Is this a good buy?

[Anonym_User]

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProduct.asp?description=14-102-303&depa=1

 

[TKS]

I don't like the 9800 SE because it only has 4 pixel pipelines opened up as opposed to 8 for the 9800 Pro, 9700 Pro, 9500 Pro, 9700 nonpro and 9800 nonpro....and I am serious about performance for games. If you are as well...I'd go for any card that has 8 pipelines open and forget about that card. Otherwise, if you don't game hardcore...then don't worry about it. That SE card will do nicely for you.

<b><i>Nvidia,</i> the way it's meant to be benchmarked.</b>

 

[ufo_warviper]

And don't forget about the soon to come 9800XT

By the way, what kind of price category are you in? Many people can game on WAY WAY less than a 9800 Pro. I play games all the time on my Mobility Radeon 7500C on my laptop and it works well; however, I would NOT reccomend this card as a new purchase by any means. The Ti4200 @ $80 cards and the Radeon 9600 Pro @ $150 cards are also exceptional choices for Budget conscious gamers.

But what it all boils down to, is how much money are you willing to spend?

My OS features preemptive multitasking, a fully interactive command line, & support for 640K of RAM!

 

[cleeve]

The 9800SE 128 is basically a Radeon 9500 NON-PRO. It is a 9800 double neutered, first with cutting 4 of the 8 pipelines, then by cutting the memory interface in half from 256 to 128 bits.

The 9600 PRO is much faster, and probably cheaper.



------------------
Radeon 9500 (modded to PRO w/8 pixel pipelines)
AMD AthlonXP 2000+
3dMark03: 3529

 

[sweatlaserxp]

Definitely don't buy the 9800 SE. It's not really a 9800 to begin with. Just save up some more cash and buy the standard 9800, or "non-pro" as we call it. The price-to-performance ratio is excellent and it's totally geared toward the next-gen titles that are around the corner.
Recently I went to the new "Best Buy" in Waterford, CT, and I was surprised to find them selling built-by-ATi 9800 NPs right off the shelf for $250.

 

[ufo_warviper]

Still, if he's unable to save up more money, the 2 cards I mentioned would be decent depnending on if he has that much. But if he is able to save up for a 9800 non-pro, I don't think that would be a bad idea at all.

So my reccomendations:
1. Low Budget - Ti4200 64MB
2. Medium Budget - Radeon 9600 Pro
3. High Budget - Radeon 9700 non-pro
4. Rich man's boy - Radeon 9800 Pro



My OS features preemptive multitasking, a fully interactive command line, & support for 640K of RAM!

 

[spitoon]

Great info here guys.

UFO_WARVIPER - If someone were to be an Nvidia FanBoy, not that I am, but if someone were one what would be comparable to your medium budget Radeon 9600 Pro suggestion?

I'm currently using a GeForce FX5200 128MB <b>PCI</b> card that I pulled out of my old machine that didn't have an AGP slot. Now that I have and AGP slot, I'm looking for a new card, but it, like me, has to be fairly cheap. I found the exact same FX5200 card in an AGP model for under $130 CDN, which is a good price, but I'm willing to spend a bit more than that.

 

[ufo_warviper]

Performancewise, the Ti4200 is actually comparable to the 9600 Pro is some respects (ie. withouth Anti-Aliasing, Ansiotropic Filtering, Pixel Shader 2.0/Vertex Shader 2.0 functions) performance wise. But if you enable AA or AF, the Ti4200 goes to pot because it shares some trasistors on one of the vertex shaders that are used for AA & AF some reason. I may not be compeletely correct, but its something along these lines. But that's if your just nuts for an Nvidia card.

Theoretically, the FX5600 Ultra is "<i>supposed</i>" to be a competitor to the Radeon 9600 Pro, but only manages to compete well in Direct X 8 games like UT2k3. So, what that boils down to is in mroe advanced DX9 games like the New TOmb Raider Angel of Darkness and the Upcoming Half-Life 2, which are both DX9, the FX cards will not be able to hold their own.

WHat's most embarrasing on Nvidia's part, is that the $500 GeForce FX 5900 Ultra card can sometimes be crushed by a $150 Radeon 9600 Pro card, & I'm not lying either.

Normally, I would post an alternative brand's product to each category but today, Nvidia doesn't seem to offer anything competive except for the Ti4200, which they don't even manufacture anymore.

My OS features preemptive multitasking, a fully interactive command line, & support for 640K of RAM!

 

[spitoon]

Thanks for the reply. Looks I may become a convert There has been plenty of 'bad press' for Nvidia lately.

One final thing, as this is something of a 'budget build' the mobo only supports AGP4X. Is there such a thing as too much vid card? I mean would I be wasting money to spend $230CDN on a 9600Pro if my mobo/cpu can't make use of it????

 

[ufo_warviper]

No, you wouldn't be wasting your money. THere is hardly any performance difference at all between AGP4X & AGP8X, so it really doesn't matter.

<b><font color=red>Be sure to check the Buyer's Guide at the top of the thread list to see which brands are worth getting and which ones you should avoid</b></font color=red>

My OS features preemptive multitasking, a fully interactive command line, & support for 640K of RAM!

 

[coolsquirtle]

get non-pro instead of SE

RIP Block Heater....HELLO P4~~~~~
120% nVidia Fanboy
PROUD OWNER OF THE GEFORCE FX 5950ULTRA <-- I wish this was me
waiting for aBox~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

[ufo_warviper]

Whooosh! And I thought you were going to flame me for classifying the ti4200 in the "Budget Gamer" category.

*Wipes sweat and tears away from forehead*

My OS features preemptive multitasking, a fully interactive command line, & support for 640K of RAM!