ATi 9700 Pro - MIA

[EmosOohay]

My mobo has an AGP 2X (3.3v) slot and I need dual monitor support. I also have to have an ATi card, my mobo doesn't work with Nivida products. So the 9700 Pro seemed to be the ideal card, but I can't find them.

Has ATi stopped building the 9700? Why can't I find any at internet retailers? Was there a marketing or performance problem with the card?

TIA for the info!

 

[thelanx]

I think the 9700 pro was replaced in the product line with the 9800 pro. I think you still can find one around. I don't know if you already did, but check the FS/T forum and newegg for starters.

 

[Avalon]

You should be able to find the 9700 pro on plenty of online retailers if you check at pricewatch.com

 

[jhurst]

There are still ALOT of internet retailers selling 9700pros... Newegg still sells them....along with Allstarshop....MWave....and PC Wonder....just check pricewatch.com

Pricewatch.com

 

[ForceCalibur]

Its unlikely it will work on your mobo. I'm pretty sure it requires 1.5 v AGP4x or AGP8x

 

[Gagabiji]

At first I was going to link you to the 9700 Pros I could find, but there were to many. Just go to like NewEgg for instance, and type in the search box "9700 Pro" I came up with 18 results at NewEgg, and 4 at ZipZoomFly.

 

[Pete]

I think the 9500s, 9700s, and 9800s all work with AGP 2x/4x/8x, and only the 9600s were limited to AGP 4x/8x motherboards. I'd double-check to be sure, though.

Allstarshop has a Sapphire 9700P for $179 (but out of stock). NewEgg has a Powercolor 9700P for $188 and a Sapphire, Powercolor, and "ATi" 9800P for $210.

Pity NewEgg stopped carrying the Powercolor 9800 for $173, though, as that was the best deal going a week or two ago.

 

[EmosOohay]

Things aren't as they appear. 9700s manufactured by ATI are 2x/4x/8x compatible. The 9700s manufactured by Powercolor, for example, are only 4x/8x compatible.

Newegg's site is incorrect for many graphics boards. I've already sent one back (a 9600). Many of their pages list "BUS: AGP 1X/2X/4X/8X", like http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-131-199&depa=0, but the board is actually only 4x/8x. I checked with powercolor's tech support and they claim that their 9700 is only 4x/8x.

So the situation is finding a 9700 Pro manufactured by ATI, not just any manufacture. Unfortunately!!

As far as AGP compatiblity ATi has a good page here: http://www.ati.com/support/faq/agpchart.html

 

[CKTurbo128]

Originally posted by: ForceCalibur
Its unlikely it will work on your mobo. I'm pretty sure it requires 1.5 v AGP4x or AGP8x

Incorrect. The ATi Radeon 9500, 9700, and 9800 series have been confirmed to work in the older AGP 2X slots, as seen in Ace's Hardware article, 3DMark03 Performance Factors , where the author uses an Radeon 9700 Pro in a 350 MHz Pentium II with a SE440BX motherboard (Dell Dimension XPS R) to test 3DMark 2003 performance factors. There have also been several users on the Dell message boards that have been reported using Radeon 9500s, 9700s, and 9800s in their older AGP 2X PCs. I have heard that the 9600 series are not compatible with AGP 2X boards. Granted, using such video cards in old systems like these will really be bottlenecked, but they're still compatible, nonetheless.

 

[EmosOohay]

My bad!

I just checked the powercolor web site and they list the 9700 Pro as 2x compatible. I missed that earlier. Their tech email was incorrect.

I was going by the ATi AGP chart for the 9800. It lists only 4x/8x.

I'm not so worried about how well the card is matched to the system, it's not. I'm more worried about longer term software compatibility. I'm handing this system off to the kids soon so I wanted to get a DX9 part that will last until the system is junked.

Sapphire has only a 1 year warranty. The powercolor should do the trick with a 2 year warranty. Thinking the powercolor 9700 was not 2x compatible sure caused me to waste a lot of time!

Thanks for all the info!!

 

[Brian48]

Just FYI, my PowerColor 9700 (non-pro) worked just fine in my friend's 2x motherboard awhile back when I loaned it out to him for testing.

 

[BFG10K]

A 9800NP is about the same speed as a 9700 Pro. Get that one if you can't find the latter.