No affordable upgrades

[KWPLunchbox]

My system stats are posted below. I have had my Geforce 3 Ti-500 for almost 2 years now and it still kicks ass. Of course, there have been occasional games that bog it down, like Morrowwind and Metal Gear Solid 2, but for the most part, DX8.1 and below games run really well, sometimes as high as 1600x1200. UT2003K runs great at 1280x1024 with everything set as high as possible. At the moment, it looks like the Nvidia FX5600 and the ATI 9600 Pro are the 2 middle of the road video cards. I see lots of benchmarks comparing GF4 and FX lines but I don't see any going back to the GF3 series. I don't want to upgrade to a card that has a lower frame rate in DX8.1 and below. Excluding DX9 ability, is either the FX5600 or 9600 Pro a faster card or do I just wait until the next product cycle?

<font color=purple>AMD XP 2200+, A7N8X Deluxe, 512mb PC3200 Corsair XMS DDR, Geforce3 Ti-500, Audigy Platinum, 230GB of HD's, TDK 48x CDRW, Lite-On 16x DVD, XP Pro SP1, and more neon than a ghetto sled </font color=purple>

 

[lhgpoobaa]

I dunno.
If you are anything like me you would hold out until the change in cards will make one HUMUNGOUS difference.
i.e. Geforce2pro -> R9800pro.

If you do want better, and want to run some decent AA and ansio, maybe consider a low end R9800pro. i.e. the R9800nonpro, R9700pro or R9700nonpro.

As the R9800XT is comming out shortly the R9700/9800 series will be comming down in price... a point to buy perhaps?

<b>I am not a AMD fanboy.
I am not a Via fanboy.
I am not a ATI fanboy.
I AM a performance fanboy.
And a low price fanboy.
Regards,
Mr no integrity coward.</b>

 

[KWPLunchbox]

Yeah, I think I'm in a crappy spot. My card is just under the technology curve in terms of ability, but the cost for upgrading isn't justified since I don't gain much ground.

Fortunately, I just built a system for a friend, 2500+ Barton, A7N8X V2.0, Twin Corsair PC3200, and since he's not much of a gamer, a Gainward FX5600. I haven't played much on it but it definately can't handle the Dawn or Dusk demos very well so I know there's a pretty big difference between the 5600 and the 5900 Ultra. I didn't have much extra time or I would have thrown the FX5600 in my system and compared benchmarks and games. Maybe I'll borrow it from him. Oh well. Tron 2.0 runs like a dream at full everything on my GF3 so I'm happy for now. (BTW, great game. You can always tell when the programmers have a passion for the subject instead of just coding for a paycheck)

<font color=purple>AMD XP 2200+, A7N8X Deluxe, 512mb PC3200 Corsair XMS DDR, Geforce3 Ti-500, Audigy Platinum, 230GB of HD's, TDK 48x CDRW, Lite-On 16x DVD, XP Pro SP1, and more neon than a ghetto sled </font color=purple>

 

[endyen]

Your card is almost as fast as the 4200. It just isn't that much of a step up yet. Wait till you aren't happy with how your card plays a game. I doubt anyone around here would suggest you buy an FX Nvidia card. Seems thier Dx9 perf is not great.

 

[lhgpoobaa]

true.
even the R9600pro is too similar to warrant an upgrade.

The BIG jump occurs with the switch from 128bit ram to 256 bit and 8 pipelines. eg. R9700/9800/FX5900.
And those are probably a bit too expensive for most peeps at the moment.

<b>I am not a AMD fanboy.
I am not a Via fanboy.
I am not a ATI fanboy.
I AM a performance fanboy.
And a low price fanboy.
Regards,
Mr no integrity coward.</b>

 

[marneus]

Wait till christmas, then the cards should be a better price, at the mo I will only recommend ATi's as Nvidia just seems to not quite there at the mo...

R9700 or R9800nonpro 128mb(very similar perf)
or
R9500pro 128mb(if you can find one)

Trust me I know what I'm doing... ooops, grab the cat...

 

[cleeve]

A couple things:

1- UT2003 is a very good engine that works quickly with pretty much any videocard. Hell, I have a Radeon 7500 that delivers awesome framerates with UT2003.
A 9600 PRO would definitely make a massive difference in Metal Gear solid and Morrowind though.
You'd need to play other games to see the difference (Like Unreal2, Star Wars Galaxies, Tron 2.0, Jedi Academy, etc...)

2- The difference between a GF3 and a Radeon 9600 is MASSIVE in certain games.

I base this on the fact that I upgraded from a Radeon 8500 (about a GF3 equivalent) to a Radeon 9500 PRO (about a 9600 PRO equivalent)... and let me tell you... wow. WOW. I run everything at 2x antialiassing and 8x anistropy and get way faster framerates. Not only that, but I find that games with realtime shadows (jedi academy or galaxies) run a far, far better.

And the Doom3 demo that was leaked out a few months ago? The Radeon 8500 barely crawled through it. The Radeon 9500 PRO, on the other hand, eats it up. Very playable.


So to conclude... you need to be playing demanding games, or at high visual quality, or DirectX 9 games, to see the advantages of newer video cards over the GF3 (which is a great card considering it's age)

I can certainly recommend the Radeon 9500 PRO or 9600 PRO to you without hesitation if you plan to buy any of the games I've listed, or DX9 games in the future.

------------------
Radeon 9500 (modded to PRO w/8 pixel pipelines)
AMD AthlonXP 2000+
3dMark03: 3529

 

[baldurga]

Just a couple of things:

a) I have also a regular GF3 that can run easily at Ti500 levels. IMO is one of the best buys I have done in computers. Even it's two generations old (GF4, FX) it's running fairly well in most games. I suppose I have also to thanks Gainward for it's good quality products that allow me to overclock nicely (quick advice: buy realiable brands are worth ALWAYS!)

b) I have been thinking of an upgrade lately, but it's hard for me to justify it. I am not a hardcore gamer, not too much time to play, and the most demanding I play is Morrowind. Probably not the only one and my doubts are common among others.

c) As always computer related drops as times goes by. So never buy if you don't really need. At least for me my GF3 is good until Christmas.

d) The only one thing that I miss from GF3 series was the ability to play at the same time on monitor and TV. If you want that feature, then maybe it's worth investing in a new GPU. My votes, depending on your wallets: 9600Pro, 9800 NP

And I think that's all


Still looking for a <b>good online retailer</b> in Spain :frown:

 

[KWPLunchbox]

Yeah, luckily it looks like Half Life 2 is delayed. As long as that can stay away, I can hold out.

<font color=purple>AMD XP 2200+, A7N8X Deluxe, 512mb PC3200 Corsair XMS DDR, Geforce3 Ti-500, Audigy Platinum, 230GB of HD's, TDK 48x CDRW, Lite-On 16x DVD, XP Pro SP1, and more neon than a ghetto sled </font color=purple>