Help - Nvidia Fanboy thinking of going to ATI!

[Steven C \(Doktersteve\)]

I currently have the following setup:
-Athlon XP1800+
-512 Megs PC2100 ram
-MSI 128mb GeForce3 ti200

With the fourthcoming Half Life 2, and last months Maximum PC article about
what cards will run the game nicely, i decided to take a look at my local
OEM shop and ask if there was a video card i could upgrade to which wouldnt
break the ban, but which would allow me to see a big difference in HL2.

The guy I spoke with said he has the same card i have now, and that there
was a card i could upgrade to which would see probably a 15-20 FPS
performance boost from, as well as all the DX9 goodies that HL2 has to
offer.
He recommended:

Saphire Atlantis Radeon 9600 PRO
128MB w/TV-out & DVI
$239.95 canadian (approx $185.00 US)

Is this a good card? He admitted that next to an ATI manufactured card, it
wont run as fast, but as i explained to him, i dont play that many games,
mainly FPS types, and i just want something to keep me gaming for the next
year or two...
Will i see that much performance boost over my current card?

Thanks alot. I never thought i would go to ATI (i had a bad experience a
long time ago with poor customer support and driver support, but i hear that
is a thing of the past, is this true of the driver support?).

I appreciate any comments or feedback you can provide.

 

[Magnus Berggren]

The guy I spoke with said he has the same card i have now, and that there
was a card i could upgrade to which would see probably a 15-20 FPS
performance boost from, as well as all the DX9 goodies that HL2 has to
offer.
He recommended:

Saphire Atlantis Radeon 9600 PRO
128MB w/TV-out & DVI
$239.95 canadian (approx $185.00 US)

Is this a good card? He admitted that next to an ATI manufactured card, it
wont run as fast, but as i explained to him, i dont play that many games,
mainly FPS types, and i just want something to keep me gaming for the next
year or two...
Will i see that much performance boost over my current card?

The Sapphire cards perform just as good as any other bran ATi cards, and I
havnt noticed any performance gains in the "made by ATi" cards.
The 9600 Pro performes just fine. I would say it compares pretty well to the
ti4600 , but it does that with the benefits of DX9 compability and better AA
and AF.
But remember that an even better card, in the same pricerange, would be a
9700.

 

[Steven C \(Doktersteve\)]

"Steven C (Doktersteve)" <[email protected]> skrev i meddelandet

The Sapphire cards perform just as good as any other bran ATi cards, and I
havnt noticed any performance gains in the "made by ATi" cards.
The 9600 Pro performes just fine. I would say it compares pretty well to the
ti4600 , but it does that with the benefits of DX9 compability and better AA
and AF.
But remember that an even better card, in the same pricerange, would be a
9700.

Really? See, i only have access to usenet from work here, not the internet,
so i will have to trust you on that.
I would rather get the card from a store instead of the internet, because i
know people who have had bad experiences with components arriving DOA, but
if it really was a great deal, i would go with buying online, just from a
canadian retailer (ncix.com comes to mind).

So the 9700 will have what... faster ram and core speed? I know at some
point my system (processor, ram) will start to limit the video card itself,
i just hope that i will be able to make due with my now "paltry" 1.5ghz
processor for the time being.

On a side note, thanks for the speedy reply. thats great.

 

[Ron Joiner]

card, better

Really? See, i only have access to usenet from work here, not the internet,
so i will have to trust you on that.
I would rather get the card from a store instead of the internet, because i
know people who have had bad experiences with components arriving DOA, but
if it really was a great deal, i would go with buying online, just from a
canadian retailer (ncix.com comes to mind).

So the 9700 will have what... faster ram and core speed? I know at some
point my system (processor, ram) will start to limit the video card itself,
i just hope that i will be able to make due with my now "paltry" 1.5ghz
processor for the time being.

On a side note, thanks for the speedy reply. thats great.

Got my Built by ATI Radeon 9600Pro from NCIX. Great card, great price and
great people to deal with. You may find the retail card to be the better
deal, performance-wise but be aware that it comes ONLY with the card and
software. No games, no connectors and no cables.

Latest drivers are good but I keep hearing all this interesting talk about
the Cat 3.8s. And think about this: the 9600Pro runs very cool, takes less
power than the 9700 and is quiet. No regrets hear. Hope this helps.

Ron

 

[methylenedioxy]

I wouldn't worry too much about half life 2 coming soon, theres no chance of
that, they are still showing the same bloody preview at the trade shows and
it's supposed to be out in 3 weeks. It's being delayed. No doubt about it,
Valve have half admitted it, but the tell-tale sign is the fact that they
are still showing the same video and nothing rendered at the shows (ECTS was
the same showing, exactly, as E3 and this was only the other week!!)

Check out planet half life for the gossip, but it's defo delayed
indefinitely.

 

[Steven C \(Doktersteve\)]

I wouldn't worry too much about half life 2 coming soon, theres no chance of
that, they are still showing the same bloody preview at the trade shows and
it's supposed to be out in 3 weeks. It's being delayed. No doubt about it,
Valve have half admitted it, but the tell-tale sign is the fact that they
are still showing the same video and nothing rendered at the shows (ECTS was
the same showing, exactly, as E3 and this was only the other week!!)

Check out planet half life for the gossip, but it's defo delayed
indefinitely.

Well, as i said, i am looking to buy now, no real rush. I play games, i will
need the video card for other games that will come out (max payne 2 comes to
mind).
As for the shipping date. ebgames.com has it in mid november now, but from
what i have seen from various gaming sites (such as shacknews.com), the game
is still scheduled to ship the same date, sometime in october. I wouldnt be
surprised if it happened though, i mean look at enter the matrix and grand
theft auto vice city. both those games were pretty much hush hush (i didnt
even see a "gone gold" announcement for them), and they shipped on time
(although ETM suffered because of it).

Thanks for the info though, i appreciate it.

 

[Magnus Berggren]

Really? See, i only have access to usenet from work here, not the internet,
so i will have to trust you on that.
I would rather get the card from a store instead of the internet, because i
know people who have had bad experiences with components arriving DOA, but
if it really was a great deal, i would go with buying online, just from a
canadian retailer (ncix.com comes to mind).

So the 9700 will have what... faster ram and core speed? I know at some
point my system (processor, ram) will start to limit the video card itself,
i just hope that i will be able to make due with my now "paltry" 1.5ghz
processor for the time being.

On a side note, thanks for the speedy reply. thats great.

The primary permance booster for the 9700/9800-cards compared to the 9600
arn´t the clockspeeds, but the 256mbit memory buss, and their 8 rendering
pipes. Even if you could clock the 0,13micron core of the 9600Pro further
than the older 9700/9800 cores, it would never compensate for only having 4
pipes and 128mbit memory bus. Take my word on this. I installed a Sapphire
9600Pro Fireblade on my girlfriends work-PC, and even if she couldn´t care
less for performance, I had to overclock it. 495/360 is a quite amazing OC,
but it didn´t raise the perfermance in for example 3DMark above how my
9500np, modded to 9700 performs. If you want muscles, go for the 9700/9800
cards. Speed isn´t everything.
The 9600Pro cards are nice budget cards, but they will never be a match for
the more advanced cards. They are cooler, and that raises their OC ability,
and the won´t consume as much Watts as their bigger brothers, but who really
cares?
If your budget won´t permit the higher cost of a 9700, at least check for a
9600Pro with Samsung 2,86ns memory. They are great overclockers.

Magnus

 

[Steven C \(Doktersteve\)]

"Steven C (Doktersteve)" <[email protected]> skrev i meddelandet because

The primary permance booster for the 9700/9800-cards compared to the 9600
arn´t the clockspeeds, but the 256mbit memory buss, and their 8 rendering
pipes. Even if you could clock the 0,13micron core of the 9600Pro further
than the older 9700/9800 cores, it would never compensate for only having 4
pipes and 128mbit memory bus. Take my word on this. I installed a Sapphire
9600Pro Fireblade on my girlfriends work-PC, and even if she couldn´t care
less for performance, I had to overclock it. 495/360 is a quite amazing OC,
but it didn´t raise the perfermance in for example 3DMark above how my
9500np, modded to 9700 performs. If you want muscles, go for the 9700/9800
cards. Speed isn´t everything.
The 9600Pro cards are nice budget cards, but they will never be a match for
the more advanced cards. They are cooler, and that raises their OC ability,
and the won´t consume as much Watts as their bigger brothers, but who really
cares?
If your budget won´t permit the higher cost of a 9700, at least check for a
9600Pro with Samsung 2,86ns memory. They are great overclockers.

Magnus

Thanks Magnus. Not only are you the worlds strongest man, you are also a
gamer (obvious "worlds strongman" contest reference lol).

Anyhow, I cant really overclock that much, my system is hot as my apartment
is hot. I just want a card that will run games well and wont break the bank.
this card seems in that area, so I will read up on it and see how it matches
up against some others.
I will also see how my current card stacks up before I purchase this one,
but I was thinking about a new card anyhow.

thanks again.

 

[Terence Gui]

[snip]

Got my Built by ATI Radeon 9600Pro from NCIX. Great card, great price and
great people to deal with. You may find the retail card to be the better
deal, performance-wise but be aware that it comes ONLY with the card and
software. No games, no connectors and no cables.

Latest drivers are good but I keep hearing all this interesting talk about
the Cat 3.8s. And think about this: the 9600Pro runs very cool, takes less
power than the 9700 and is quiet. No regrets hear. Hope this helps.

Ron

If anyone's planning on getting an ATI card around that price range through
NCIX, consider spending a few extra bucks and go for the 9500Pro (which is
what I did). I agree that they're a great place to do busieness with.

Terence

 

[Wayne Youngman]

Hi,

get yourself a 9800np, don't be cheap, but don't be wasteful either. Paying
top bucks (£300-£400 squid) now is too much (unless you are rich or a gaming
champion practicing for tournaments). 9600Pro seems quite nice but to me it
looks a bit like a Porsche with 2 wheels and only space for one person?. I
am suggesting you get a 9800np, install it and have no fears. Price
difference between 9600Pro and 9800np is pretty close. . .

Wayne ][

P.S: I am ex nVidia GPU user also. . .