Upgrade.Should I even bother?

[dorkus.erectus]

Hey all,

I'm leaning toward a Sapphire 9800 Pro 128 MB to replace my Ti4200 64 MB.
The thing is I'm running only this setup:

MSI KT3-Ultra
AMD 1800+ OC'd to 1.70 GHz via FSB
512 MB PC-2100 RAM
Gainward Ti4200 64 MB (no OC)

I have no intention of upgrading anything but the videocard.
The reason I need a new card is because it often goes into funky color
lockup since installing DX9 and using any driver newer than 30.82.
Under DX8 it was rock-solid with the 45.23 I used forever. Now even that
setup funks up occasionally so the card must be going haywire.

Anyway, should I go with the 9800 Pro or a lesser ATI chip given my limited
specs?

Thanks
Rick

 

[dorkus.erectus]

Hey all,

I'm leaning toward a Sapphire 9800 Pro 128 MB to replace my Ti4200 64 MB.
The thing is I'm running only this setup:

MSI KT3-Ultra
AMD 1800+ OC'd to 1.70 GHz via FSB
512 MB PC-2100 RAM
Gainward Ti4200 64 MB (no OC)

I have no intention of upgrading anything but the videocard.
The reason I need a new card is because it often goes into funky color
lockup since installing DX9 and using any driver newer than 30.82.
Under DX8 it was rock-solid with the 45.23 I used forever. Now even that
setup funks up occasionally so the card must be going haywire.

Anyway, should I go with the 9800 Pro or a lesser ATI chip given my limited
specs?

Thanks
Rick

BTW, my monitor supports only up to 1280x1024@60Hz.

 

[Mangyrat]

for that setup a 9800pro is a waste but a 9600pro would be a good match.

 

[?uzzled]

I have a XP1800 and went from a 64Mb Sapphire 9000 to a 128Mb Sapphire 9800
pro. The difference was astounding. I play everything at 1280 X 1024 now
with everything turned on and it looks great. I can overclock my CPU but
it's not needed (yet) as the 9800 pro handles it all.

I'm guessing you have a LCD screen, like me, that's why you're limited to
running at 1280 X 1024. All I can say is that the 9800 pro makes things a
lot sharper than my old 9000.

I'd say go for it. You won't regret it.

 

[John Lewis]

Hey all,

I'm leaning toward a Sapphire 9800 Pro 128 MB to replace my Ti4200 64 MB.
The thing is I'm running only this setup:

MSI KT3-Ultra
AMD 1800+ OC'd to 1.70 GHz via FSB
512 MB PC-2100 RAM
Gainward Ti4200 64 MB (no OC)

I have no intention of upgrading anything but the videocard.
The reason I need a new card is because it often goes into funky color
lockup since installing DX9 and using any driver newer than 30.82.
Under DX8 it was rock-solid with the 45.23 I used forever. Now even that
setup funks up occasionally so the card must be going haywire.

Have you done a clean-install of your OS with all latest drivers and
DX9 on a spare disk, just to make sure. Or have you used Driver
Cleaner 2.0 to fully clean up your video drivers ?

Does the card fail in Safe Mode ? If not, it is very likely that
the problem source is software, not hardware.

John Lewis

 

[John Lewis]

I have a XP1800 and went from a 64Mb Sapphire 9000 to a 128Mb Sapphire 9800
pro. The difference was astounding. I play everything at 1280 X 1024 now
with everything turned on and it looks great. I can overclock my CPU but
it's not needed (yet) as the 9800 pro handles it all.

Try Far Cry at high res with binocs turned on and zoomed. Monitor the
CPU temperature and video frame-rate.

John Lewis

 

[dorkus.erectus]

Have you done a clean-install of your OS with all latest drivers and
DX9 on a spare disk, just to make sure. Or have you used Driver
Cleaner 2.0 to fully clean up your video drivers ?

Does the card fail in Safe Mode ? If not, it is very likely that
the problem source is software, not hardware.

John Lewis

As far as clean install goes, I format and then use a [C:drive] image that
has just the basics including DX8 and 45.23.
The problem only occurs during 3D games like Q3 Arena and UT2003. FS2004
requires DX9 and that's when things went bonkers.
I've tried several different drivers, both 4x.xx and 5x.xx but never used a
cleaner.
I just DL'd Driver Cleaner today and will give it a try.

After all the searching I've done the last few days, I've got the bug for a
new videocard out of want and not need.

Thanks
Rick

 

[Sept1967]

Ditto:

I doubt a 1.7 AMD will push an ATI 9800Pro enough to justify the cost.

 

[Dark Avenger]

Hey all,

I'm leaning toward a Sapphire 9800 Pro 128 MB to replace my Ti4200 64 MB.
The thing is I'm running only this setup:

MSI KT3-Ultra
AMD 1800+ OC'd to 1.70 GHz via FSB
512 MB PC-2100 RAM
Gainward Ti4200 64 MB (no OC)

I have no intention of upgrading anything but the videocard.
The reason I need a new card is because it often goes into funky color
lockup since installing DX9 and using any driver newer than 30.82.
Under DX8 it was rock-solid with the 45.23 I used forever. Now even that
setup funks up occasionally so the card must be going haywire.

Anyway, should I go with the 9800 Pro or a lesser ATI chip given my limited
specs?

Thanks
Rick

Well you can go for lower... but the 9800 Pro has a nice 256bits
memory bus wich in..games like UT2004 and other... memory bandwidth
consuming games will surely give you a lead above the 128bits memory
graphic cards.

So is the 9800 Pro worth it... depends on the game... some games can
offload allot of the work to the graphic card..those will find a very
high acceleration.

Others are more CPU bound...and thus will be limited by your "slow"
processor.

I leave the choice at you.... only a few games will truly excell
through a 9800 Pro.

If you think it aint worth it.. the 9600XT offers good
quality/performance.

 

[patrickp]

Have you done a clean-install of your OS with all latest drivers and
DX9 on a spare disk, just to make sure. Or have you used Driver
Cleaner 2.0 to fully clean up your video drivers ?

Does the card fail in Safe Mode ? If not, it is very likely that
the problem source is software, not hardware.

John Lewis

As far as clean install goes, I format and then use a [C:drive] image that
has just the basics including DX8 and 45.23.
The problem only occurs during 3D games like Q3 Arena and UT2003. FS2004
requires DX9 and that's when things went bonkers.
I've tried several different drivers, both 4x.xx and 5x.xx but never used a
cleaner.
I just DL'd Driver Cleaner today and will give it a try.

After all the searching I've done the last few days, I've got the bug for a
new videocard out of want and not need.

Thanks
Rick

Try Ati's own cleaner (specifically for Ati software), Rick; cat-uninstaller
exe from http://www.ati.com/support/drivers/misc/catalystutils.html; it's
specifically for Ati drivers and software. I've used jv16 Power Tools for
some time which, since it went commercial, has become very difficult to find
the older freeware versions for, and the Ati utility removes everything that
jv16 does except one entry in one of the Run keys. In addition, it removes
the Ati files from your system folder, and the ATI folders in Program Files.

However, a good driver cleaner is an excellent thing to have around; jv16
has saved my sanity and system on more than one occasion.

patrickp

 

[Jean Jasinczuk]

I looked at newegg.com and the Saphire 9800Pro is 210$, the 9600Xt is
154$. Until last fall, there was a 200$ price difference between a 9600
pro and 9800 pro, that would not have been worth it. But today, for just
55$ more, I would definitively get the 9800 pro.

Jean

 

[?uzzled]

Try Far Cry at high res with binocs turned on and zoomed. Monitor the
CPU temperature and video frame-rate.

John Lewis

Can't say I've tried Far Cry but for Unreal II, UT2003, UT2004, Halo, NFSU,
COD, Gunmetal, GTAIII, SOFII, BF1942, Warcraft III the card is more than
capable of doing the job.

(Uh Oh... so that's where my life went... AAAARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!)

 

[cowboyz]

Ditto:

I doubt a 1.7 AMD will push an ATI 9800Pro enough to justify the cost.

Interesting to note that my XP2100+ with 9800PRO at stock scores 5500
3dmarks 03 and at 420/760 scores 5500! Just shows where the bottleneck is.
In saying that I certainly don't regret buying the 9800PRO. I am not
looking to upgrade the CPU either. Although it is holding back the gfx card
it is fast "enough" to run all the games I have now. Including FarCry demo.
It is nice to know that I still have an upgrade option of going to 3200+ and
the gfx card will really take off.