I need an educated opinion...

[LordOfTheBlings]

it is obvious to me that i know nothing after reading some of the posts' i have seen in this place, but here it goes.

i have been pouring over the video card review section of anandtech and i simply cannot reach a decision one which card to buy. what with the news of Nvidia cheating to recieve higher benchmarks and what-not. so here is where the good people of the anandtech forums come in.

i recently bought an Asus P4C800 Deluxe MoBo and i am currently looking at three different video card canidates:

1. Gameve (house brand) Nvidia Geforce4 TI4600 AGP 8X 128MB DDR VIVO. Retail

2. eVGA Nvidia Geforce4 FX5600 256MB DDR 8X AGP CARD, W/DVI, VIVO. Retail

3. ATI Radeon 9600 PRO 128MB 8X AGP DVI/TV. Retail

i am confused because i keep hearing mixed reviews about the FX cards. i currently have an ATI Radeon 8500 @ 64MB but lets face it, that card ain't gonna run Doom III. plus, i have been having trouble running my favorite game at the moment (Day Of Defeat) on the new Catalyst drivers. so i am kinda steering away from ATI. can anyone enlighten me on the pros an cons of these cards and ultimately help me make a decision?

p.s. please?

 

[MercenaryForHire]

This decision is going to be a lot easier if you let us know what exactly you're willing to spend. (BTW, nVidia and ATi are both guilty of "cheating" their 3DMark scores. But you don't "play" 3DMark much, do you? )

My standard pricesheet ATM is:
$100 = geForce4 Ti4200
$150 = Radeon 9500
$200 = Radeon 9700

And that's about the meat of it. From the three cards you put above, it's the Radeon 9600 Pro, hands down winnAr all the way. You'll have no issues running Doom III on that.

Being an nVidia user and fan for awhile - I can say this with confidence - don't touch the geForceFX series unless it's with a bat. Overpriced and underpowered. And this is from an "nVidiot".

- M4H

 

[MercenaryForHire]

And oh yeah - Welcome to the forums.

- M4H

 

[LordOfTheBlings]

$200 = Radeon 9700? i can't find one that cheap, unless you're talking about an OEM / non-Pro version.

anyway, im looking to spend around $250 tops. i wanna do this right ya know...all suggestions welcomed (hopefully unbiased ones)

btw, what's the difference between the 9700 and the 9700 Pro? would the difference be negligable to the end user such as myself? or is it like comparing apples and oranges?

 

[MercenaryForHire]

IIRC, the only difference between Pro and non-Pro is clockspeeds.

Digging for link to cheap R9700 ... may be back up to $229 now.
Edit - Newegg.com - search for Radeon 9700. Yes, it's a non-Pro, yes it's $229 now.

- M4H

 

[Fallen Kell]

Originally posted by: MercenaryForHire
IIRC, the only difference between Pro and non-Pro is clockspeeds.

Digging for link to cheap R9700 ... may be back up to $229 now.
Edit - Newegg.com - search for Radeon 9700. Yes, it's a non-Pro, yes it's $229 now.

- M4H

That is only on the ATI 9700. Do not use this in comparison to other versions of ATI products. As the 9500 non-Pro vs Pro is a difference of 4 pipelines (i.e. double the amount of thru-put for the graphics pixels). And that is a MAJOR difference. Also, you sound like you are not going to be overclocking anything. If that is the case, and you do not want to spend the money on the 9700, get the 9500 Pro over the 9600 Pro. Now some people will say that I am wrong, but without overclocking, the 9500 Pro does better then the 9600 Pro (again, because the 9500 Pro has double the pipelines). It is only after overclocking the 9600 Pro that you get the same and/or better performance of the 9500 Pro.