Picking out a mainstream video card HELP

[Joe]

I currently am running:

Abit NF7-S v2.0
AMD Athlon XP 3200+
1 gig (2x512) Mushkin 3400 Level II
ATI Radeon 9500 Pro (128 meg)

While it is running pretty much everything I want to run I note that with a
few of the newer games I am forced to turn the sliders down a bit in order
to get acceptable frame rates. Time to start thinking about upgrades but
since the gear I already have is about as good as it gets with 32 bits the
only path open is the new 64 bit gear but as I look over the 64bit landscape
everything looks a little TOO new for my taste. Better to wait for the 64bit
OS another generation or two of chipsets before taking the plunge.

While I wait I am stuck with what I have, except for that Radeon 9500 Pro.

I am looking to replace that 9500 with another AGP "mainstream" card costing
no more than $200. When last I bought a video card ATI was on top with the
9500 Pro and NVidia was running a pretty poor second with their mainstream
card. This time around the it seems ATI has stumbled and NVidia is top dog.
This makes the prime candidate in my price range a GForce 6600 GT with
little from ATI close enough to even consider.

Being far from a guru I know better than to buy anything without first
seeking the opinion of the more knowledgable here in the NG. Any advice
would be appreciated.

 

[johns]

ATI Radeon 9800 Pro will run all over that 9500.
There is no comparison.

johns

 

[/\\/\\UF/-\\S/-\\]

Spend $49 more bucks & grabb a 6800 GT then forget about it!

 

[ofn01]

I currently am running:

Abit NF7-S v2.0
AMD Athlon XP 3200+
1 gig (2x512) Mushkin 3400 Level II
ATI Radeon 9500 Pro (128 meg)

While it is running pretty much everything I want to run I note that with a
few of the newer games I am forced to turn the sliders down a bit in order
to get acceptable frame rates. Time to start thinking about upgrades but
since the gear I already have is about as good as it gets with 32 bits the
only path open is the new 64 bit gear but as I look over the 64bit landscape
everything looks a little TOO new for my taste. Better to wait for the 64bit
OS another generation or two of chipsets before taking the plunge.

While I wait I am stuck with what I have, except for that Radeon 9500 Pro.

I am looking to replace that 9500 with another AGP "mainstream" card costing
no more than $200. When last I bought a video card ATI was on top with the
9500 Pro and NVidia was running a pretty poor second with their mainstream
card. This time around the it seems ATI has stumbled and NVidia is top dog.
This makes the prime candidate in my price range a GForce 6600 GT with
little from ATI close enough to even consider.

Being far from a guru I know better than to buy anything without first
seeking the opinion of the more knowledgable here in the NG. Any advice
would be appreciated.

The 9800 Pro would be quite a bit better than the 9500 Pro, but the
6600GT beats the 9800 Pro AND the 9800XT. The next upgrade from the 9800
Pro / XT is the X800 Pro which is quite a bit more expensive. If you do
go down the 6600GT path you will need to make absolutely sure that
you've removed all traces of your ATI drivers before installing the
NVidia drivers (might want to see on the nvidia newsgroups whether
people have had experience of this).

I upgraded from a 9600XT to a 9800 Pro (A 9600XT is quite on par with
the 9500 Pro in most areas). My 3dmark01 score went from 13200 to 17800,
my 3dmark03 score went from 3800 to just under 6000 so it was quite a
good boost.

My gaming changed as follows

HL2 from 1024x768 on high to either 1280x1024 on high or 1024x768 4xAA/8xAF
Far Cry went from 1024x768 on medium to 1024x768 on very high
Doom 3 went from 800x600 on high to 1024x768 on high

Note though that the 9800 Pro still can be challenged in some areas,
Brothers in Arms for instance I have to turn a couple of sliders down
even at 1024x768 though having said that I have read around the place
that it is not the most optimised in terms of performance (particularly
when the graphics are fairly average as well!)

So it depends what you want to achieve.

 

[Doug]

You're freakin' high. I made EXACTLY this upgrade and the difference is
nearly UNNOTICEABLE. Doom3, Far Cry and Half Life 2 are practically the
same. At low resolutions the 128-bit vs. 256-bit memory interface difference
is insignificant. The GPU cores are practically the same (since the 9500 Pro
has a 9700 core). The maximum diff I saw in benchmarks was maybe 50%. I can
now run most games in one resolution step higher than I could
previously...big deal.

 

[Joe]

Thanks all for the info.