View Full Version : Wh?ch GFX card?
Gonna upgrade my GeForce 4 MX 440 as it's pony. I've heard ATI have serious compatibility issues with certain games. I hate choosing hardware for myself. So much easier when it's for other peoples kit ;-)
Anyone got any _relavant_ suggestions?
DjSKum
Richard Slade
04-08-04, 18:17
GeForce FX 6800 platinum
You won't need anything else for a while with that little baby under the hood
GeForce FX 6800 platinum
You won't need anything else for a while with that little baby under the hood
I was thinking of spending a little less. Oh well I could just do it next month ;-)
Dj
ATI
9800pro - very good cards for the price and better than the FX cards from nvidia
x800pro - around £300 if you pick the right card they are rebranded XT's so you can soft mod them to get the extra 4 pipes but you might need to get a better cooler
x800XT - around 350-380, 16 pipes good contenders for the 6800ultras which are £400+
x800XT PE - just a higher clocked XT nothing more needs to be said
NVIDIA
6800 GT - Brilliant cards with 16 pipes at around the same price as an x800pro and pick the right one and you can OC to ultra speeds, but they do get VERY hot.
6800 ultra - Amazing cards but £400+ quite expensive, similer to the XT and XT PE just a higher clock speed really.
The FX cards tbh were pants but these 6800's especialy the GT are damn good, bit to early yet to make final judgments but they are looking good, all these benchmarks that are round imho i wouldn't trust them, ATI are working on thier OGL drivers cuz they know thier cards get owned at high res and it's down to thier chip design and poor OGL drivers.
Thier D3D hower is spot on, i've so far had 1 issue with my x800pro vivo and that was crashing the comp but going to the 4.7 cats fixed it right away. CBA to put anymore opinions down you should really look at all the sights with reviews and take everything with a pinch of salt and decide. I don't think you really can make a "Bad choice" cuz all the cards are very good and i'm glad nvidia came back with the 6800's even tho i continued with ati.
[TgR]KILLER
04-08-04, 18:31
rawr look in the thread somewere on page 2 by now i think.. asked the same thing ;)
It depends entirely on your budget. The ATI 9800 pro's offer a very good power vs price ratio. The newer cards are obviously a good bit faster, but they cost about twice as much.
There are more gfx card reviews and round-ups on the net than I could easily list here, but a quick search on http://www.google.com/ should find them.
Had a favorite with a nice bar chart with all the speeds on at one point, can't find it now. I've got between £100-150 right now, and double that (possibly) next month. TBH anything's got to be better than what I've got! But I don't want a really shite card. Then again, I don't know if I really need a top of the line card either.
DjSKum
Had a favorite with a nice bar chart with all the speeds on at one point, can't find it now. I've got between £100-150 right now, and double that (possibly) next month. TBH anything's got to be better than what I've got! But I don't want a really shite card. Then again, I don't know if I really need a top of the line card either.
DjSKum
unfortunatly there's not much inbetween, but i will point out that my 9600XT at 525/350 ran doom 3 at 1024x768 med detail VERY well. So a 9800Pro OC'd will run even better ;)
Apart from the awful GeForce FX line, there's honestly not a great deal between ATi and nVidia these days. Stories about shoddy ATi drivers are wildly exaggerated IMO, only problems I've ever had are the NC poly problem (which is now fixed and was an NC issue) and CoD crashed my comp (which was fixed in the first driver release after the issue came up). The main difference is in image quality. The ATi cards are aimed at running best with AF/AA up and texture quality, detail etc all bumped up. The GeForce cards tend to lose out with all the options up, but they have the edge without AA/AF and also are a fair bit better in OpenGL currently.
From your budget though, best bet is a 9800 Pro 128MB, or if you intend to softmod it to an XT I think you need the 256MB one.
God I hate this! I'm wondering just how much I need to spend in order to get a really good performance out of my card. I really want to play doom 3 but know that my MX 440 just isn't up to the job. Now do I go for a 128Mb card or a 256Mb card? The latter option is more pricey. Not sure what performance gains I'll get out of it. Arrrghhh!
DjSKum
a 9800pro will do you fine if your on the budget, if i could run doom3 at 1024x768 on med settings on an overcloked 9600xt then you certainly can on a 9800pro, and even then the gfx are amazing.
God I hate this! I'm wondering just how much I need to spend in order to get a really good performance out of my card. I really want to play doom 3 but know that my MX 440 just isn't up to the job. Now do I go for a 128Mb card or a 256Mb card? The latter option is more pricey. Not sure what performance gains I'll get out of it. Arrrghhh!
DjSKum
Only get the 256MB if you intend to flash it to an XT. The performance gain from the increase memory is minimal, and even harks back to the days when the Ti4200 64MB outperformed the Ti4200 128MB. So unless you want to flash up to XT I'd stick with 128MB.
Next question:
What's the difference between, if there one?
128Mb Radeon 9800 Pro DDR DVI TVO Retail
http://www.savastore.com/products/product.asp?catalog_name=Savastore&product_id=10266215&pid=45&tid=2
and
GeCube Radeon 9800 Pro 128Mb CounterStrike Platinum Limited Edition
http://www.overclock.co.uk/customer/product.php?productid=17624
Vampire222
05-08-04, 19:15
if you do buy a x800 pro... you can flash it to 16 pipes and xt pe ver, IF and only IF its a ViVo card
Are there any "We played (so and so) and got these FPS's" and "this card has these bells and whistles" webpages out there?
I want benchmark tests in different games, a 3DMark rating dont say shit to me..
[TgR]KILLER
05-08-04, 21:47
Only get the 256MB if you intend to flash it to an XT. The performance gain from the increase memory is minimal, and even harks back to the days when the Ti4200 64MB outperformed the Ti4200 128MB. So unless you want to flash up to XT I'd stick with 128MB.
rawr i still got a TI 4200 64 mb :p tho expecting my geforce 6800 GT soon hehe
GF6800 Ultra
Thats hot atm. And i'm gonna buy it :)
Why is everyone putting down the FX? I have an FX 5200 and it runs everything I want to play great. It gives decent 3dmark results, and i've found it's totally reliable, which isn't bad for the £50 I paid for it.
I just can't understand these people and their obsessions with getting the latest tech. "OMFG! The same GFX card I have has just come out, but they added an extra few letters after the name, and stuck a 1k price tag on it! I HAVE TO GET IT!" It all dies out and gets cheap eventually, sometimes sooner than people think. Soon all these XTs and goddess knows whatever will be down in budget bins at the trade fairs...
you can get a geforce fx5900xt from ebay for 160$... and flash the bios to a 5950 ultra with no risk assuming you backup the bios. my 5900 is coming in real soon. if you need some links i could throw you one. mmm here is a comparasin site. they dont have the x800 or 6800 on it right now.
here is the link (http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20031229/vga-charts-03.html)
ATI
9800pro - very good cards for the price and better than the FX cards from nvidia
Argh the 5950u is better than the 9800pro!
whatever you do, don;t go too budget.
I bought a 9600pro ages ago and its pretty crappy.
I managed to overclock it massively with no problems (softmodded drivers, running 25% oc'd core and memory), and it seemed will to go further, although i wasn't.
I was up to a good frame rate, but it still doesn't compare to my brothers 9800 pro 128, running on an identical computer next to mine - the smoothness of the picture is amazing, and no game seems to tax it (we'll see with HL2, if it ever comes out).
When HL2 comes out, I will be upgrading my computer extensively, and a 9800 xt is likely to be in that, although I will be considering modding a pro and overclocking.
Why is everyone putting down the FX? I have an FX 5200 and it runs everything I want to play great. It gives decent 3dmark results, and i've found it's totally reliable, which isn't bad for the £50 I paid for it.
Simple. For the same cash, buy the ATi equivalent, and it'll perform far better. Top end, 9800XT is better than 5950 Ultra. Middle of the generation, 9800 Pro beats everything else hands down. Low end, 9600XT is king. The GeF FX generation has been nVidia's worst nightmare. They were great with the Ti4600, and they redeemed themselves with the 6800 Ultra, but the FX series has been toasted by the ATi cards.
Argh the 5950u is better than the 9800pro!
Well, obviously. The 59050U is at the top end of the generation, the 9800 Pro is the mid range card in ATi's lineup for that gen. The 5950U's equivalent is the 9800XT, and I would take the ATi there any day of the week.
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