Upgrading Graphics Card

dimocules

Distinguished
Jun 16, 2006
16
0
18,510
Hi
I have a Radeon 9200se 128 on my Pentium 4, 3000, Intel mobo and was thinking of upgrading to a Radeon X700 Pro 256 because of the price (low now). Would I see much improvement in game performance? I have 1 gig of ram (Kingston 400). I play Doom3, Prince of Persia 2 and 3, Farcry. I can only play these games at 800 x 600 or it's really slow.
 

raven_87

Distinguished
Dec 29, 2005
1,756
0
19,780
If your refering to an X700, yes, you'll see a preformance increase at least 3x what your seeing now. However if you have a selection of cards, you might want to look for something else. I'd recommend a 6600GT if possible or what else in your price range that you could list instead.
 

dimocules

Distinguished
Jun 16, 2006
16
0
18,510
The 6600GT is good but it's over $230 here and the X700 Pro is only $119 this week on sale. I just want something that will be considerably faster then my 9200se is for the time being. I plan to buy a new computer in a year or so.
 

dimocules

Distinguished
Jun 16, 2006
16
0
18,510
I just did a comparison of the X700 and the X800 on ATI.com and the X800 uses 16 Pipelines compared to the X700 at 8 Pipelines and the Pixel Fillrate is also double. Does this basically mean that the X800 is twice as fast as the X700?
 

Marauder

Distinguished
Dec 15, 2005
87
0
18,630
the X800 XL destroys both the 6600 GT and X700 PRO.

In fact, it's about 90% as fast as the 7800 GS!!!! *

*at stock, not overclocked speeds


The man speaks the truth.. Wouldnt you say twice the pixel fillrate/pipelines is worth an extra $30? I think everyone in here could agree that it is a steal...
 

Fursecul

Distinguished
Apr 27, 2006
204
0
18,680
Go fot the x800xl it's a good card since it came out and it is realy fast,save some money or ask a friend to give you some money,it's the best card for that price
 

Scougs

Distinguished
Mar 10, 2006
398
0
18,780
But the $119 changes to $139 cdn.........I'm in Canada. I got to keep my price down to near $100.

It would be a good idea if you would state that you are talking about Canadian dolars and Canadian Stores. I think that most of the people who use these forums are in the U.S.

As far as the X700Pro vs. 9200SE. You will see a huge difference. You are talking about a change from a low end budget card that is two generations old to a midrange card that is one generation old. The X800XL would be a decent jump in performance above the X700Pro as well.
 

angry_ducky

Distinguished
Mar 3, 2006
3,056
0
20,790
But the $119 changes to $139 cdn.........I'm in Canada. I got to keep my price down to near $100.

Just be happy that the US dollar is going down (along with the Mighigan economy :( ). You'll be blown away by the performance of that X800XL; you'll be able to play your games at a higher resolution and max details.
 

TurdBurglar

Distinguished
Dec 31, 2005
490
0
18,780
I recently upgraded a computer from a 6600GT to an X800XL. There was quite a noticeable improvement there. I picked up a new one off newegg when they had the $180 Gecube card for a short period. I agree with the other recommendations --> X800XL. It looks like you can pick one up on ebay for a few bucks more than a 6600GT. A 6600GT would be an enormous increase over a 9200SE but the amount of performance you get per dollar spent on the X800XL is much higher. Save the extra $20-40 and get the X800XL as it will last you much longer and assumably give you a more pleasurable gaming experience (higher resolution, higher texture settings, antialiasing and anistropic filtering) along the way. The X700 Pro is quite a low end gaming card by today's standards. I think you would be much happier if you spent the few extra bucks.
 

AC3STAR

Distinguished
Mar 27, 2003
7
0
18,510
hehe you're looking off of futureshop.ca aren't you? They always have a sale on those X700 Pro cards. As with with what the others in this post have said if you can afford it go for the X800XL card (it's ~$180 from futureshop) it will do you till you're ready to do your big upgrade. But if you can't afford that, the X700 Pro will definitely be a vast improvement over your 9200SE.

TH
 

dimocules

Distinguished
Jun 16, 2006
16
0
18,510
I think I will get the X800 XL from what I've heard on this thread. It sounds like a great investment for the money. Besides they say you can't take it with you. I can never find a store that shows on their computers the difference between low end graphics cards and high end graphics cards. They may have them installed but only have screen savers on them. Never games....wonder why.
 

pauldh

Illustrious
the X800 XL destroys both the 6600 GT and X700 PRO.

In fact, it's about 90% as fast as the 7800 GS!!!! *

*at stock, not overclocked speeds
LOL! I'm staying out of your spat as I like both you guys. But that just cracked me up. Anyway, I agree even though the X700 pro isn't a slouch, the X800XL for $139 Can would be much better than a X700 pro for around $100.
 

cleeve

Illustrious
Hehehe. Glad someone got the joke. :wink:

The sad part is, I kinda like GW, too. I just finally got tired of getting called down by him everytime I make a comment he doesn't agree with. But whatever... life goes on.