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5950 Ultra V/S 9800XT

L

LokiX

Member
I was looking on neweggs site (newegg kicks a$$ BTW) for a new video card. Comparing the 5950U to the 9800XT. Seeing as that prices on these things go from mid $300 to mid to high $400 i just picked Asus to compare for this question.

Why would the ATI gpu based card cost more when it has slower core and mem speed? With that said is the performance of these cards worth the upgrade over a cheaper card or even my current GeForce Ti-4600?

ASUS 5950 Ultra $397.00:
Chipset/Core Speed: nVIDIA GeForce FX5950ULTRA/475MHz
Memory/Effective Speed: 256MB DDR/950MHz

ASUS 9800XT 437.00:
Chipset/Core Speed: ATI RADEON 9800XT/412MHz
Memory/Effective Speed: 256MB DDR/730MHz

Thanks for the help.
 
Based solely on benchmarks I'd go with the ATIs; the performance is very similar until you turn on aa/af (which really does help games look a lot better), when the ATIs really pull ahead. Also a 9800pro is as low as $206 at Newegg and 90% of the performance of the XT. If you wait a month or two, prices on the XTs should drop when the new cards are released however.
 
Originally posted by: Gurck
Based solely on benchmarks I'd go with the ATIs; the performance is very similar until you turn on aa/af (which really does help games look a lot better), when the ATIs really pull ahead. Also a 9800pro is as low as $206 at Newegg and 90% of the performance of the XT. If you wait a month or two, prices on the XTs should drop when the new cards are released however.
Click to expand...

ugh.. another ati vs nv thread with BS in it? ok, i'll bite (stupid me, but i'm bored). umm.. BS. for instance, 5950 clearly wins with 4xaa/8xaf in EVERY RESOLUTION in Nascar 2003. same with splinter cell. that's at stock clock speeds, and nv's are highly overclockable (many ppl achieve clock speeds of 500/1000 and higher)...

it depends on the game (and perhaps whether nv specific optimizations were implemented?), but they both win their fair share of benchmarks (even at hi res w/ aa & af turned on). the bottom line is that both cards have more than enough horsepower to crank up the resolution and AA in current games without suffering from unplayable frame rates. far cry is perhaps the only exception at this time.

nv's achilles heel is PS2.0 shaders. this is where ati is clearly superior. while i haven't found a clear way to bench far cry, i would guess with current drivers ati would have a 10-20% higher framerate across most resolutions based on having played if on both architectures, and perhaps even more in areas of high PS2.0 usage.

at $210, i do agree with Gurck that the 9800pro has alot more bang for the buck than either of these anyway. imo it doesn't make much sense at this point to spend more than that with new cards a month away.


 
Benchmarks I've seen, the ATIs were clear winners, the 9800pro and even the 9600xt on one or two games were beating out the 5950 ultra with 4aa/8af. Without aa/af, the cards matched up pretty well. Granted though, that's THG.. I'm definitely no fanboy, I have a 4600 currently and have argued against the hassle of ATI drivers. I just hate that the 4600 does such a bad job of aa/af because imo it makes a world of difference in games and I want my next video card to do a better job of it. I'd buy the 9800pro if I were buying a video card right now.
 
Neither is worth the money.

Get a 128MB card like a regular 9800pro for around $210 or even a 5900XT for around $180.
 
9800XT > 5950U for 3D game playing. Drivers, OS support, and multi-monitor features are another story, but both cards are relatively closer in those regards (IMO, and I don't use multi monitors or Linux, so I may be placing less emphasis on these features where nVidia shines).

The problem is, neither are worth buying right now, as much (at least 2x) faster cards are literally just around the corner (two to six weeks away). As Anand said in his blog, now's not a good time to buy a high-end card--wait for NV40/R420.

If you must buy now, I don't think you can go too wrong with a $210 Sapphire 9800 Pro at NewEgg. Still, Derek (Wilson, of Anandtech) thinks nV will introduce not just the high-end NV40 but a top-to-bottom line-up on April 13th (with retail availability to follow, as usual, though perhaps sooner than most expect), so nV may in fact release a solid 9800P competitor at the $300 mark.
 
Youre gonna spend $350+ on a graphics card today when we are 12 days from the launch for a far far superior product?
 
buying a video card at this point with pci express and such on the way out shortly makes little if any sense. either wait til the next line of faster cards come out to either grab a new card or grab an 8x agp card at lower prices. buying now just doesnt make economical sense 😕
 
Just wait for NV40\R420 launches and see what comes out of that situation. You'll either get a next-gen card for a little more, or a current card for less.
 
Originally posted by: Acanthus
Youre gonna spend $350+ on a graphics card today when we are 12 days from the launch for a far far superior product?
Click to expand...

Never understanded this....


*edit* But he could wait a little longer.... 😀
 
The 9800XT is superior but with the impending releases of newer cards from both vendors, buying it now is silly. Wait a little.
 
well, i dont see myself having a mbd that will support pci express anytime soon. So... i need a better card than my 4600 and it has to be agp. So, i guess what i am hearing is wait for about another 3 weeks, and then get a 5950 or 9800xt? Or even a 9800pro. I have been using the same card for a couple of years now so i am sure if i get whats hot now, i'll be good for a couple more. I dont use aa/af at all right now because i dont understand it to well, so i dont know if thats even a factor for me or not. I just want a fast and cool running card. Thanks for all the input. Keep it up.

BTW, this wasnt meant to turn into a NV/ATI battle.
 
If you're gonna spend $400 on a 9800xt or 5950u, you're crazy, they are releasing next-gen cards soon that ARE AGP compliant. The PCI-E versions are comming later. Just wait, and you'll be a lot happier. If you spend that kind of money, and then you see the supposed double performance of the new cards, you'll be hating yourself every day 😉 So my advice, stick with what you've got, wait, and be amazed, either ATI or nVidia is gaurenteed to turn out a winner, so you're pretty much gaurenteed a top-of-the-line card.

EDIT: and BTW, you should SERIOUSLY think about upgrading your CPU first, that 1800+ would absolutely smuther a newer video card. You would be crippling it to the extreme. If your mobo supports it, you can et a Barton 2500+ for $80 bucks off of newegg.com
 
Originally posted by: Gurck
Benchmarks I've seen, the ATIs were clear winners, the 9800pro and even the 9600xt on one or two games were beating out the 5950 ultra with 4aa/8af. Without aa/af, the cards matched up pretty well. Granted though, that's THG.. I'm definitely no fanboy, I have a 4600 currently and have argued against the hassle of ATI drivers. I just hate that the 4600 does such a bad job of aa/af because imo it makes a world of difference in games and I want my next video card to do a better job of it. I'd buy the 9800pro if I were buying a video card right now.
Click to expand...

It all depends on where your looking Gurck. Its all relative. And that is something no one can dispute.
To the OP, I cant even believe you are considering buying a card just 2 weeks before the curtain goes up for the new cards. True that the NV cards wont be available at retail shelves until May, but buying ANYthing right now is just not good common sense. Wait it out, prices can only drop.

 
Originally posted by: Acanthus
Youre gonna spend $350+ on a graphics card today when we are 12 days from the launch for a far far superior product?
Click to expand...

Yeah! In 12 days you can drool over nVidia's powerpoint slides and marketing spin so that in 4-8 weeks you might actually see them start selling them.
 
LokiX, ATi's and nV's next generation will be twice as fast as the 9800XT/5950U and will be AGP.

Don't forget to upgrade to an Athlon XP(-Mobile, if you want a cooler or more overclockable CPU) 2400+ or higher while you're at it, or your relatively slow 1800+ will choke your new card.
 
Yea i plan on upgrading my entire system. i am just doing the pieces that i can still use with my old one first. i want an XP 3200+ and an Abit NF7-s mobo. no oc'ing for me. too much work. i dont have time to learn about all that.
 
Originally posted by: LokiX
Yea i plan on upgrading my entire system. i am just doing the pieces that i can still use with my old one first. i want an XP 3200+ and an Abit NF7-s mobo. no oc'ing for me. too much work. i dont have time to learn about all that.
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If you're going to go all out, get an Athlon64.
 
Look at DFI boards they stole a copy really good dev's from ABit enough so that the boards are just a little bit nicer 🙂
 
sounds like you got a big bugdet for upgrading. yeah i'd hold out for the new cards before you plop $400 bucks for a video card. i'd also go for an athlon 64 if you're going all out for a cpu. the 3200+ is going for $210 right now at newegg but if you look at most of the chips in the athlon 64 line they're in the same price range starting with the athlon 64 3000+ at $214 up to the athlon 64 3200+ at $282. you'll get a faster cpu albeit you'll need a new motherboard as well.
 
Because Nvidia FX series is premature cards they dont preform even 50% as same @ DirectX 9 games as ATI ones and also core speed dont count here as Intel have 3+ GHz and amd have 2+ GHz cpus but they work almost same.
Also nvidia predorm not well in other games to therefore they cheat with drivers and stuff but i dont want to start flame wars just read www.tomshardware.com if u need answers.
 
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