Best Video Card?

Madgoat1979 · Dec 14, 2003, 06:48 AM

ok,

I spent some time looking up some video cards tonight, and took note of a couple things that I wanna run by you guys.

Taking a look at the Nvidia boards and Ati Boards from a possible purchase stand point.

The FX cards: 5900ultra and 5950

The Radeon cards: 9600all in wonder, 9800, and 9700pro

So on to the 9600 AIW. I think I love this Idea... Dual monitors on a AIW card... I've been waiting for this a long time. BUT! its a 9600. What does this card do? I want something that pokes its head in the 9700 pro range. And will stay game usable for awhile. Is the 9600 chipset capable of this?

Now consider that I now own a Nvidia ti 4200. Not a shabby card, I like it... It does what I want it to... and Never given me any driver or incompatibility issues... My card before that was a TNT2 Ultra. Love that card! And still use it. So I have been Nvidia awhile. The only time I have used a ATI Radeon card is in a Mac. (Which I really cant compare to much)

With that said... My interests in the Nvidia relm are the 5900Ultra card, and 5950. The only differences I see in these two are the Open GL support and the clock speeds. (5900 supports GL 1.4 while the 5950 supports 1.5) This also bothers me some, due to the fact that the Radeons support 2.0!!!

Now I break them up into prices:

ATI CARDS:

ATI AIW RADEON 9600PRO, 128MB DDR, 128-bit $219 CLK 400/650

ATI RADEON 9700PRO, 128MB DDR, 256-bit $238 CLK 325/620

9800's:

ATI RADEON 9800SE, 128MB DDR, 128-bit $145 CLK 325/500

ATI RADEON 9800, 128MB DDR (assume 256bit) $265 CLK 325/600

ATI RADEON 9800PRO, 128MB DDR, 256-bit $288 CLK 380/680

ATI RADEON 9800XT, 256MB DDR, 256-bit $452 CLK 412/730

NVIDIA CARDS:

GeForce FX5900 ULTRA, 256MB DDR, 256-bit $399 CLK 450/850

GeForce FX 5950, 256MB DDR, 256-bit $415 CLK 475/950

Ok, The Price range I set myself is $300 dollars. This rules out NVIDIA since these are the only cards that pull the speeds that I like.

But using the 9600 AIW as the main interest here, I see that the clock speeds are close to the 9800pro. BUT, I know the performances of the two cards are probably night and day. Although I know the 9600 is going to be a slower card, I could deal with this if its speed was still a large increase over my 4200.

So, my main question of curiosity is:

Will the 9600 AIW have enough of a performance increase to satisfy my gaming need? (While still pleasing me with its AIW status)? Or in the event that the 9600 wont pull par, shall I go with a 9700pro or 9800 pro... we are talkin a $50 dollar increase for the 9800 over the 9700.

Some insight would be greatly appreciated.

MG

Markius · Dec 14, 2003, 08:08 AM

i dont think the 9600AIW will give you a performance increase that you will be happy with coming from a ti4200...

id go the 9800pro for your price range....it will give you a great performance increase over the ti4200

just my 2c worth.....

Madgoat1979 · Dec 14, 2003, 08:11 AM

thats what I was thinkin.... I wish they mad a 9700/9800 AIW WITH dual Monitors. Cuz thats the selling point for me.

MG

Markius · Dec 14, 2003, 08:15 AM

you can get the 9800AIW ~ http://www.ati.com/products/radeon98...pro/index.html

but i dont think it would be under your price range......

i guess it comes down to the question ~ do i want dual monitors or blazing fps in games....

The_Neon_Cowboy · Dec 14, 2003, 09:24 AM

ATI RADEON 9800PRO, 128MB DDR, 256-bit $288 CLK 380/680

get that ....

and i have good deal for you one slighly used

http://www.driverheaven.net/showthre...threadid=32048

Madgoat1979 · Dec 14, 2003, 09:45 AM

You lower that price there bud ... and i'll give it a thought....

MG

Madgoat1979 · Dec 14, 2003, 09:48 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Markius
you can get the 9800AIW ~ http://www.ati.com/products/radeon98...pro/index.html

but i dont think it would be under your price range......

i guess it comes down to the question ~ do i want dual monitors or blazing fps in games....

I want BOTH!!!! Yes, yes... I am a picky one with this... BUT. Dual monitors are my selling point... AIW would be great.... but it wiould be a toy... no real use.

I think the pro will do nicly.

MG

Markius · Dec 14, 2003, 07:04 PM

a 9800pro will serve you nicely!

tastyweat · Dec 14, 2003, 07:14 PM

I'd say go with the 9800pro, the clock speeds on the 9600 AIW may be similar, but the 9600 only has 4 rendering pipelines, compared with the 9800s 8 pipelines, hypothetically being able to do double the amount that a 9600 can do per clock. The 9800pro my friend is the best bet for you

Matth · Dec 15, 2003, 03:55 PM

If you like the AIW features, you could always add a TV card to the price of the non-AIW models for a fairer comparison?

@/2ct!< · Dec 15, 2003, 06:37 PM

How about an AIW 9700 Pro?

Madgoat1979 · Dec 15, 2003, 06:53 PM

I like 9700 AIW...

But I want (need) dual monitor first...

Though, I like the tv card Idea....

MG

The_Neon_Cowboy · Dec 15, 2003, 07:47 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Madgoat1979
You lower that price there bud ... and i'll give it a thought....

MG

i cant go lower then the $250 sorry

why do i feel screwed by buying a built by ati 9800 pro retail boxed?
i paid $375 (lowest price retail boxed on pricewatch @ the time) for it 4 mounths ago and i'm haveing trouble selling it even at $250 shipped wtf...this freaking sad