Will a Radeon 9700 still play the latest games?

[eflat]

will a radeon 9700 suffice this day and age?

or do i need a 6600gt to play the latest games. like doom 3, for example.

 

[Lyfer]

If you like playing FEAR and Quake 4 at 800x600, its fine.

 

[goobernoodles]

Depends on your system... What else is in the computer? CPU and RAM wise... And Doom 3 is not what I think of when you say 'latest games' Battlefield 2, FEAR and Quake 4 come to mind.

With that card, you'll likely have problems running bf2, fear and q4, however... hl2, cs:s would probably be playable at lower settings.

 

[crispy2010]

At a low res it will play any game out there. My kids have one and it plays doom3 @ 1024x768 med settings at about 35-40 fps avg. Not the best but playable by all means.

Keep in mind kids have a 3400+ 64 with 1 gig of ram, rest of sys makes a diff!

 

[0roo0roo]

yup just depends on what graphics settings. a 9700 is still fast enough that one can lower quality enough to reach a good fps. truely obsolete card can't even pull off 1024x768 with minimum settings.

 

[suicidalpigeon]

a base 9700? weren't those softmoddable?

 

[BFG10K]

will a radeon 9700 suffice this day and age?

No. Games like Fear will probably be a slideshow even at 640x480.

 

[CalamitySymphony]

I would have to disagree. The 9700 = 6600GT. No big gains here.

you'll do fine on 1024x768 on EVERY game.

 

[johnnqq]

i'm pretty sure that you can do 1024x768 with medium settings on MOST games (except fear probably)

 

[Overkiller]

1024x768 with medium settings on the latest games provided you have a 3.2 ghz P4C/ 1gb ram +

Q3 based games will run fine at 1600x1200 on high with the above system

 

[suicidalpigeon]

Originally posted by: CalamitySymphony
I would have to disagree. The 9700 = 6600GT. No big gains here.

you'll do fine on 1024x768 on EVERY game.

what? where have you been? the 6600gt outperforms the 9800pro on every front.

 

[Makaveli]

i'm gonna take a stab in the dark here, but when he said 9700=6600GT he meant it was close in performance, obviously the GT is faster.

 

[Sniper82]

In most games 6600GT is much faster than the 9700 when running above 1024x768. In Doom III it runs alot better but Doom III runs better on Nvidia cards.

http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20050705/vga-charts-pcie-07.html

 

[LTC8K6]

If you already have the 9700, then get the latest drivers and try it out. Then you can decide if you need to upgrade.

If you are trying to decide which to buy, then get the 6600GT.

 

[CalamitySymphony]

9700 -> 6600GT is like upgrading to 9800 Pro. Its rather pointless.

Get a 6800 or above if you are considering any sort of upgrade. X800s are good too (probably better even, for AGP)

 

[Lyfer]

X800Pro AGP is your best bet, $180 refurbed from ATI.com when they have it instock, $220 from most places for brand new.

 

[BFG10K]

The 9700 = 6600GT.

A 6600GT is a lot faster than a 9700, especially in newer games with shaders.

you'll do fine on 1024x768 on EVERY game.

That's just nonsense. Even 2004 games like Far Cry and Doom 3 will strain that card badly at that setting.

 

[coopermckay]

Not true I have a64 3000 with a 6600 gt and doom 3 runs at 60 fps on high 1024x768...farcry is the same...

 

[The Green Bean]

LCD is 1024*1280 im assuming. Im having trouble playing COD2 on my 6800GT with that res.

 

[RussianSensation]

Originally posted by: wafflesandsyrup

Originally posted by: CalamitySymphony
I would have to disagree. The 9700 = 6600GT. No big gains here.

you'll do fine on 1024x768 on EVERY game.

what? where have you been? the 6600gt outperforms the 9800pro on every front.

Yes but 20-30% improvement is hardly worth paying $100 for. Stepping up from 9700/9800 series is worthy if you go to 6800GT/GS, X800XL, X800Pro.

Given that even those cards will soon be fairly old and slow (look at COD2 and FEAR benches and you'll already see them only sustaining decent frames at 1024x768 with AA/AF, then getting 6600GT from 9700 is defeating the purpose since it wont make your situation any better than 9700.

 

[wpeng]

I have a 9700 Pro with a 2.5 GHz system and 512 DDR3200. I run FEAR at 800x600 with medium settings and only have a couple of hiccups when loading a new area or a bunch of enemies come at once.

 

[allstars]

I have an Ati Radeon Pro 9700 128mb

I run all games fine, but i must admit it for sure could be nicer compared with friends gfx´s..

but i completed both FEAR and FARCRY on this card at 1024x768x32..

.)

//allstars

 

[Malladine]

Originally posted by: BFG10K

will a radeon 9700 suffice this day and age?

No. Games like Fear will probably be a slideshow even at 640x480.

wrong. Fear runs at 800x600 minimal settings, one or two at medium, without any stuttering. CoD2 in dx9 mode is unplayable though

I'm running a 9800 non pro (pretty much the same as a 9700 pro) and got through farcry at 1024 with all regular settings except 1 at high and water at ultra high. Smooth performance.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: RussianSensation

Originally posted by: wafflesandsyrup

Originally posted by: CalamitySymphony
I would have to disagree. The 9700 = 6600GT. No big gains here.

you'll do fine on 1024x768 on EVERY game.

what? where have you been? the 6600gt outperforms the 9800pro on every front.

Yes but 20-30% improvement is hardly worth paying $100 for. Stepping up from 9700/9800 series is worthy if you go to 6800GT/GS, X800XL, X800Pro.

Given that even those cards will soon be fairly old and slow (look at COD2 and FEAR benches and you'll already see them only sustaining decent frames at 1024x768 with AA/AF, then getting 6600GT from 9700 is defeating the purpose since it wont make your situation any better than 9700.

I agree that 9700 to 6600gt isn't an overall good move, but in some cases, the gains are pretty significant.

The only game mentioned in the OP is doom 3, which would be a huge gain going from 9700 to 6600gt.
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2277&p=3

1024 x 768
9800pro 45.1 fps
6600gt 82 fps
81.8% advantage 9800pro

Assuming the 9700 is going to be around 40fps, you're looking at a doubling of framerate going from 9700 to 6600gt in doom 3.

 

[Maximilian]

Originally posted by: CitizenDoug
will a radeon 9700 suffice this day and age?

or do i need a 6600gt to play the latest games. like doom 3, for example.

The 9700 will suffice, unless your a gaming freak and by asking that question i assume your not. I have a 9800 PRO, which isnt that much faster and its fine with quake 4/bf2 etc.