Which ATI Card?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Christopher Berinato
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Christopher Berinato

Hi -

I'm looking to upgrade my video card. I've got an old GeForce 2MX, and from
what I've read, it simply won't run Doom3. :)

Yes, I've pretty much decided on an ATI card, even though, from what I've
read, Doom3 is an OpenGL game. Most of my other games are DirectX.

The question is, which card. Here's my system

Gigabyte 845PE mobo
4X AGP
512MB RAM

I've been looking at 2 versions of ATI cards, a 9600 XT, and a midline 9800.
Which would be better? I juiced 9600 with 256MB RAM, or a midline 9800 with
128MB RAM, but apparently, more rendering pipelines? Is there a benchmark
chart somewhere that I can look at?

Thanks in advance,

Chris
 
Hi -

I'm looking to upgrade my video card. I've got an old GeForce 2MX, and from
what I've read, it simply won't run Doom3. :)

Yes, I've pretty much decided on an ATI card, even though, from what I've
read, Doom3 is an OpenGL game. Most of my other games are DirectX.

The question is, which card. Here's my system

Gigabyte 845PE mobo
4X AGP
512MB RAM

I've been looking at 2 versions of ATI cards, a 9600 XT, and a midline 9800.
Which would be better? I juiced 9600 with 256MB RAM, or a midline 9800 with
128MB RAM, but apparently, more rendering pipelines? Is there a benchmark
chart somewhere that I can look at?

Thanks in advance,

Chris
Click to expand...

http://www20.graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20031229/index.html
 
Christopher said:
I'm looking to upgrade my video card. I've got an old GeForce 2MX, and from
what I've read, it simply won't run Doom3. :)

Yes, I've pretty much decided on an ATI card, even though, from what I've
read, Doom3 is an OpenGL game. Most of my other games are DirectX.

The question is, which card. ...
Click to expand...

So you will appreciate reading Anand's article on Doom 3 and video cards:
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2146

Roy
 
Hi -

I'm looking to upgrade my video card. I've got an old GeForce 2MX, and from
what I've read, it simply won't run Doom3. :)

Yes, I've pretty much decided on an ATI card, even though, from what I've
read, Doom3 is an OpenGL game. Most of my other games are DirectX.

The question is, which card. Here's my system

Gigabyte 845PE mobo
4X AGP
512MB RAM

I've been looking at 2 versions of ATI cards, a 9600 XT, and a midline 9800.
Which would be better? I juiced 9600 with 256MB RAM, or a midline 9800 with
128MB RAM, but apparently, more rendering pipelines? Is there a benchmark
chart somewhere that I can look at?

Thanks in advance,

Chris
Click to expand...

A 256 bit 128 mb 9800se would be my suggestion.
http://snipurl.com/8r4s

regards

Dud
 
Hi -

I'm looking to upgrade my video card. I've got an old GeForce 2MX, and from
what I've read, it simply won't run Doom3. :)

Yes, I've pretty much decided on an ATI card, even though, from what I've
read, Doom3 is an OpenGL game. Most of my other games are DirectX.

The question is, which card. Here's my system

Gigabyte 845PE mobo
4X AGP
512MB RAM

I've been looking at 2 versions of ATI cards, a 9600 XT, and a midline 9800.
Which would be better? I juiced 9600 with 256MB RAM, or a midline 9800 with
128MB RAM, but apparently, more rendering pipelines? Is there a benchmark
chart somewhere that I can look at?

Thanks in advance,

Chris
Click to expand...

* ATI 9800 PRO *
 
* ATI 9800 PRO *
Click to expand...

A hearty second to that. I did a lot of research in the past few weeks
in an effort to decide which card had the most "bang for the buck." It
just doesn't seem worth it to me to save the money buying a 9600XT vs. a
9800pro. I want bang a little more than I want to keep my bucks. :)

I wound up ordering this one from NewEgg for $199.00 U.S..

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=14-163-110&DEPA=0

The reasons I decided on that particular card are that Celestica makes
ATI Certified cards, and if the images of the card are accurate, I think
it's one of the 9800pro's that has the r360 (9800XT) core chip.

I would let you know how it's performing, but I just ordered yesterday.

There's also the MSI 9800pro, which is said to be built with r360:

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=14-127-127&depa=0

which I decided against mainly based on this review:

http://www.overclockers.co.nz/ocnz/review.php?id=04vga00r9800promsi00000r9800pro0105

It looks to me like they cut some serious corners on hardware quality.
That card may have the r360 core, but I wanted something built to ATI
standards of hardware quality, and the MSI card definitely is not.

Here's a link that has some pointers on how to (possibly) find a 9800pro
that has the r360 core:

http://fabian.bricard.net/postnuke/...&name=Reviews&file=index&req=showcontent&id=2

Oh... and you wanted benchmarks? How about:

http://www.digital-daily.com/video/ati-vga-roundup2003/

Another poster suggested the 9800SE. I wouldn't. Pricewise it looks
attractive... hey, a 9800 for a 9600 price. Look how it stacks up (or
fails to) against the 9600XT in the benchmarks at the link above,
though. I think SE must stand for "slow edition." :)

If you must keep it below $150.00, the 9600XT is your card. Do yourself
a favor though. Spend the extra money and get a 9800-pro. If you find
one with an r360 core, so much the better but, even with a stock r350
core, it's worth the extra 40 or 50 bucks, IMNSHO.

As if that weren't enough...

If you have a few months to kill before you buy, you may want to wait
and see what becomes of the AGP version of the Nvidia 6600GT.

http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Features/6600series/

It only exists on paper at this point, but it should prove stiff
competition to the 9800pro performance-wise (if not altogether beating
it) and will come with this generation's feature set, selling near the
$200.00 price point.

I decided not to hold my breath. Gotta buy sometime.

That enough information for ya?

:)

ciao,
Jonathan
 
Christopher said:
Hi -

I'm looking to upgrade my video card. I've got an old GeForce 2MX, and from
what I've read, it simply won't run Doom3. :)

Yes, I've pretty much decided on an ATI card, even though, from what I've
read, Doom3 is an OpenGL game. Most of my other games are DirectX.

The question is, which card. Here's my system

Gigabyte 845PE mobo
4X AGP
512MB RAM

I've been looking at 2 versions of ATI cards, a 9600 XT, and a midline 9800.
Which would be better? I juiced 9600 with 256MB RAM, or a midline 9800 with
128MB RAM, but apparently, more rendering pipelines? Is there a benchmark
chart somewhere that I can look at?

Thanks in advance,

Chris
Click to expand...
I have a pc with very similar specs to yours with an old 64mb geforce
mx400 running Doom3. Its not very good and it's awfully jerky at times
but it DOES work. I'm up to Communications section. What a great game! I
would love to upgrade my whole pc to play it as it should be played but
funds are too short at the moment :-(
tRev.
 
I have a pc with very similar specs to yours with an old 64mb geforce
mx400 running Doom3. Its not very good and it's awfully jerky at times
but it DOES work. I'm up to Communications section. What a great game! I
would love to upgrade my whole pc to play it as it should be played but
funds are too short at the moment :-(
tRev.
Click to expand...


You don't necessarily need to upgrade the whole system, the
video card is a good start.
 
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