WTF? Which should I get

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marshahu

marshahu

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Mar 2, 2003
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Not long ago, I was told by the majority of the members in this forum that ATi's Radeon 9800 PRO rules the roost. Now I hear some positive stuff about the nVidia 6800. Since I wont be able to afford a top line card for a while, I can withstand waiting, but how long will it be before the nvidia Geforce FX 6800 is released and is it worth buying over ATi's Radeon 9800 PRO? Please, NO FANBOY RESPONSES I really need some proper logical responses!

Also is it possible that the FX 6800 will ship with 512MB or will that not be for another year or so?

An nVidia card with the last three digits as 800? I smell another leafblower! Am I right in thinking so or have Nvidia got the message this time? I am not busting my eardrums by turning up my Inspire 6700s just to cover the noise of the GPU and be able to enjoy my games and DVDs!!

PC Spec: AMD Athlon XP 2000+ running at 1.25ghz, ECS K7S5A Motherboard, 768MB SDRAM PC133, Sparkle nVidia Riva TNT2 M64 32MB AGP Graphics Card, Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 6.1, Windows Me
 
Bud there is no true answer to that yet. The 6800 has`nt even been released yet and no-one here can rell you anything more about it than it gets pretty good unofficial scores (almost twice as fast as the 9800XT). But don`t read too much into it yet `cause nVidia were using old drivers for the benchie that`s floating around.

If you can hold on for a few more weeks then do so `cause the R420 might might might might just be a good card (although right now nVidia is looking good).

A64 3200+ CAAAC 0345SPMW,Gigabyte K8N PRo,TT Venus 12,Gexcube 9800PRO 510Core 420Mem,512megs A-Data Vitesta,Antec Plus1080AMG with 430w TruePower PSU
 
Hmmmm, OK. I take it that you are probably goin to h8 me if I was to change my mind and choose a Geforce 5900XT (note: the XT may be the top of the range cards for ATI but for nVidia they are the budget end) I found an XFX Geforce 5900XT for £152, including a 5 in 1 games bundle, one of those games included Comanche 4 (anyone know the other titles are)

My question was if I was to get the 128MB XFX GeForce 5900XT would it kick the ass of an ATi Radeon 9800 256MB card? Whatever the answer, would I be able to overclock it to the speeds of a Geforce 5900 Ultra or a 5950 Ultra. If not whats the maximum speed that it will go up to and will it kick the ass of an ATI Radeon 9800 PRO/9800 standard. Last but not least, if not, WHY NOT! LOL!

Thanks for the help!

PC Spec: AMD Athlon XP 2000+ running at 1.25ghz, ECS K7S5A Motherboard, 768MB SDRAM PC133, Sparkle nVidia Riva TNT2 M64 32MB AGP Graphics Card, Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 6.1, Windows Me
 
I can't find it now but had seen the link in [H] news to a review where they like the FX5900XT and the radeon 9600XT. The summary was that the FX5900XT was faster than the 9600XT, but was no match at all for the Radeon in image quality. And with the Radeon 9800 pro you get better performance that the FX5900XT by far, and also the ATI Image quality. I'll check again for that review I read today but not here.





ABIT IS7, P4 2.6C, 512MB Corsair TwinX PC3200LL, Radeon 9800 Pro, Santa Cruz, TruePower 430watt
 
"There is no denying the fact that NVIDIA’s GeForceFX 5900XT is a faster solution, but at what cost. The Radeon 9600XT is at least $30 US cheaper and cannot be matched by the GeForceFX 5900XT for visual quality." quote from link below.

<A HREF="http://www.legionhardware.com/html/doc.php?id=295" target="_new">http://www.legionhardware.com/html/doc.php?id=295</A>

Again I say 9800 Pro gives more speed and better IQ.


ABIT IS7, P4 2.6C, 512MB Corsair TwinX PC3200LL, Radeon 9800 Pro, Santa Cruz, TruePower 430watt
 
same dilemma, 9800 pro or wait for the new invidia heater. in every review ive seen radeon eats present invidia cards alive. trick is, wusys right, the new card release will drive old card prices lower. so wait a few weeks.

any idea on how the radeon will work with a nForce2 Ultra400 chipset? or is it wiser to use invidia with an invidia chipset?
 
OK, so if I wait for a bit longer then I can get the 5900XT for a cheap price. Does anyone know what 5 games are included with the XFX 5900XT? Also how will Doom III, Half Life, Far Cry and NFS Underground run at 1280x1024 on that graphcis card.

What does it mean when you "flash" a BIOS of a graphics card. How do I go about doing that and how easy is it to screw up or complete?

PC Spec: AMD Athlon XP 2000+ running at 1.25ghz, ECS K7S5A Motherboard, 768MB SDRAM PC133, Sparkle nVidia Riva TNT2 M64 32MB AGP Graphics Card, Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 6.1, Windows Me
 
You do realise you can get a 9800 Pro for £155, although I have to admit it is a 'lite retail' ( = no games) but still thats a killer deal if you've got £150 to spend.

BTW if you are interested the 9800 Pro is a Sapphire from <A HREF="http://www.overclockers.co.uk" target="_new">http://www.overclockers.co.uk</A>

<A HREF="http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=7454540" target="_new">Yay, I Finally broke the 12k barrier!!</A>
 
So how long will it be before this new Geforce FX card comes out. My birthday is on da 4th May and maybe my dad will be able to get me a decent graphics card as long as it aint too expensive, but hey I have helped him quite a bit! Everyone is saying I should wait till after the geforce FX 6800 has been released but I really need a decent card now!

Anyway I found another card for £245 from XFX. It's a geforce FX 5900 Personal Cinema card with 256MB DDR RAM. Will that be able to outperform a Radoen 9800 PRO with 256MB DDR? If not will I be able to overclock this card to run at the speed of a 5950 Ultra?

PC Spec: AMD Athlon XP 2000+ running at 1.25ghz, ECS K7S5A Motherboard, 768MB SDRAM PC133, Sparkle nVidia Riva TNT2 M64 32MB AGP Graphics Card, Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 6.1, Windows Me
 
9800 Pro is still better over all then any FX card including the 5950 Ultra and for alot less money. And I'm refering to the 128mb 9800 Pro even. As happy as I am with my 5900XT I'm kinda wishing I had held out a little longer and gotten a 9800 Pro to further future-proof my rig for the games of the future.

<font color=blue>_______________________________</font color=blue>
Canada
Asus A7N8X-X, Athelon XP 2500+ Barton,
Samsung 1gb DDR400, MSI GeforceFX5900 XT.
Aquamark=<b>36077</b> 3DMark03=<b>5322</b>
 
OK, looks like I will have to resist falling back into nVidia's range and go for a Radeon. Is the best Radeon a 256MB DDR 9800XT? If the prices of the Radeon 9800 and Geforce FX 5950 will go down after the Geforce 6800 is released, how much do people esitmate they will go down by? Also how long will it be before the 6800 is released!! I want to get a new graphcis card A.S.A.P!!!!

PC Spec: AMD Athlon XP 2000+ running at 1.25ghz, ECS K7S5A Motherboard, 768MB SDRAM PC133, Sparkle nVidia Riva TNT2 M64 32MB AGP Graphics Card, Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 6.1, Windows Me
 
Just buy a R9800P 128MB right now. Definitely the best bang for the buck if you really can't wait.

<font color=red>___________</font color=red>
<b><A HREF="http://www.subservientchicken.com/" target="_new">Get chicken the way you like it!</A></b>
 
OK, fair enough, do you know where I can get your suggested card for around that price bundled with some games (avalible now preferably, as Half Life 2 isnt yet out (or is it?)) I saw one card from www.overclockers.co.uk which had a whole bundle of DX9 enchanced games and a coupon for Half Life. Is your suggested card avalible at around your given price with a similar bundle, in addition to a coupon for HL2? If so where can I buy this card from (it needs to be in sterling, I live in the UK)

PC Spec: AMD Athlon XP 2000+ running at 1.25ghz, ECS K7S5A Motherboard, 768MB SDRAM PC133, Sparkle nVidia Riva TNT2 M64 32MB AGP Graphics Card, Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 6.1, Windows Me
 
I wouldn't bother paying extra for a big software bundle. Most of the games they come with are not that great really. If you pay £40 more for 3 games, but only ever play one of them then you're still down by a tenner.

I would suggest the £155 Lite Retail 9800Pro (which is actually what I bought personally) Overclockers.co.uk have the card <A HREF="http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/sapphire_ati_graphics_cards.html" target="_new">here</A>, since you mentioned them.
Scroll down to
"Sapphire ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB DDR TV-Out/DVI - Lite Retail (GX-017-SP)". It's £155 including VAT, and you're not paying for any software you're not going to use.

I personally bought mine from <A HREF="http://www.overclock.co.uk/customer/home.php?cat=416" target="_new">Here</A>, although I have bought stuff from overclockers.co.uk in the past and they were fine on the whole.

---
Epox 8RDA+ rev1.1 w/ Custom NB HS
XP1700+ @205x11 (~2.26Ghz), 1.575Vcore
2x256Mb Corsair PC3200LL 2-2-2-4
Sapphire 9800Pro 420/744
 
Your sigature goes on about how you managed to overclock an ATi Radeon 9800 SE to the speeds of an XT. Any chance of giving me a basic written tutorial on how I can do a similar thing to my 9800 PRO. Also would I be able to replace the fan heatsink included with the card with a more powerful fanless solution for when I overclock it - this PC is in the living room and the noise is terrible for an HTPC!!

PC Spec: AMD Athlon XP 2000+ running at 1.25ghz, ECS K7S5A Motherboard, 768MB SDRAM PC133, Sparkle nVidia Riva TNT2 M64 32MB AGP Graphics Card, Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 6.1, Windows Me
 
Sorry to bring up this old post but I have jjst taken a look at that £155 Sapphire card from Overclockers.co.uk and I realise that it is not as good a deal as one that PowerColor is offering. Powercolor cards also include a huge bundle of games for the same price. Is there anything wrong with Powercolor Radeon cards?

Also your sigature goes on about how you managed to overclock an ATi Radeon 9800 SE to the speeds of an XT. Any chance of giving me a basic written tutorial on how I can do a similar thing to my 9800 PRO. Also would I be able to replace the fan heatsink included with the card with a more powerful fanless solution for when I overclock it - this PC is in the living room and the noise is terrible for an HTPC!!



PC Spec: AMD Athlon XP 2000+ running at 1.25ghz, ECS K7S5A Motherboard, 768MB SDRAM PC133, Sparkle nVidia Riva TNT2 M64 32MB AGP Graphics Card, Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 6.1, Windows Me
 
Sapphire are pretty much the best brand for ATI, they even make the ati branded cards. POowercolour are much less good. If you were buying a tv, Sapphire is a Sony or Panasonic, Powercolour is a Goodmans or Bush. I think the 155 quid card is a great deal.

That site also offers a 400fsb, raid, usb2 etc socket A mobo for £22 ex vat - bargain!

XP2000, 512 ddr 2700ram, GF4 MX440, XP Pro
 
I have 3 PCI Slots free below the AGP Slot on my mobo. However strangely I also have a AMR slot above the graphics card, which is unused so I place my Audigy 2 MIDI bracket in that slot.

So how much less performance would Powercolor cards give compared to Sapphire? You guys considered Powercolor TV Equivlanet to be a Goodmans/Bush and a Sapphire to be a Sony/Panasonic. Dont get me wrong but with Panasonic and Sony TVs (mainly Sony's) dont u usually just pay for the brand name and get exactly that same quality as that of a Mid range brand?(Sanyo, Philips, Toshiba)Well maybe the quality will beat the mid range brand but it wont justify paying the monsterous price tags that these brands always attach? With my family on low income most of our products are Goodmans and Bush - whilst they are not brilliant they serve us pretty well.

PC Spec: AMD Athlon XP 2000+ running at 1.25ghz, ECS K7S5A Motherboard, 768MB SDRAM PC133, Sparkle nVidia Riva TNT2 M64 32MB AGP Graphics Card, Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 6.1, Windows Me
 
As long as you make sure the card has 256-bit memory running at the right speed, you should get the same performance, whatever the brand is.

Of course some of the cheaper cards may have long-term reliability issues (some cheaper electronics components may wear out faster than more expensive ones - after all they must cut costs somewhere to sell the cards cheaply).

Plus of course, for overclocking some cards get better memory than others, but you'll be very unlucky if you couldn't get at least 9800XT speeds from most 9800Pros.

All I can say is I'm very happy with my sapphire card, so if it's a choice between the PowerColor + games or just the sapphire for the same price, I'd probably stick with the Sapphire.

---
Epox 8RDA+ rev1.1 w/ Custom NB HS
XP1700+ @205x11 (~2.26Ghz), 1.575Vcore
2x256Mb Corsair PC3200LL 2-2-2-4
Sapphire 9800Pro 420/744
 
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