4600 vs 9700 non-pro

[Vads]

Hi there Techies!

I need your advice/help! Next weekend I'm planning on upgrading my computer, replacing my memory, cpu, mobo and videocard. I'm going for 512 Mb PC2700 memory and an Intel 2,53 533 Mhz processor.

But I'm still doubting about the videocard: should I buy a Geforce 4 Ti4600 128 Mb OR a ATI Radeon 9700 non-pro. My budget for the videocard is max 285 euro's (= $285).

If I choose the Geforce, I'm going for the ASUS P4PE mobo. But if I go for the 9700, I want a mobo that supports AGP 8x, so probably it's going to be the ECS L4S8A.

So everything is based on the videocard: which one should I go for?! My system is mostly ment for gaming, so I go for 3D perfomance. 9700 PRO is out of my budget, but is the 9700 a worthy adversary of the Geforce 4600?!

I also read something about the 9700 non-pro being possible to tweak by software onto a 9700 PRO?! Is this a worthy consideration to go for the 9700 non-PRO?!

Or should I go for certainty and choose the 4600?!

Your advice really matters in my final decission! Thanks,

Vitor

 

[KidChaos]

I would get the 9700 Non-Pro, two 256MB (at least DDR333, two sticks in order to benefit from DualDDR) sticks of memory and the Gigabyte 8SQ800 motherboard. The motherboard you recieve may not have Hyperthreading support by default, but I believe there is a BIOS that enables it. 8SQ800 is currently out-of-stock at MicroWarehouse but you can still back order it (or whatever it's called).

is the 9700 a worthy adversary of the Geforce 4600?!

Yes. 9700 Non-Pro is better than Ti 4600.

I also read something about the 9700 non-pro being possible to tweak by software onto a 9700 PRO?!

I think this is possible. May want to check out Rage3D for more info on ATi Cards.

 

[CJP]

After you read about it at Rage3d you can get the necessary files here...

files

 

[Vads]

Hi Kidkaos, I was planning on getting one piece of 512 Mb, instead of two pieces of 256 Mb. Never heard of this benefit from DualDDR; could you please explain it to me?!

 

[KidChaos]

DualDDR theoretically doubles memory bandwidth. Enough to supply the heavy bandwidth needs of the Pentium4 Northwood. In short, DualDDR is your friend.