Wid Midlevel card to buy

[LiveWyre]

I'm building a new Athlon64 based PC and am looking into which main stream card to buy. I was going to go for the GeForce FX 5700 Ultra, but a friend recomended the GeForce 5900 SE instead. Any thoughts? I'd prefer an nVidia based card.

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

If you're dead set on an nV card, then go with the FX5900XT/SE/EPV/LV/etc.

They are far better performing than the FX5700U, and even in DX9 titles it's competitive with the R9600XT.

Here' two good reviews from [H] that show the diff;

<A HREF="http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=NjA0" target="_new">http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=NjA0</A>
<A HREF="http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=NTk5" target="_new">http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=NTk5</A>

Hope that helps.

Still think the R9800 is a better deal, but the FX5900 should be ok.


- You need a licence to buy a gun, but they'll sell anyone a stamp <i>(or internet account)</i> ! - <font color=green>RED </font color=green> <font color=red> GREEN</font color=red> GA to SK

 

[scottchen]

All depending on price, if price of 5900 is roughly same as a 9800pro, then go for the 9800pro since it'll outperform it in DX9 by quite a bit.

I currently own a 5900 because when i got it it was 90 dollars cheaper than the 9800pro.

Get the full 5900 since you can flash the bios to 5950U.

<A HREF="http://forums.extremeoverclocking.com/myrig.php?do=view&id=17301" target="_new">My PC</A>

 

[blackphoenix77]

It's kind of stupid to just flash BIOS though isn't it? It just lets the card overclock higher right?

<b><font color=red> ATI 9600Pro </font color=red></b>
<b><font color=green> AthlonXP-M 2500+ OC'd 3200+ </font color=green></b>
<b><font color=blue> Abit NF7-S </font color=blue></b>
<b><font color=black> 2x256MB Corsair PC3200 </font color=black></b>

 

[scottchen]

Higher 3dmarks and higher aquamarks cheaptimizations... errrm optimizations.

In DX9 games i actually do see a small frame boost though.

<A HREF="http://forums.extremeoverclocking.com/myrig.php?do=view&id=17301" target="_new">My PC</A>

 

[HardWareBoss]

FX5900XT/ABCDEFGHIJKZ

 

[Zeekfu]

<A HREF="http://www.hisdigital.com/html/index.html" target="_new">HIS Intro page</A> It is listed on new egg as "hightech" -HIS (Hightech Information Systems)<A HREF="http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=14-161-109&depa=1" target="_new">here</A>
<A HREF="http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=320913" target="_new">zipzoomfly (non "ice q" version</A>
In the Tom's article which gave it the editor's choice <A HREF="http://www6.tomshardware.com/firstlook/20031210/radeon_9800-01.html" target="_new">here</A>
The ice q platinum model performed a bit better than the reference model which is comperable in price. Seems like the best deal going to me. They now make the fan fan controller bracket (hot air exhaust and fan high low controll) seperate to alleviate the problem of getting the switch to clear when installing in some case/mobo combinations. This now-solved problem was noted on the digit-life review <A HREF="http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/radeon/his-1.html" target="_new">here</A> . The ramsinks are also now different, better looking, and better. They are larger heatsinks which bridge two ram chips rather than single individual ones.
<A HREF="http://forumz.tomshardware.com/hardware/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=363095#363095" target="_new">video card guide from this forum</A>

<A HREF="http://www.hisdigital.com/html/profile.htm" target="_new">HIS</A>

 

[HardWareBoss]

New EGG is going to change it from High Tech to HIS. Don't know when.