Author Topic: Vid card advice (Read 901 times)

Steve · « **on:** June 05, 2004, 02:42:38 AM »

I'm going to upgrade my vid card in the next few days and would like a bit of advice please.

My system: P4 1.8, 1.5 gigs of Ram on win XP Pro.

Thinking about upgrading to: ATI RADEON 9800 PRO 256MB AGP.

Any thoughts on this card? It goes for about $300.00. Other cards in this range better? With this new card should I expect to see dramatic improvement in fps? Mu current card doesn't load "far off" stuff right away in AHII.

My current card is a 64 meg Geforce 2 mx400.

TY for any suggestions/comments!

snapperhead · « **Reply #1 on:** June 05, 2004, 08:21:51 AM »

No real need for 256MB's on a vid card..........not based on the 9800 anyway.

Skuzzy · « **Reply #2 on:** June 05, 2004, 08:39:50 AM »

Couple of thoughts.

Your CPU will not be able to exploit the performance available with the 9800Pro card (you can run up a 3Ghz CPU with that card before hitting anything close to to the performance wall). But if you are thinking down the road about a CPU/motherboard upgrade, then the card is a good investment.

The 256MB card is slower than the 128MB version. ATI and NVidia use cheaper/slower video ram chips to keep the cost under control for the 256MB versions.

oboe · « **Reply #3 on:** June 05, 2004, 08:59:07 AM »

Also, isn't the 9800 a very power-hungry card? One of the few cards that require a direct hookup to the power supply? I've heard that you should be sure your power supply is at least 350W if you want to run this card.

guttboy · « **Reply #4 on:** June 05, 2004, 09:28:49 AM »

Oboe,

I have an ATI Radeon 9800xt .....it requires a direct hookup to the power supply.

Regards,

snapperhead · « **Reply #5 on:** June 05, 2004, 11:27:29 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by oboe
Also, isn't the 9800 a very power-hungry card? One of the few cards that require a direct hookup to the power supply? I've heard that you should be sure your power supply is at least 350W if you want to run this card.

The original 9700Pros needed that, once they got the die size down the 9600 pro 9800 pro no longer need to be hooked up to power supply

Steve · « **Reply #6 on:** June 05, 2004, 11:29:40 AM »

Thanks for the feedback! Ok, I am considering this scenario w/ an eye on upgrading my CPU/motherboard in the next.... 2-4 months. With this in mind, faster 128 meg, or more but slower 256 meg?

Skuzzy, snapper, oboe, gutt, thanks again for your help.

snapperhead · « **Reply #7 on:** June 05, 2004, 11:31:26 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by Steve
Thanks for the feedback! Ok, I am considering this scenario w/ an eye on upgrading my CPU/motherboard in the next.... 2-4 months. With this in mind, faster 128 meg, or more but slower 256 meg?

Skuzzy, snapper, oboe, gutt, thanks again for your help.

What game have you ever see use the full vid card memory, hell AH II uses what may 50MB out of the 128MB. Personally I would get less memory with a faster graphics core/memory. Also beware of the 9800 Pros that are 128Bit............It clocks at 325/580 instead of 380/680. It also only uses a 128 bit memory interface, instead of 256 bit, so it is MUCH slower, ie half the pipeline.

Steve · « **Reply #8 on:** June 05, 2004, 11:36:49 AM »

Quote

Also beware of the 9800 Pros that are 128Bit....

How will I be able to tell this? Is it clearly labeled on the box?

snapperhead · « **Reply #9 on:** June 05, 2004, 11:37:48 AM »

If you got the $$$$$$$$ to spend then you might as well get one with 256MB of memory

snapperhead · « **Reply #10 on:** June 05, 2004, 11:38:32 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by Steve
How will I be able to tell this? Is it clearly labeled on the box?

Rule of thumb..............any 9800Pro under $200. Most websites will tell you, not sure if it is labeled that way on the box. For instance.............Newegg descriptions........

Sapphire Radeon 9800PRO Video Card, 128MB DDR 128bit, DVI/TV-Out, 8X AGP, Model 1024-1C47, OEM $172

POWERCOLOR ATI RADEON 9800PRO Video Card, 128MB DDR, 256-bit, DVI/TV Out, 8X AGP, Model "XR98-C3" -BULK $206

From Atacom.com
RADEON 9800 PRO 128MB 128BIT AGP 8X W/TV-OUT/DVI - BULK POWER BY ATI VIDEO CARD $179.95

Steve · « **Reply #11 on:** June 05, 2004, 11:41:14 AM »

OK, the two I was looking at on the ATI site were $249.00 and $299.00 respectively for the 128 and 256 meg cards. I will be heading to Fry's Electronics this afternoon and am hoping to be adequately educated in order to make the right choice.

snapperhead · « **Reply #12 on:** June 05, 2004, 11:46:07 AM »

You will pay a good $40-50 for buying retail, order from newegg

ATI RADEON 9800PRO Video Card, 128MB DDR, 256-bit, DVI/TV-Out, 8X AGP -RETAIL $222 shipped free

ATI RADEON 9800 PRO Video Card, 256MB DDR, 256-bit, DVI/TV-Out, 8X AGP -RETAIL $269 shipped free

guttboy · « **Reply #13 on:** June 05, 2004, 11:46:11 AM »

Snapper,

The vid mem will depend on how you have the game set up.
At least the Ctrl I says so...

I run at 1600x1200 with ALL the eyecandy (AA, AF) set to maxes and my vid mem runs around 110-120 meg.

I am running an ATI 9800XT 256ram.

I just slapped an old Nvidia Geforce 2 MX 400 (64meg) in the Dell a few min ago.....moving the 9800xt to a custom system that is arriving within the hour.

Just my two cents...it all depends on how you have the puppy set up.

Regards,

Skuzzy · « **Reply #14 on:** June 05, 2004, 12:25:31 PM »

The 9800Pro still requires a power plug from the power supply. It does require less power than the 9700Pro. The X800Pro requires its own power plug as well, but it uses less power than the 9800Pro.

The 128bit bus width 9800's are supposed to be labeled as 9800LE's. The Pro designation, according to ATI, signifies the 256bit wide bus for the 9800.

I would be leery of any company, in general, that was selling 128bit wide 9800's and labeling them with the 'Pro' designation.