Radeon 9700 Pro now or wait?

[lorlabnew]

Hello all,

I'd like to get this card and wonder whether is it worth to wait for pricedrop or not?

Now it's available everywhere pretty much for $350 +tax (I'd buy in local retail store), when could I expect it to get cheaper (around $250+tax), in a month, 6 months, next Christmas? If it's supposed to be a long wait, I'd just go for it and buy it now, if it's a matter of a month or two, I could wait. Also, if there would be available some new, better and faster accelerator for this price ($350) anytime soon, I could wait as well ... believe that top of the line card is a good investment generally - lasts much longer in the system, eliminating video upgrade needs for extended period of time.

thx for advice
dave

 

[gf4200isdabest]

if you don't like the way games are playing, upgrade now. If you're just thinking of upgrading for the sake of upgrading, wait. It doesn't get much simpler than that.

 

[BD2003]

It likely wont get any cheaper until the NV30 comes out. Buying a high end video card is a waste.

Take the 350 you have now for the 9700. Buy a GF4200 for $150. You still have $200 left.

6-12 Months later, sell the GF4200 for $100, now you have $300.

Buy the next card for $150, and youll have $150 or so left. When you sell that, youre back up to $250.


This way you can keep a near high end card for years, instead of just blowing your load all at the beginning, when 1-2 years from now you'll wish you had something faster than a slow ass radeon 9700.

 

[lorlabnew]

Hmm, not sure what to do. Maybe will look closer at GF4 Ti4600; these are available under $250 and most likely rock as well.
I have GF3 Ti200, and so I think I'll see a difference.

thx
dave

btw, anyone knows whether Albatron/Monarch Ti4600 128MB AGP TV/Out DVI is any good?

 

[rbV5]

6-12 Months later, sell the GF4200 for $100

GF4 4200 aren't going to fetch $100 a year from now c'mon 😉, and I've seen ATI 9700 pro's down to $239 and currently Sapphire 9700 pro $268 refurbed at newegg now if you want to save a buck or 2.....and I'd look at a 9500 pro, or maybe 9700 nonpro for a better bottom line price with great performance.

 

[NeonFlak]

You could always think about and look at the 9700 non pro, of course you did say buy local... but if you did buy it online if I remember correctly the 9700's go for around 250 and the 9700 pro oem for 280.

 

[Justorq]

Get the 9500 Pro ... cheaper than the GeForce4 Ti4600, and FASTER

 

[lung]

Buying a high end video card is a waste.

Yeah... OK then... I would so much rather have bought a Ti4200 over my 9700 Pro and had probably about half the framerates and not really have been able to even think about enabling anitsotrpic filtering or anti-aliasing. Yeah, that sounds so much better. *pffft*

Seeing my roommate's Ti4200 chug along in Battlefield 1942 with no AA or AF on makes me that much more sure of my purchase of a 9700 Pro when I see BF 1942 run silky smooth on my system with 4x AA and 8x AF. Don't even get me started on what it's like to play UT2003 at 1280x960 with 4x AA and 8xAF. A Ti4200 would simply barf at being asked to do that.

Buying a high-end card is not a waste. It is a costly endeavour that many people, yourself obviously included, do not feel justified in doing, but it is not a waste. If you're happy with buying a middle of the road card every year, compromising on graphical quality in order to save a few dollars, then all the more power to you. I on the otherhand prefer to have the ability to run a game how it is meant to be run with all the eye-candy turned on and don't mind paying the money for said performance.

 

[cliftonite]

Originally posted by: lung

Buying a high end video card is a waste.

Yeah... OK then... I would so much rather have bought a Ti4200 over my 9700 Pro and had probably about half the framerates and not really have been able to even think about enabling anitsotrpic filtering or anti-aliasing. Yeah, that sounds so much better. *pffft*

Seeing my roommate's Ti4200 chug along in Battlefield 1942 with no AA or AF on makes me that much more sure of my purchase of a 9700 Pro when I see BF 1942 run silky smooth on my system with 4x AA and 8x AF. Don't even get me started on what it's like to play UT2003 at 1280x960 with 4x AA and 8xAF. A Ti4200 would simply barf at being asked to do that.

Buying a high-end card is not a waste. It is a costly endeavour that many people, yourself obviously included, do not feel justified in doing, but it is not a waste. If you're happy with buying a middle of the road card every year, compromising on graphical quality in order to save a few dollars, then all the more power to you. I on the otherhand prefer to have the ability to run a game how it is meant to be run with all the eye-candy turned on and don't mind paying the money for said performance.

well said 😀

 

[caboob]

you go lung!

if performance is important then go for it if you can afford it. The improvement in framerate and graphical quality was well worth it for me. 150+ frames in Unreal tournament at 1600x1200 and silky smoothness in GTA3 at 1600x1200 with full on AA!

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: lung

Buying a high end video card is a waste.

Yeah... OK then... I would so much rather have bought a Ti4200 over my 9700 Pro and had probably about half the framerates and not really have been able to even think about enabling anitsotrpic filtering or anti-aliasing. Yeah, that sounds so much better. *pffft* Seeing my roommate's Ti4200 chug along in Battlefield 1942 with no AA or AF on makes me that much more sure of my purchase of a 9700 Pro when I see BF 1942 run silky smooth on my system with 4x AA and 8x AF. Don't even get me started on what it's like to play UT2003 at 1280x960 with 4x AA and 8xAF. A Ti4200 would simply barf at being asked to do that. Buying a high-end card is not a waste. It is a costly endeavour that many people, yourself obviously included, do not feel justified in doing, but it is not a waste. If you're happy with buying a middle of the road card every year, compromising on graphical quality in order to save a few dollars, then all the more power to you. I on the otherhand prefer to have the ability to run a game how it is meant to be run with all the eye-candy turned on and don't mind paying the money for said performance.

You know, youd be surprised at what a GF4 4200 is capable of. Although mine has always been overclocked to Ti4400 and above levels. I dunno what is wrong with your friends computer, but my PC runs BF1942 silky smooth 60fps at 1024x768, Quincunx AA and 2x AF. It may not be top of the line super duper 10x everything, but it looks great. To, an extra $200 is not worth a bump in resolution and slightly sharper textures. My roomate has a 9700 pro, and to be honest, I'm not all that impressed. There is not a single thing that the 9700 can do that my 4200 can't do at a slightly lower res with slightly lower effects. Besides, I buy my card to play games, not brag about how high I can jack up the resolution. In the end, a game on a 9700Pro really isnt more fun than the same game on a 4200.

I wouldnt touch anything below a GF4 Ti right now, and right now, it looks like the 9500 Pro is the way to go. But I dont think I could ever justify spending twice as much just to get a slight increase in quality.

 

[mcveigh]

Originally posted by: NeonFlak
You could always think about and look at the 9700 non pro, of course you did say buy local... but if you did buy it online if I remember correctly the 9700's go for around 250 and the 9700 pro oem for 280.

where have you seen a 9700pro for 280:Q the best i've seen is 311 at newegg!!

please tell us if you've seen it lower!

 

[fyleow]

I think you should wait for the release of the GeForce FX, it is kind of a weird time to buy right now. The Radeon 9700 has been top of the line for awhile not, it's not fresh, and the price is still high. When the GeForce FX is released you will likely be able to either get that, the R 9700 Pro for a lower price, or wait a bit for the R350.....

I really wished I had a Radeon 9700 Pro. Using a GeForce 4 Ti 4400 and it lags like hell when playing UT2003 when I enable Anisio and Anti Aliasing....
I play more WC3 than anything though and with 4X AA and max Anisio it doesn't lag so it's fine for now. I've tried disabling AA and Anisio before and it looks like crap, can't play without it.

EDIT: BTW If you plan on running the R 9700 on your 1.59 ghz P4 you should think twice. Your CPU will not be able to take full advantage of the card....

 

[lung]

There is not a single thing that the 9700 can do that my 4200 can't do at a slightly lower res with slightly lower effects

That is my point though. I feel justified in paying what I did for the 9700 Pro so that I do not have to run at a lower res and lower down the effects. I want to play a game as the game designers inteded it to be played, not a "crippled" or "half-assed" version.

Besides, I buy my card to play games, not brag about how high I can jack up the resolution.

Neither do I. I do have to bring resolution and AA and AF levels into the discussion to make my point. Other wise I could simply be a dork and say something along the lines of, "ATi r0x0rs j00. nVidia sux0rs donkey nads." Which do think would be taken seriously? (God, I can't believe I actually typed what I just did. I feel so unclean.)

In the end, a game on a 9700Pro really isnt more fun than the same game on a 4200.

Well, no card is going to make a game more fun. A higher end card will make a game more enjoyable to play at higher resoltions with effects maxed out though and that is what I, and many other 9700 Pro owners are willing to pay for.

In the end, I do have to say that you won't be able to convince me that my 9700 Pro is a waste. I love it. I can throw pretty much well anything at it and it eats it up and it still wants seconds and sometimes even thirds. My only bottleneck is my CPU running at 2.4. When I upgrade that, I will just see more and more performance out of my card as it has alot more to give.

 

[BentValve]

Hell I am still using a retail Radeon 8500 , its going on a year old and I just recorded this today. For me it would not make sence to move into a Geforce 4 at all....a 9700 I can expect a nice improvment though.
Radeon 8500s can be had for well under $100 now and they can play any of the current games very well.
3D mark 12/9

 

[lorlabnew]

Originally posted by: fyleow
I think you should wait for the release of the GeForce FX, it is kind of a weird time to buy right now. The Radeon 9700 has been top of the line for awhile not, it's not fresh, and the price is still high. When the GeForce FX is released you will likely be able to either get that, the R 9700 Pro for a lower price, or wait a bit for the R350.....

I really wished I had a Radeon 9700 Pro. Using a GeForce 4 Ti 4400 and it lags like hell when playing UT2003 when I enable Anisio and Anti Aliasing....
I play more WC3 than anything though and with 4X AA and max Anisio it doesn't lag so it's fine for now. I've tried disabling AA and Anisio before and it looks like crap, can't play without it.

EDIT: BTW If you plan on running the R 9700 on your 1.59 ghz P4 you should think twice. Your CPU will not be able to take full advantage of the card....

You're making quite a sense here; the R9700 has been around some time, and still goes around $375-$400 in the retail (plus tax), thats a lots of money; in fact it think a lot for most of us. Just built a new P 2.4B rig (shelled out some $500 for components so far) , and have Radeon7500 inside, it's not a bad card, but the rig really deserves something better (getting some 6000 3DMarks with it, R9700Pro should drive me to somewhere around 13k range).... I like to play flightsims, and at 1600*1200*32 max. detail everything whenever possible.

I actually don't mind to spend $400, just don't want to see the R9700Pro next week or two on shelves for $250, and new card (whatever it may be) humiliating R9700Pro in performance ... that happens to me a lot, unfortunatelly, will buy something and the next week you can get it for half.

dave

 

[Kowan]

I too believe the 9700 Pro's price won't drop until the NV30 is released. Both the 9700 Pro and Ti4600 prices have not changed for a couple of months on Price Watch.
The Pro has stayed at $310 and the Ti at $210.
(every once and a while a vender sends a screwed up listing and you see a wrong low price and link to a lesser produce)

 

[mchammer187]

NV30 probably wont be available until February

i would wait if i could to see if this will cause a price drop in the 9700 or just bite and get a 9700 now if you cant wait

so basically you will have the top video card for at least 2 months

I wouldnt buy one but i have a radeon 8500 right now so im happy

 

[human2k]

BUy a Radeon 9500PRO 128MB.........i dunno how easier can it get..........performance near TI4600 and plus its a based off 9700 core (which means direct x9 compliance!). $200 retail boxed at newegg.com.

 

[fyleow]

Originally posted by: human2k
BUy a Radeon 9500PRO 128MB.........i dunno how easier can it get..........performance near TI4600 and plus its a based off 9700 core (which means direct x9 compliance!). $200 retail boxed at newegg.com.

I disagree with this, the Radeon 9500 Pro comes very close to the performance of the Ti 4600 in most cases and only exceeds it when Anti Aliasing and Anisiotropic Filtering is enabled. Even then the 4600 beats it in some tests (info is from Anandtech benchmarks).

The Radeon 9500 is a bit different from the 9700, it only has two 64 bit memory controllers instead of 4, which means half the memory bandwith.

The lowest card I can half heartedly recommend now if you want something top of the line that will last you awhile is the non pro version of 9700. I don't think it's worth it but it's basically a lower clocked version of the Pro and doesn't have any missing things like the 9500.

Wait until February, I'm sure ATI will release something when the GeForce FX is out. It might be just an R9700 with .13 micron and DDR II or it could be the R350. In any case it will be the new top of the line and so prices for the 9700 Pro will drop. Then you can decide to go for the best or something cheaper. I like to buy top of the line things as well but I always buy it as soon as it is released or not at all. If you hesitate you're going to be seeing it for less a lot sooner and something better will come out soon.

I had the Ti 4600 when it was released, I sold it and bought the 4400 thinking that it was a wise choice (it's cheaper and I could OC it anyway). Big mistake. Yea I know that the 4400 is basically the same thing and the performance difference is negligible but it was the psychological effect. Sure it was good, but it wasn't the best. I don't know maybe you don't mind but it bugs me....

 

[BD2003]

But then youre missing the point entirely. He's asking if he should buy now or wait till a price drop, because he wants to keep it for a long time. You go on and on on how fast the 9700 pro is, and it is fast, for now. But months and years from now, his 9700 pro is going to be slow as hell.

Instead of shooting his load now and getting the super fast card now only to have a dog slow card later, I suggest a way for him to maintain a steady level of enjoyment.

If money was not an object, obviously we would recommend radeon 9700s to everyone. But for people who want to buy something to use for a while, unless they are shy of opening their case, there are better ways than just buying the top end.

 

[Tired of the Bull]

Personally I pick a price I'm willing to pay for the upgrade in question, a video card in this case. Lets say $250, then when my current card no longer has what it takes I find the best card at the time for the predetermined price ($250). Then I simply start the whole process over.

 

[GTaudiophile]

I don't know about you all, but I'm going for a Radeon 9500 PRO. Yes, it is faster and cheaper than a Ti4600 with FSAA enabled. Who doesn't play with FSAA these days? Once you turn it on once, you're hooked.

 

[lorlabnew]

I think after all of the considerations, I'll grab the 9700pro (retail ATI for $380 here), unless I will find any good deal on Ti4600 (good deal would mean for me around $250 in retail store), and I could most likely get new card again in 6 months or so. If I'll go with 9700pro, it will remain at least a year one of the top adapters; next Christmas I can get a new one if I'll have a need for it. Also, if I'll see 9500Pro around somewhere, I may give it a shot if you guys are saying it's performance is close to Ti4600.

I prefer to shop in retail, since replacements from online vendors are problematic and time consuming sometimes, and quite often they like to slip you something else then what you've ordered. There are exceptions of course, but I like to see what I pay for before the purchase, particularly with an expensive and damage sensitive item like quality videocard.

Thanks again for all the input, it helped !

dave

 

[Byte]

buying a radeon is quiet a waste of money, if you do you are stupid. BTW i just got one for $250, so call me stupid.