with the upcoming Upgrade in graphics, how screwed am I?

[TheflyingElk]

Hey Everyone, I have been reviewing the graphics testing program and I must say I am feeling a bit ill, I know the tech curve is always moving but $$ is a little tight right now so what are your thoughts on this?

my current system: Dell XPS 3.4 P-4 Intel 875P processor 1.5 RAM, running home edition XP SP-3
     Video card ATI 9800XT with current drivers, 256 on the card. video card is AGP
     power supply is 460 W, 
last test I ran with the new graphics testing program FR was 15-20, would a video card upgrade hold off a total rebuild? how about Panic and go running down the street crying the HORROR!!! or
should I just wait the standard two weeks and see what happens?

[humble]

you ahould be fine with a better VC, for $100 or less you can easily get a big upgrade....

[TilDeath]

I asked about this since I build a lot for AH players.  The 9800 will have NP with the upgrade

[Kermit de frog]

I asked about this since I build a lot for AH players.  The 9800 will have NP with the upgrade

He has an "ATI 9800"

You didn't specify if you meant ATI or nVidia's "9800".  I think his ATI 9800 is struggling to run the game as is. 


nVidia 7800GT may be the best you can do, and it looks like you have the power supply to handle it, along with an adequate CPU.

[TilDeath]

He has an "ATI 9800"

You didn't specify if you meant ATI or nVidia's "9800".  I think his ATI 9800 is struggling to run the game as is. 


nVidia 7800GT may be the best you can do, and it looks like you have the power supply to handle it, along with an adequate CPU.

I stand corrected nVidia's 9800 will be no issue

[TequilaChaser]

Hey Everyone, I have been reviewing the graphics testing program and I must say I am feeling a bit ill, I know the tech curve is always moving but $$ is a little tight right now so what are your thoughts on this?

my current system: Dell XPS 3.4 P-4 Intel 875P processor 1.5 RAM, running home edition XP SP-3
     Video card ATI 9800XT with current drivers, 256 on the card. video card is AGP
     power supply is 460 W, 
last test I ran with the new graphics testing program FR was 15-20, would a video card upgrade hold off a total rebuild? how about Panic and go running down the street crying the HORROR!!! or
should I just wait the standard two weeks and see what happens?

this Ati 9800XT is giving you problems now?  what version of drivers are you using? are you using ATI's Cataylist Control Center or ATI's Tool Tray?  how many processes you got running? do you use VOIP? or any hcat programs? itunes? etc???

the ATI 9800XT was the cadillac AGP card of its time....... I used an ATI 9800PRO 256 meg ( Pro AGP Slot on the MB )

and could get fairly reasonable framerate (45 to 60 consistently ) with all middle settings under the detail sliders in the graphic settings ingame...and did not use anything but the display driver only for the video card.....

I bet it has more to do with your PC settings/programs/way your PC is set up more than it does with your video card itslef..........my 2 cents worth, anyhows.....

[Skuzzy]

You should use Catalyst 4.12 drivers with the 9800 cards.  If you run the ATI Catalyst Control Center, you might have problems as it chews up about 15% to 20% of your video card's performance all by itself.  On your older card, that could be very problematic.

I have a computer with the X850XT in it and a 2.8Ghz Northwood P4.  I'll be testing it this morning.  Just keep in mind it is running the Catalyst 4.12 drivers.

Also keep in mind you may not be able to run with all the eye candy on in the latest version.  If you want all the latest eye candy, then the 9800 card may be long in the tooth.  Computers are going to vary.  I noted my personal computer is getting better frame rates with the ATI 4850 video card, versus some of the NVidia GT260 cards.

How much is running on your computer, by default, is going to have a very big impact.

I cannot stress this hard enough.  Installing the ATI Catalyst Control Center is absolutely the worst thing you can do to your computers video performance.

[TheZohan]

there are people here saying the ati cards suck compared to the nvidias but i too have a 4850 and have no issues .. whats your opinion on that 4850 vs 9800GTX's etc...

[Skuzzy]

Once you get into that class of video card, it makes little difference.  Both ATI and NVidia have had thier problems.  Today NVidia might be worse then ATI, tomorrow, it will reverse.

Anyone thinking that either company is better than the other, in terms of product quality and/or stability, has not really paid attention to what has been happening to both for a very long time.

It then boils down to comfort level and what someone is used to.  I use whatever I think might be the best choice for any given application the computer will be used for.

[moot]

Skuzzy is it also a crapshoot whether the nvidia control panel wastes video card performance?  I'm using SLI'd nvidia 9800GTX+ with Forceware version 178.24 (other versions completely crash on installation).

[humble]

I'm a bit amazed at the variation in frame rates. I realize that some folks are pushing a huge # of pixels at very high res but I also see systems where the apparent pop is far below what I would expect. I'm pushing roughly 260FPS on the "stock view" and 340 when I bring the water into play. I'm thinking about plugging box into my 46 in 1080P over weekend (want to try track IR on it anyway) to see what FPS I get...

[TheflyingElk]

I have Loaded the cat 4.12 drivers working fine, Just so there is no confusion, my current version of AH operates Fine, my concern was the upcoming change in the terrain with this older set-up.
My real question was could I just up gun the video card to the best Current AGP based card or should I just wait and see what happens?  What AGP card out there will get the best out of the upgraded AH terrain? I know AGP is on its way out but My other hardware is still operational and I need all the time I can get out of it, Thanks for looking Guys

[Masherbrum]

Ditch the ATi Catalyst Control Center and get ATi Tool Tray.   

[Skuzzy]

moot, I really do not know if the NVidia control panel is a performance hog or not.  If it is .NET based, it will incur some performance loss.

It is one area Microsoft really screwed up on.  Forcing all the drivers into the .NET framework.  .NET is an application API, not a systems API.  Seems Microsoft's engineering is being run by application programmers these days looking at how they go about things.

I digress.  From what I have been able to gather, the NVidia control panel has far less of a performance impact than the ATI Catalyst Control Center.  That may not be saying much as the ATI panel is absolutely horrid.

[TheflyingElk]

Hey Kararya, I Just set up the ATI tray, I have looked around at a couple of AGP based cards the X1950 and the HD 3850 What do ya think? worth the 100.00 or just tune this card?