Video Card Queries

0utlaw

Junior Member
May 10, 2003
10
0
0
hey guys, im going to be in the market for a new video card by end of this month and ill be able to spend 180-200. $200 is max..i wont be able to spend a penny more (okay mebbe a penny). but since im going to be using this card for quite awhile, i think i should probably get a Dx9 optimized card. so i have to choose between geforce fx 5600 w/ 256mb ram or an ATI 9500 pro or an ATI 9700 (non pro). or maybe i could skip dx9 and go with a geforce4 ti4800SE. the thing is, i like nvidia because ive used them for a very long time (since the riva's), plus they work very well in linux and guru3d keeps coming out with new drivers like every 3 weeks. The games i normally play (plan on playing) are GTA3, CounterStrike, GTA VC, EnterTheMatrix, UT2003 (all at 1024x768-1280x1024).

another thing, rite now im using a 4x agp motherboard, ill get the 8x later on and so i wanted to know what the difference would be between a card running at 4x agp and the same one running at 8x agp. half the performance? also, can someone tell me what memory bandwidth and fill rate are and what they do? thanks a lot
 

Lonyo

Lifer
Aug 10, 2002
21,938
6
81
You're comparing a 9700 to a 5600 and 4800?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

AGP 8x offers NO performance change AT ALL for ANY card that you're looking at.

9700 non-pro is the only way you can really go if you want something to last a while and give very nice performance.
If you want to make a mistake and go for cards that won't last all that long/give all that great performance, you're free to chose a 4800 or 5600.
The 9700 will be much better in terms of performance.
 

0utlaw

Junior Member
May 10, 2003
10
0
0
so it seems Ati is the way to go now? btw, whats the NV35? whens it sposed to come out?

also, how is ATI's linux support? and nobody's answered my other questions. memory bandwidth and fill rate and what they do?
 

0utlaw

Junior Member
May 10, 2003
10
0
0
okay i check out both, the Radeon 9500 pro and Radeon 9700. they both impressed me a lot except i can't afford the 9700 :p. the only problem is i do a lot of gaming in linux as well. (UT, CS, etc). i checked the official ATI website and only 9700 is fully supported. also, i wasnt able to find any reviews on the fx 5600. so if someone could point me to one, that would be great.
 

Schadenfroh

Elite Member
Mar 8, 2003
38,416
4
0
if you like linux, go with a 4200, its linux drivers are more mature it is also cheaper and can be o/c into a 4600.

nv35 is going to hit mass production in june and will be announced at e3.