Okay, I'm confused here.

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Pug Fugley

I'm confused, but that's nothing new :)

After a few years out of the scene, I'm wanting to get back into PC gaming
so I'm putting a machine together. Now I'm trying to decide whether or not
to get a new video card for this machine. So here are the details:

1) I currently have an MSI GeForce2 Pro which works just fine, but I've had
it for 2 years and I figure there should be something a little stronger now
for cheap.

2) I don't want to spend $300 for a video card. Of course that also means I
don't care to have the fastest card on the planet either. My GF2 is just
fine, but if I can get a significant improvement for $75 or so, I'll do it.

3) I would like to have an ATI/Sapphire card becuase of Nvidias piss poor 2d
quality.

Problem is, the numbers are confusing. I see the 8000 is actually faster
than the 9000 and crap like that so what is the progression in ATI's model
numbers?

And, which card compares to my GF2Pro, and which one would be a major step
up from that for $75 or so?

Or, have there been so signifiant increases in the middle range card market
so I should just shutup and keep what I got?

Thanks!
 
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Pug Fugley stood up at show-n-tell, in
[email protected], and said:
I'm confused, but that's nothing new :)

After a few years out of the scene, I'm wanting to get back into PC
gaming so I'm putting a machine together. Now I'm trying to decide
whether or not to get a new video card for this machine. So here are
the details:

1) I currently have an MSI GeForce2 Pro which works just fine, but
I've had it for 2 years and I figure there should be something a
little stronger now for cheap.

2) I don't want to spend $300 for a video card. Of course that also
means I don't care to have the fastest card on the planet either. My
GF2 is just fine, but if I can get a significant improvement for $75
or so, I'll do it.

3) I would like to have an ATI/Sapphire card becuase of Nvidias piss
poor 2d quality.

Problem is, the numbers are confusing. I see the 8000 is actually
faster than the 9000 and crap like that so what is the progression in
ATI's model numbers?

And, which card compares to my GF2Pro, and which one would be a major
step up from that for $75 or so?
Click to expand...

I think the 9600pro, is right up your alley.
 
try searching around for a 9700 or 9700 pro . u might find a good deal on
it. but as for the latest cards i would go with the 9600 pro or even the
9500 pro aint that bad and with the new line coming ati will definitely drop
the prices. but all this depends on the games u play as well. if u play
counter strike then even an ati 7500 with the bells and whistles turned on
gives a steady 80 to 90 fps which the max that steam allows it to go i
think.
 
Pug Fugley said:
I'm confused, but that's nothing new :)

After a few years out of the scene, I'm wanting to get back into PC
gaming so I'm putting a machine together. Now I'm trying to decide
whether or not to get a new video card for this machine. So here are
the details:

1) I currently have an MSI GeForce2 Pro which works just fine, but
I've had it for 2 years and I figure there should be something a
little stronger now for cheap.

2) I don't want to spend $300 for a video card. Of course that also
means I don't care to have the fastest card on the planet either. My
GF2 is just fine, but if I can get a significant improvement for $75
or so, I'll do it.

3) I would like to have an ATI/Sapphire card becuase of Nvidias piss
poor 2d quality.

Problem is, the numbers are confusing. I see the 8000 is actually
faster than the 9000 and crap like that so what is the progression in
ATI's model numbers?

And, which card compares to my GF2Pro, and which one would be a major
step up from that for $75 or so?

Or, have there been so signifiant increases in the middle range card
market so I should just shutup and keep what I got?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Some people will laugh and scoff, but I could see very little difference
between my ATI 8500-128 and my PNY Ti4600 128. Ran both on 2.0 gHz P4,
1 gig pc800 rdram, mobo is Gigabyte GA8-IHXP (agp4x). Both performed
very well with similar results in Q3A, Morrowind, TR:AoD, Half Life,
Unreal, UT, UT2003. The biggest difference was that the Ti4600 was
$289 and the 8500 was $199 :)

There is a point of features to consider. I think you will want as much
DX9 capability as you can get for the buck. Or even DX8. The 3D and 2D
seem much improved appearance wise with leaving my GF2GTS in a shoebox
and putting the 8500/4600 in. Pixel shaders can make an amazing
difference to water, sky, glass, reflections etc. So, you might want to
go a little bit more for a new/used video card. You could even likely
find a Radeon 8500 128 for sub $150 I think?
Just a thought...
McG.
 
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