to upgrade or not

[darksun20]

Would it be worth my money to upgrade from an ATi 9600 to an ATi 9800?

 

[ChipDeath]

Not a great deal of point nowadays.

Are you talking about a 9600 Pro/XT or just a 'plain' 9600? Same question about the 9800.

IIRC, the 9600Pro/XT cards perform quite close to the 'plain' 9800 card.

It <i>might</i> be worthwhile if you were upgrading from a vanilla 9600 to a 9800Pro or XT, but I bet there's better options now. a 6600GT card or something perhaps. Depends on availability and pricing where you are of course.

---
<font color=red>"Life is <i>not</i> like a box of chocolates. It's more like a jar of jalapeńos - what you do today might burn your a<b></b>ss tommorrow."

 

[pauldh]

Yeah, it depends on a few things. The model Radeons, the games, the rest of your system specs, and also depends on the cost of the upgrade. If you are running a sub XP2000+ system, or a Pentium 4 on PC133, forget it. If you have a XP2500+ or faster, it could be a nice bump in some games. If you buy a 9800 pro for $110 new, and can get $60 for your used 9600 pro (or have a spare system for it to go in), then it's a great upgrade. There are alot of if's. Give us your system specs and the games that the 9600 pro is not pleasing you in, and we can be more help.


<A HREF="http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm05=658042" target="_new">3DMark05</A> <A HREF="http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k3=3781954" target="_new">3DMark03</A>

 

[darksun20]

My sys specs.

AMD Athlon 64 3000+ @ 1.9GHz
Kingston HyperX 1GB 4x256MB
ATi 9600 (vanilla)
WD 80GB IDE 8MB Buffer
Windows XP Pro (Service Pack 2)

I'm getting "good" performance on HL2/CS:S, but I'm always looking for better. I get like 60 fps, at best, 35-50 on average, in CS:S. I was looking for a relatively cheap upgrade to my current card. If I can get a 9800 Pro for sub $160 and yield a 30 to 40 fps boost I'd probably go with it.
Yes I can get someone to buy my card for $50. Anymore input is greatly appreciated.

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by darksun20 on 07/18/05 05:22 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[pauldh]

Nice system. Definately could use more than a 9600. Since you are in the USA, you can get a new 9800 pro for under $120. Or spend a little more and get the <A HREF="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814161109" target="_new">HIS Ice Q</A> version. Newegg has it for about $140. GF6600GT is a little faster though for only a little more than the HIS. But the HIS is super quiet and OC's well. For that rig I'd be tempted to grab the X800 pro. Too bad it went up to $20 to $226 now.


<A HREF="http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm05=658042" target="_new">3DMark05</A> <A HREF="http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k3=3781954" target="_new">3DMark03</A>

 

[darksun20]

Wow, that IceQ looks sweet, I appreciate the info. That's right in my budget, from the looks and reviews I saw it seems like a great card. I think I'll buy that tonight

dark$un

 

[HardWareBoss]

Go for it. Great price on the HIS 9800ProIceQ $136.

 

[darksun20]

Only problem is, it's not in STOCK!!! I knew that was to good to be true!! I'm dissappointed, oh well maybe it'll come back in stock soon.

dark$un

 

[pauldh]

They have gone in and out of stock lately. Newegg must be selling alot of them. Anyway, the ETA is today, so check back often, or just click the auto-notify button and Newegg will email you when they get them in.


<A HREF="http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm05=658042" target="_new">3DMark05</A> <A HREF="http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k3=3781954" target="_new">3DMark03</A>