Author Topic: Vid card advice (Read 903 times)

snapperhead · « **Reply #15 on:** June 05, 2004, 04:09:59 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Skuzzy
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.

Yeah I was getting ahead of myself, it was the 9500pro's to 9600pro's that lost the pwer supply connection, I made a mistake saying the 9800pros lost it. Skuzzy, every computer vendor now sells the 128bit cards lableled as 9800Pro....newegg,mwave,zipzoomfly. I think it has something to do with an ATI directive as every OEM manufacturer produces a 128bit card labeled as a Pro.

Steve · « **Reply #16 on:** June 05, 2004, 07:39:08 PM »

Well I missed the post about "if you have the money...."

Money wasn't a factor in this equation for me so perhaps I've erred.

I haven't opened the box yet.

Let me tell you what I've done.

I bought the ATI radeon 9800 pro w/ 128 megs of memory, 256 bit.

I also bought a P4 2.8 chip.

My existing motherboard is relatively new, it has 800 MHz FSB(can be overclocked to 1000) and dual channel DDR, SATA, etc.

since I missed this post:

Quote

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

Are you recommending thatI return the 128 meg card and get the 256?

snapperhead · « **Reply #17 on:** June 05, 2004, 08:09:59 PM »

If you dont care about the $50 difference why not, it isnt gonna hurt. But from everything I have read, there is no real benefit. You might gain 1FPS in a game, as of now there is no game that utilizes that much vid card memory.....even the game FarCry which is highly graphics intesive. Now as for future games, maybe, but by the time designers start coding textures etc to take advantage of 256MB your card will be obselete.

snapperhead · « **Reply #18 on:** June 05, 2004, 08:16:41 PM »

If it were my $$$ I would make sure my power supply was up to par, meaning it runs everything with your faster processor and 9800 Pro inside of it. If it runs ok stick with the 128MB version, if you have problems take the $50 difference and get a better power supply. Or take the $50 and buy a DVD burner.........basically what I am saying is with the $50 diff you could get something more tangible, something that you will actually use or see the benefit of.

Skuzzy · « **Reply #19 on:** June 05, 2004, 08:39:15 PM »

The 256MB 9800Pro card uses slower rams and will perform worse than the 128MB card. The 9800XT is another story.

Steve · « **Reply #20 on:** June 06, 2004, 12:52:03 AM »

OK now I'm really confused. Loaded new chip, vid card.

My AHI frame rate remains no better than w/ my old 64 meg card.

I'm runnin it in 800X600. What gives?

What the heck is mip mapping anyway?

Ground clutter off

Skuzzy · « **Reply #21 on:** June 06, 2004, 09:37:54 AM »

Steve, that card performs better at higher resolutions. Turn up the resolution and watch.

snapperhead · « **Reply #22 on:** June 06, 2004, 11:10:41 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by Steve
OK now I'm really confused. Loaded new chip, vid card.

My AHI frame rate remains no better than w/ my old 64 meg card.

I'm runnin it in 800X600. What gives?

What the heck is mip mapping anyway?

Ground clutter off

Did you use some sort of a driver cleaner to get rid of the Nvidia drivers? It is well know that having any remnants of Nvidias drivers on your computer will cripple your ATI

guttboy · « **Reply #23 on:** June 06, 2004, 12:09:06 PM »

Just to add a few centavos to this discussion....

You need to make 100% sure you get rid of all the drivers you had on the computer before...TRUST ME...you will be pulling your hair out wondering why your performance stinks when it could be that problem.

You can try a couple of programs...Driver Cleaner or Nasty File Remover....I have used both and they are very effective at removing things....In my opinion.....

DO a search for those programs...you will find em on google or yahoo.

My old system was a Dell 2.0 ghz with an ATI Radeon 9800XT with 256 megs of ram on it. Had good performance....30's to 60's for frame rates with all eyecandy and 1600-1200resolution. My problem came when I got in close to bases....YUCKOLA....framerate s in the high teens....

It was not my card...it was the way the cpu/mobo was channelling info to it...for some reason AH2 "no likey" my system the way I wanted to play. Unfortunately lowering the resolution did pretty much nothing in terms of FPS. Again leading me to believe it was my mobo/cpu combo....It just could not take advantage of the card. I tried everything tweaking for 5 days straight.

Well....fast forward to yesterday!!!! I got my SCREAMER from the guys at digitalcomputech.....specs are in my sig block as well as a link to their site....

VOILA!!! Running AH2 with NO PROBLEMS AT ALL!! All I have on this system is XP Professional and Adaware 6.0 and AH2....THATS IT......game rocks....and the guys at digitalcomputech called me at 1035 my time to see if the next day air shipment made it like UPS said it would (it came 45 min later). They called back and walked me through STEP BY STEP explaining the bios stuff, settings, optimization....EVERYTHING!!!! NOW THAT IS CUSTOMER SERVICE!!!!!

Anyhow....Skuzzy is right though the card does runn better in higher res for me...now it is a dead issue but you seem to be going through what I did....because I bought the 9800XT with 256 on it only to be disappointed cuz (not smart here) the card could not utilize its full power with the system I had it on.

Anyhow Regards.....

Steve · « **Reply #24 on:** June 06, 2004, 11:25:27 PM »

Quote

Steve, that card performs better at higher resolutions. Turn up the resolution and watch.

Darn, had my hopes up. No good. FR same w/ higher resolution.

Interesting note: in AH2 the game uses about half my vid memory.

In AH1 the game uses less than 10% of my vid memory.

NUKE · « **Reply #25 on:** June 06, 2004, 11:33:21 PM »

What FR you getting Steve? I have same card, get about 84 FPS down to 40's over bases with action.

NUKE · « **Reply #26 on:** June 06, 2004, 11:37:48 PM »

Correction, my card is the 9800 pro version

Steve · « **Reply #27 on:** June 07, 2004, 12:23:12 AM »

Nuke, mine is 9800 pro... same card! I'm getting disappointing performance so far.

AH1 thinks I only have 240551k of vid memory yet only uses 10% of that.

A question for all you experts: Will my analogue monitor adversely affect my FR?

I have it set to 75 but I'm rarely getting that in either version of the game.

snapperhead · « **Reply #28 on:** June 07, 2004, 12:32:49 AM »

REFORMAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! INSTALL OMEGA DRIVERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Steve · « **Reply #29 on:** June 07, 2004, 04:53:04 AM »

Man, I run two businesses on this PC. Reformatting is something I may need to do, but am going to try everything else first.

Ran PC Cillin...... 4 trojans no real virus.