Upgrade from ATI 9700Pro to what?

[Thomas T. Veldhouse]

Currently, I get pretty good performance out of my video card. However,
I have seen what some of the newer cards are capable of and I would
consider an upgrade for the right price. I can state unequivicably that
the price limit is about $300. I have the following hardware for
reference:

Dell Dimension 8250
1024MB RIMM1066
ATI Radeon 9700Pro 128MB (I believe the board is AGP4x)

So, I have considered a card like:

ATI Radeon 9800Pro 256MB, but I am not sure it is a great increase
NVidia 6600GT (or some such variation) ... not sure of price
ATI X*** 256MB .. any ATI X cards I should consider?

Am I missing anything that I should be considering and am not?

Thanks in advance!

 

[JK]

Check Tom's Hardware for a complete overview of all the cards out there.
Going from a 9700 pro to a 9800 pro or XT with 256 megs of ram has no bang
for the buck. Forget it. You should be looking at one of the next
generation cards.

JK

 

[Kent_Diego]

I recently upgraded from 9700 Pro to X800 Pro ($377+) that overclocked to XT
Platinum Edition speeds. I have been playing FarCry and Half-Life 2 to look
for improvements. FarCry looks better at same resolution with textures that
were medium, now high to very high The water looks amazing, plants slightly
better. It is a little nicer looking but the game play is still same.
Half-Life 2 allows the same upgrade in video settings, but no noticeable
improvement in game play.

There is no compelling reason to upgrade your 9700 Pro. It gets the job
done. $300 won't get you much better. It will take $400 to $500 card to have
barely noticeable improvement over what you have. Save your money untill a
game comes out that requires upgrade, the prices will be a lot cheeper by
than, and the high end will have the next generation. A new
processor/motherboard (Athlon 64 3400+) is likely to give a much greater
amount increase for the $300.

-Kent

 

[NightSky 421]

Currently, I get pretty good performance out of my video card. However,
I have seen what some of the newer cards are capable of and I would
consider an upgrade for the right price. I can state unequivicably that
the price limit is about $300. I have the following hardware for
reference:

My advice is don't bother. As other people have mentioned, you're not
likely going to find anything compelling or worthwhile compared to what you
have for $300. I have a 9800 Pro (not much better than your 9700 Pro), and
I would have to spend a good chunk of money to get anything really worth
upgrading to. Also, you'd need a very beefy processor to properly feed some
of the newer high-end cards, and I don't know what processor you have. If
you must get something, check out how much you can get an X800 Pro for.

I'm sitting on what I have and might look at getting a new PC this time next
year. By then, I'll be looking at a PCI Express video card and perhaps a
dual-core processor. For sure it will be worthwhile for me by then, even if
I go for a solid mid-range gaming box (which looks to be the case). I have
no doubt by the end of next year it will blow away what I have now.

 

[Andrew MacPherson]

There is no compelling reason to upgrade your 9700 Pro.

Agreed. If money is burning a hole in the OP's pocket then by all means
upgrade... the x800Pro shifts a lot of pixels very prettily and very
quickly indeed.

I bought one because for the first time in my life I was in a position to
waste some money, so I did But if I'm honest with myself, the 9700Pro
it replaced was already doing a superb job.

Having said that, the x800 allows me to run many of my favourite flight
sims at near-maximum detail at 1600x1200 for the first time, and there are
times when that is worth every penny.

Andrew McP

 

[Thomas T. Veldhouse]

My advice is don't bother. As other people have mentioned, you're not
likely going to find anything compelling or worthwhile compared to what you
have for $300. I have a 9800 Pro (not much better than your 9700 Pro), and
I would have to spend a good chunk of money to get anything really worth
upgrading to. Also, you'd need a very beefy processor to properly feed some
of the newer high-end cards, and I don't know what processor you have. If
you must get something, check out how much you can get an X800 Pro for.

Thanks for the advice. BTW ... I have a P4-3.06GHz w/HT on. I don't
think I will upgrading my processor for some time and the computer
itself, while 20 months old, will not be upgrade for at least another 12
to 18 months.

I'm sitting on what I have and might look at getting a new PC this time next
year. By then, I'll be looking at a PCI Express video card and perhaps a
dual-core processor. For sure it will be worthwhile for me by then, even if
I go for a solid mid-range gaming box (which looks to be the case). I have
no doubt by the end of next year it will blow away what I have now.

Yes ... but the new software will be out to utilize hardware and you
will still look longingly at the highend stuff

 

[NightSky 421]

Thanks for the advice. BTW ... I have a P4-3.06GHz w/HT on. I don't
think I will upgrading my processor for some time and the computer
itself, while 20 months old, will not be upgrade for at least another 12
to 18 months.

That's pretty good mileage and it should easily be good for another year
too! I have a 2.8GHz P4 myself. I've owned it for 15 months now. I
upgraded from a 2.26GHz P4 but wondered after my upgrade last year if I'd
maybe done it too soon. Both CPU's were high-end at the time I bought it,
but I had the money and wanted to treat myself after using low-end and
mid-range machines for so many years previously! I have to decide if I
really want to change in a year from now, or maybe even put it off until Q1
or Q2 of 2006.

Yes ... but the new software will be out to utilize hardware and you
will still look longingly at the highend stuff

LOL, so true...that vicious cycle at work again! But as I say, I've owned
low-end and mid-range boxes for a good number of years and only truly
entered into the high-end market in the last couple of years.