9800 Pro vs. FX5900 XT

[Azarin]

Yet another request for advice on which card to upgrade to...

My current specs are as follows:

P4 2.53 GHz
1GB DDR 2700 RAM
Geforce 4 Ti4400 w/ 128 MB

I've been toying with the idea of upgrading, to either the Radeon 9800 Pro or the FX5900XT. Anyone willing to offer up some opinions as to which direction I should go? Or should I even bother upgrading at all? Also, assuming that I do upgrade, is it worth spending the extra cash on the 256 MB card (in either flavor)?

Thanks in advance for any replies. 🙂

 

[Regs]

Considering the FX's lack luster shader performance with driver optimizations up the Wa-Zoo, I would get the 9800p. Do you need to upgrade? I don't know, do you want more performance?

 

[GeneralGrievous]

9800 p. $180 at bestbuy after MIR.

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: GeneralGrievous
9800 p. $180 at bestbuy after MIR.

Tough to beat that.

The 9800Pro is marginally (I'd say around 10%, less in some tests, from what I've seen) faster than the 5900XT across the board (with the exception of a few OpenGL games that just run poorly on ATI in general), but blows it away on anything using SM2.0 shaders. Unless you're getting a great price on the 5900XT, or know that the card you're getting is an incredible overclocker, I'd recommend the 9800Pro.

 

[Azarin]

Thanks for the tips, guys... I really do appreciate it!

Regs: I'm mostly interested in improving my framerate. I run most games at 1280x1024 without AA (if I can get away with it), or 1024x768 (if the 1280 mode is too sluggish). I'm currently playing a lot of City of Heroes, and @ 1280x1024, I see an heavy dip in framerates when a lot of stuff is happening on screen (as low as 10-12 fps, according to fraps). What I'm mainly interested in is a card that will yield at least 20-30 fps consistently in CoH (@ 1280x1024) , or any similar game.

Thanks again!

 

[Regs]

shader performance is one of many ways that helps framerate. I don't know about your particular game though. But I do know a 9800pro will help in any respect.

 

[Azarin]

Again.. thanks for all the replies, folks.

I have two last questions (I promise!):

1. Assuming that I go with the 9800 Pro, is it worth the extra $100 to buy the 256MB version (over the 128MB version)? Will the extra 128 MB make a big difference in framterate?

2. Which drivers should I use? I've heard a lot about the 3rd party Omega drivers. Should I use those, or should I stick with the latest Catalyst drivers?

Thanks again. You guys rule 🙂

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: Azarin
Again.. thanks for all the replies, folks.

I have two last questions (I promise!):

1. Assuming that I go with the 9800 Pro, is it worth the extra $100 to buy the 256MB version (over the 128MB version)? Will the extra 128 MB make a big difference in framterate?

No, and no. It only really helps at 1600x1200 with AA and AF enabled -- and at those settings, the card is too slow to really use it.

2. Which drivers should I use? I've heard a lot about the 3rd party Omega drivers. Should I use those, or should I stick with the latest Catalyst drivers?

I use the Cats. I've heard good things about the Omega drivers, and maybe I'll give them a shot sometime. The differences are not enormous.

I'm also hooked on CoH, and my 9800Pro runs it like a champ at 1280x1024 w/AA and AF on (it does get a bit choppy in wide-open environments with tons of other characters around, but that happens pretty rarely).

 

[Delorian]

I use the omegas just for softmodding purposes but I've heard they are optimized better than the Cats drivers and both are much better than the DNA drivers. Unless you are into tweaking and taking chances with possible instability (run flawlessly on my system) then I'd stick with the cats. Also 256MB is useless. At points it is worse than the 128MB just as Matthias pointed out. Save your money!