video card upgrade

[Anthony C]

ok, im playing alot of these MMORPG's lately. I'm in lineage 2, WILL be
playing World of Warcraft, and i love UT2004(which currently works fine)
for lan party games.

Here's my problem, i want a FAST PC for gaming. I've been lookin at the
GeForce FX 5940 Ultra and looking at its 256mb DDR ram and 450mhz 975mhz
speeds for chip and core speeds. Problem is, i dont think $400-500 for a
card is something i wanna do.

So i found A LOT of good reviews for ATI's Radeon 9600 Pro 128. I'm
probably going to get the 256mb version, but the speeds are 400/600mhz
for the chip and core speeds.

I guess my question is, if im REALLY into these games, should i plunk
down 400 and thank myself later? I've always taken the "biggest leap" to
avoid upgrade issues later. This just seems very MAJOR to me IMO.


Any suggestions accepted

Ant

 

[Bob Knowlden]

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,1551732,00.asp

"3D Price/Performance Shootout"

(The "winner" was the old Radeon 9700 Pro 128 MB. It may have caught my
attention because that's my current graphics card, which I've had for one
year.)

I've never gone for the fastest card of the moment, and never regretted it.
However, I'm not a serious gamer. If you're spending 20 hours a week
playing, the extra couple of hundred dollars may be worthwhile to you,
although it may only buy you a few percent more FPS.

Have fun.

Bob Knowlden

Address may be altered. Change nkbob to bobkn.

 

[JAD]

Like Bob said,
I also have a 9700 pro ATI version 128m

ATI RADEON 9700 PRO 128MB AGP 8X DDR (OEM - POWERED BY ATI) Details
$179.00 YES

ATI RADEON 9800 PRO 128MB AGP (Retail) Details (*While Supplies
Last!) $217.65

ATI RADEON 9800 PRO 128MB AGP 8X DDR (OEM - POWERED BY ATI)(*Limit
1pc/customer) Details $199.00

Mwave seems to have only the OEM of the 9700 pro currently

 

[PAUL CROSBY]

I've just bought an ATI Radeon 9600Pro 256mb and am having problems with it
stuttering in any game seen several people with same problem in
newsgroups/forums but also some really good reports would check out a few
for hardware conflicts before buying. Dont want to unnessecarily put you off
but thought it may be of use to know
Paul

 

[Anthony C]

I've just bought an ATI Radeon 9600Pro 256mb and am having problems with it
stuttering in any game seen several people with same problem in
newsgroups/forums but also some really good reports would check out a few
for hardware conflicts before buying. Dont want to unnessecarily put you off
but thought it may be of use to know
Paul

i think after reading a few reviews, im gonna buy 9800xt, more reviews
tend to give it the nod over the 5950 ultra, im coming from a geforce mx
440 btw, its good, but not good enough

 

[JAD]

Lots of people also have sound driver problems that are often the
cause of stuttering in games and videos.

 

[DaveW]

New ATI and NVidia video cards are due on the market in a month or two that
are MUCH faster than the current. I'd wait a bit.