what can I upgrade to?

[goatweed]

I bought a new Dell last night, there was a speacial sale and it was too good to pass up:

Dimension 8300
P4, 2.66 @533Mhx
mobo Intel 875chipset 533/800FSB (I'd be running with 533 until I eventually get a CPY running @800 down the road)
512 Megs of PC2700 Ram @333Mhz
GeForce 4 MX card - YUCK!

Anyway, the vid card has to go. On my current rig (see link in sig) I'm using an Xtasy GeForce3 Ti500 and on that machine it works well. I was thinking of going with a GeForce4 Ti4200 but I hear it has a really noisy fan - so I look into ATI cards which seem to kick ass over Nvidia cards, but there are still poor driver support concerns (seemingly). I'm heading out to a PC Show this weekend and would love to get the new card then so I have it for when the Dell arrives next week. I'm also trying to be on the high side of copnservative as far as price is concerned - I don't wanna shell out $300 - $400, but I don't wanna get a board that I'll have to upgrade in 2 months either.

I'm a pretty heavy gamer, these days I'm playing RTCW(online) and UT2K3 and I'd like to be as ready as I can be for Doom 3.

Any thoughts?

 

[Audiofight]

Go for a Radeon 9500 128MB non-Pro. You can grab them for $150-175 shipped online. At a show, you might get one for that price range too.

The card is plenty fast and DX9 compatible. If you are still managing to make the GF3 last this long, then that Radeon will be great for you.

 

[TechBoyJK]

Why non pro over the Pro?

 

[Budmantom]

I don't think the Ti4200 fan is loud, I also don't think it will be that much improvement over your Ti500.

You should go with the 9700np. If you put the ti500 into your new rig then upgrade to the 9700 the fps will be close, but the iq will be a lot better.

The 9700np starts at $210 or $229 at newegg.

 

[goatweed]

are there any major differences between the Pro and the non-Pro? Or is it just a few bells & whistles?

 

[goatweed]

also, what are the current best driver versions to use with the 9700, as well as a GeForce board? I'm assuming I'll have to update the drivers once I install, and would really like to have a hassle-free set (esp. with the ATI board).

 

[Budmantom]

Originally posted by: goatweed
also, what are the current best driver versions to use with the 9700, as well as a GeForce board? I'm assuming I'll have to update the drivers once I install, and would really like to have a hassle-free set (esp. with the ATI board).

With my 9700 I use the 3.2 cat's, with the NVidea card it doesn't matter they are all good.

 

[goatweed]

thanks - is there a difference between the pro & non-pro? (aside from $$)

 

[Budmantom]

Clockspeed, 275/275 and pro is 325/310.

 

[Budmantom]

Too bad you didn't get the 9700tx when you bought your rig, that's what I did it was $110 more then the rage card and $70 more then the g4mx. The tx is clocked at 263/263 best bang for the buck.

 

[Lonyo]

Originally posted by: Budmantom
Clockspeed, 275/275 and pro is 325/310.

Not only clockspeed.
Pro has 8x1, non-Pro has 4x1, so pro has twice the number of pixel pipelines. I think.

 

[FearoftheNight]

Originally posted by: Lonyo

Originally posted by: Budmantom
Clockspeed, 275/275 and pro is 325/310.

Not only clockspeed.
Pro has 8x1, non-Pro has 4x1, so pro has twice the number of pixel pipelines. I think.

that is the case w/ 9500 series..not 9700

 

[TechBoyJK]

Hey, I have a system with 4x's AGP. I currently have an ATI 8500LE 64MB and I am looking for something to upgrade too. I'm hoping to be ready for doom3. I was thinking about the new 9600, but if I can get a non pro cheap and it only has AGP 4x's, would my money be best spent on a 9500 non pro and then maybe OC it?

AMD 1700+
512 DDR
40GB
120GB
DVD-r/rw
Cdrw 52x24x52
ATI AIW RAGE 128 (for capture and tv in)
ATI Radeon 8500LE 64MB
Sony 19" Trinitron
Win2K Pro

 

[goatweed]

so I really don't need the Pro, I can get the non-Pro and possibly OC it close to Pro speeds - I think?

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: goatweed
are there any major differences between the Pro and the non-Pro? Or is it just a few bells & whistles?

9500 Non-Pro = 4 rendering pipelines core/mem 275/270 128-bit memory bus GOOD
9500 Pro = 8 rendering pipelines cor /mem 275/270 128-bit memory bus GREAT
9700 Non-Pro = 8 rendering pipelines core/mem 275/270 256-bit memory bus AWE INSPIRING
9700 Pro = 8 rendering pipelines core/mem 325/300 256-bit memory bus AWE INSPIRING + UMPH!!

Keys

 

[TechBoyJK]

How does the 9500 non pro compare to the ati 8500le with 64/mb of ram?

 

[theanimala]

Originally posted by: Budmantom
Too bad you didn't get the 9700tx when you bought your rig, that's what I did it was $110 more then the rage card and $70 more then the g4mx. The tx is clocked at 263/263 best bang for the buck.

I agree with this comment totally. I just got my Dell 4550 with the upgraded 9700tx. With the 10% off last month it was only $99 more then the base rage card, easily money well spent. You should see about cancelling your order and adding it in.