ATI Vidcard Advice Sought

  • Thread starter Thread starter BRH
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BRH

I'm considering upgrading my ATI Radeon 9700 Pro to an ATI X800 and was
wondering whether this would be worthwhile for racing sims and/or flight
sims. Many of the latest sims have pretty hefty system and graphics
specs, and I find that I can no longer run many of them at full graphics
settings (at least not without having the framerate suffer drastically).

So has anyone made the switch from a 9700Pro to an X800? If so, was it
worthwhile? If no one has personal experience with this, then perhaps
someone can provide me a link to an online comparison (preferably using
racing or flight sims, but I'll take a looks at any comparison).

I'm looking to maximize graphics without taking a framerate hit. This
would be on an AthlonXP2600 system with 1 Meg Ram, if that matters.

Thanks!
 
CPU seems adequate... for now.
RAM is a little low though. I'd upgrade your RAM before your vid card. Also,
most modern flight sims will suck up well over "1 Meg Ram". In fact, I think
notepad.exe uses about 3.2 megs of RAM - to give you an idea.

Tony
 
BRH said:
I'm considering upgrading my ATI Radeon 9700 Pro to an ATI X800 and was
wondering whether this would be worthwhile for racing sims and/or flight
sims. Many of the latest sims have pretty hefty system and graphics
specs, and I find that I can no longer run many of them at full graphics
settings (at least not without having the framerate suffer drastically).

So has anyone made the switch from a 9700Pro to an X800? If so, was it
worthwhile? If no one has personal experience with this, then perhaps
someone can provide me a link to an online comparison (preferably using
racing or flight sims, but I'll take a looks at any comparison).

I'm looking to maximize graphics without taking a framerate hit. This
would be on an AthlonXP2600 system with 1 Meg Ram, if that matters.

Thanks!
Click to expand...
I've got one on order so I would be interested in any answers anyone has
too.

Rick
 
I'm considering upgrading my ATI Radeon 9700 Pro to an ATI X800 and was
wondering whether this would be worthwhile for racing sims and/or flight
sims. Many of the latest sims have pretty hefty system and graphics
specs, and I find that I can no longer run many of them at full graphics
settings (at least not without having the framerate suffer drastically).

So has anyone made the switch from a 9700Pro to an X800? If so, was it
worthwhile? If no one has personal experience with this, then perhaps
someone can provide me a link to an online comparison (preferably using
racing or flight sims, but I'll take a looks at any comparison).

I'm looking to maximize graphics without taking a framerate hit. This
would be on an AthlonXP2600 system with 1 Meg Ram, if that matters.

Thanks!
Click to expand...


Last October I bought the Xtasy X800 Pro 256M and I had an 9700 Pro to
begin with. Definately worth the upgrade! Far Cry is getting with
video settings on VERY HIGH accross the board and Ultra High Water on,
98 fps at the first window you come to. Gameplay is hovering 50's to
80's+ (peaks of 160's..etc).

I assume you meant 1 GIG of ram and if not.. get at LEAST a gig. I'm
currently considering going to 2 gigs of corsair xms ram myself. Hah..
1 meg.. will windows even boot? LOL.

I will recommend this however, If I where to do it over; I'd get the
16 pipes instead of the cheaper 12. If you're going to do it, might as
well go for it.

P4 3.2E Ghz 800FSB 1MB Cache / Zalman C7000A HS / Asus P4C800-E Deluxe
/ 1GB Corsair XMS DDR PC3200 / Xtasy X800 PRO (@ 506/499.50) / Arctic
Cooler v4 / Omegas 4.12b's / WD1600JB 160GB / WD1200JB 120GB / Lite-On
DVDRW LDW-851S 8x / Creative Audigy Gamer / Nec 19" FE991SB / Logitech
MX510 mouse / Saitek Gamer's Keyboard / WinXP Home

3dmark 2003-11,075
3dmark 2005-4,912
Aquamark- 63,391

That was when I tested it the day I installed. Old drivers so I'm sure
its better now. ;)


Pluvious
 
Tony DiMarzio said:
CPU seems adequate... for now.
RAM is a little low though. I'd upgrade your RAM before your vid card.
Also, most modern flight sims will suck up well over "1 Meg Ram". In fact,
I think notepad.exe uses about 3.2 megs of RAM - to give you an idea.

Tony
Click to expand...


LOL, it sounds like it was an honest mistake on his part to say 1MB rather
than 1GB. The last time I had 1MB of RAM was in my 386SX-16 system back in
1991. I upgraded it to a whopping 2MB in 1992 for about $75 !
 
Yeah... I knew it was an honest mistake... but I just couldn't resist! Had
to mock him.

Ah yes... a $75 1MB RAM upgrade - the days when RAM was worth its weight in
gold, or at least sterling silver. Thank God those days are over!
 
Tony DiMarzio said:
Yeah... I knew it was an honest mistake... but I just couldn't resist! Had
to mock him.
Click to expand...


I know. :-) I got a chuckle out of your commentary!

Ah yes... a $75 1MB RAM upgrade - the days when RAM was worth its weight
in gold, or at least sterling silver. Thank God those days are over!
Click to expand...


Heh, I remember it...things did eventually "improve" though...I remember 8MB
72-pin memory sticks selling for $250 in the mid-1990s! Now, here in
Canada, $200 buys you a Kingston PC-3200 CAS3 dual channel memory kit with a
pair of 512MB sticks! 1GB in total, or 1000 times as much memory as I had
in my original 386!
 
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