I need Video advice :)

[Spiffae]

So, here's the deal. I know i'm new on the forums, but i've been reading Anandtech for a long time, and its high time i turn to the community for advice. OK. I have a decent system now (p4 1.8, winXP, 512 ram, etc.) I have an original GF3 that has lasted me about a two years, maybe more (when did they come out? i can't even remember) Anyhow, my GF3 is on it's way out. It has some problem where it crashes my games to the desktop and causes errors all over the place. after a lot of frustration, i switched my GF3 out with a friend's GF3 Ti 400, and no more problems.
Now i'm on the market for a new card.
I can't really play games now, but the problem isn't critical (i can still get a half hour to an hour of play in most games, some games work for hours and hours, and some only for a few minutes) The thing is, i was planning to get the NV30 when it comes out, but now it's been pushed back to february. here's my question: Should i just buy the 9700 pro? I hate buying new technology just to have it surpassed quickly, but i need my games. I love nVidia, and it kills me to think that i would have to switch over, but if they keep this up, i don't really know what i can do.
any advice?
thanks

 

[ChampionAtTufshop]

well for upcoming games 9700 pro will be the best atm
until nv30 comes that is
but then 9700 will maybe drop considerably (price wise)

if it was me i would wait for nv30 and then make a decision (unless ati is planning something else to battle with nv30?? i think i remember reading something about this a while back....but my memory is fuzzy)

but it seems likeyou need a card now....and maybe the ti400 is good enough (unless your friend needs it back for his own system of course ) to hold you over till it comes out

if not, maybe get ti4400 and oc to ti4600 speeds

 

[Slappy00]

Like yourself i am also on a 2 year cycle, and am selling my GF3 this week, I already bought a video card the ATI 9700pro hers why:

1) Futility... Granted there are times when you can get the most bang for your buck, but you will ALWAYS have some better card just over the horizon that is better than the card you are planning to buy. So even if you do wait till the nv30 comes out I'm sure ATI will have a 9700 Ultra or something that will be better, faster and have DDRII higher clock speeds etc.

2) Future compatibility... Although DX9 is only in its Beta stage (RC0 if im right) but knowing that I upgrade every two years I want a card taht will run everything fast for 2 years and I am fairly confident that the 9700 will run most games if not all for the next two years at acceptable frame rates (i run all my games at 1024x768)... After that time its time for a new card

In the end really think about how technology works, you will never get an ideal card anymore that will run every thing for the next 3 years. So as long you know that no matter what you buy, the second you put it in your computer it will be the #2 fastest card out there, just buy whats the best at the time and completely ignore the graphics market till your games start runnig slow.. thats my advice.

 

[Spiffae]

argh...so frustrating...my friend does need his ti400 back, so i am stuck with a semi-functional card. i will probably be waiting for a bit anyhow, because paying msrp for a card that came out months ago seems odd. and i do so hate to leave nVidia...if only they had stuck to their schedule. slappy, that's some pretty good advice, but it's just so hard to ignore the market, isn't it? i should research the 9700 a little more. thanks, and if anyone has any more suggestions, i'm all ears.

 

[purpledemon]

Spiffae, I'm in a similar situation .... maybe a little worse actually .... ive finally run out of patience with my voodoo5 / geforce2 mx options ...
and im leaning quite heavily towards buying the 9700 pro now for a lot of the reasons that slappy stated ...
i mean ... i would end up waiting forever ...
also considering you can get hte card for 311 .... that not that bad is it ?

the one question i had for y'all was .... im using an old p2b-f board (440 bx i think) .... and im going to upgrade that after the nforce2/gb dust settles a little bit ...
does it even make sense to put in a 9700 pro ? into agp 1x or something ? do i need to be careful about voltages and stuff ?

 

[Serp86]

Why don't you just go buy a radeon 9500pro or a Geforce 4 ti4200 if you don't want to spend much on a card.

If you are looking for a cheaper alternative, i say the radeon 9000pro - it should have no compatability problems - but i lack information on this part. Maybe a GF4 MX i more for you .... but it only has DX7 support - so a radeon9000 would last longer.

Oh - video cards are tricky business. If money isn't an option just go for the 9700 - ATI has better driver support than in the old days. If you wait for NV 30, you may just as well wait for radeon DDR II, and if you DO wait you can get an NV 35.

The only thing that make sense to me about waiting is processors seeing how the ghz barriers are being broken so quicly - but vid cards take a long time to surpass each other.

Regards
Jonathan Azzopardi

 

[Slappy00]

I think that nForce2 is agp 8x part, and the 9700pro is also a agp 8x part, contrary to alot of popular folklore, most new 9700s and agp8x boards run flawlessly (I myself have a Gigabyte board based on the KT400 chipset, and a Gigabyte 9700pro and they run w/o incident). The voltages are done automagically on most mobos and the nforce2 should be no different, but ofcourse you can overvoltage the agp bus if you are overclocking, but for a card that smokes likethe 9700 do you really need to?

because paying msrp for a card that came out months ago seems odd.

remember that this card has been out for quite some time and the drivers are more mature and support is established for any quirks that might show themselves (though i wont deny that some older games have some studdering problems). Sure you can opt for the latest technology but you might have be out in the cold for a few months till the nv30 product line matures and establishes itself and its drivers. Also Nivida is not immune to driver glitches and incompatibilites. There will be games that wont work right and tahts just how it goes no matter what your name is, and having a radically different architecture will only add to that. ATI is releasing drivers every other week and show strong support for the 9700 card series so I made the decision to stay with my upgrade schedule and go with ATI, b/c they had the best out at the time, if Nvidia wants my money they will need to have the best card out at the time i buy my system.

Hearding yourself into a ATI or Nvidia camp is the worst you can do as a consumer, the companies want you to do that so they have an established pool that buys their product. This is especially true in the gamer/enthusiest sector, where loyalites are militaristic, and upgrades are frequent and pricey.

If you are in a situatin where you need a card post-haste or this is the time when you typically upgrade then get the 9700pro, the best card out there now and like i said before ignore the graphics market till your games run like crap, then rinse and repeat.

 

[Spiffae]

purple, you said you could find it for 311...where was that? I suppose you all are right, seeing as the more advanced features provided by the NV30 probably won't even be used by games for another 3 years. cool new demos are fun, but real world performance may just be a little faster from the GeForce FX anyway.
right?

 

[Slappy00]

REal world performance depends on what you do... Ive played hitman2 with 4xAA and 16x Antroscopic filtering (if i remember exactly) without a hiccup on my 9700pro, but I'm not that type of gamer, Ive played with jaggies all my life, and they dont bother me. I like smooth framerates, nice physics and innovate gameplay, so i still run most of my games with all the eyecandy up at 1024x768 and none of that image filtering crapola (well execept Antroscopic.. you get it for "free" i.e. little to no performance hit.. on a 9700pro). In sum if you run your games at high resolutions with texture filtering then you will see a big difference in performance in the 9700/nv30 compared to older cards.

If you are like myself and run most games at 1024x768 then the nv30/9700 card(s) will last you a long time... Its interesting to see how the 9700 card is not even acheveing the limit on its cpu bottleneck on the newest CPUs out.

features provided by the NV30 probably won't even be used by games for another 3 years.

i would slightly disagree: more like 1.5 years depending on when DX9 is released as a final build and how fast developers adopt the new technology.



My roomate got the Sapphire card (ATI chipset + reference design == same card) for $320 at newegg.com... You could pay less somewhere else but newegg's service kicks all ass (IMHO of course )

 

[purpledemon]

there's an oem 9700 pro on this page for 310

enpc

i havent looked too hard into finding the best price yet ... this just came up first on pricewatch ....
slappy's newegg suggestion may be better ...



slappy , as far as voltages go ... im sure it will work fine on a new board .... what i was concerned/ worried about was whether there might be an issue with the 1x agp on my asus-p2bf .....
will i fry my 9700 if i stick it in there till i buy a new mobo ?

 

[Slappy00]

what i was concerned/ worried about was whether there might be an issue with the 1x agp on my asus-p2bf .....

Well that answer is an easy.. the card wont even fit into the agp slot.. in fact the card will not be accepted in any slot that is not a mininum of agp 2.0 spec (that would be 4x if im correct).

 

[Spiffae]

so, you'll have to forgive me for not staying up to the minute on ati's stuff, but would there be any benifit in waiting till christmas? are prices going to drop? is the board getting updated? maybe i should just order one, no?

you folks are fantastic. thank you so much.

 

[stebesplace]

I could be wrong, but isn't there going to be the 9700, now on a .15 chip, where .13 is better, and nv30 is comming on .13, but its a pain hence the delay? Then ati will be putting it on .13 as well. I would think that the .xx means like a p4 going from 432 to 478, for stability and speed differences, as well as heat?

-Steve

 

[purpledemon]

sorry ... i got that wrong ...
from the asus site ...

AGP Connector
AGP(Accelerated GRaphics Port) Connector supports 2x Mode
AGP 66Mhz/133 Mhz (Sideband) 3.3V Device

so that should let me use the 9700 in it till i buy my new mobo right ?

Spiffae ... prices will probably drop after Christmas .... when the NV30 is around the corner .... but then you might want the NV30 instead

 

[Spiffae]

Originally posted by: purpledemon


Spiffae ... prices will probably drop after Christmas .... when the NV30 is around the corner .... but then you might want the NV30 instead

blast! we're right back where we started!
maybe i'll get one right around then. it sounds like the architecture isn't going to change much.

 

[cmdrdredd]

but...the Geforce FX is supposed to cost $500 for the top of the line. You want to buy top of the line if you plan to keep it for any length of time. At least I would...

But by that time the 9700Pro can probably be found for the sub $300 price range