Radeon 9600 Pro/XT good enough for NBA/FIFA 2004?!

Dance123

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May 30, 2003
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Hi,

Anybody who plays EAsports games like FIFA or NBA 2004?! If so, maybe you can help me with following question:

Is a Radeon 9600 Pro or XT still powerfull enough to play games like FIFA and NBA 2004 at high resolution (which), with decent FSAA/AF settings on (which levels?), and with ALL graphical "whistles and bells" in those games on AND still retain perfectly smooth, fluid framerates or will I need a better card then like a 9800 (Pro) or FX5900 non-ultra?! I don't play many other games besides sport games like those from EASports but I want to be able to play them at best conditions, so I don't know if a 9600 Pro or XT is still powerfull enough then for those games. Please mention as much details about at which settings you can play and retain smooth framerates.

You can download "Fraps 2.0.0 demo" here: http://www.fraps.com/downloads.htm which allows you to check which frames per second you get in FIFA/NBA 2004 for instance. Also, what do most people consider smooth fps. I believe most say 60+ fps. Is that correct?

What's the limit with this 9600 Pro/XT cards for EASport games and what will something like a 9800 pro or FX5900 non-ultra give you more in these games?! Anybody who has both a 9600 Pro/XT and 9800 Pro or something similar and can compare?!

PS: I also still wonder if it's usefull for these games to even turn on FSAA and AF and which levels to choose, because of the performance hit of those things?! Which levels (2x, 4x, Quality vs Performance, those things) are recommended for both FSAA and AF in FIFA/NBA 2004 with a Radeon 9600 Pro/XT vs 9800/FX5900nu cards?!

PS: my system will be a recent Pentium 4 2.8Ghz in case this info matters.

Thanks in advance for all good feedback!
 

Vimp

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Although I dont have the cards your talking about I'm fairly certain both the 9600 Pro and XT would be able to play the games you mentioned smoothly with full detail. However this is pure speculation on my part. My Geforce2 is all I have to compare and I'm confident that my Geforce2 could play those games at full detail but some what choppy. As far as AF and AA go I don't think anyone can tell you what are the best settings for those since niether usually make a huge difference anyways so its really just whatever you like best.
 

AZPirate

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I only have a 1.3 Duron with 448 MB PC100 RAM and a ATI 9600xt and Live, NHL, and Nascar Thunder, Madden (all 2004) all play great at 1024 x 768 with 4x AA and 8x AF. The games are VERY detailed. Don't know what the frame rates are but all of them run fine IMO.

Using the AA and AF do seem to make the game more detailed than without. Unless you have 400 bucks to blow on a 9800xt go with the 9600xt. This was the first year EA games did not play smoothly on my Geforce MX 400, so you should be good for a couple years.

Good Luck with you Card and enjoy the games.
 

pitsi

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Jan 19, 2003
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My system's specs are:

Athlon XP 2400+
Asus A7N8X Deluxe
Corsair XMS 512MB PC3200 DDR (2-2-2-6)
Sapphire Radeon 9500 Pro

My graphics card performs better than a R9600Pro and similarly to a R9600XT, probably XT is in fact a bit better. I just run FRAPS 2.0 while playing FIFA 2004 at 1024x768. All graphics settings were set to high and I also used 2x AA/8x AF ("High Quality" settings in ATI's control panel). After about 2 minutes of playing my average FPS was 75.

I hope this helps.
 

stackom

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Jan 24, 2004
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P4 2.53
Asus P4PE MB (FSB 133)
1G DDR 3200
Asus 9600XT 128

Fifa 2004 runs smoothly at 1600*1200. Need I say more?