rec.autos.simulators

by **V \** » Mon, 18 Oct 2004 11:38:14

I had purchased a card unknowing it was an ATI partner card. Turns out
it is an Alastor 9550 256m card. Well...........the damned thing never
worked for more than 5 mins. It froze on at least 3 of my games. It even
froze doing a benchmark on it. Went back to my built by ATI 9000 pro for
now. I now have an almost $200 store credit to replace the card with.
This would be CDN dollars. I am thinking either the 9600pro, 9600XT or
the 9800pro, 9800XT. Other than the fact the 9800 will run me more
money, are the differences too subtle for a more casual gamer to notice
to warrant a bigger price tag?? I'd really rather not sink another $200
into the card, BUT..........if it can keep up to present games and offer
some eye candy and fluid movement, I'm up for it. Other than online I
haven't been able to actually hold any of these cards side by side to
compare.....including price. Can some really nice CDNs out there give me
some ideas on the purchase price of any of these?? Sorry for being
longwinded, but this card will have to last me for some time now. $200
initial cost was not out of my budget, another $200 may well be and I'd
like to make a wise choice. Thanks all

V

by **Dave St.Ong** » Mon, 18 Oct 2004 12:38:19

Personally, I have the 9800pro, and as soon as it's financially feasible,
I'm switching back to nvidia...that said, for Canadian sites, check out
ncix.com...that's where I buy all my components...

Dave

by **Bruce Mckow** » Mon, 18 Oct 2004 12:45:57

>Personally, I have the 9800pro, and as soon as it's financially feasible,
>I'm switching back to nvidia...that said, for Canadian sites, check out
>ncix.com...that's where I buy all my components...

>Dave

www.atic.ca quite often have lower prices than NCIX, not always
though. They are in Vancouver too.

by **Joachim Trens** » Mon, 18 Oct 2004 16:37:57

> I had purchased a card unknowing it was an ATI partner card...

The 9800Pro is quite a bit faster than the 9600, so I'd recommend
getting that. The 9800XT is only a tad faster than the 9800Pro, so I'd
only buy it if it were only a tad more expensive than the 9800Pro.

Personally, I've found the ATI cards (I've had the 9700 and the 9800) to
have better 2D and 3D image quality than the Nvidia cards (I had GF2,
GF3 and GF4600). They're much faster especially with Aniso and FF
enabled, and this is an advantage even at high resolutions if you want
image quality.

--
Achim
http://users.skynet.be/AchimT

by **Vintoo** » Mon, 18 Oct 2004 23:45:16

Get a 9700pro or the 9800pro. I have a 9700pro on my system and have never
been more happy with a video card. I run everything at 4xFSAA and max Aniso
and have FPS around 50 - 80. This is on a AMD 2200+ system with a meg of
ram.

Vintook

by **Mitch_** » Tue, 19 Oct 2004 00:39:24

I gotta agree. Of all the many 3d video cards Ive bought going back to the
Rendition V1000 Im most happy with the 9700 Pro. Ive had it going on 2
years and havent had any issues that would make me regret this purchase. It
still runs everything I throw at it but is beginning to show its age.

Mitch

> Get a 9700pro or the 9800pro. I have a 9700pro on my system and have never
> been more happy with a video card. I run everything at 4xFSAA and max
> Aniso and have FPS around 50 - 80. This is on a AMD 2200+ system with a
> meg of ram.

> Vintook

>>I had purchased a card unknowing it was an ATI partner card. Turns out it
>>is an Alastor 9550 256m card. Well...........the damned thing never worked
>>for more than 5 mins. It froze on at least 3 of my games. It even froze
>>doing a benchmark on it. Went back to my built by ATI 9000 pro for now. I
>>now have an almost $200 store credit to replace the card with. This would
>>be CDN dollars. I am thinking either the 9600pro, 9600XT or the 9800pro,
>>9800XT. Other than the fact the 9800 will run me more money, are the
>>differences too subtle for a more casual gamer to notice to warrant a
>>bigger price tag?? I'd really rather not sink another $200 into the card,
>>BUT..........if it can keep up to present games and offer some eye candy
>>and fluid movement, I'm up for it. Other than online I haven't been able
>>to actually hold any of these cards side by side to compare.....including
>>price. Can some really nice CDNs out there give me some ideas on the
>>purchase price of any of these?? Sorry for being longwinded, but this card
>>will have to last me for some time now. $200 initial cost was not out of
>>my budget, another $200 may well be and I'd like to make a wise choice.
>>Thanks all

>> V

by **V \** » Tue, 19 Oct 2004 00:29:28

> Get a 9700pro or the 9800pro. I have a 9700pro on my system and have never
> been more happy with a video card. I run everything at 4xFSAA and max Aniso
> and have FPS around 50 - 80. This is on a AMD 2200+ system with a meg of
> ram.

> Vintook

Good point thanks. I maybe should have placed my specs here...DUH !!!
Athlon XP 1700+ (1.5g)
512 ram DDr
MSI KT4AV mobo

Other than my CPU, pretty much everything else is brand new, more budget
minded, but new none the less. I generally play F1c mods, CFS2, CFS3
(recent purchase) and both IL2s. So anything that can handle a full busy
screen and flow like water is what I am after. I am starting to lean
toward the 9800pro now.

V

by **Tiny Lun** » Tue, 19 Oct 2004 01:02:38

I concur with the 9700 pro. If you are budget minded and want DX9, it should
at least get you to the next generation of GPU's. I purchased mine new at
$400+ for the All In Wonder and it plays every game I throw at it fine. Also
the 9700 pro was the card that helped ATI to gain market share on Nvidia.
The 9800pro is about 200.00 and not a huge leap above the 9700 pro. If you
can find the 9700 pro new, you will have a card capable of a display
comparable to the latest cards. Based on your system specs I don't think the
high line cards would be of much benefit to you as you may not be able to
harness their potential given your CPU and RAM.

--
Asus P4P800E
P4 3.0E
1Gig Corsair XMS 3200
AIW 9700 Pro
SB Audigy 2 ZX Platinum
BRD Speed 7
BRD Rally V2

> Get a 9700pro or the 9800pro. I have a 9700pro on my system and have never
> been more happy with a video card. I run everything at 4xFSAA and max
> Aniso and have FPS around 50 - 80. This is on a AMD 2200+ system with a
> meg of ram.

> Vintook

>>I had purchased a card unknowing it was an ATI partner card. Turns out it
>>is an Alastor 9550 256m card. Well...........the damned thing never worked
>>for more than 5 mins. It froze on at least 3 of my games. It even froze
>>doing a benchmark on it. Went back to my built by ATI 9000 pro for now. I
>>now have an almost $200 store credit to replace the card with. This would
>>be CDN dollars. I am thinking either the 9600pro, 9600XT or the 9800pro,
>>9800XT. Other than the fact the 9800 will run me more money, are the
>>differences too subtle for a more casual gamer to notice to warrant a
>>bigger price tag?? I'd really rather not sink another $200 into the card,
>>BUT..........if it can keep up to present games and offer some eye candy
>>and fluid movement, I'm up for it. Other than online I haven't been able
>>to actually hold any of these cards side by side to compare.....including
>>price. Can some really nice CDNs out there give me some ideas on the
>>purchase price of any of these?? Sorry for being longwinded, but this card
>>will have to last me for some time now. $200 initial cost was not out of
>>my budget, another $200 may well be and I'd like to make a wise choice.
>>Thanks all

>> V

by **V \** » Tue, 19 Oct 2004 01:22:22

> I concur with the 9700 pro. If you are budget minded and want DX9, it should
> at least get you to the next generation of GPU's. I purchased mine new at
> $400+ for the All In Wonder and it plays every game I throw at it fine. Also
> the 9700 pro was the card that helped ATI to gain market share on Nvidia.
> The 9800pro is about 200.00 and not a huge leap above the 9700 pro. If you
> can find the 9700 pro new, you will have a card capable of a display
> comparable to the latest cards. Based on your system specs I don't think the
> high line cards would be of much benefit to you as you may not be able to
> harness their potential given your CPU and RAM.

My CPU is the next upgrade slotted. If I get the 9800pro, it may a
little longer than thought, but when I do, the system will fall together
nicely. Ram, that's kind of a whenever I do kind of upgrade. It's not
such a high dollar purchase, so it's coming, just no idea when. I'll
look into the 9700 as well..........but I believe I am almost sold on
the 9800. Do 2g and 2.5g CPUs run that much better than the 1.5??
They're running around the $200 price point around here and I have been
looking. AMD of course.

V

by **Swerv** » Tue, 19 Oct 2004 05:16:03

> Personally, I have the 9800pro, and as soon as it's financially
> feasible, I'm switching back to nvidia...that said, for Canadian
> sites, check out ncix.com...that's where I buy all my components...

> Dave

I also have a 9800pro, and it's my first ATI card since before the
Voodoo 2 came out. After that I became a sworn nvidia fanboy, owning a
GeForce DDR, GeForce 2 GTS, and GeForce 4 ti4200. I finally made the
jump to an ATI card after having issues with many different games (I
really got tired of changing drivers to play different games and have
them work right) and I haven't looked back since. Every single one of
my games work, they all look fantastic, and I get great framerates on
RBR, GTR, and F1C (and obviously GPL), not to mention Doom 3 and
Counter-Strike:Source. I don't seem going back to nvidia any time soon.

by **Swerv** » Tue, 19 Oct 2004 05:18:14

> Good point thanks. I maybe should have placed my specs here...DUH !!!
> Athlon XP 1700+ (1.5g) 512 ram DDr MSI KT4AV mobo

> Other than my CPU, pretty much everything else is brand new, more
> budget minded, but new none the less. I generally play F1c mods,
> CFS2, CFS3 (recent purchase) and both IL2s. So anything that can
> handle a full busy screen and flow like water is what I am after. I
> am starting to lean toward the 9800pro now.

> V

Heh, shoulda read this post before posting my last response.

I also play IL2:FB and AEP on a Radeon 9800 Pro, and get somewhere in
the 60fps range at 1280x1024 with full detail. The only drawback I
have with IL2 is that I stink horrifically, but the game itself works
great! ;)

by **V \** » Tue, 19 Oct 2004 06:15:21

No biggie. Opinions and ideas make the world go 'round. I as well suck
at IL2. It is a harder game than CFS2 for sure. I still am getting used
to actually HAVING to do an entire mission from take off to return in
IL2. Very enjoyable though, and the stunning realism......WOW !! I
CANNOT wait for my new vid card to play this one, and F1c mods as well.
Grabbing the mods that are my "must haves" as I type this.

V

by **alex** » Tue, 19 Oct 2004 08:57:16

Out of those cards 9800Pro is probably the best pick. Very good performance
and they keep popping out for 270-280 CDN here and there, older 9700Pro is
also a good pick if you can get it cheaper.

The main caveat is that if you plan to play OpenGL games (or if you need
OpenGL for any other purpose), you may be in trouble with those cards. For
OpenGL you'd need NVidia card, but right now it's a hard pick. The optimal
pick is probably 5900XT for 250-270 CDN. But soon they're supposed to
release 6600GT which is much faster than any of mentioned cards and is
supposed to retail for around 300 CDN (and no problems with OpenGL). They
actually already released PCI-E version, but you need AGP I suppose.
Probably it will also drop prices on other cards.

Alex.

by **Vintoo** » Tue, 19 Oct 2004 09:12:29

just make sure you get a pro card. pay the extra, it's worth it in the end.

Vitnook

>> I concur with the 9700 pro. If you are budget minded and want DX9, it
>> should at least get you to the next generation of GPU's. I purchased mine
>> new at $400+ for the All In Wonder and it plays every game I throw at it
>> fine. Also the 9700 pro was the card that helped ATI to gain market share
>> on Nvidia. The 9800pro is about 200.00 and not a huge leap above the 9700
>> pro. If you can find the 9700 pro new, you will have a card capable of a
>> display comparable to the latest cards. Based on your system specs I
>> don't think the high line cards would be of much benefit to you as you
>> may not be able to harness their potential given your CPU and RAM.

> My CPU is the next upgrade slotted. If I get the 9800pro, it may a little
> longer than thought, but when I do, the system will fall together nicely.
> Ram, that's kind of a whenever I do kind of upgrade. It's not such a high
> dollar purchase, so it's coming, just no idea when. I'll look into the
> 9700 as well..........but I believe I am almost sold on the 9800. Do 2g
> and 2.5g CPUs run that much better than the 1.5?? They're running around
> the $200 price point around here and I have been looking. AMD of course.

> V

rec.autos.simulators

ATI vid card feedback please.

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ATI vid card feedback please.