OK I fried my Radeon. Need new video card quick.

[Eug]

Originally posted by: bluemax
Eug! The first thing you HAVE to do is get yourself on RedFlagDeals forums!

Red Flag

We'll help you find a good price on a Canadian card. Staples 150% price match guarantee (if you fight for it) will get you a retail Radeon 9000 128MB for $150. Not too bad....

Thanks, I didn't know about the red flag site. The 10% off CompGeeks stuff looks good too.

However, I'm not a price guarantee type of guy.

As for 9000, I'm thinking the $155 Sapphire 9100 might be a better deal, and it's local.

 

[Eug]

Bump.

I'm getting the card tomorrow. Still dunno if I should get the 250/200 128 MB or the 250/230 64 MB.

The guy at the store said he didn't know if those are the actual numbers, but he's noticed that with a lot of the OEM cards lately the ones with more memory are SLOWER clocked.

 

[AtomicDude512]

Get GeForce4 Ti 4200, no competition at level and plays very well.

 

[bluemax]

Originally posted by: AtomicDude512
Get GeForce4 Ti 4200, no competition at level and plays very well.

And costs twice as much.

 

[Markfw]

Bluemax, you seem you you know the ATI cards. It the $163 Radeon 9500 on newegg a PRO ? What is it like compared to thie 9100 pro you are talking about ?

 

[bluemax]

I don't do much shopping at newegg since shipping to Canada is a pain.
If it doesn't say Pro, it isn't. Some people like that to try and mod it, I'd spend a few bucks more and get an official "pro".
The PRO will run circles around the 9100 which is just a rehashed 8500 (though still very nice!)

 

[Zurn]

I have vacilated between ATI and Nvidia for several years. I currently have a Geforce 3 and all my other boxes save one are running Nvidia. My multimedia system is running an ATI Radeon All in Wonder. I have had issues with ATI drivers in the past. The latest trend and industry feeling though is Nvidia may have screwed the pooch. We will have to see if they can get the next NV chipset out in time will enough balls to combat the ATI chipsets. I may have to change brnads again this year when I build a new gaming box...

 

[bluemax]

Originally posted by: Zurn
I have vacilated between ATI and Nvidia for several years.

Whoa! Word of the day folks!

vac·il·late ( P ) Pronunciation Key (vs-lt)
intr.v. vac·il·lat·ed, vac·il·lat·ing, vac·il·lates
To sway from one side to the other; oscillate.
To swing indecisively from one course of action or opinion to another. See Synonyms at hesitate.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Latin vacillre, vacillt-, to waver.]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I thought *I* had a good vocabulary!

 

[Eug]

Thanks people.

Yes, I too vacillated briefly, but between the puissant 9100 64 MB 3.5 ns and its elder sibling the 9100 128 MB 4 ns. However, my decision was eased by the 25% higher fetching price of the 128 MB, and I thus have purchased its faster, more nimble, less-memory laden, and of course, less dearly priced compeer.

In short, I have acquired the Sapphire OEM 9100 64 MB DDR 250/230. I shall integrate this new engine in my computing appliance poste haste.

 

[ProviaFan]

Originally posted by: Eug
Thanks people.

Yes, I too vacillated briefly, but between the puissant 9100 64 MB 3.5 ns and its elder sibling the 9100 128 MB 4 ns. However, my decision was eased by the 25% higher fetching price of the 128 MB, and I thus have purchased its faster, more nimble, less-memory laden, and of course, less dearly priced compeer.

In short, I have acquired the Sapphire OEM 9100 64 MB DDR 250/230. I shall integrate this new engine in my computing appliance poste haste.

Holy weird vocabulary, batman. :Q

puissant

\Pu"is*sant\, a. [F., originally, a p. pr. formed fr. L. posse to be able: cf. L. potens powerful. See Potent.] Powerful; strong; mighty; forcible; as, a puissant prince or empire. `` Puissant deeds.'' --Milton.

Speaking of ATi OEM graphics cards and 2D image quality, I have a powered-by-ATi Radeon VE which is so blurry that I can't run it above 1152x864 at 75Hz or the image looks like a reflection in the mud. My built-by-ATi Radeon SDR PCI (which makes my Epox 8RDA-based system unstable) has excellent 2D quality. I've never seen a Matrox card up close on a good monitor to know how they'd compare, though, but this Radeon VE is so terrible I'd defenestrate it even in favor of an nvidia Geforce!

Actually, I plan to get an ATi Radeon 9000 Pro or Matrox G550 (can't make up my mind, nor can I come up with enough money, damnit) in the future.

 

[Insane3D]

Originally posted by: Eug

Originally posted by: Insane3D
I have a Retail ATI 8500 128mb that is not only overclocked to 300/300, but it is totally fanless. I'm not sure how much work you want to put into it, but all I did was replace the stock HSF unit with one of these 45mm Alpha HS. Also, even though in that picture they look silver, they are black annodized.

Cool! I'd be willing to get one of those with some Arctic Epoxy or something. How much case air flow do you have though? Right now I have only a Panaflo 80 mm in the PSU, running at 7V. The CPU retail Intel fan is running at 5 V. The case is very cool, but that's because I only have that damn Trident card.

I'm thinking a Radeon 9100 will definite make the case a bit more toasty. I suppose I can always add a second Panaflo, running at 5V or something. (To my surprise the Panaflos start up just fine at 5V. Must be running at a measly 1000 rpm or something.)

What about the Zalman heatsink? Whatever the situation, I just want a quiet Radeon (with fan or without) that doesn't block a PCI slot.

i don't see any dif between my retail 9000 p[ro and 7200 retail i had b4. then again.. retail costs are absurd unless u get a hot deal

No difference in terms of what? 2D? 3D? 2D I can understand. Maybe I just had a bum 9000 Pro.

--

By the way, how truly important is 128 MB in UT2003? I'd never run higher than 1280x1024 even if I had a faster CPU, simply because my LCD won't support it. Indeed, I'd might only run 1024x768, for the sake of FPS. I'm thinking 64 MB might be enough for my needs, esp. if it ends up that the card has faster memory than the 128 MB version.

As for case cooling, I am running a 2400+ @ 2.2ghz, 1.7v, with an Alpha 8045 and a Panaflo 21CFM 80mm. I have no case fans at all, except for the 21CFM Panaflo in my Antec 400W PSU. The 9100 and the 8500 are the same GPU, so they should not put out any more heat than a 8500.

 

[MadRat]

Just make sure you get that in the AGP flavour... it has guides.

 

[Eug]

Originally posted by: Insane3D

As for case cooling, I am running a 2400+ @ 2.2ghz, 1.7v, with an Alpha 8045 and a Panaflo 21CFM 80mm. I have no case fans at all, except for the 21CFM Panaflo in my Antec 400W PSU. The 9100 and the 8500 are the same GPU, so they should not put out any more heat than a 8500.

Excellent. It looks like I'll have to do this. The fan on it is pretty noticeable. What's the voltage of these fans anyways? Would it possible to simply lower the voltage? Or is already an ultra low voltage fan?

I'm gonna swap in an undervolted 92 mm Panaflo intake fan on my Enermax Whisper power supply. Right now the stock 92 mm is simply unplugged because it's too loud. The lone 80 mm Panaflo fan is doing all the work.

P.S. I am happy to say that the 2D image quality on this Sapphire 9100 is excellent. Or par with the Radeon LE that died, and better than the Sapphire 9000 I tried a couple of months back. Haven't tried DVI yet.

Originally posted by: MadRat

Just make sure you get that in the AGP flavour... it has guides.

Well, that's just the thing. The guide in the slot is exactly the same backwards and forwards. On a bare board it fits in fine either way.

 

[Eug]

Weird. My card does NOT get recognized as a Sapphire like my previous 9000 was.

In Device Manager in XP it is recognized as "Radeon 9100 SERIES". If you choose "Properties" fro there, the manufacturer is listed as "ATI Technologies, Inc.".

SiSoft Sandra 2003 says:

Windows Device Name: Radeon 9100 SERIES
OEM DEVICE Name: ATI Technologies Unknown (514D)
OEM Hardware ID: FUN_0, VEN_1002, DEV_514D, REV_00
Product Device Name: PC Partner Ltd Unknown (514D)
Product Hardware ID: VEN_174B, DEV_7149
Revision / Stepping: A / 1 (0)

 

[Adul]

9100 series, that is good then. that is the original core of the 8500

 

[MadRat]

I chose the 9000PRO. Same performance but the card doesn't even get warm to the touch after an hour of hard gaming.

 

[Insane3D]

Originally posted by: MadRat
I chose the 9000PRO. Same performance but the card doesn't even get warm to the touch after an hour of hard gaming.

The 9000 Pro will not have the same performance of the 8500...it's a crippled 8500.

 

[Adul]

Originally posted by: Insane3D

Originally posted by: MadRat
I chose the 9000PRO. Same performance but the card doesn't even get warm to the touch after an hour of hard gaming.

The 9000 Pro will not have the same performance of the 8500...it's a crippled 8500.

true dat

9000 pro is a 2 picel pipeline vs the 4 of the 8500/9100

to make up for the diff, the 9000 pro is clocked higher

 

[bluemax]

There's a little more to it than just a higher clockrate. While it can't handle as many textures at once, it makes more "loopback passes"... basically does more per cycle than the 8500 did. On single and dual texture games, the 9000 does very well. On newer games with more textures, the 8500 will perform much better.

 

[bluemax]

BTW, Eug! Where'd you get the card from? And what price? (For all us Canucks!)

 

[Insane3D]

Originally posted by: bluemax
There's a little more to it than just a higher clockrate. While it can't handle as many textures at once, it makes more "loopback passes"... basically does more per cycle than the 8500 did. On single and dual texture games, the 9000 does very well. On newer games with more textures, the 8500 will perform much better.

From Anand's review of the Radeon 900 Pro...

One of the more tangible improvements the RV250 holds over the R200 is an upgraded triangle setup engine. In situations that are not texel fetch bound the RV250 can outperform the R200, but in today?s games and even titles like UT2003, this will not generally be the case. You?ll see from the forthcoming synthetic tests that you can drum up scenarios in which the RV250 outperforms the R200, but for the most part, you can consider it to be a lesser performing part.

I guess it may be possible that in certain situations with older games the 9000 pr omay be a bit faster than the 8500/9100, but this generally is not the case.

 

[Megatomic]

Originally posted by: Eug


1) Which of these can be modded easily to be quiet? eg. running the fan at low voltage? I was running the 7200 fanless. I want a quiet PC (and in fact just bought a Barracuda IV for this reason).(

Is this what fried your Radeon 7200 (directly or indirectly)? Maybe running fanless isn't a good idea fiscally?

 

[MadRat]

Originally posted by: SeekingTao

Originally posted by: Eug


1) Which of these can be modded easily to be quiet? eg. running the fan at low voltage? I was running the 7200 fanless. I want a quiet PC (and in fact just bought a Barracuda IV for this reason).(

Is this what fried your Radeon 7200 (directly or indirectly)? Maybe running fanless isn't a good idea fiscally?

No, he plugged it into the AGP slot backwards because he didn't have the mobo in the case and he mistakened the front for the back...

 

[Eug]

Originally posted by: bluemax
BTW, Eug! Where'd you get the card from? And what price? (For all us Canucks!)

PCCanada.com. CAD$125. (US$82)

Anyways, I picked up UT2003. Game FPS rates are OK at 1024x768 and medium everything with this Celeron 1.4 (BX). Everything on high at 1280x1024 is unplayable on my machine however.

More importantly, the game just doesn't seem as enticing as the several year old original UT.

Maybe it will grow on me...

--

3DMark2001 - 6563 points
3DMark2003 - Quits on the sound tests.

 

[Megatomic]

Originally posted by: MadRat

No, he plugged it into the AGP slot backwards because he didn't have the mobo in the case and he mistakened the front for the back...

:Q wow...