The little GPU that could (R300)

[chmod000]

Today's been a sad day...

After just over 5 years, my 9700 Pro decided to give up the ghost for unknown reasons. What a great card that was, I got every penny back from that thing and then some. Probably the best card I ever owned as it concerns value for money and I've bought my fair share of cards, from Matrox to ATI, nVidia and my old Orchid 3Dfx. ATI got that GPU right and I think those who don't partake in brand allegiance would agree.

RIP little R300...

 

[Xazax310]

I hope it went peacefully

you have my condolences ;(

 

[weilin]

dropping flag to half staff... sounding taps in the background...

 

[angry_ducky]

Give it a proper viking burial.

I certainly wouldn't mind if my X600 (RV 380, I think) kicked the bucket one of these days...

 

[Gravemind123]

RIP 9700Pro, I had to send off my 9600Pro a few months back.

I still have a working TNT2, I hope it never dies, it was my first dedicated graphics card and a great one.

 

[MrMeth]

chmod000 I honestly agree with you about the 9700 pro i have one paired with a athlon xp 2500+ and for its time that machine was a beast !! It was the card i used the longest in my 12 year history of pc building. Rip for your 9700 Pro !!

 

[bushmastertd]

agreed that was a kick A$$ card. I ran the big brother 9800 Pro for years and i hated to get rid of it, but had to retire it =(. You and your card will be in our prayers.

 

[The Lads]

Feel ya, my 9800 pro died after years of quality service, it ran all games smooth and fast, was gutted when it died.

 

[sciggy]

I too had a 9700 pro and the card itself was great, but the drivers SUCKED! I hated ATI for their drivers(it has actually prevented me from going back to them) and upgraded that card after a year to a 6800 ultra(Paid around $400 for it!). Gave the 9700 to a friend, and he is still using it to this day.

 

[bushmastertd]

I too had a 9700 pro and the card itself was great, but the drivers SUCKED! I hated ATI for their drivers(it has actually prevented me from going back to them) and upgraded that card after a year to a 6800 ultra(Paid around $400 for it!). Gave the 9700 to a friend, and he is still using it to this day.

agreed, i hated ATI drivers and i also went to nvidia after alot of aggrevating times. I think i ended up using some 3rd party drivers for my 9800, think they were Omega Drivers or something like that.

 

[romulus47plus1]

And now you should get something new!

 

[MrMeth]

I have to disagree with you guys on the driver thing for that generation i thought the ati drivers were great , compared to now with cat 8.4 or 8.3 what ever it is . I was with ATI since the 7000 cards and saw allot of the drivers seeing as i had a 7000, 8500 , 8500 Le , 9000 all in wonder , 9700 , x800xl and up until recently 1950 pro ( got a 8800 GT for dirt cheap 130$) and imo the drivers during that generation were solid and bug free compared to drivers on my x800 or my 1950 pro. But thats just me .. I wish amd would bring back the all in wonder line and price them cheap to

 

[nukemaster]

well after that long it does not owe you anything.... upgrade time

 

[yipsl]

I have to disagree with you guys on the driver thing for that generation i thought the ati drivers were great , compared to now with cat 8.4 or 8.3 what ever it is . I was with ATI since the 7000 cards and saw allot of the drivers seeing as i had a 7000, 8500 , 8500 Le , 9000 all in wonder , 9700 , x800xl and up until recently 1950 pro ( got a 8800 GT for dirt cheap 130$) and imo the drivers during that generation were solid and bug free compared to drivers on my x800 or my 1950 pro. But thats just me .. I wish amd would bring back the all in wonder line and price them cheap to

I never had driver issues with my AIW Radeon 9800 Pro. It was a great gaming card as well as even better tv recording to my PC. Sadly, it's P4 i865PERL motherboard died and I went PCIe x16 with an Athlon X2.

Yes, we need to see an All in Wonder 4850 Pro at least! I don't think AMD's going to go there, so I won't hold my breath. If there had been an AIW 3850, I would have gotten that for my wife's PC. So, if AMD has people surfing tech sites to see what people say about their products, then let's give them a heads up that many want the All in Wonder back.

Regarding drivers, I had an Nvidia 405 chipset board that didn't like ATI cards, so I went 7600gs. The drivers for the board and the card left much to be desired under Vista. When I went back to an AMD/ATI build, I had no issues other than having to turn off the DX 8.1 pixel shaders in Morrowind.

Everything else, old games and new, play great. Maybe Turbine got their act together, because I get better framerates than I used to in LOTR Online. That game didn't support Crossfire or SLI very well; but maybe Catalyst 8.4 made a difference?

At any rate, ATI's reputation for bad drivers is a rather stale canard based upon issues many years ago, while Nvidia seems to get a pass regarding DX10 and Vista. Both companies fix driver problems in later releases, anyways.

 

[spoonboy]

I feel I know more about yipsl's wife's pc than she does lol.

 

[radnor]

Pay your respects to the card.

Ill Bring My Voodoo 3000, Voodoo 5000, and my current X800XT. That 9700 when down too soon.

 

[yipsl]

I feel I know more about yipsl's wife's pc than she does lol.

She can do graphics but doesn't know hardware. She said if I died, she'd have to get a name brand PC, and I told her I'd stay alive just to make sure she never ends up with a Dell!

I know, you're ribbing me because I mention the upgrades. How many people here keep 3 PC's updated for their family? I bet anyone beyond single status.

Nowadays, it doesn't even work pawning an old PC off on relatives. I'm building a new X2 plus 8600gt PC for my nieces and nephew because even the Guitar Hero game they want to play can't run on their aging P4 with Intel graphics and no upgrade slot beyond PCI.