Which card should I get??

[Tullphan]

This Sapphire 9500 Pro or this Albatron Ti4680 Turbo.

My system is composed of an Albatron PX845PEV Pro with a 2.53 P4, 512mb stick of Corsair XMS PC3200 & dual 60 hard drives. I do light gaming, watch some movies & do some text.

Suggestions?

 

[nick1985]

i will probably be the only one to vote the turbo, but...

its sweet!!

 

[dguy6789]

the turbo may be overclocked, but is still no match for the 9500 pro.

 

[sash1]

if you like AA + AF, then get the 9500Pro. But from your description of "light gaming," get the GF4.

~Aunix

 

[Tullphan]

My definition of "light gaming" is less than 2 hrs a day.
I work 2 jobs to pay for my addiction to the Hot Deals forum...hehehe, therefore, less time to play games.

 

[nigm]

well... i do semi-"hardcore" gaming,,, which one should i get? 🙂

i'm thinkin of gettin the 4800...

 

[TheRealShaman]

Keep in mind that the 9500pro is a DirectX9 product so it will keep you running a lot longer than the GeForce4. That's very important if you don't upgrade often. I personally wouldn't buy a DirectX8 video card at this time.

 

[SickBeast]

9500.

owned.

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Originally posted by: SickBeast
9500.

owned.

They're probably both overkill for your "light gaming". Get a Ti4200 for <$100 and save the bucks for later on. 😀

- M4H

 

[Tullphan]

Originally posted by: TheRealShaman
Keep in mind that the 9500pro is a DirectX9 product so it will keep you running a lot longer than the GeForce4. That's very important if you don't upgrade often. I personally wouldn't buy a DirectX8 video card at this time.

Is there any DirectX 9 stuff out there now for the 9500 Pro to take advantage of? If not, how long will it be?
Is there still driver issues with the 9500? I don't have time for troubleshooting.

 

[TheRealShaman]

DirectX9 games are on their way..Software developers didn't have the time to implement all the features of the DirectX technology since it was updated so often..That's the reason why Microsoft will stick to DirectX9 for quite a while (i heard something like 2 years or more but I'm not sure about it).As for driver issues I don't really know much since I don't have a 9500pro (yet!).There are a lot of guys here who own one though and I'm sure they can tell you all about it..

 

[FFactory0x]

Get a Sapphire 9700 non pro from Newegg.com. I ordered mine monday and recieved yesterday. Guess what. It came with 7 bladed fan and 2.8ns Samsung Ram. These oc to pro speeds easily

 

[Tullphan]

Originally posted by: FFactory0x
Get a Sapphire 9700 non pro from Newegg.com. I ordered mine monday and recieved yesterday. Guess what. It came with 7 bladed fan and 2.8ns Samsung Ram. These oc to pro speeds easily

That one's even higher than the other 2...I was looking for something in that price range of those 2 (unless I found something equivalent cheaper)

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: Tullphan
This Sapphire 9500 Pro or this Albatron Ti4680 Turbo.

My system is composed of an Albatron PX845PEV Pro with a 2.53 P4, 512mb stick of Corsair XMS PC3200 & dual 60 hard drives. I do light gaming, watch some movies & do some text.

Suggestions?

I actually own both of the cards you mentioned. The Built by ATI Radeon 9500 pro and the PNY GeForce4 Ti4600 8X.
Using the same rig, I tried both cards with a fresh Operating system installed each time. The GF4 had ZERO issues. It was installed and I forgot about it.
Worked amazing. The ATI card however, was a nightmare. A great deal of troubleshooting to get the thing to work right. I spent a week on this forum with
the help of it's members to get the ATI card working correctly. And when I say correctly, I mean to a point where it can be used, but not without small issues.

So it is with great enthusiasm and 2 dozen excedrin pills later, that I suggest the Nvidia solution for care free installation and usage.

Remember, I own both cards and am not biased. Just based on MY experience with them.

Keys

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: TheRealShaman
Keep in mind that the 9500pro is a DirectX9 product so it will keep you running a lot longer than the GeForce4. That's very important if you don't upgrade often. I personally wouldn't buy a DirectX8 video card at this time.

Direct X 9 titles will take a looooonng time to surface. So I wouldn't base this purchase on that. Even if there is one or two games out there that support DX9.

And by the time the titles do surface, it will be time to upgrade your vid card again anyways.

Keys

 

[TheRealShaman]

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003

Originally posted by: TheRealShaman
Keep in mind that the 9500pro is a DirectX9 product so it will keep you running a lot longer than the GeForce4. That's very important if you don't upgrade often. I personally wouldn't buy a DirectX8 video card at this time.

Direct X 9 titles will take a looooonng time to surface. So I wouldn't base this purchase on that. Even if there is one or two games out there that support DX9.

And by the time the titles do surface, it will be time to upgrade your vid card again anyways.

Keys

You missed this point:

That's very important if you don't upgrade often.

If you upgrade every 6 months then I agree that getting a $100 Ti is a better buy - although I can't say the same thing about the Albatron card Tullphan is interested in since it costs exactly the same as the Sapphire one. If you upgrade every 1-1,5 years though (as I do since I have other expensive hobbies besides computers - Hi-End audio systems alone is enough to blow your budget..Trust me!

) then it's really important to get a card that will last a while.. Certainly Radeon's lifespan will be larger than the Ti's one..

Also the eye-candy - at highly playable frame rates - the 9500 offers, even in older games, is something I find appealing.

To me of course the release Doom3 is enough of a reason to get a DirectX9 card!!But then again it's just me...

 

[nigm]

welll....


I'm buying the ATI Saphire 9500 pro from newegg today (the one posted above)

any last comments before i buy? The directx 9.0 convinced me in buying the 9500 rather then the gf4, since i upgrade once a year or so...

even tho the gf4 has tvout and "turbo", etc... I'm more convinced in buying the 9500 because of dx9 (unless someone can convince me not to 😀)


so,, reply fast 🙂

-thNX

 

[SickBeast]

9500 is the better choice bar-none.