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Which Radeon 9700 Pro is the best?

Forum Graphic & Displays : Graphics Cards - Which Radeon 9700 Pro is the best?

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deBoor   10-27-2002 at 09:36:55 AM

Im looking to purchase a Radeon 9700 Pro, but am unsure of which one to get. There are a few such as the Ati one, the Sapphire one, etc. I dont need a bunch of spiffy features such as the All In Wonder, but a good card and possibly tv out would be nice. Any advice is greatly appriciated! Thanks in advance!


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zpyrd   10-27-2002 at 10:26:33 AM
- 0 +

The Built By ATI cards are usually the best cards to get because they can be reliably overclocked.
In other words the best components go into the Built By ATI cards.

<font color=red><i>Doctor Hooter</i></font color=red> <A HREF="http://www.page3.com/" target="_new"><b>(·Y·)</b></A>

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Ghostdog   10-27-2002 at 02:30:19 PM
- 0 +

The ATI original or the Hercules 3D Prophet 9700.

<font color=red>I´m starting to feel like a real computer consultant.</font color=red>

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Chuck232   10-27-2002 at 03:41:47 PM
- 0 +

The BBA R9700 Pro is one of the more reliable ones, but it's also pretty plain. The Herc is fancier, but also costs more.

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

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knowan   10-27-2002 at 05:18:19 PM
- 0 +

I don't think that ther is any real diifference. They are all using identical RAM, identical chipsets and identical PCB's. The only real difference is the heatsinks.

And they all have TV-out.

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Chuck232   10-27-2002 at 07:27:25 PM
- 0 +

Exactly, the Herc has an awesome cooling setup compared to the BBA.

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

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Crashman   10-27-2002 at 07:47:33 PM
- 0 +

I don't trust Hercules cards. This is the same company that left the second RAMDAC off their 8500 cards so the DVI to VGA adapter didn't work. It's also the same company that made many of the 3.3v GeForce2 MX cards that are frying 1.5v boards.

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Crashman   10-27-2002 at 07:48:11 PM
- 0 +

Gigabyte makes a 9700 Pro with a nice cooling solution for overclocking.

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

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Chuck232   10-27-2002 at 08:44:01 PM
- 0 +

But you gotta admit, their R9700 PRO seriously looks and performs pretty well.

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

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Crashman   10-28-2002 at 12:24:37 AM
- 0 +

Has anyone tried using it with two CRT's yet?

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Ghostdog   10-28-2002 at 08:37:56 PM
- 0 +

Hercules might have screwed up in the past, but their card is just like any other manufacturers, ATI reference (with blue PCB).

<font color=red>I´m starting to feel like a real computer consultant.</font color=red>

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BigBiggist   10-28-2002 at 08:47:53 PM
- 0 +

I have the gigabyte version and it is a great card. It is quiet and the cooling solution is awesome. I would definately recommend getting the GV-9700 PRO card. It looks pretty sweet too.

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Crashman   10-28-2002 at 11:27:46 PM
- 0 +

Can you say for certain that THIS card will run two CRT monitors?

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tombance   10-28-2002 at 11:35:39 PM
- 0 +

What does anyone think of Sapphire. Im thinking of getting a Radeon 7500 card made by them, so I want some opinions.

My sig's faster than yours, and it overclocks better too....

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Crashman   10-28-2002 at 11:56:02 PM
- 0 +

Saphire is a weird company, some of their 8500LE's come with 3.3ns memory while others come with 5.5ns memory, and with no known pattern to determine why such a difference. YOu have to find out specifics on the SPECIFIC card you want in order to figure out if it's a good deal.

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Ghostdog   10-29-2002 at 01:37:26 PM
- 0 +

Yes, almost certainly. If you trust the Hercules site, that is.

Quote:
3 outputs on the bracket:

An analog DB-15 output for analog monitors,
A video output, useful for connecting a TV set,
A DVI-I output for digital (LCD) monitors: this output can even be converted into an additional analog DB-15 output for a <b>secondary</b> analog monitor.

And e-mailing Hercules to be sure shouldn´t be a very demanding task?

<font color=red>I´m starting to feel like a real computer consultant.</font color=red>

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WingDing   10-29-2002 at 03:21:58 PM
- 0 +

I'd tend towards the Gigabyte. I too am looking for the 9700 Pro but there seems to be a distinct lack of availability of the original ATi cards, so the other main brands are Gigabyte, Sapphire and Hercules.

The only card I've seen in Ireland is the Sapphire, which is selling at a ludicrous 530 Euro. I can order the Gigabyte board from the UK at around 300 pounds sterling (about 420 euro).

:eek: Wingding - Santa's nightmarish alter ego :eek:

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Crashman   10-29-2002 at 06:20:20 PM
- 0 +

That's the info I was looking for (before I could make a recomendation on the card).

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miahallen   10-30-2002 at 07:30:04 AM
- 0 +

I have an ATI R9700 Pro, and I ran dual CRT's on it for the first couple weeks. But, I ran into too many problems, so I went back to using my PCI GF2 MX card for the secondary monitor. Probably a driver problem, it worked fine...but all my setup parameters would reset every time I rebooted the machine. So I had to reactivate the secondary monitor, set it as the primary, reset the resolution/refresh rate, etc... Big pain in the ASS!!!

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Crashman   10-30-2002 at 07:51:24 AM
- 0 +

I was actually refering to a specific brand, the Hecules version of the 9700 Pro. Because Hercules 8500 card didn't support dual CRT's, I ask if anyone was certain their 9700 Pro would. And it does.

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

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