whats the deal with Radeon 9700 pros?

[LongCoolMother]

what are these guys? i mean, they dont seem to occupy any portion of the market for ATI. i heard these perform close to the 9800s, but they dont seem to be that popular. is this a current gen card? or a previous gen card? i heard it only has AGP4x, yet its still able to keep up? and its so much cheaper too. does it support directx 9? it doesnt seem too mainstream, even on the ATI website.

anyway, im looking to upgrade from my radeon 8500 retail and im considering something around ~$250 or less. The 9800 pro is good, but id like to go cheaper if i can, and the 9700 looks good. im just not sure really what the verdict on this card is..

 

[nick1985]

the 9800pro i believe is agp 8x, and it does support dx9. in benchmarks its slightly faster than the 9800non-pro. i dont know why its not as popular, it must be that 9800 sounds better than 9700 😉

 

[Corporate Thug]

9700 pro still occupies the high end market, it is a Dx9 card and AGP 8x NOT 4x. it performs slightly better than a 9800 non pro

 

[LongCoolMother]

thanks for the info. so 9700 pro IS AGP 8x.

so basically it goes as i understand it:

9800pro>9700pro>9800np

? the 9700 looks tempting..

 

[videoclone]

The 9700 Pro isn?t as good as the 9800 series because its not as solid in games some games run glitched up and no drivers out today fix these problems it is a very fast card but if your planning on playing a larg variety of games your better off with a 9800 card or FX5900 they will be more compatible.

Geforce FX 5900 cards are going for $180 and ive seen some 9800Non Pros going for $199 they would be better buys get one 🙂 you wont be disappointed with either card.

😉:beer:

 

[boyRacer]

Originally posted by: videoclone
The 9700 Pro isn?t as good as the 9800 series because its not as solid in games some games run glitched up and no drivers out today fix these problems it is a very fast card but if your planning on playing a larg variety of games your better off with a 9800 card or FX5900 they will be more compatible.

Geforce FX 5900 cards are going for $180 and ive seen some 9800Non Pros going for $199 they would be better buys get one 🙂 you wont be disappointed with either card.

😉:beer:

ive been playing some DX9 games with it no problem... same with my 9600p... no problems at all... 🙂

 

[videoclone]

Yep allot of games work fine but you haven?t played as many games as me 😛 ... most people don?t know it but Nvidia still have priority number 1 when the game developers make games due to the fact that more people have Geforce2mx and Geforce4mx cards in there computer systems then any other card on the face of this planet.

Either way heaps of older games and some new Open GL engine games glitch like hell on the 9700 Pro these same games that dont work on the 9700 card work fine on the 9800 i think ATI are trying to let the 9700 die and make people buy new card 🙂

 

[Brian48]

Originally posted by: videoclone
Yep allot of games work fine but you haven?t played as many games as me 😛 ... most people don?t know it but Nvidia still have priority number 1 when the game developers make games due to the fact that more people have Geforce2mx and Geforce4mx cards in there computer systems then any other card on the face of this planet.

Either way heaps of older games and some new Open GL engine games glitch like hell on the 9700 Pro these same games that dont work on the 9700 card work fine on the 9800 i think ATI are trying to let the 9700 die and make people buy new card 🙂

Well exactly what games are you talking about? The difference between the 9700 and 9800 series is minimal to say the least. I've haven't encountered a single game, OpenGL or otherwise, that doesn't play just as well with my 9700Pro as my 9800Pro.

 

[wkabel23]

Originally posted by: LongCoolMother
thanks for the info. so 9700 pro IS AGP 8x.

so basically it goes as i understand it:

9800pro>9700pro>9800np

? the 9700 looks tempting..

The 9800np should look more tempting. Get one with Samsung memory and flash the Bios to a 9800Pro? Sounds like a good deal to me.

 

[Mem]

Well exactly what games are you talking about? The difference between the 9700 and 9800 series is minimal to say the least. I've haven't encountered a single game, OpenGL or otherwise, that doesn't play just as well with my 9700Pro as my 9800Pro.

Same here,my 9700NP runs ALL my games fine both online and offline, just like my Nvidia GF2 TI card,as for difference between Nvidia and ATI on driver stability,I`ve yet to find any difference between them in any of my games stability wise.

The 9800 pro is good, but id like to go cheaper if i can, and the 9700 looks good. im just not sure really what the verdict on this card is..

If the price of the 9700 Pro is right and better for you then go for it.

 

[LeoMael]

It doesn't occupy any of the market because ATI replaced it with the 9800 pro. You don't hear Nvidia marketing the 5800 ultra anymore, do you?

 

[dfloyd]

The difference between the 9700 pro and the 9800 pro is almost a joke.

Its a marketing tactic and nothing more imo.

My friend wanted to have the latest and greatest out. He sold his 9700 pro and bouth a 9800 pro (He paid $400 for his 9800 pro). He gets max of about 5fps faster now (Wow what a investement, 5fps for twice the cost). Big whoopity doo. The 9800 pro is not worth its cost. If the 9700 Pro is cheaper I would buy it in a heart beat over the 9800 pro. Anyday. There is just not enough of a difference in the two to justify hardly any cost difference. Other than claiming you have the latest and greatest.

And yes the 9700 Pro is faster than the 9800 NP. But who cares, the difference is so small its almost funny. Dont believe me? Go read benchmarks at just about any review site.

And yes the 9700 Pro was the previous high end card. The 9800 Pro now occupies that slot. The 9700 Pro is AGP 8x and is a great card. If its cheaper I would defintiely but it over the 9800NP or the 9800 Pro.

 

[LongCoolMother]

arrrrgh i just found out my motherboard (intel 845pe) only has AGP 4x. -_-. this sucks, as i wont be able to unleash much from the newer radeons on AGP8x. whats worse is my system is a dell 4550 rig, which means its impossible to replace the motherboard because of its own form factor PSU+case. now im pissssttt...

 

[Corporate Thug]

Originally posted by: LongCoolMother
arrrrgh i just found out my motherboard (intel 845pe) only has AGP 4x. -_-. this sucks, as i wont be able to unleash much from the newer radeons on AGP8x. whats worse is my system is a dell 4550 rig, which means its impossible to replace the motherboard because of its own form factor PSU+case. now im pissssttt...

there is next to no difference between AGP 4X and 8X

 

[rbV5]

Either way heaps of older games and some new Open GL engine games glitch like hell on the 9700 Pro these same games that dont work on the 9700 card work fine on the 9800

Typical FUD from videoclone. The 9800 is simply the refresh of the 9700. The 9700 holds its own very well against even the top cards after nearly 1 1/2 years since it hit the shelves. It will perform just fine on a 4x board also.

 

[screw3d]

Originally posted by: rbV5

Either way heaps of older games and some new Open GL engine games glitch like hell on the 9700 Pro these same games that dont work on the 9700 card work fine on the 9800

Typical FUD from videoclone. The 9800 is simply the refresh of the 9700. The 9700 holds its own very well against even the top cards after nearly 1 1/2 years since it hit the shelves. It will perform just fine on a 4x board also.

I agree. For a 1 1/2 year-old card, it is pretty damn impressive if it still can compete with high-end cards today. It works perfectly fine for me and I have not seen any "glitches" let alone "like hell".

<-- proud owner of a 9700 pro.

 

[FacelessNobody]

Originally posted by: screw3d

Originally posted by: rbV5

Either way heaps of older games and some new Open GL engine games glitch like hell on the 9700 Pro these same games that dont work on the 9700 card work fine on the 9800

Typical FUD from videoclone. The 9800 is simply the refresh of the 9700. The 9700 holds its own very well against even the top cards after nearly 1 1/2 years since it hit the shelves. It will perform just fine on a 4x board also.

I agree. For a 1 1/2 year-old card, it is pretty damn impressive if it still can compete with high-end cards today. It works perfectly fine for me and I have not seen any "glitches" let alone "like hell".

<-- proud owner of a 9700 pro.

I've seen the "glitches." R9700 Pro problems depend on what mobo chipset you have. I use a P4X400, and early on there were nasty compatibility problems back in the Cat 2.5 to 3.0 days, some of which still exist. Most, however, went away with Catalyst 3.6 and beyond, and these compatibility problems were program specific, and in fact very few problems were actually present, anyway (UT2K3 was the big one, but that's fine now). Intel i845 is one of the good ones for the R9700 Pro (judging by what I remember about old 9700 Pros and chipset incompatibilities, info over a year old, mind you). Go for it.

 

[BoomAM]

Originally posted by: LongCoolMother
what are these guys? i mean, they dont seem to occupy any portion of the market for ATI.

Cos their over a year old.

i heard these perform close to the 9800s,

They perform slightly better, actually. But the 9800s OC better, so......

but they dont seem to be that popular.

If you search around ppls rigs, then you`ll find alot of people using them. For what they offer, they are a bargain.

is this a current gen card? or a previous gen card?

Its an older ATI model of card, but it competes very well with current Gen cards.

i heard it only has AGP4x, yet its still able to keep up?

Its AGPx8, but even if it was AGPx4, it would`nt matter, as even the top cards dont come close to saturating the AGPx4 Bus.

and its so much cheaper too. does it support directx 9?

As above, its a bargain, and yes, it does support DX9.

it doesnt seem too mainstream, even on the ATI website.

Alot of companies place it as a mainstream card thats slowly being phased out, but it more a high-end card.

anyway, im looking to upgrade from my radeon 8500 retail and im considering something around ~$250 or less. The 9800 pro is good, but id like to go cheaper if i can, and the 9700 looks good. im just not sure really what the verdict on this card is..

Go for a 9800 non-pro, then flash the BIOS to a 9800pro. The OC the fcuk out of it!.

Originally posted by: LeoMael
......you don't hear Nvidia marketing the 5800 ultra anymore, do you?

Theres a reason......and not just the obvious, "Its been superceeded" one either.

Originally posted by: FacelessNobody
I've seen the "glitches." R9700 Pro problems depend on what mobo chipset you have.

On the original Rev 1.0 9700pros, it had quite big compatibilites with some Mobos, the Rev 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 & 3.0 are all bug free as far as compatibilies with them are concerned.

Originally posted by: screw3d
I agree. For a 1 1/2 year-old card, it is pretty damn impressive if it still can compete with high-end cards today. It works perfectly fine for me and I have not seen any "glitches" let alone "like hell".

<-- proud owner of a 9700 pro.

I agree also.
After a year it still competes with the best. And only just misses out. Amazing card. One of a kind. It`ll be a while till another card like that comes out.