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9700 Pro or 9600 Pro...final answer??

S

Stradx

Junior Member
I need to purchase a new video card in about 2 weeks and have narrowed it down to either a Saphire 9600 Pro OEM for ~$155 or the option of buying a new ATI 9700 Pro rev 3.0 for ~$205. My question is this, what video card would make the most sense $$ wise and offer the best performance for current and future games.

My system is a Pentium 4 3.2c running on an 875 chipset w/ 512 megs of ram.

(The one thing that makes me wonder is if the 9700Pro will really be that much more than a 9600 Pro oc'd or otherwise)

Thanks for the advice
 
If you want the best performance for future games, wait for those games to come out and then get the card with the best bang for the buck then. Right now, a 9800 non-pro (if you can find one) or a 9700 Pro seems the most future proof IMO.
 
🙂 9700 non pro All the way ...

By the way did you know the ATI 9500 Pro .. is marginally faster then the 9600 Pro ... and the 9700 non pro is faster then the 9500 Pro ... so its an easy choice the 9700 Pro is allot faster not just a little

Unless money is a problem ! the 9700 is worth that extra bit.

9800 non Pro would be better but it does cost more!
 
Originally posted by: Stradx
I need to purchase a new video card in about 2 weeks and have narrowed it down to either a Saphire 9600 Pro OEM for ~$155 or the option of buying a new ATI 9700 Pro rev 3.0 for ~$205. My question is this, what video card would make the most sense $$ wise and offer the best performance for current and future games.

My system is a Pentium 4 3.2c running on an 875 chipset w/ 512 megs of ram.

(The one thing that makes me wonder is if the 9700Pro will really be that much more than a 9600 Pro oc'd or otherwise)

Thanks for the advice
Click to expand...


i think it is the 9700 NON pro for $250, never seen a pro for that low. still a good price for a non pro though
 
Quote from firingsquad review:

At $300 MSRP, the RADEON 9800 is a bit on the high side, but fortunately street prices are hovering in the sub-$250 price range. At this price point, there?s really nothing that can touch the RADEON 9800. The RADEON 9700 is an option, but remember that it?s based on older technology and runs slower than the RADEON 9800Pro. The RADEON 9700 PRO is ever so slightly faster than the RADEON 9800, but the difference is so small you?d have to run benchmarks to see it.

Now will you see a major difference between a 9700pro and a 9600 pro overclocked. If you crank up the resolution and enable AA and AF at high resolutions (+1024 x 768) then yes you will see a big difference

 
All great suggestions, here's one more. Get the 9800se and mod it. Open up the other 4 pipelines and OC the mem. Bam, you've got a 9800pro for around 180$~. Granted success rates on the mod aren't known just yet, but I've been reading and talking in other threads and this is one of the best bang for bucks you can find. But I also have to concur with MonkeyDriveExpress. Unless your video performance is lacking in DX8 games out right now, I would hold off on getting the new card. The way they keep pushing back DX9 games like HL2 and DoomIII, you may end up saving money and getting a better card a few more months down the road.
 
Originally posted by: shady06

I think it is the 9700 NON pro for $250, never seen a pro for that low. still a good price for a non pro though
Click to expand...

Actually it is a 9700 Pro 😉

A friend of mine bought the last one an online store had a few months ago as well as a 9700 Pro AIW for 2 systems of his. He ended up not installing the 9700 Pro as he got a FX5900 for his birthday and never got around to selling the 9700. So its a pretty much brand new 9700 Pro for $205.

Originally posted by: tallman45

Now will you see a major difference between a 9700pro and a 9600 pro overclocked. If you crank up the resolution and enable AA and AF at high resolutions (+1024 x 768) then yes you will see a big difference
Click to expand...

Thats what I was thinking but the HL2 benchmarks here at anand had me wondering wether or not I'd really notice the difference. In directx8 and I guess even in the new AquaMark3 benches it looks like the 9700/9800s were 40-45% faster but I was suprised that the 9600 was so close to the 9700/9800 in a few HL2 tests.

I do suppose that those FPS arent a representation of the whole game so maybe I shouldnt trust the numbers that much.

Any remarks?
 
My remark is that a 9700P for $200 is a great deal, even now. The 9700P is definitely worth $50 over a 9600P, particularly for newer games.
 
If it's a 9700 Pro for ~$200 take it and run around screaming like a little girl. If you don't take it, give me your friend's number and I'll buy it off him.
 
Vibe Computers has a Sapphire OEM 9800 Non Pro for $355 Canadian, about $260 American. It's in vancouver Canada so I am not sure how good of a deal it will be as there are annoying taxes you have to pay if you ship it across the border.
 
Originally posted by: Stradx
Originally posted by: shady06

I think it is the 9700 NON pro for $250, never seen a pro for that low. still a good price for a non pro though
Click to expand...

Actually it is a 9700 Pro 😉

A friend of mine bought the last one an online store had a few months ago as well as a 9700 Pro AIW for 2 systems of his. He ended up not installing the 9700 Pro as he got a FX5900 for his birthday and never got around to selling the 9700. So its a pretty much brand new 9700 Pro for $205.

Originally posted by: tallman45

Now will you see a major difference between a 9700pro and a 9600 pro overclocked. If you crank up the resolution and enable AA and AF at high resolutions (+1024 x 768) then yes you will see a big difference
Click to expand...

Thats what I was thinking but the HL2 benchmarks here at anand had me wondering wether or not I'd really notice the difference. In directx8 and I guess even in the new AquaMark3 benches it looks like the 9700/9800s were 40-45% faster but I was suprised that the 9600 was so close to the 9700/9800 in a few HL2 tests.

I do suppose that those FPS arent a representation of the whole game so maybe I shouldnt trust the numbers that much.

Any remarks?
Click to expand...


good thing for you your friend didn't read the Anandtech or hardocp benchmarks of the 5900 🙂

pure FPS isn't representative of the game that much. Think about the AA/AF you can run with the 9700pro that the 9600pro would likely choke on.
 
what is IAA and AF? How DO i crank it up to high resolution? Is this option in ati cpanel or advance control? I do also have a 9700 pro , bought it from a guy here! Just got it a week ago? thanks
 
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