OEM ATI 9700 Pro Cards?

[ratha]

Hey guys, its about time to upgrade my videocard. I really want to wait awhile to get a card, but my old card (Voodoo 5 5500 AGP) is a bit run down, and quite literaly. I dont even get good frames in games ive played for years (halflife) when before i used to get 75 steady.. i was eating 8-20fps earlier in a game of Day Of Defeat.. @640x480

Anyway, to the question at hand: Should i buy an ATI Raedon 9700 Pro OEM card (which currently run about $275) and which of the OEM boards should i get. Or, should i wait a month till after the GF-FX comes out and hope for a price drop, get a different card all together (waiting to see what comes out in the summer), or just keep struggling with my board that acts like someone forgot to put the other 63 megs of ram on it. (I think this board is seriously fried truthfuly)

I do need to get something new.. cant play ANY of the new games with this card, and DVD playback looks terrible.

While id love to wait for the new ATI .13 card with DDR2, i really dont want to wait another 10 months till i can afford it... The 9700pro has proven effective, and i wont be running at 1600x1200 any time soon, so what say you?

My system isnt exactly the best on the market, but im hoping to do some upgrading here by the end of the summer.

AMD XP 1800+
768 megs Crucual PC2100 (256x3) 2.5-3-3
Epox 8kha+ Motherboard
Voodoo 5 5500 AGP (Possibly Damaged du to recent poor frame rates cropping up)
15" Cybervision C50 (CRT) display (runs 60hz at 1024x768)

Ive been looking at OEM ATI 9700 Pro versions, is there any inparticular i should try to get, or stay away from? Most companies dont say what the manufacturer of the OEM card is.. there are a few powercolors out there, oddly i associate that name with poor quality for some reason. Please help me out here guys.

-

PS - Its not that i dont have the money to get a good card, but why go buy a good card when a better one is about to come out and drive the prices down? Thats my dilemma. Because of that, i almost considered getting a 9500/Pro, but havent researched price/preformance drop.

Thanks


Ratha

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Ratha on 01/11/03 08:54 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Crashman]

I'd get the Saphire card. It's among the cheapest and identicle in every way to the Built By ATI cards. I believe Saphire is an OEM supplier for ATI contracts, meaning they make ATI cards for ATI's customers.

<font color=blue>You're posting in a forum with class. It may be third class, but it's still class!</font color=blue>

 

[vegandago]

I got a built by ATI 9700pro on ebay for $275 shipped. that was about 2 months ago. Couldn't be happier. I say go for it!

"There is no dark or light side, only power and those too weak to seek it."

 

[chuck232]

Powercolor isn't neccessarily bad quality I assure you. Sapphire <i>may</i> be a safer bet as it manufactures much of ATi's BBA caards anyways. A R9700 Pro OEM for that would be good, although I think you're looking at the one from googlegear I presume? THat one's not clocked up full and you may need a BIOS crack to unlock it. Therefore you may as well get a R9700 non-pro for ~$240.

...And all the King's horses and all the King's men couldn't put my computer back together again...

 

[ratha]

Ive considered checking out ebay for a card.. problem ive found with OEM cards, is that most places dont tell you who made it, or what the differences are with them and the other version of oem cards. Im monitering some ebay stuff right now (just got an account so i could do that)

I dont exactly trust ebay, or other people that much to send hardware ive paid for. However, getting a card for $150 would probably make me fall over dead, thats not likely to happen, but its worth a thought anyway. Maybe i will invest more time, or thought to it.

I really dont want to spend a serious ammount of cash on this nextgen card, considering what kind of power is just lurking around the corner. However, i dont want to buy an outdated piece of technology either.. I like what ATI has to offer, and the things ive heard about them versus Nvidia. (And my own experiences with Nvidia GF4-TI4200 and the fact that it couldnt run halflife without serious graphical problems.) So i sent it back. Wasnt gonna pay $160 for a card that couldnt run my newest/most played game.

The biggest thing i like about ATI's products.. they are almost all identical.. Whereas Nvidia GF4 had 30 different cards, each with 30 different pros and cons. Thats exactly why i bought my Voodoo 5 5500 AGP over Nvidia back then. I had one solid choice, it looked like a good one, and i didnt have to try and weed through neverending debates on what features or sacrafices i wanted to make on what card. (And i had had a 3dfx product before, so i figured, why switch) I also think at that time there was the unending debate as to the quality of Nvidia drivers..

Anyway, you have any thoughts/tips on ebay?


Ratha

 

[Take_Out]

Just a thought here, if your video card dropped in performance that much, there is probably a software reason somewhere to account for it. If you have a mind to, check and see if you have DX8.1 or newer installed. Also check to see what graphics mode you are using, as a video card seems to just freeze up when they go bad, rather than incrementally dropping frame rates.
Good Luck,
Take-Out

"We killed OUR Hitler" - attributed to Paul McCartney (If so, then well done, sir)

 

[ratha]

Yeah, i know.. but its slowly been getting worse for a long time. I cant account for the problem. Id do another fresh windows install, but there wouldnt be much point to it just to troubleshoot my videocard, i really need a new one anyway.

Ive reinstalled windows about 12 times in the last two years on this computer, its getting a little old.. you would think that one of these days i would make a backup when its freshly installed.

Ill just toss this card into one of my other computers, will be a speed boost in them forsure. If i get another videocard.. If i can wait 2 months, some new stuff will be in the works, and prices on the current cards will drop quite a bit i believe.


Ratha

 

[Take_Out]

I hear you with the installs. Yeah, ANY VooDoos are getting a little long in the tooth for modern applications. I sure loved my SLI VooDoo2s tho. Get the PRO 9700 and be done with it for six to nine months.
Good Luck,
Take-Out

"We killed OUR Hitler" - attributed to Paul McCartney (If so, then well done, sir)

 

[ratha]

For that kind of money, i hope to have it done with for more than 6-9 months.. 12 at the minimum.

Plus, with the way i run games, and my POS moniter, i can run settings maxed out at 800x600 (good picture/refresh on my moniter) and everything will be nice and clean with good fps. If i want to move my resolution up for certain applications i wont need to stay above 75fps then.. if i can stay above 60, that will work just fine (60hz refresh on resolutions higher than 800x600)

So i think it will do good for a long time... now all i have to do is get one.. they are still $276 at best. (OEM)


Ratha

 

[Stormfury]

"but my old card (Voodoo 5 5500 AGP) is a bit run down, and quite literaly."

hehee try playing new games on a tnt 2 its getting pretty hard.

 

[Lrd_Mince]

Got my <b>ATI built</b> 9700 pro OEM card off of pricewatch for $276. But if you can still on get a non ATI built card, get a Sapphire.

 

[ratha]

Hate to say it, but if you bought it recently, than you lost money.. you can get them OEM off of pricewatch, shipped, for $274. Now if you got a retail one for that, that would be great.

Ive been looking on ebay, not worth buying there.. can get them off of pricwatch, shipped 3 day air, for 274-276.. Maybe when the Geforce FX is released we will see a price drop.