Anyone have good experiences with the 9700 yet?

[LarryJoe]

Personally, I have no loyalty whatsoever. I buy what works for me and the best products available. The only caveat is when I have had really bad experiences, then I boycott. Such is the case with ATI and Creative. There has to be more behind the product than the hardware alone.

I am sure I might have had some minor problems with my nVidia cards and maybe even some annoying one. But you know what? They have their sh!t together in terms of response and customer satisfaction. ATI and Creative are almost arrogant when it comes to addressing issues and developing drivers in real time. I want a stable system with components that do what they are supposed to do. ATI still dosen't have fully working drivers for the TV Wonder under XP and the same goes for Creative and the SBLive.

 

[DARRIN]

Anyone else notice how no one has posted here saying that they have the 9700 and have not had any problems.

 

[Moishe]

It might be because the cards are just appearing on pricewatch, or that this is one forum with a limited number of users, or even that nobody has had a good experience with the R9700 card.
I've never bought an ATi gaming card, but given their new promise to pay more attention to drivers and to the fact that Anandtech usually bashes cards/companies that suck (not much bad to say about the R9700), I'm one who is willing to give ATi the benefit of the doubt.

*note* I'm not buying any new video card until I see Anandtech's benchmarks of the NV30.

My bottom line is that i'm gonna give ATi the benefit of the doubt this time around.
They may just well be the next nVidia. I didn't think ATi would ever come out with a card that smoked anyone at anything, but they suprised me this time. It's well within ATi's best interest to pay attention to the drivers. They can see as well as we can that drivers are a HUGE percentage of their reputation after a release. They're not dumb. Maybe arrogant, but not dumb. If they get a clue and spend the time on the drivers they can turn around the bad rep.

I think they have just as good of a chance at succeeding as NVidia does. I've never seen any of these companies produce a vid card with a spotless record.

 

[DARRIN]

Don't get me wrong. If they come out with some awesome and stable drivers I'll be the first to whip out the Visa card but until then I'm a Nvidia man.

 

[bluemax]

Originally posted by: DARRIN
Anyone else notice how no one has posted here saying that they have the 9700 and have not had any problems.

How many people own one yet for crying out loud????
How many GF2MX owners are there?
Get the picture? Most people don't jump to $400(Retail) bleeding-edge unless they're fanatics with money to burn. Most people can't justify/afford such expenditures.

 

[jitspoe]

I'm getting one.

GeForce 1 to Radeon 9700... small jump (as is 400mhz to 2ghz). I'll be sure to post the results as soon as (if) I get everything working, or even if I don't get it to work, I'm sure I'll make plenty of posts. It's gonna be a good week or two before I get all the parts in. Finding a motherbord has been a hastle. : P

 

[DARRIN]

Thats a pretty good jump there jitspoe. Let us know how it goes.

 

[Chippy]

From the forums @ KC Beatdown

I got the Radeon 9700. Just as quick as I bought , am I going to return it.

The freaking ATI drivers...suck again. The display adapter is all screwed up and ATI Tech said they won't get it fixed for a few months.

I couldn't play Battlefield 1942, Medieval"Total War, SOF 2, WC3...and I basically gave up after those four....

=(

Another snip:

Don't belive me call them. 1-905-882-2626.

And no the Drivers were not installed incorrectly. I have been trouble shooting for the past 7 days with this. I went as far as to p-partition my drive and start fresh.

Tech support finally told me there have been some recorded display problems....two of which I reported were known allready. 1942 was the biggest reported problem to them. Thats when they said a driver update was not going to be out for awhile, because they were gathering info.

Ahh Well last time I buy an ATI product when it first comes out. I will stick with my Radeon 8500le for now.

It's possible problems like this that made me think twice about getting a 9700 PRO, but many hardware sites (like AnandTech, Etc,...) reported that the drivers were "Not nVidia-quality" but pretty damn good. I'm glad I left the card in the shrink-wrap so that I can return it tomorrow....

 

[Muadib]

Originally posted by: DARRIN
Anyone else notice how no one has posted here saying that they have the 9700 and have not had any problems.

You missed my post then. No problems here!! WC3 is outstanding!. I'll try Dungeon Siege & Max Payne this weekend.

 

[Bingo13]

Must have missed mine also. Except for the B1942 test issue on two systems I have not had any issues to date and this includes SMP systems. It only took Nvidia several driver releases to solve the NMI issues with SMP systems. I could rant the rest of the night about Nvidia driver issues over the past years. Repeat after me "Nvidia is not perfect". Every company has their issues but to say the 9700 is not a good card is rather stupid if you have not used one.

 

[WyteWatt]

Too bad no one is rich enough to buy like 10 to 20 ATI 9700 pro video cards and run it in every computer configration possible. Its always important to see hardware compatible to make sure nothing conflicts. Seems like sound cards and video cards conflict sometimes a lot. I am not talking about just ATI i am talking about NVidia video card too. But it would be nice to see results on this kind of test if possible. Anywhere from via chipset, intel chipset, sis chipset, nvidia chipset, older amd chipset, etc. Different sound cards and everything. I bet nvidia and ATI would show problems one way or another. Neither is perfect.

 

[Rand]

Originally posted by: bluemax
I wonder how many people remember the actual numbers. Sure, they speculate on how fast NV30 will be, but how about the number of good yields?
~10%
Yep. About 90% of the .13 NV30 chips are worthless hunks of silicon that simply don't work. We'll probably see some kind of GeForce5MX with those chips if they work at all.
Yes, NV30 will be great - but at these kinds of horrible yeilds, it's gonna' be WAY more expensive than the Radeon 9700 even at launch. And probably as unpredictable.....

10% yeilds... just what is 10% supposed to mean anyway, since when are yields measured in %'age?
10% functional silicon?
10% yielding at desired frequency?

In any case, even 10% yeilds should be easily more then adequate to cover the extremely low volume market segment the NV30 will be initially targeted at.

 

[bluemax]

10% yeilds... just what is 10% supposed to mean anyway, since when are yields measured in %'age?
10% functional silicon?
10% yielding at desired frequency?
In any case, even 10% yeilds should be easily more then adequate to cover the extremely low volume market segment the NV30 will be initially targeted at.

Yields have very often been measured in percentage - if not ALWAYS. You don't think that a 90% WASTE of silicon isn't going to affect the price of the unit and get passed on the the consumer?? You bet your bottom dollar it will!
nVidia is going to lose a lot of money because of the NV30 unless it can change the way it's producing them, or find a use for the chips that don't measure up.
A GF5[MX] may be their only saving grace, and that's only if the failed chips actually work as such (or at all.)

 

[Deeko]

First of all, you do NOT base the performance of my system based on 3DMark. 'I'm not spending the money for 900 more marks'....come on. What do you do, play 3DMark all day? Second of all, my benchmarks are on a 'virgin system' if you will. All factory settings/drivers. I did a little BIOS/driver tweaking, and I installed the latest 4-in-1's, my Q3 score is up 50 fps and my 3DMark is up 500 points. I still have to download the latest drivers for the 9700 and Audigy, and I know I can overclock this thing. And you said no one was having problems, you have selective memory, you don't WANT to like this card, you seem to have forgotten my post saying I had no problems. Just you wait, young one, when I am done update/tweaking, I will do a full benchmark suite, and you will learn.

 

[daywalker]

The Radeon9700 is ATI's first SERIOUS attempt on the market, its natural for it to have a number of problems. Got to admit it tho, the problems are far less when comparing with the previous generation of Radeon cards.

 

[Sunner]

Originally posted by: bluemax

10% yeilds... just what is 10% supposed to mean anyway, since when are yields measured in %'age?
10% functional silicon?
10% yielding at desired frequency?
In any case, even 10% yeilds should be easily more then adequate to cover the extremely low volume market segment the NV30 will be initially targeted at.

Yields have very often been measured in percentage - if not ALWAYS. You don't think that a 90% WASTE of silicon isn't going to affect the price of the unit and get passed on the the consumer?? You bet your bottom dollar it will!
nVidia is going to lose a lot of money because of the NV30 unless it can change the way it's producing them, or find a use for the chips that don't measure up.
A GF5[MX] may be their only saving grace, and that's only if the failed chips actually work as such (or at all.)

Rand is right, what does 90% say?
Not a whole lot.

Say nVidia is gonna sell the GeForce5(I know it wont be called GeForce, but you get my point), running at a 350 MHz core.
If a part "only" reaches 300 MHz, is that included in the 90%?

And besides, those numbers are pretty old, by the time nVidia reaches final silicon, it could be well above that, and like Rand said, NV30 will be targeted at a very very small segment of the market, it's not like they need to flood the market with them, thats what GF2 MX cards are for.

But of course it's gonna be hella expensive, noone's denying that.

 

[Moishe]

I think the R9700 will be a good card after the first driver update. Even the 8500 which is now considered to be a good stable card had driver problems.

Like I will always say, I only buy cards that will last me 2 years or more, cuz I ain't shellig out $300+ every other week for 10fps

I bought my V5-5500 the day it came out and so far it still works just fine in the games I play (Tac-ops and UT).

Since I'm considering switching games, I will need a new card, and a new system. So for ~$300 I want a card that wil last for 2 years. I think an R9700 will do the trick, and it keeps getting cheaper... ($333 now on pricewatch). The NV30 will last the 2 years as well, and I am very interested in seeing the benchmarks.

Price is key though. Those who are married and make an average income know what I mean. You single guys with good jobs just have no idea how lucky you are.

 

[WyteWatt]

No its not luck its the choose you make. Its a easy to know what choose to take. Single. Once you make the choose you can never go back. Once you have a kid your life is over. Too bad so sad. No ifs, ands, or buts about it.

 

[lobadobadingdong]

Text

begining yeilds on the 9700 were only 11% so that info has no difference

 

[DARRIN]

Originally posted by: imtim83
No its not luck its the choose you make. Its a easy to know what choose to take. Single. Once you make the choose you can never go back. Once you have a kid your life is over. Too bad so sad. No ifs, ands, or buts about it.

I don't think so. My wife enjoys playing computer games also. I have a 3 year old daughter that enjoys using the computer too. I'm going to build a third computer for my daughter later this year. It's cool because I can constantly upgrade by handing down my stuff to my wifes comptuter and I get new stuff.

 

[Chippy]

Originally posted by: imtim83
No its not luck its the choose you make. Its a easy to know what choose to take. Single. Once you make the choose you can never go back. Once you have a kid your life is over. Too bad so sad. No ifs, ands, or buts about it.

I wholeheartedly disagree with that assinine statement.
I have been married 13+ years, just had my 1st child 5 months ago (boy!), and my life is
far from over...
I have (2) computers - (1) home system & (1) LAN system (specs are in MY Rig).
My wife has (2) computers - (1) home system & (1) LAN system. All (4) of our PC's have state-of-the-art hardware - the best that can be bought today.
My wife goes to LAN events with me & can hang in the top-20% or so in FPS games.
I have a Cobra convertible in the garage, a (modest) bass boat in the driveway & a (decent) house to live in.
I work VERY hard to get the things that I have, and except for a few "Bumps" here & there, I'm having the time of my life.
Life over? HARDLY...

I don't state any of the above to boast, simply to show that marriage/kids & enojyment of life ARE NOT MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE

 

[bluemax]

I don't state any of the above to boast, simply to show that marriage/kids & enojyment of life ARE NOT MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE

But I suppose it would be for the person who thinks of absolutely noone but himself (NOT ACCUSING ANYONE! GENERAL STATEMENT!)
To have to spend money on raising a family? To spend time with someone other than the computer? To sacrifice ANYTHING? That's too much to ask for some people.

I'd have all the toys but my wife and I aren't earning much while I'm unemployed... damn flooded computer job market... :frown: Gonna' have to go back to sales real soon. My family comes before toys. I try to keep my complaints to a minimum.

Now can we get back on topic?

 

[DARRIN]

Now can we get back on topic?

Ok.....ATI blows.....Nvidia RULZ!!!! j/k

 

[Moishe]

My life has only gotten better since I got married, but lets face it. Either I continue to blow money at alarming rates on new PC equipment, OR I be responsible... the right choice is obvious, the right choice can be hard to take, but the right choice is well worth it. Having bleeding edge equipment is really super-overkill. I don't need a new computer until my old one ceases to function in the everyday uses that I give to it. So although my box is waAay obsolete, it's only now getting to the point of actually "needing" a replacement.

on-topic, Where do you guys get the numbers for the yields? Is it just speculation?
Rumors aside is there any reason to believe that the NV30 will out-perform the R9700 the way the R9700 outperforms the GF4600?

My impression was that the NV30 was targeted for a very similar release time as the R9700 which would likely put it as a competitor rather than a generation above the R9700. I can't imagine that the release of the R9700 would cause NVidia to change a product so close to launch just to beat the R9700.

maybe I just don't know how they do this stuff.

 

[Tates]

Darrin, I apologize for my earlier snippet

I saw this post at Asusboards.com:

Radeon 9700 Has 8X Issue AND ATI FIX

Spent over an hour with ATI Customer Service Canada and more important, the Engineering Dept. The subject: Our testing shows the Radeon 9700 will NOT work at all on the Asus P4S8X (SiS648), Gigabyte 7VAXP (KT400/8235), and VIA P4PB (P4X400/8235) which are the only 8x AGP boards on the market. Customer Service was not completely aware of this, but Engineering is.

According to ATI, they are now receiving and testing these 8X AGP boards. They are ALSO finding the 9700 does not work at all or works intermittently at best. Engineering indicated most of the boards already shipped have this problem.

Solution: A new BIOS and some board revisions are now available that fix this problem. Call ATI Customer Service for help with the issue. At present, they will ship a replacement board that WILL work in SiS and VIA 8X, but they are also considering a BIOS flash solution for problem boards.

Customer Service and Engineering deserve a 10-1/2 for their wonderful handling of this issue. They are very concerned that it be corrected quickly. They also shared that most of their 8X validation testing was done with Intel's unreleased 8X chipset and that they are just now receiving shipping versions of the SiS and VIA 8X chipsets.

Here's the link.