WHAT IS THE BEST VIDEO CARD FOR GAMING

[Cesar]

Originally posted by: dakels
thats one of the big reasons people buy the 9500 series cards, so they can softmod them to run like 9700 even 9800. Decent chance to get to 9700 speeds, slim chance to get to 9800 speeds but it looks like you're aready there and beyond if you're running 400mhz. My real 9800 runs 325mhz although I have been able to get it to 425mhz from powerstrip but I am not going to run it OC'd until my new Thermaltake Xaser III case comes in (7 case fans)... the case and Gigabyte 8KNXP motherboard just came in today (man it weighs a ton!) As for the P3 heatsink on the R9500. The 9500's mounting brackets won't fit the CPU cooler you have. I assume you know you just have to mount it manually with adhesve thermal paste like arctic silver thermal adhesive/alumina. Alot of active VGA coolers though are knockoffs of CPU coolers anyways like TT's golden Orb and TT's VGA orb. I just think they are a little smaller to fit. I don't know much about custom video card cooling so I can't say much here. I'd assume a CPU cooler with a larger heat spreader and larger fan would work better then a stock VGA cooler, provided you can mount it securely. good luck

thx dakels I'll figure out something

 

[Regs]

The 9700 pro for its value and performance. 9800 pro is a little to expensive right now, all though I pay car insurance in NJ so im use to inflated prices.

 

[dakels]

Originally posted by: Regs
The 9700 pro for its value and performance. 9800 pro is a little to expensive right now, all though I pay car insurance in NJ so im use to inflated prices.

The 9800 non pro is selling for $300 at certain places, even Best Buy. Thats much better then buying a 9700 Pro for $300-350. The 9800 non-pro is marginally faster then the 9700 pro and it OC's very easily to 9800 Pro speeds. Not that I put a huge weight into 3D mark but as a for instance... my Radeon 9700 TX scored about a 13,000 , same settings same computer, OC'd to 9700 Pro speeds it scored about 15,000 IIRC. My new Radeon 9800 non pro @stock ran a 16,000 on the same rig. OC'd to 9800 Pro speeds it scored about 17,500? I dont remember exactly. btw all were on the same rig, same chipset, 1024x768x32 no AA. The 9800 will be retested and OC'd on my new Gigabyte 8KNXP based rig. My new case is much cooler so I may try to push the limits of the card to see where it will go. I will aggressively OC for testing but I don't like running too far of an OC when I don't need it. The stock R9800 is so fast I don't really need to stress it out running heavily OC'd until I need to with future software.

and I am in jersey too... all insurance in NJ is teh suck! My health insurance just went up about 20% in one shot. Insurance rates in NJ are a crime.

btw Cesar: I should clarify, the softmodded/OC'd 9500's run like the 9700 or 9800's but its definitly not the same. Still gives you alot more power then the stock 9500 and with your crazy 400mhz OC, I wouldn't be surprised if you beat a stock 9700 maybe even Pro in many benchmarks. Good luck with your cooling project.

 

[Regs]

The 9800 non pro is selling for $300 at certain places, even Best Buy

I forgot about the non pro. $299 is a good deal, I would like to see benchmarks between the 9700 pro and 9800 non pro. Even though a overclocked 9800 pro would likely kill it.

 

[tenoc]

NVIDIA Geforce FX 5900 ultra

Why do people insist on extolling the virtues of cards we can't buy?

The 9800 series are on shelves now! The 5900's aren't!