9700 non pro: a look at value

[Minjin]

I'm about to upgrade my video card from a gf2 gts-v on an xp1700+ system and I have it pretty much narrowed down to the 9500 pro and the plain jane 9700. Yes, I know that there 5 gazillion posts asking for help in deciding on a video card, but NOONE is talking about plain 9700s. They seem to be pretty hard to find and every review either talks about the 9500 pro or the 9700 pro.

I'm not particularly interested in purchasing a 9500 non pro to attempt the mods to make them into the faster cards. I'd rather just buy the faster card when it doesn't cost much more and then oc that. To each his own, but this route is not one I will choose (just heading you guys off at the pass before you recommend 9500 non pro over my other choices).

So, my question is thus. Using newegg as an example, the 9500 pro oem (non ati built) is 180 bucks and the 9700 non pro (non ati built because there apparently won't be any real ati 9700s) oem is 230 bucks. The 9700 is closer in performance to the 9700 pro and closer in price to the 9500 pro....Is it worth the extra 50 bucks?

Thanks in advance for any insight you guys can give me.

Mark

 

[stryder2929]

well if u dont want to waste time with the mods i wouldnt say no to the 9700 reg. i think it'll do fine with your rig

 

[Killrose]

The 9700 non-pro is definately better than the 9500 pro, and is a sure thing rather than trying the 9500 to 9700 hack, which is iffy. If you have the money, and the performance level of the 9700 non-pro is what your after, then get it.

Oh, and welcome to the AT Forums.

 

[sash1]

if you don't want to waste the $50, then get the 9500pro. I'm not saying get it then mod it, but rather, if you can live with a gts-v, I'm pretty sure you won't really be needing more than the 9500pro will offer, and you will save $50. Just IMO, and "Oh, and welcome to the AT Forums."

~Aunix

 

[bunnyfubbles]

$50 get you the ability to crank up FSAA and AA without taking a performance hit compared to the 9500 Pro. Sure, the 9500 Pro might be able to hand it well, but the memory bandwidth is significantly less than the 9700. The 9700 will surely last longer than the 9500 Pro. If you need a new card now and don't plan on upgrading for awhile, the 9700 is perfect. If you don't need a card now, then I'd say you might want to wait as there are bound to be some price drops with the GeForce FX looming around the corner.

 

[NeBaWONG]

i've always thought of the 9700 as the Geforce4 Ti 4400 and the 9500pro as the Geforce4 Ti 4200... i think the 9500pro will eat up the sales of the 9700. I would just get a 9500 pro.... but then again i am no longer a hard core gamer.

 

[CJP]

I don't know if you've read it, but here is a review of a Radeon 9700 non-pro.

 

[jiffylube1024]

I'd say it's well worth the extra $50 (and the big time savings on hassles if the 9500/Pro hack/overclock doesn't work out).

The 9700 is just a lower clock speed 9700 Pro, that's it. It still has the 256-bit memory bus, which is the most important feature missing in the 9500 Pro, and a big reason why the 9500 Pro is slower. Sure, you can potentially enable this 256-bit bus on the other cards, but it's iffy, and you won't be attempting this (and I wouldn't either, personally - there's too low a success rate for my liking!).

With the 9700, you should be able to get the core and memory overclocked to close to 9700 Pro stock levels. It's a safe choice, and if I didn't have a GF4, I'd probably look into getting one myself. So, I say go for the 9700 all the way. You won't be disappointed!

Oh yeah, and seriously think of upgrading your CPU. If your motherboard can take Thoroughbred CPU's (most KT266A and above ones can take at least low-end tbreds) then get like the 1700+ tbred for ~$60, and you can easily o/c it to 1.8-1.9 GHz (~2200+). That, combined with your video card will give you a HUGE speed bump! Oh yeah the tbreds are multiplier unlocked up to 12.5 also, so you won't have to up the FSB, just the multiplier ratio (it's an EASY o/c).

 

[toastyghost]

It has been reported that a lot of the newer batches of 9700 NP's even have the same 2.8ns memory chips as their more expensive cousins, meaning the hardware of the two cards is virtually identical with the possible exclusion of a "binned" core. What I'm planning on doing is getting a 9700 NP and a bad-ass cooling solution, flashing the firmware and o/c-ing it like hell. I'm currently leaning toward OCSystem's combined core/mem aluminum cooler because it is the same as what comes stock on the Tyan Tachyon 9700 Pro. According to HardOCP, the Tachyon Pro is the most o/c-able of the 9700 family, and that's with freaking THERMAL TAPE as an interface material; I'll be using Arctic Silver. I can do this for about $250 so unless I find a DAMN good deal on a 9700 Pro in about the next week, this is the route I'll be going. There is also the combination of the Crystal Orb and Tweakmonster chromed copper memory sinks, but that will get a bit pricey. You need both kinds of Arctic Silver (original for the core and adhesive for memory) and the Tweakmonster sinks are about $30 a set. If I had that cash to drop on a video card I would just get a 9700 Pro and add the fun cooling stuff later.

Also, here is my $0.02 on what jiffylube said about system overclocking: it's actually better performance-wise to increase the FSB and lower the multiplier. I'm running a Tbred 1700+ @400FSB but close to stock clock w/ Corsair XMS3200 C2 @5-2-2-2 and I have to say that synchronous 400Mhz operation of cpu/mem is MUCH better than 266/400 even though the cpu is technically not overclocked. The same number of cycles with better memory bandwidth is much faster. (This concept is actually demonstrated by the 9700's 256-bit mem bus raping everything else on the market.)