Need video card @ $150, $200 TOP

[ku]

I haven't been keeping track of the technological world lately (damn Warcraft) but I am now in the market for a new video card. I am running on a 1.4 thunderbird, ecs k7s5a (the old one), 512mb, and GF2 pro. I'm really not sure which video card I should aim for. I really don't have much money so that is top priority right now. I was thinking Radeon 9500 PRO but if there is anything else that I should consider, please tell me. Thanks in advance.

 

[nick1985]

i would recommend a ti-4200. it heas really been a kick ass card for me and i have no regrests of buying it.


here comes the ati recommends.....

 

[ku]

Doesn't the Radeon9500 outperform the GF4 ti4200 while being in the same price range?

 

[CurtisEbear]

yes. yes it does. Also, it owns it up pretty good w/ AA on.

 

[selfbuilt]

The Radeon 9500 Pro does indeed outperform the Ti4200, and offers DirectX 9 functionality and improved AF and FSAA performance to boot. It is also not that much more expensive than the new 8X versions of the Ti4200, so it would definitely be a better buy.

However, the Ti4200 is still a great card, and might be a better deal (price-wise) if you can find one of the earlier 4X 64MB versions somewhere. That might be a better option for you given your current motherboard, and in case you want to save up to upgrade your processor too (I know the later versions K7S5A can take the new palomino AXDA AMD chips, but I don't know about the earlier ones).

 

[ku]

hmm.. i never considered a 64mb video card ^^;;;;.... anyways, I'm probably going to upgrade the processor after I get the video card first. But what about the radeon 9500 nonpro? is that worth getting or no?

 

[wicktron]

9500. Easy choice. AA+AF on current games, and headroom for games in the near future.

 

[PliotronX]

9500 Pro (comes with 128Megs std. and all eight pipelines intact but with 128-bit memory accessing) or a 9500 128Meg to mod to a 9700 if you're feeling lucky The Non-pro 64Meg has 128-bit memory access and the 128Meg Non-pro has 256-bit memory access but both Non-pro cards have half of their pipelines disabled. Some of them are damaged, some are just 9700 cores marked down because ATI couldn't find as many "defective" cores to meet the demands for 9500 cards. You can't go wrong either way though.

 

[ku]

hmm... then i'll look into the 9500 nonpro and hope that it's a 9700 core. ^^;; there IS a way to change it i believe,,,, i've seen it being thrown around in the forums quite a bit... could someone link me to a page?

 

[ironique]

If you can wait a couple of weeks, you could get an OEM 9700 for around $220. R300 prices are expected to come down quite a bit this month. The 9700Pro is expected to drop to a $280 street price! So the 9700 could be around $220. Of course, that's if you can't find a Sapphire 9500 128MB, built on the 9700 PCB (not 9700 core) which you could modd with soft9700 to 9700 status!

Soft9700 comes with the latest version of Rivatuner. Get it Here

 

[bgeh]

i'd wait for March 12th when nvidia will launch NV31 and NV34(i'm not so sure about NV34),the value edition of the Geforce FX
and ATI will launch its R350 and RV350(value edition)

but if you can't wait, you can always get a 9500pro

 

[ku]

so if i go for the 9500, i should go for the sapphire one?

 

[GratefullySaved]

The ultimate answer for you....


go to www.aceshardware.com and read their just released annual guide on how to upgrade an Athlon 1.4 with EVERY major video card option out there...


Great article...I'm going with a Ti4200, OC it to be a Ti4600, and in a few months I'll go Nforce 2 and OC a 2100+ Thoroughbred. Should be good until Doom III.

 

[PliotronX]

Ugh, I didn't know about this until looking through the section of the Rage3D forums, but this indicates that ATI is cracking down on distributors selling the 9500 NPs on 9700 reference PCBs. This means that as time goes on, it'll be harder to get a 9700 for $150 =\

In this case, I think it would be safer to take ironique's advice and get a 9700 NP. These come with "clock locks" and are clocked lower than the 9700 Pro cards, but other than that are no differences. The clock lock can be defeated using Warp11's hack and you can then easily overclock to 9700 Pro levels and beyond. The clock lock is also engaged on 9500 Pro cards, so if you go with one of those, you will need to flash it to overclock as well.

 

[classy]

9500 Pro or 9700. The choice is rather easy.

 

[ku]

hmm... the radeon 9700 is too much for my budget, so i've narrowed it down to 2 choices:

Radeon 9500
Radeon 9500 Pro
EDIT: GF4 Ti4200

I don't really know whether or not getting the pro version is worth it, especially i have a chance of modding my 9500 to a 9700. How drastic is the performance gap between the 9500 and the 9500 pro? is it bigger than $30? ^^;;

 

[WheelsCSM]

If you absolutely must buy one now, I would get the 9500 Pro, as from the benchmarks I have seen it is definately worth the price difference over the 9500NP (in stock form) I have also seen benchmarks of an overclocked 9500 Pro that are similar in performance to a non-overclocked 9700 NP. I'm still not convinced the odds are very good of being able to overclock the 9500 NP --> 9700 Pro/NP, however recent events are starting to make me think it's getting better. Otherwise, as others have mentioned, I think it may be worth it to wait until early March, and see some price drops.

Personally, I wouldn't get the GF4 Ti4200 b/c the Radeon 9000/9500 cards are faster (in most situations), don't cost much more, and are directX 9 compliant for the future.

 

[ku]

Cool. Thanks alot guys. So I will get the 9500 pro or the 9700 depending on the price in a month or so. I can always rely on this forum for anything =D

 

[zephyrprime]

Keep in mind that even though the new 9500np's can't be modded into a 9700 anymore, they can still be modded into a 9500pro.

 

[Viper96720]

9500Pro 3dmark default driver settings
3dmark 2x performance aa and16xaf