Upgrade Question

[mitchkov]

Okay, I currently have a GeForce 4 MX 420. I wanna upgrade my card but not sure what kinda jump I'll be getting for the money. First off, the card will mainly be used for America's Army. While this runs decent on my card now, how much better would it be for a card around $100, what about $150? I'm interested in what the jump might be in performance. Is it going to be a fairly obvious difference or not? How much better would it be, and what would be the card to get for this price range. I also plan to use the card for World of Warcraft and I'll probably get Battlefield 2 when it comes out, so I'd like something that could run these at least decently. Also, I dont know about overclocking, so I'll probably just leave the card as is, don't know how much of a difference this would make, just throwing it out there. Thanks for any suggestions/explanations ya'll have.

*Forgot to mention, my monitor has DVI-in so I'd like to use that if it will make a noticeable difference in the way it looks.<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by MitchKov on 02/02/05 02:07 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[cleeve]

For $110 you can get a nice Radeon 9600 PRO, it'll do a *hellalot* better than your GeforceMX in World of Warcraft and Battlefield 2.

Not sure about America's army but you can expect the same, you'll be able to run at noticably higher detail and higher resolutions than you do now in pretty much any game you choose.

The 9600 PRO is the best new stock card in the $100 to $150 price range, except for the 9600XT which is a bit better... you might find a 9600XT for under $130.

The only better cards you'd get in that price range are used ones... you could get a used Radeon 9700 PRO or 9800 PRO in the $140 range, which are both quite a bit more powerful than the 9600.

________________
<b>Radeon <font color=red>9700 PRO</b></font color=red> <i>(o/c 332/345)</i>
<b>AthlonXP <font color=red>3200+</b></font color=red> <i>(Barton 2500+ o/c 400 FSB)</i>
<b>3dMark03: <font color=red>5,354</b>

 

[Slava]

9600 PRO is the best new stock card in the $100 to $150

Is it better than GeForce FX5700 Ultra?

<font color=green>"The creative powers of English morphology are pathetic compared to what we find in other languages." (Steven Pinker, The Language Instinct)</font color=green> 😎

 

[cleeve]

Yep.

It's close, but the 5700U still has weak shaders for an Achille's heel, like the whole FX series.

In some new titles, the 9600 PRO will even beat the 5900U in some circumstances. Especially now that Nvidia is optimizing the FX series less agressively... now that the successful 6xxx series is out, they've pretty much abandoned the failed FX.
________________
<b>Radeon <font color=red>9700 PRO</b></font color=red> <i>(o/c 332/345)</i>
<b>AthlonXP <font color=red>3200+</b></font color=red> <i>(Barton 2500+ o/c 400 FSB)</i>
<b>3dMark03: <font color=red>5,354</b>

 

[addiarmadar]

Hopefully you have an 8x mobo, I would look into Radeon 9600pro new or 9600xt new if you are lucky. Could also look into a used 9700pro.

<i><font color=red>Only an overclocker can make a computer into a convectional oven.</i></font color=red>

 

[mitchkov]

Thanks for all the replies yall. After looking further, I only have agp 4x. I see a couple of used radeon 9700 pro's for the 120-130 range, would this be a better option to go with than a new 9600 xt for a little bit more??? Also, where do the brand's come into play here. All the used 9700's seem to be ati, and the new 9600xt are all sorts of mixed brands running up to about $175 or so. Just to let yall know more, i have 2.0ghz p4, gigabyte ga-8ie533 mobo, and 512 mb of pc 2100(I think). Okay, well There's a couple of 9700 pro's ending in the next couple hours, for around $125, $140 after shipping, yall think this would be a safe bet??? Also, I have an Antec case with a 430 watt power supply, dont think this'll hold me back. Okay, well thanks again, and lemme know what yall would do if you were in my shoes.

 

[cleeve]

The 9700 PRO is quite a bit better than the 9600XT.

________________
<b>Radeon <font color=red>9700 PRO</b></font color=red> <i>(o/c 332/345)</i>
<b>AthlonXP <font color=red>3200+</b></font color=red> <i>(Barton 2500+ o/c 400 FSB)</i>
<b>3dMark03: <font color=red>5,354</b>