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Radeon 9600XT better graphics than 9800 pro?

L

Lesida68

Junior Member
Intel P4 2.8C ghz
MSI Intel 865PE chipset
512MB PC3200
Windows XP SP2
DX 9.0

I initially had a Radeon 9600XT 128 MB video card by ATI installed on my computer. It came with Half-Life2 and i played it using the latest catalyst drivers as soon it was available several weeks ago. I was very impressed with the graphics quality and the performance of the 9600xt video card. The graphics were awesome at the default graphics settings in Half-Life 2! I recently purchased the Radeon 9800 Pro video card 128 MB also by ATI and played half-life 2 also using the latest catalyst drivers. Keep in mind i'm a college student and i spent hard earned cash for this video card. The results were really disappointing and disheartening. The general public consensus is that the Radeon 9800 Pro is suppose to be better than the 9600 XT and people generally agree that the 9800 Pro is the better card. BUt when i played Half-Life 2 the graphics quality was not as good as the 9600 XT. First of all the Half-Life 2 recommended default settings for texture details and quality for the 9800 pro was only at medium compared to the high default settings with the 9600 xt video card. At the same high graphics settings for both cards, the Radeon 9800 Pro produced grainy and in general worse textures and visual quality that were two dimensional and had no depth to it; i noticed that for the ground, sky, mountains textures etc textures. In general, the 9600 xt produced much better graphics quality. In the "we don't go to ravenholm" level, the flames from the burning cars on the 9800 pro were two dimensional (paper-like) and lacked the quality, depth, and color, whereas the flames produced on the 9600 xt were just stunning and very realistic and better colors. WTF is going on! Isn't the radeon 9800 pro suppose to be better in terms of performance and quality than the 9600 xt? What's the explaination for this inconsistency? I'm really disappointed and frustrated, what do you guys recommend me to do? Should i just return the card and save up for the XT version of the 9800 instead?
I would appreciate any explaination, input, suggestions, or recommendations you guys may have.

Thanks in advance.
 
Maybe you were using anisotropic filtering on the 9600xt without knowing it? Dont go by what a default game setting selects. The 9600xt and 9800 pro should be able to both run at 1024X768 at the very max settings pretty well. The more demanding a game is, the more the 9800's speed starts to show in comparison to the 9600.

Try downloading the omega drivers. www.omegacorner.com
 
First of all, welcome to Anandtech.

Secondly, a college student with hard-earned money upgrading a video card every year? And considering wasting it on a 9800XT?! 😛

Seriously, just set HL2 to the same settings as the 9600XT, and it should look the same. Quality will be no different than the 9600XT, as the two cards have the same featureset. The only difference is that the 9800P will be (potentially much) faster.

It's possible the signal quality on your 9800P is worse. How does text look at the desktop with it, compared to the 9600XT? You using a LCD or a CRT?
 
Originally posted by: Lesida68

Should i just return the card and save up for the XT version of the 9800 instead?
Click to expand...

No, there are newer cards that are faster and cheaper.

 
it actually sounds more like hl2 isn't detecting your graphics card correctly and defaulting to directx 7. use the command -dxlevel 90 and see if that helps. also, turn your graphics settings to the highest.
 
If you were happy with the performance of the 9600XT, then i would return the 9800pro and save up for a x800pro or a 6800 card instead.

The 9600XT is a very capable card for HL2. There is not a BIG enough performance gain by going to the 9800pro to justify spending $200 for it.

Keep the 9600XT and save up for a better card later. 🙂
 
As mentioned in my original post, I used the same exact game settings for both the 9600xt and 9800 pro video cards, and the 9600xt produced much better quality graphics. Here is the screenshot of the graphics settings in HL2 running my 9800pro:

http://images.anandtech.com/re...fe2/Part1/settings.jpg

The only difference is that the recommended default settings (indicated by the asterisk) for ?model detail? and ?texture detail? were set on high when the 9600 xt card was installed, whearas they were set on medium when 9800 pro was installed. That shouldn?t be the case right, the recommended settings should be the same if not better than the 9600 xt, since the 9800 pro is the better card, right? The 9800pro is the better card yet the quality of the graphics is still not as good as the 9600 xt. Why?
 
You say the quality will be no different than the 9600 XT, but I do see a difference. The text on the desktop for both cards look pretty much the same, i don't notice a difference. And i'm using a VIewsonic 19 inch P95f+ professional series CRT monitor.
 
ok, so u said that 2 of the default settings on the 9800pro were at medium while the XT's were at high, but you say that that shouldnt cause any difference? Put them exactly the same!!! Dont have any differences in the settings. Default or manual, just set them exactly the same. If the texture detail and world detail are set lower than the other card, then yes, there would obviously be a image quality difference.

EDIT: Oh, i just saw the pic was for the 9800pro...hmmm...nevermind!
 
Originally posted by: Lesida68
As mentioned in my original post, I used the same exact game settings for both the 9600xt and 9800 pro video cards, and the 9600xt produced much better quality graphics. Here is the screenshot of the graphics settings in HL2 running my 9800pro:

http://images.anandtech.com/re...fe2/Part1/settings.jpg

The only difference is that the recommended default settings (indicated by the asterisk) for ?model detail? and ?texture detail? were set on high when the 9600 xt card was installed, whearas they were set on medium when 9800 pro was installed. That shouldn?t be the case right, the recommended settings should be the same if not better than the 9600 xt, since the 9800 pro is the better card, right? The 9800pro is the better card yet the quality of the graphics is still not as good as the 9600 xt. Why?
Click to expand...

In that Pic it clearly shows your recommended defualt for your 9800 pro at High.. I don't see the word medium in the pic. Do you have a pic that shows your 9800 pro with the recomended defualts at medium? I have a 9800pro and it shows at high for defualt.

Do you have any screen caps of the difference? one for 9800pro and the other for 9600xt.
They should be the same quality in graphics, and for speed, the 9800 pro should be faster.
How much frames are you getting on your 9600xt vs the 9800 pro, because the 9600xt should not be faster than the 9800 pro unlesss it's a power by ati brand with perhaps 128bit/se/etc

 
oops my fault. The actual picture suppose to show ?model detail? and ?texture detail? without any asterisks. I just took that picture off Anantech because it was the closest picture i can get and I'm an idiot because i don't know how to post my own pictures.
 
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