in Two places, Nvidia optimized....both were benchmarking programs...3dmark and UT2K3. Why would they do this? If you had a car you advertised as beating a corvette in the quarter...people would have eyebrows raised and might buy that one over a quote unquote lower performer. People will say, "Oh, but ATI optimized as well on the benchmarks!!" Guess what? It only gave them a 2% increase on their benchmark in 3dmark. That's right...2%...and guess what the margin of error for the mathematical computations in that benchmark (we're talking 3dmark here) is? yep, you guessed it. You'll fluctuate around 2% either side of your actual performance in 3dmark. As far as UT2k3...ATI has no 'optimization' that allows a better performance.

Now I'm not going to lie...the 5800 Ultra and 5900 Ultra/nonUltra both beat the 9800 Pro in almost all performance categories...That's fine and dandy...but that doesn't matter anymore. What matters is that someone is making faces at us while we aren't looking. Nvidia is giving us the bird saying, "Look what I can get away with" Nvidia has become the little brother that NEVER gets in trouble with the parent. They threw on their coat of innocence saying their hands have NEVER been in the cookie jar when all of us can see that with each step they take, cookie crumbs fall out of said coat. It'd be nice if they grew a pair of bizalls and owned up to their lying.

Think about it, what would you do if you had been usurped by ATI after owning the graphics crown for years? You'd get that crown back no matter what you needed to do. Perhaps they went a bit too far. Anyways, read those articles from start to finish or you won't be completely informed. And if you call in the validity of [H]ard|OCP...just put a post up and ask people if they think that the site is a valid, good site. I guarantee they will.

Kids, just because I don't care doesn't mean I'm not listening
Homer Simpson

TKS

TKS · Aug 13, 2003

Actually Quake III doesn't rely heavily on the graphics card...but it does rely on the CPU. So if you have bottlenecking CPU it might be time for an upgrade.

As far as Doom III...nothing can be said cuz we don't know when it will be out. Since the game is lagging, it looks as if both companies will have another release by then. In fact, I would go as far to say that both graphics giants (if they want to capitalize on things) will release cards that will be advertised as 'Doom III' and 'HL2' cards...I know I would if I wanted to make more money. But one cannot speculate on the intangible or one only has a hypothesis and not fact.

Kids, just because I don't care doesn't mean I'm not listening
Homer Simpson

TKS

cleeve · Aug 13, 2003

Morrowind will be ALOT cooler with the 9800.

Morrowind supports Radeon-only technology called "Truform" which basically tesselates the 3d models in the game; basically, it get's rid of the Jaggies on the edges of 3d models in morrowind. It looks very cool...

------------------
Radeon 9500 w/256 bit memory bus @ 367/310
AMD AthlonXP 2000+
3dMark03: 3439

TKS · Aug 13, 2003

Those damn ATI guys and their optimizations!!! >

Kids, just because I don't care doesn't mean I'm not listening
Homer Simpson

TKS

MaxxxRacer · Aug 13, 2003

A note about the current doom3 benchmarks. Its fairly obviouys that Nvidia has their hands in ID's pockets. I mean nvidia has to give the all clear before anyone can do any benchmakrs with doom 3 stuff in production. Now doesnt that seem a little odd. I think its fairly obvious why they get such higher fps in the timedemos.. When the game gets much closer to being released, ATI will have a chance to get their hands on it and do their own driver tweaking, and then i am sure that they will be in the same performance spectrum as Nvidia in Doom3.

Oh, one more thing.. Does anyone know which of the 2 cards scores higher in 3d design? The 2 progrmas i use are 3dstuidiomax5 and Maya 5. Its really hard to find any benchamakrs on that. they only benchmark for that on the professional cards.

Again, thanks for all the info guys. TKS, u have been alot of help.

cleeve · Aug 13, 2003

I have a theory about those Doom3 benches...

Rumor has it that the Doom3 alpha that was leaked a while back was traced to Ati.

I have a feeling that giving Nvidia a heads up on releasing the recent Doom3 benches, and not giving Ati time to respond with their own driver optimizations for the game, was Carmack's way of saying "Don't be such a f#%king clumsy idiot next time or we will bury you".

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Radeon 9500 w/256 bit memory bus @ 367/310
AMD AthlonXP 2000+
3dMark03: 3439

TKS · Aug 13, 2003

I hate the fact that Carmack is God....otherwise I might be a bit mad at him.

Kids, just because I don't care doesn't mean I'm not listening
Homer Simpson

TKS

coolsquirtle · Aug 13, 2003

it's just [H]ard|OCP, they're like the #1 nVidia hater~~~

Proud Owner the Block Heater
120% nVidia Fanboy
PROUD OWNER OF THE GEFORCE FX 5900ULTRA <-- I wish this was me
I'd get a nVidia GeForce FX 5900Ultra... if THEY WOULD CHANGE THAT #()#@ HSF

daddywags214 · Aug 13, 2003

Now I'm not going to lie...the 5800 Ultra and 5900 Ultra/nonUltra both beat the 9800 Pro in almost all performance categories...

Ummm, no. No, no, no. The 9800 Pro safely whoops the 5800 and the trades benchmarks with the 5900 series. Look at any website's benchmarks to see. I'd say that the THG VGA Buyer's Guide is a sketchy reference because its scores are dramatically different from, oh, EVERY other website. Everythink you said about the cookie jar and stuff, that's all true. But I don't see where you're getting this view on the relative performance of nVidia's newest cards, when compared to ATi's latest and greatest.

Who dares, wins.

Guest · Aug 13, 2003

Well I own a 5900 the leadtek one. One thing its pretty loud and its pretty warm too and its a huge PCB to...I dont know if the 9800 is much smaller I do know its quieter most of the time and probly a little bit cooler. If the computer is in your bedroom or somewhere where noise is an important factor I wouldnt recommand it. Also if you tower is tight with a not so good airflow I wouldnt recommand it either. Anywway other than that the card roxor. I bought a 5900 cuz I had a great deal 500CAN no tax...
As ppl said both card are great If you dont mind about the noise/heat I highly suggest the 5900 altough the 9800pro is probly as good so it all depends on wut game you play most

simwiz2 · Aug 13, 2003

Many of the 5900 cards are actually quieter than the 9800 cards, especially in 2D mode, which is what the card will be in when there are not game sound effects to cover up fan noise. If noise is a concern, the 5900 is much better mostly because of the 2D fan slowing.

TKS · Aug 14, 2003

[H]ard|OCP wasn't always that way. For instance, I find <A HREF="http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MjYwLDU=" target="_new">this</A> review pretty favorable. Of course, <A HREF="http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MTMyLDE=" target="_new">this</A> review is high in the favor department as well. They span from the GF2 - GF4 Ti series. It seems that one can only find negative reviews of Nvidia during the FX period of production on [H]ard|OCP.com

So it looks like they've been pretty good to Nvidia from way back. I wouldn't say they they've always hated Nvidia...just recently. Could that be to developments with benchmarking programs?

. You'll probably have to add #1 recently converted hater of Nvidia.

Kids, just because I don't care doesn't mean I'm not listening
Homer Simpson

TKS

TKS · Aug 14, 2003

Perhaps the non ultra...but alas...every benchmark I've seen has the 9800 Pro losing. I hate it to...I've got a 9500 Pro in my gaming machine.

Kids, just because I don't care doesn't mean I'm not listening
Homer Simpson

TKS

Andyddr · Aug 14, 2003

TKS u do know how 2 change your 9500 PRO into a 9700 right?

"The only difference between me and a madman is that I'm not mad."
- Salvador Dali (1904-1989)

TKS · Aug 14, 2003

Haven't looked into it yet. I really have no desire to fry it currently. Perhaps when I'm ready to upgrade the card sometime.

Weaseling out of things is important to learn. It's what separates us from the animals... except the weasel. 
Homer Simpson

TKS

daddywags214 · Aug 14, 2003

<A HREF="http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=NDcy" target="_new">How about this? </A>
<A HREF="http://www.gamepc.com/labs/view_content.asp?id=3x5900u&page=1" target="_new"> Or this? </A>
<A HREF="http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,1149328,00.asp" target="_new"> Or this? </A>

Who dares, wins.

FX5900 or 9800pro 128?

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