Upgrading from 8500AIW advice.

[PromextheusXex]

Time to upgrade (probably major) system which main reason is for new video
card. Noticed PCIE cards are much faster than AGP. I want to have a duel
DVI out card as the second out will run to a 50" HDTV set. I've barrowed am
Excalibur 9200 but games on higher resolution to TV (1776 x 1000) sometimes
choppy.

Any suggestions as to what ATI can offer for around $325+ that will do good
3d games running on either TV set or desktop monitor?

- Prometheus Xex

 

[J. Clarke]

Time to upgrade (probably major) system which main reason is for new video
card. Noticed PCIE cards are much faster than AGP. I want to have a duel
DVI out card as the second out will run to a 50" HDTV set. I've barrowed
am Excalibur 9200

Why? The Radeon 9200 is a crippled 8500. To get a real performance
improvement over the 8500 you have to go to a 9600 or faster.

All else being equal, PCI Express video does not deliver real world
performance that is any different from AGP.

Note by the way that if your current machine is of the same vintage as the
8500 then it will not have support for PCI Express, which is very different
from PCI--even if it is brand new and is running an 8500 it is unlikely to
have PCI Express support--there are a very few machines that can handle
both PCI Express and AGP, but unless you went out and looked for that
feature it's unlikely that you have it.

but games on higher resolution to TV (1776 x 1000)
sometimes choppy.

Any suggestions as to what ATI can offer for around $325+ that will do
good 3d games running on either TV set or desktop monitor?

In the under $350 price range there are not many boards with dual DVI--there
are a few with the Radeon 9600 chip, which is a generation newer than your
8500 and should give you a noticeable performance improvement, but in all
honest you'd probably do better to go with an nvidia 6600-based
board--that's two generations newer and AGP boards with the 6600GT chip and
dual DVI can be had for under $200.

There are more boards available with dual DVI and PCI Express in your price
range, but that would almost certainly mean replacing your motherboard and
likely other components as well--by the time you were done, with a $325
budget, you'd likely be worse off than with a $200 AGP board.

 

[Augustus]

Time to upgrade (probably major) system which main reason is for new video
card. Noticed PCIE cards are much faster than AGP. I want to have a duel
DVI out card as the second out will run to a 50" HDTV set. I've barrowed
am Excalibur 9200 but games on higher resolution to TV (1776 x 1000)
sometimes choppy.

A 9200, as was pointed out, is either a moderate or huge downgrade,
depending on if it's a 128bit model or more commonly, the 64bit version.
PCIe cards are not faster by being a PCIe card....nothing currently can
saturate even the AGP8X standard, but the newest and fastest are all being
done in this formfactor now. You haven't stated what games you want to play,
or other needs. Just going to a 9800Pro AIW 128Mb from your 8500AIW would
be a massive leap in performance. I would recommend this as the most
practical, easiest and cheapest solution. For AIW cards, you need to go
ABOVE the X600 AIW to exceed the 9800 Pro AIW.

 

[J. Clarke]

A 9200, as was pointed out, is either a moderate or huge downgrade,
depending on if it's a 128bit model or more commonly, the 64bit version.
PCIe cards are not faster by being a PCIe card....nothing currently can
saturate even the AGP8X standard, but the newest and fastest are all being
done in this formfactor now. You haven't stated what games you want to
play,
or other needs. Just going to a 9800Pro AIW 128Mb from your 8500AIW would
be a massive leap in performance. I would recommend this as the most
practical, easiest and cheapest solution. For AIW cards, you need to go
ABOVE the X600 AIW to exceed the 9800 Pro AIW.

But if he wants dual DVI out then the AIWs are not an option regardless.
There is a "Mac Edition" 9800 Pro in the OP's price range--never tried a
"Mac Edition" board in a PC so have no idea if ATI is using the same
microcode as for the PC versions or if they're using the OpenGL optimized
microcode they use on their workstation boards or if they've got a third
version of the microcode optimized for the Mac.

 

[Augustus]

But if he wants dual DVI out then the AIWs are not an option regardless.

There is a "Mac Edition" 9800 Pro in the OP's price range--never tried a

You're right, I missed that part. The only dual ATI powered dual DVI out AGP
card I know of are all PCI-e...

 

[PromextheusXex]

Oops... I meant that I should have said I barrowed the 9200 just to try out
the duel head output, but not as a replacement for the 8500. I will want a
duel DVI out and get a separate TV tuner card in the future if I feel that I
want back that feature. I'm really after using the TV set as a second
monitor with it's own resolution settings and able to play games on it at
the higher resolutions. The 9200 is not strong enough for that! I don't
mind getting a newer MOBO n' stuff to accommodate new graphics card, but
don't want the huge bucks for the cutting edge graphic cards either.

- Prometheus Xex