xpress 200 chipset (MSIRS480-IL) or x300 se?

[mwmorph]

i'd just like to say though the unlock percentage seesm high, it is not guranteed and you may be stuck with only 4 pipes. if you can, fina a 9600pro used or a 9500 that is guranteed (ask the sell if it will) flashalbe/softmoddable to 9700pro. the 9700pro, if yuo get a card that can flash to it will be immensly faster than the 6200 unless it's unlcoked and overclocked to something like 60/730, which you have to be very lucky to get.

 

[agentsmith101]

I was gonna get the 939 skt combo fromhere

I thought it was a pretty good deal because it comes with all those games.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Originally posted by: agentsmith101
I was gonna get the 939 skt combo fromhttps://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchan...n=PROD&Store_Code=M&Product_Code=80152">here</a>

I thought it was a pretty good deal because it comes with all those games.

You linked paypal. I presume you were looking at Monarch? link $246 for the board, 3000+, cooler, FarCry, HL2, Napster downloads, and pre-tested is a fair deal 🙂

 

[crazyeddie]

I think the Radeon Xpress 200 IGP is better. If you buy the Radeon Xpress 200 IGP, they throw in a free Socket 939 motherboard. If you buy a Radeon X300SE, you just get a slow video card.

Seriously though, my experience with the Xpress 200 IGP was all positive. I haven't read anything about the X300SE that indicates it would be noticably faster. The Xpress 200 IGP ran EVE Online (a DX9 title) perfectly well and provided very playable framerates for UT2K4 and Colin McRae Rally 05. You'd have to move up to a Radeon X700 Pro to significantly improve upon your framerates.

The X300SE, from what I've read, suffers from the restricted memory bandwidth on the SE version in particular. The standard X300 cards are better, but not worth the additional money vs. the Xpress 200 IGP. A Radeon X600 Pro/XT would be noticably faster, but the X700 Pro is so close in price to the X600 series cards that it really represents the best first step up from the Xpress 200 IGP.

I ran my Xpress 200 IGP for about ten days while I waited for my X800XL card to arrive, and for IGP, it is quite impressive.

Edit: I went back and re-read that Nov '04 article with the comparisons between the X300SE and the RS480 Xpress 200 IGP. The only resolution where the X300SE has an advantage is 640x480. At 800x600, the Xpress 200 IGP is just as playable. I had disregarded the X300SE's singular advantage at low resolutions. I don't want to play anything at 640x480 and I figured you probably don't want to either.

 

[agentsmith101]

so xpress200 will run hl2 at 800x600 fine?

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Originally posted by: agentsmith101
so xpress200 will run hl2 at 800x600 fine?

That si a tough call. The AT review linked used a FX55 and LL ram to get those FPS, a 3000+ and value ram won't produce the same numbers at those CPU limited settings.

 

[Creig]

Yes, but since the system is so severely GPU limited I wouldn't think the reduction in CPU power would affect overall scores too much. HL2 seems to do better with lower end equipment than most newer games. As you said, it's hard to say.

 

[agentsmith101]

Well to put my notion of "fine" into perspective I currently played most of hl2 with integrated graphics on a no name amptron mobo with an amd athlon xp 1700+ and to me the experience was "just a bit laggy but still playable" however I couldnt play multiplayer because it was WAY too laggy so thats why I am upgrading.

 

[mwmorph]

Originally posted by: agentsmith101
Well to put my notion of "fine" into perspective I currently played most of hl2 with integrated graphics on a no name amptron mobo with an amd athlon xp 1700+ and to me the experience was "just a bit laggy but still playable" however I couldnt play multiplayer because it was WAY too laggy so thats why I am upgrading.

well, here it is there are actually 3 different types of rendering half life uses.

DX9 option with PS2.0 hardest on video processor, needs a 9700pro or at least a 9600pro to run well(9600pro for 1024x786, medium. 9700pro for 1024x768 high.)

DX8.1 option with ps1.1 or 1.4 support., needs a ti series card to run well, diminished quality. ti4600 will play it well no 1024x768high or even 1280x1024 high. video quality, especially water suffers.

DX7 option with no ps support, needs a geforce2 series card to run well at 1280x1024, medium settings. picture quality vastly suffers. never use dx7 mode unless you have to.

a xpress200 will handel dx8.1 mode pretty well probably at 800x600 high pretty well probably, but definitely wont cut it for dx 9.

here are some examples of quality(all are taken in highest quality settings)
DirectX 9
Water in DX9
Canal Level


DirectX 8.1
Water in DX8
DX8 Barrels

DirectX 7
DX7 Barrels(crappy looking huh?)
DX7 again(objects fade in, notice the trash can)
DX7 again 2(dumpster faded in finally, now trash cans fade in)
DX7 again3 (Trash Can fades in finally)

Benchamrks
DX9
DX9 roundup. X800Xt to 9700pro are all playable, figure out 9600pro scores, minus 15%fps form the 9700pro benchmarks. all done in 1280x1024

DX8.1
DX8.1 benchmarks, again to find 9600pro performance, minus around 5-7% from the 9600xt. all done in 1024x768.

DX7(done with a Mx440, faster than a geforce 2 ultra.)
Geforce 440mx, various resolutions but highest settings

 

[Creig]

Originally posted by: agentsmith101
I currently played most of hl2 with integrated graphics on a no name amptron mobo with an amd athlon xp 1700+ and to me the experience was "just a bit laggy but still playable"

Oh heck then, the IGP on the Xpress 200 should work for you.

Compared to Intel's GMA 900, ATI's integrated graphics is a step (or two) ahead

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Originally posted by: Creig
Oh heck then, the IGP on the Xpress 200 should work for you.

LOl, yeah it'll bre a big step-up from using older SiS or Via graphics 🙂

hey mwmorph, how do you get a DX9 ATI part to use the DX8 path? TIA.

 

[mwmorph]

in the options--->visual, there is a menu dops down to select all modes up to what is hardware supported on card.