Need help

[Vimp]

I'm looking to upgrade me Geforce 2 Pro but I wanna stay under $300 (Canadian). I only buy from local vendors. So anyways I spotted this card "Leadtek FX5900 A350-TDH-LX 128M DDR AGP8x w/TVo, DVi, H/W monitor, cables, 2 game CDs" for $290. However this is the "LX" version which Leadtek makes a special note on its site to point out that this card unlike the non-LX version comes with 2.8 ns memory speed. It dosn't however say what the speed is of the other 5900s so my question is whether this is a good card or not. Most paticularly would it outperform a Asus Radeon 9600 XT?

Also I found from my local vendor a Chaintek Geforce FX5800 128M DDR DV-i, TV-o, AGP8x for $250. I noticed Chaintek just took off this card from its website yesterday so they obviously don't have anymore. Is this card a good deal? Would it too be able to outdo the Asus Radeon 9600 XT?

As a note I compare these 2 cards to the Radeon 9600 XT because this has been the card I been looking at longest and its selling for $269 which is in my budget. Also I like that it comes with Half Life 2.

 

[Crashman]

Probably the best nVidia card for DX9 games is the FX5700, which uses revised technology. It compares well with the 9600XT. You should pick whichever of those two is cheaper methinks.

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<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[Vimp]

Well are you saying that the 5800 and 5900 arn't as good as the 5700? I'm pretty sure that isn't true. Even if the 5700 is slightly more recent technology that seems like a pretty minor pro compared to the massive con of not performing as well and costing almost the same. So you think simply because the 5700 is revised technology that its worth getting over the much better performing 5800 and 5900? And the 5700 Ultra even costs just as much as the 5800 and 5900 so why would I do that? Am I missing somthing?

Prices from local vender:
www.A-Power.com - Asus Radeon 9600 XT $269
www.A-Power.com - MSI FX5700 Ultra $279
www.Atic.ca - Chaintek FX5800 $250
www.Atic.ca - Leadtek FX5900 $290

What I wanna know is if theres something really wrong with these specific 5800 and 5900 cards thats causing them to be so cheap?

 

[Crashman]

The only thing you're missing is that all prior FX cards are not working well directly in DX9 applications. Instead they require software workarounds to run DX9 applications "properly", which can affect quality, and not all applications have these workarounds. nVidia is incorporating "cheats" into their latest drivers to bypass/modify some DX9 proceedures, in order to make the cards produce acceptable framerates. As far as I know, the 5700 has hardware fixes that the 5800 and 5900 can't incorporate.

Given your prices, I'd go with the 9600 XT. Normally I'd recommend the 9600 Pro instead, but you sound extremely interested in the free game that comes with the XT.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[Ion]

5800=totally stuffed up DX9 shaders that not even forceware driver can fix and 128bit memory interface give it low performance even in dx8 games.(hence no one want them)

I think that leadtek card should be called 5900SE because it used memory that is slower than the memory stated in spec.(5900's memory default at 850)

Anyway within the cards you presented the leadtek will have the highest performance but in term of performance/price/package, nothing beats the XT. :tongue:

 

[daddywags214]

I would just go with a 9600XT

<b>nVidia cheated on me so I left her for ATi. ATi's hotter anyway...</b>

 

[Vimp]

All right then. Radeon 9600 XT it is then. Thanks for your guys's help.

 

[HardWareBoss]

Good Choice.