worth it to go from Gf4 Ti4400 to 9800 pro

[Aharami]

So my current card is a Gf4 ti 4400 with AGP 4x and 128 mb RAM. It plays Far Cry fine at medium settings. but i get funny artifacts when i turn the water setting to high or above.

I was looking at screenies of Farcry on the geforce 6800 and was blown away at how much better it looks than mine. i want a piece of that but cant fork over $400 for a card.

So will a 9800 Pro with 256mb be worthwhile upgrade? i found one for $230

Also will someone try and explain to me how the cards go? I havent been keeping up with the market and lost track of which cards are good and which are bad (like Gf MX cards are slower than gf3 cards)

 

[beserker15]

yup, it's a great upgrade...even better if you can flash it to a 9800xt!!!

 

[Aharami]

Originally posted by: beserker15
yup, it's a great upgrade...even better if you can flash it to a 9800xt!!!

or should i get the 128 mb version for $30 less?

 

[Aharami]

oh its OEM. so doesnt come with anything besides the card

 

[Aharami]

whats better? ATI 9800 pro or Geforce 5800? both with 256 mb

 

[magratton]

I believe the board would say (in order of performance for brand new on the market):

ti4400
ATI 9600 (Pro or XT)
NVidia FX5900
ATI (9800Pro or XT) or NVidia (5900Ultra, 5950Ultra)
NVidia 6800nu
ATI X800Pro or NVidia 6800GT
ATI X800XT or NVidia 6800Ultra


For your money, a 9800Pro (128MB for < $200, 256MB > $225) or a NVidia 6800nu (just a standard 6800) which will run you 275 - 325 depending on dealer/brand would be what I would target for an upgrade.

I believe I saw some 6800's at NewEgg for $279. The difference between the 9800 Pro 128MB and the 9800 Pro/XT 256 is not all that great and may be hard to justify the $50 in cost. The 6800nu beats both of them by about a 10% margin in nearly all games out today. Still it may be hard to justify the $90 increase in cost over a 9800Pro 128MB card that you can get for $190 or even find used for $150.

Hope this gives you more information.

 

[magratton]

Originally posted by: Aharami
whats better? ATI 9800 pro or Geforce 5800? both with 256 mb

hehe, we were posting at same time, I belive the 9800 Pro 128MB version still is better than the 5800.

 

[Aharami]

magratton thanks for the detailed info. that helps. but dont let that stop others from chiming in

 

[beserker15]

i was gonna tell you to get the 5900xt deal in the hot deals forum....but it's gone now...

 

[suklee]

Originally posted by: Aharami

Originally posted by: beserker15
yup, it's a great upgrade...even better if you can flash it to a 9800xt!!!

or should i get the 128 mb version for $30 less?

IF you're set on the 9800 Pro, $30 is a small amount to pay for a bit more "future-proof"-ness.

So, IMHO, get the 256 version.

 

[Aharami]

Originally posted by: beserker15
i was gonna tell you to get the 5900xt deal in the hot deals forum....but it's gone now...

is the 5900xt better than a 9800?

 

[Aharami]

Originally posted by: Kai920

Originally posted by: Aharami

Originally posted by: beserker15
yup, it's a great upgrade...even better if you can flash it to a 9800xt!!!

or should i get the 128 mb version for $30 less?

IF you're set on the 9800 Pro, $30 is a small amount to pay for a bit more "future-proof"-ness.

So, IMHO, get the 256 version.

im not set on anything. in fact, im used to the nvidia drivers and like the little things they have (nview, nvrotate, dual view, etc etc)...so i'd rather get a nvidia card. but im by no means a nvidia fanboi. if the ATI 9800p gives 90% of the performance of the Geforce 6800, im getting the ATI. But again, i'd rather get a nvidia card just cuz im used to them...but not gonna spend close to $300 (after shipping) on a 6800

 

[Kobra]

Stick with Nvidia man.. I went to the ATI camp and came running back to Nvidia after a few months of bullshit from ATI.. Bad drivers, incompatible games, overheating, etc... I was amazed to see Nvidia drivers have temperature monitoring in them. To this day, I never found a way to monitor the temps on my ATI internally.

I was stupid to even bother to try an ATI, shoulda known better.. Lost $100 on those bastards too.. Never again.

 

[beserker15]

Originally posted by: Kobra
Stick with Nvidia man.. I went to the ATI camp and came running back to Nvidia after a few months of bullshit from ATI.. Bad drivers, incompatible games, overheating, etc... I was amazed to see Nvidia drivers have temperature monitoring in them. To this day, I never found a way to monitor the temps on my ATI internally.

I was stupid to even bother to try an ATI, shoulda known better.. Lost $100 on those bastards too.. Never again.

dude...wtf...man, try not to post stuff like that.... i've owned both and haven't experienced any overheating or incompatible games....and bad drivers...wtf... and ati also has temp monitor for it's xt series of radeon.

 

[Aharami]

found a 6800 for 262. should i go for it? or just get the 9800 pro 256 mb and save the $30

 

[beserker15]

hm... check this link http://www.hardavenue.com/reviews/gf68003.shtml ....subtract a few frames from the 9800xt to picture how the 9800pro would perform

 

[Aharami]

Originally posted by: beserker15
hm... check this link http://www.hardavenue.com/reviews/gf68003.shtml ....subtract a few frames from the 9800xt to picture how the 9800pro would perform

thanks. i just bought the 6800 for $262

 

[dguy6789]

Originally posted by: Aharami

Originally posted by: beserker15
i was gonna tell you to get the 5900xt deal in the hot deals forum....but it's gone now...

is the 5900xt better than a 9800?

Any Geforce FX is slower then a 9800 non pro.

 

[Aharami]

Originally posted by: dguy6789

Originally posted by: Aharami

Originally posted by: beserker15
i was gonna tell you to get the 5900xt deal in the hot deals forum....but it's gone now...

is the 5900xt better than a 9800?

Any Geforce FX is slower then a 9800 non pro.

thanks. i got the 6800 np/nu. i read somewhere that u can OC it to near 6800 GT speeds and there is a possibilty to flash it to allow 16 pipelines instead of the 12

 

[kylebisme]

probably won't get gt speeds on the ram of the normal 6800 as it is only normal ddr and not ddr3 like on the gts, but a new release of riva turner is supposed to alow allow you to atempt to actvate the extra pipes soon.

 

[Aharami]

Originally posted by: TheSnowman
probably won't get gt speeds on the ram of the normal 6800 as it is only normal ddr and not ddr3 like on the gts, but a new release of riva turner is supposed to alow allow you to atempt to actvate the extra pipes soon.

yea thats what i was talkin about....the riva tuner. they say that some 6800 cards come with the extra 4 pipelines....some dont..there is no way of knowing. now what happens if my card came with 12 pipelines max and i try to activate the 4 pipelines. will this mess up my card?

 

[nippyjun]

Originally posted by: Aharami

Originally posted by: beserker15
hm... check this link http://www.hardavenue.com/reviews/gf68003.shtml ....subtract a few frames from the 9800xt to picture how the 9800pro would perform

thanks. i just bought the 6800 for $262

Excellent choice. I was going to tell you to try to get a 6800 if the price was right. You're definitely more future proof than with any of the geforce fx cards or 9800 card.