here's a good queston...

[kbear2569]

OK, let me start with: Please don't flame me! I don't want to start anything here... Simply a request for advice!

This weekend I was planing on breaking the bank and laying out my cash for a Radeon 9800 pro, however, due to Nvidia's recent news regarding the fx5900 series, I'm wondering if it might be a better idea to wait. I KNOW I will not be dropping an extra $100 for the 5900 ultra (It was hard enough convincing my wife that I "need" a $400 card!), so I guess my only question is in regards to the 5900 non-ultra: What is performance suspected to be for this card and how would it compare to the 9800? I know there are few reviews/benchmarks at the moment, (That "freaky German benchmark" link that Genetic Weapon provided was even deleted from their site at Nvidia's request!) but does anyone have advice/ideas? Wait or no? I am REALLY ready to upgrade!

Thanks in advance.

XP1700 TBred-B @ 2.16G (166*13)
Noise Control Silverado HSF
ASUS A7N8X
2x256MB OCZ EL PC3500 DDR
ASUS GeForce3 Ti200
300 Watt PSU
45G IBM 7200
Windows XP Professional

 

[RCPilot]

You can wait forever. There's always something brand spanking new a couple of weeks out. If you planed to get it, go ahead. You'll be fine either way. Waiting you'll lose the time you could have been enjoying a good vid card is all.

If it ain't broke, take it apart & see why not!

 

[Willamette_sucks]

The FX5900 will PROBABLY (keyword) beat the 128mb 9800 pro in pretty much everything by a slight margin.
As for the performance difference between Ultra and non-ultra, dunno, but probly pretty minimal.
Both are EXTREMELY great cards. I just got my 9800 pro (upgrade from ti4400) and it is AMAZING!
In a week or so ATI is to release catalyst 3.4s which should increase performance a bit, accross the board.
IF the 5900 non-ultra is the same price, then it would probably be the better choice. But id say itll be at least 3 months till you can buy one.
And also there will be the 256mb 9800 pro around that time, and who knows what itll cost, and what kind of increase itll give (just a speed boost, but a big one, and more ram...).

Long live ATI.

 

[chuck232]

My thoughts are this:

The R9800 Pro is faster than the R9700 Pro, but it's not worth the extra $100. The only gain I would see for waiting for the FX5900 is that the non ultra may be pretty good and also, the R9800 Pro prices will drop more than likely.

So, it really depends. If you can't wait to get your hands on a card right this instant, I'd go for a R9700 Pro (the Cat 3.4s are said to increase performance for them a lot, as stated by an ATi rep at rage3d.com) If you're willing to wait, then see what happens.

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