ATI 9700 Pro, worth it?

reno · Nov 7, 2002, 09:36 PM

Okay, I've come into some cash recently and wanted to know if a Radeon 9700 pro would be a good choice to add to my system, or if I should instead upgrade my CPU/mobo/and ram.

According to madonion, I should score about 2000 more 3dmarks with one, and what I'm most interested in is AA performance. Anyone with a AMD XP +1700-+2000 or a P4 1.6-2.0 system with one of these beasts in it? 3dmark AA Comparisons would expedite my decision

Agent Smith · Nov 8, 2002, 05:24 PM

actually id say you should score about 4000 more 3dMarks with a radeon9700

my radeon8500LE at like 260/315 is beatin the card you have by about a thousand points

and ive already gotten it up over 10000 but I cant keep it there for too long.

So if I can do that with an 8500 I think youd be able to get 12000 out of a radeon 9700

Vampyromaniac · Nov 8, 2002, 06:30 PM

Hmmm, I think the 9700 would make the most significant difference in your 3D performance. Doesn't AA mostly depend on the viddy card, rather than system processor/memory?

Vampyromaniac · Nov 8, 2002, 08:51 PM

Here, I just found this comparison using AA and AF, comparing 9700, 8500, 4600, 4200 using Athlons 1000, 1200, xp1800, xp2100, xp2400:
Firing Squad

***Zardon*** · Nov 9, 2002, 05:56 AM

there are plenty of sites detailing FSAA and all the other benchies, so ill get straight to the answer.

YES its worth it. it will tranform your game playing. best video card ive owned. and the drivers are good.

reno · Nov 10, 2002, 10:34 AM

*still wants a 2.53Ghz P4 and i845PE chipset mobo too...*hehe

Well, I'll probably wait until the NV30 is announced to see if I finally do buy a 9700...I mean, right now I have to money, I just don't want to buy it for 320 bucks and see the nv30 come out in january at 350, and be way faster!

I do contend that a 9700 would be awesome...I mean, I'm two freaking generations of graphics cards behind!

Renegade[CSR] · Nov 11, 2002, 04:36 PM

Just if you're interested, I have a 1700+@2000+, so you can check out my 3d mark benchmark score for comparison here.

For the record, here is my old 8500 score for 3dmark as well.

Enjoy

This is with AA and aniso off. If you want me to run some AA tests, or combination AA aniso tests, let me know.

reno · Nov 11, 2002, 05:30 PM

Well, from all I've seen it is a VERY worthy upgrade.

Damn, I wish I had more money...it's either the 9700 pro and a new proc/mobo, or a multimedia computer (because I refuse to dual boot win98se and winxp on my current rig) and a few games....

Which should I chose! Agh! (rhetorical question)

RIV@NVX · Nov 11, 2002, 06:51 PM

Everyone wants more money

, but I would go for first choice (if it was real question).