9700 gold video card??

[frustrated2]

Ok I have been out of the computer loop for a while now and am ready to upgrade my video card. I have found out that ATI has risen to the for front and is the most bang for the buck.

I have an early 1.4 P4 that runs at 1680 everyday I want to match a video card to this setup. In other words I want the most bang for my buck. I don't intend on doing a full upgrade for awhile as this system runs to stable I hate to mess with it. I may in the future pick up the fastest 423 chip if the prices come down enough and use the this board until it is entirely obsolete. Anyway I need a new video card.

I have been told the ATI 9500 Pro is most bang for the buck but after reading Tom's hardware review it seems the 9700 kills it. My question is what is a 9700 gold?? I found one for a few dollars more than the 9500 pro and this seems to be the most bang for the buck. Here is the link I have for it:

9700 gold Link

I am not up to speed on internet retailers any longer so if this is a scam let me know or tell me where you would buy it from.

 

[TheWart]

Actually, with your system, I would go with the 9500 Pro. It can be gotten for like 180 last time I checked, and now that it can be OC'd, it can go about as fast as the 9700 (non-pro) in a lot of situations. I would reccomend this path because you will be severely CPU limited with a 9700. I am CPU limited and I have a 2000+.

So, if I were you, I would go with the 9500 Pro, as I think it offers the best bang for the buck for your system.

 

[frustrated2]

Looks like that might be the way to go. I don't really see any need to upgrade my motherboard and cpu at this time as it does everything just fine. Heck I am only running a geforce 2 32 meg video card now.

I have had such good luck with this system I haven't even bothered keeping up with computer components

 

[Thor86]

Originally posted by: frustrated2
Looks like that might be the way to go. I don't really see any need to upgrade my motherboard and cpu at this time as it does everything just fine. Heck I am only running a geforce 2 32 meg video card now.

I have had such good luck with this system I haven't even bothered keeping up with computer components

My god! A Geforce 2 to a Radeon 9500? Prepare thyself for graphic nirvosa.

 

[frustrated2]

Ya think?? Really my card does ok but things would be nicer at a better resolution and with all the eye candy turned on.

 

[Lizardman]

I went from a geforce 2 to a r8500 and I was totaly blow away by the huge difference. Every thing just looked sooo nice.

 

[frustrated2]

I think I am going to go for it.

Being around here again makes me want a new motherboard and processor

 

[filmore crashcart]

Careful frustrated2, I layed off AT for 6 months and didn't give my computer a second thought...... in this last month, I've changed out motherboard, ram, processor, power supply, and speakers. Now after reading this thread and another thread related to this in the Hardware section, I've just ordered the PowerColor 9700 pro card from Googlegear. I think after that card gets here, I'll back off from here for another 6 months.

 

[GtPrOjEcTX]

Originally posted by: filmore crashcart
Careful frustrated2, I layed off AT for 6 months and didn't give my computer a second thought...... in this last month, I've changed out motherboard, ram, processor, power supply, and speakers. Now after reading this thread and another thread related to this in the Hardware section, I've just ordered the PowerColor 9700 pro card from Googlegear. I think after that card gets here, I'll back off from here for another 6 months.

step away from your computer

 

[ChuaChua]

oooooh. im upgrading from a TNT2 m64/m64pro to a radeon 9500pro in a few days or week.
finally. my unreal2k3 fps was about 12fps at the lowest setting. hehe

 

[clicknext]

Yeah, seeing all these people with their leet rigs really makes you want your own.

 

[tenoc]

frustrated2, the card in your link is a 9700 non-pro at not a bad price.

It will be quicker than a 9500Pro and MAY o/c to 9700Pro speeds.

 

[ProviaFan]

Originally posted by: clicknext
Yeah, seeing all these people with their leet rigs really makes you want your own.

Yea. I'm having to resist the terrible temptation to upgrade. It's worse around Christmas when everybody else is getting many more upgrades than normal, and although I do have enough money to get a Radeon 9700 Pro right now (which I would love), I should upgrade my CPU, motherboard, RAM, hard disk, power supply, cd writer, and a few other things first to avoid putting the Radeon on a terribly bottlenecked system - and I don't have enough money to do that plus get the R9700Pro.

 

[frustrated2]

Yea I am getting bitten really hard with the upgrade bug the last few days. The only thing other than my video card that really needs upgrading are my hardrives.

My cpu and motherboard run fine they could just be a bit faster is all

 

[frustrated2]

Originally posted by: clicknext
Yeah, seeing all these people with their leet rigs really makes you want your own.

Funny thing is this was an "leet" rig when I quit hanging around here Now its just eletronic scrap by todays standards

 

[deeznuts]

i just got a 9700 non-pro from newegg (sapphire atlantis) for $250. haven't installed it yet, but it did come with samsung K4D26323RA-GC2A chips which, according to samsung's website, says it is rated at up to 350 Mhz. isn't this 2.8 ns ram? hopefully it can oc well.

 

Originally posted by: frustrated2

Originally posted by: clicknext
Yeah, seeing all these people with their leet rigs really makes you want your own.

Funny thing is this was an "leet" rig when I quit hanging around here Now its just eletronic scrap by todays standards

no need to leave. OT usually has entertianment. I can resist the upgrading part now. I just say to mysely "in 4 years, when I get my first job, my rig will be sooo leet that when you look leet up in the dictionary, you will see my system specs."

 

[gregor7777]

Best way to keep up without the big hit on pocket change:

1) Buy, play for 4-5 months, sell on FS/FT forums, and buy newer.

- This way you pay only about 20% of total cost after initial investment every time you upgrade in the future.

2) Keep a keen eye on the Hot Deals forum.

- Many good deals this way cometh.

3) Build computers for friends and family.

- This way you can pawn off your 4-5 month old hardware which is still perfectly up to date and use their money for upgrades to your system. I just built a system for a freind and gave him my 1800+ and ordered a 2100+ for myself. Also, gave him my Radeon 8500 and bought a 9500 Pro. He's happy, I'm happy. I just don't make any money off of them (I would feel bad anyway) and my system is kept pretty up to date. You usually won't get bleeding edge, but pretty close.

This is how I haven't spent a dime in 2 years.

 

[frustrated2]

I didn't necessarly leave I just didn't have any use for computer technology at that time I had the as good as I needed. I now just have a reason to upgrade.

I didn't know that everything I knew then would mean nothing now

 

[frustrated2]

I was constantly upgrading all the time but I ran out of the desire to bother.

When I built this system, I was so happy with it, I didn't want to even look at new components.

Really the only thing that wasn't cutting edge at the time was the video card and I think it was because they had just came out with the geforce 3 and they were of course $400 or something outrageous. My computer still plays the older games like Q3 great I would just like to turn a bit more eye candy on Plus I am board with my rig

P4 computers get boring after while cause all they do is run

With that said had my first problem with this rig the other day and had to reload my OS It lasted 2 years plus and now it still doesn't work right even after a format C:

 

[SFang]

With that said had my first problem with this rig the other day and had to reload my OS It lasted 2 years plus and now it still doesn't work right even after a format C:

WinME is the worst OS I ever used, it has loads of problems. Upgrade to WinXP, that is the first step for you to fully utilize your Radeon 9700.

I just sold one of my old computer with the same video card you have -- Creative Labs Annihilator 2 (Geforce 2), can't believe I spent almost $300 on it two years ago. Don't laugh, I also spent $350 on two Mushkin 128MB PC133 RAMs too at that time. However, I never stopped upgrading my computer every few months.

 

[kadajawi]

a well... hdd space, you never get enough (got nearly 100 gigs... and my hdd is nearly full again :| )... but how shall I feel when browsing these forums? Everyone having his leet sys specs in the signature and posting about his newest aquisitions and how slow his Radeon 8500 was and all... :| :| :|
I'm still running a...
Celeron 366@458
Gigabyte BX-C (prolly one of the worst BX boards... EVER! Not even temp sensors or Tulatin support!!!)
384 MB RAM
GF2MX (damn... 150? when I bought it)
4xCD writer (Teac)
Seagate Barracuda 13.6 ATA
IBM 120GXP 80 GB
TV card
guess its time to upgrade... :-/

Oh... forgot to mention: Although my system may be damn slow... its ROCK STABLE! Been running for 45 now... days! With frequent use including gaming, surfing, surfing surfing, encoding all sort of stuff, vid capping, defragmenting etc. while the CPU is running at 100% all the time (Folding@Home/D2OL).

 

[frustrated2]

I really like win ME I was on a 2 year old install until a virus got me a few days ago (still don't know how I got the virus have norton 2003).

I never liked 98 or SE they game me fits (although I attribute that to my first generation athlon I had)

I only paid $150 for my geforce2 got it from dream something or other on this forum.

I suppose you are right about the hdd space you will always find ways to fill it up


Now a celeron 366 that is old I thought I was behind

 

[kadajawi]

always use LiveUpdate and scan your hdd once in a while

Heh, indeed my celeron is somewhat... uh, old But anyway it runs WinXP and all fine... just Paint Shop Pro and Photoshop are a bit slow, Lame and MPC encoding goes on forever, same with video encoding, sometimes I have to wait for the box etc Now give me one your "old" computers! I'm sure its still faster than mine

 

[frustrated2]

Actually my mom has one of my sisters old computers and its a pentium 1 133. Now that is slow takes about a week to do anything

It works good for surfing the net and that is all she uses it for.

I let liveupdate run on its own and do scan my harddrives from time to time.


I am wondering if you can get a virus from a game server?? I swear that is where I got it from as my computer crashed while gaming and never worked right after that.