kamikaze

NO REAL DIFF
QUOTE

The performance increase between the Radeon 9600 XT and its predecessor, the 9600 Pro, is very small. The most tangible improvements can be seen in games that use pixel and vertex shaders. Starting with Catalyst 3.9, ATi is planning to implement overdrive support for the 9600 XT. Yet even then, there will only be clear performance increase in only a few rare scenarios.

If you're in the market for a new mainstream card right now, we'd recommend the Radeon 9600 - and there's no pressing need to get the XT version, as the Pro does just as well.



[Edited by kamikaze - 11/1/2003 1:24:57 PM]

MAFFA

Just bought a new PC that should arrive next week but the only thing letting it down is the graphics card. My budget is low as you can see but I would like to upgrade the graphics card so that:

1) I can run my TFT on digital as well
2) I can edit my Digital movies from the camera
3) I can play games
4) Playing DVD's the quality will be better

At the moment it's coming with the following graphics card:

NVIDIA nForce 220-D chipset
Powerful NVIDIA 220D GeForce MX 3D GPU Integrated

Dunno what this means but that's the description

If you could recommend something & where to get it at a reasonable price i'd be greatful.

The pc has the following spec:

Athlon XP 2400
256Mb DDR 266MHz
80Gb 7200RPM Hard Drive

I'll be running Windows XP

Cheers for any advice

MAFFA

MAFFA

Oh & please bear in mind that i'm upgrading from a Pentium 1 with a 1Gb hard drive that's a dinosaur. Any graphics card on this PC will probably scare me LOL

MAFFA

mj

check the motherboard has an AGP slot, if not, you need a PCI gfx card.

chiark

if it's running DDR ram and an athon processor, it'll have agp...

Check the speed of agp - 1, 2, 4 or 8x?

kamikaze

dont worry abpout agp speed
it probably 4, bnot that it makes much difference

kamikaze

maybe wait for the new nvidia fx5700

http://www6.tomshardware.com/graphic/20031023/index.html

i thought ati cards were good eg radeon 9600
but m8 bought one last week
has had problems with some games

MAFFA

Cheers guys It has AGP 4 X

Any more suggestions that I should look out for? I'm gonna look around but i'm not 100% sure what i'm looking for?

MAFFA

MAFFA

So do you know how much this FX5700 is going to be & when it's coming out?

MAFFA

kamikaze

probli 125 quid within the next few weeks

you could alwasy try the ati radeon 9600 pro at about 105 quid
roughly same power as the 5700

maybe my mates problems are just him being unlucky with incompatability with his hardware
sure the product cant be that bad
radeon is suppposed to be much better than nvidia in the half life 2 benchmarks
this is the one he bought
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_PowerColor_149.html

P1Fanatic

Is a Radeon 9600 XT better than a 9600 Pro?

Simon.

john_s

iTrader: (1)

If it's any help, Game (high street store) are doing Creative FX5600 cards with a copy of Halo for £129.99.

John.

MAFFA

Is that the 3D Blaster 5 GeForce FX5600 128Mb? Blimey I sound like I know what i'm talking about but in reality it's because I have a list of 8 options in front of me

Powercolour Radion 9600 Pro EZ 256Mb - £113.92
ASUS ATI Radeon 9600 SE/TD 128Mb - £93.41
ASUS V9560TD GeForce FX5600 256Mb - £116.33
Hercules 3D Prophet 9600 256Mb DDR - £105.02 (used £91.34)
nVidia MSI GeForce FX5600 TD 256Mb - £115.09
Leadtech A310 TD GeForce FX5600 TD 256Mb DDR MyVivo - £126.31
Creative 3D Blaster 5 GeForce FX5600 128Mb - £109.28
Sapphire ATI Radeon 9600 256Mb DDR - £103.34

These are all Overclockers prices. Which do you think?

MAFFA

MAFFA

Oh & i've just ordered 1Gb of DDR Ram If this makes a difference to the choice I should make.

MAFFA

jase555

if you are interested, about to get a new card, (9800pro)

have a fx5600 ULTRA , for £120 if you want

jase

MAFFA

What's the spec on that one? Do you have a link to details?

MAFFA

jase555

basically beefed up version of the 5600 ,

128mb agp etc etc,

http://www.viperlair.com/reviews/video_graph/xfx/fx/5600u/

its full retail , with games and dvi dongle for a tft screen

MAFFA

Just had a look at a couple of Ultra's. Does the "ultra" mean the Graphic Processor Data Width is a lot larger? I've just seen one that is 256Bit. What difference does this make?

MAFFA

jase555

generally

you get 2 bus speeds on the card 128 or 256, memory is either 256mb or 128mb, generally the 128mb's(ram) are better as its faster memory,

i paid £150 for my card last month, get good scores on 3dmark 2003

apart from that copes well with everything i have thrown at it

jase

MAFFA

Just had a look at it & it looks good enough for what I need. £100 & i'll stick a cheque in the post tomorrow. Actually I would be better off phoning the bank for a TT because of the post strike LOL. Also i'd need it pretty rapidly coz my pc arrives in a day or two

Whadda you think?

MAFFA

MAFFA

This is the one isn't it?

http://www.xfxforce.co.uk/product_view.php?sku=PVT31FNC

MAFFA

MAFFA

Being not to good with the old computer stuff I had a look at the required spec and everything is okay. Just don't know what the AGP 2.0 or later means?

It says AGP 8x & my motherbooard has a 1.5v AGP 4x?

MAFFA

jase555

hi m8

mine is a inno3d flavour , same idea diff brand name inder licence

as for agp 2.0, thats old tech

my card is 8x agp

email me if you want

jase

MAFFA

But it should support 4x though?

I'll mail you from work when I get there. Or you could mail me at matt.trotman@paymaster.co.uk

Unfortunately they've blocked access to Scoobynet from the office

MAFFA

jase555

hi m8

it is compatible with 2/4/8, speed agp ports

also emailed you to your work addy