Which Video card?!?! All opinions welcome!

[scarfase99]

Ok, not looking to spend over $100, im currently using a Matrox G400 Max 32mb Ram, so the time has come to upgrade my XP 1800+ System

Now, from the searches i've done, i think i've settles on ATI, but now the debate is: should i get the Radeon 8500, 8500LE, or 9000 Pro. ANd also, am i doing the right thing goin with ATI or would NVidia be a better choice? I want a card that is good for everything, not necesserily great for one, but lacking in the other. As of right now, i'm leaning towards the 9000 Pro, so ANY advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[BFG10K]

Get a 128 MB Radeon 8500 if you can. Failing that the 128 MB 8500LE is the next best choice.

Whatever card you go with, try to get the 128 MB version.

 

[bearxor]

I know alot of people suggest the 8500 over the 9000 because it's faster, but personally, I belive that more mature drivers will put the 9000 over the 8500 within 3-4 months. I just have a gut feeling that a 9000 Pro is a better buy, being a newer product. I had one myself, and it was awesome. I returned tho, so i can get a 9500 Pro here in the next few days.

I would suggest the 9000 Pro 128. You can find them online for about 120 bucks, but I would probably wait until NV30 launches, because then ATI will probably drop prices across the board. I will probably wait to buy my 9500 Pro. If nvidia does the same thing with NV30 that they did with NV25, then they will release a slow card for around the 180~200 dollar range, that will still be faster than the 9500 Pro. If this happens, prices of 9500 Pro's will probably sink into a nice 130~150 range (non-pro and pro), and 9000's will probably be available from 50~100 (my guess: 50 for a 64MB non-pro, 79.99 for a 9000 Pro 64MB, and 99.99 for a 9000 Pro 128MB).

This is not far-fetched, and will most likely happen when nvidia actually gets nv30 on the shelves. This will place retail 9000 Pro 128's right in your price range, and might even make you think about a 9500 non-pro...

 

[BFG10K]

The 9000 is a neutered version of the 8500 in that ATi have removed one TMU from each of the pixel pipelines. So it'll never be as good.

 

[shr]

I wouldn't wait for NV30 because it Isn't comming this year instead AGP8x version of ti44/4600.

The only advantages of the 9000 over the 8500 are fullstream(the ability to process video trough pixel/vertex shaders for better pictures) the drivers as bearxor said and it also can (and was originally suposed to) work eith a passive heatsink, in case noise is an issue to you.

The 8500's advantages are: ITS FASTER

there is also of course tridents XP4, if it ever materializes it may be a good option

 

[bearxor]

have you looked at the specs of the 9000? Although it is short one texture unit, the texture units in it can do double the work of the texture units in the 8500. So although they have one less TMU, it can do double the work as the one in the 8500.

So THEORETICALLY, they can process the exact same amount. However, the drivers aren't there right now. Once ATI optimizes the drivers to work better with the newer tmu's, the 9000 will at least MATCH the 8500, if not exceed it.

The only real way the 9000 is at a disadvantage is that it does have only one vertex shader, compared to two in the 8500. The 9000 will probably never be as fast in vertex shading as an 8500.

Also, the 9000 is supposed to support SOME directx 9 features, although I haven't quite been able to read up as to exactly what it can support.

My feeling is, the better features, more stable process, and great new drivers coming out, are real advantages over the 8500 being a little bit faster.

Just think, ATI has probably already squeezed all the performance driver-wise from the 8500. The 9000 is brand new, along with the 9700. Both these cards are going to benefit greatly from future ATI drivers optimized to make use of the one TMU per pipe architecture.

 

[Tates]

The 9000 may be newer, but as BFG10K said, it'll never be as good as the 8500. Besides having one less TMU from each of the pixel pipelines, Trueform, ala the 9000, is not hardware supported like in the 8500, but rendered in software.

The 9000 is a neutered 8500 that costs ATi a lot less to manufacture.