The R9700 Pro of TODAY...

[hartski]

I've been wanting to buy the R9700 Pro since it came out. I have never thought of investing so much money on a new top of the line card. The card I currently own is an R8500 "LE"! I am really looking to buy the AIW 9700 Pro coz I am planning to author VCDs/DVDs from VHS and record my favorite TV shows. The AIW had great reviews and as always it is the KING of all-in-one vidcards. What made me spend a few more dollars to get an AIW 9700 pro instead of the R9700 Pro is the AIW 9700 Pro isn't a watered down version of the R9700. You get pure gaming power and the best multimedia features!

So I ask you guys has the R9700 matured prior its release? I heard a lot of ppl not being able to play their games. Is the Catalyst driver one of the big reasons for its maturity? How much better is the R9700 now? Some ppl said it was hard to install and needs some tweaking to make it work at least 90% but once you make it work it's all worth the trouble.

Also regarding the AIW ppl are saying the multimedia capabilities of the AIW doesn't work specially on Win XP. Is this true? They say that the drivers are mostly to blame. Well I hope the Catalyst drivers have really changed the way ATI vidcards perform.

So, I ask your opinions on either the R9700 Pro or the AIW 9700 Pro...or both!

 

[phial]

your right ATI used to be known for crap-ass drivers, but this is not so much the case anymore.

being a long time Radeon owner (original radeon 64meg sdr, 8500 le (3.5ns ram w()()T)) ive tried just about all the different driver revisions that ATI has released over the last 2 years.. and they have gotten progresssively better.

but the new Catalyst drivers are absolutely excellent. some people are having problems but thats expected from new state of the art hardware.. im sure just as many people will have problems for a few weeks when the NV30 comes out.

so .. it all depends who you ask. personally i think ATI's driver issues are a thing of the past. they listened to peoples complaints and fixed it.. still most NVIDIA fans will tell you that ATI still sucks...

 

[hartski]

Nice to read a positive response. I myself amnot siding with ATI or Nvidia. It's just ATI has the best card out now and I am dying to upgrade my R8500 "!LE!" and won't settle for anything less. Plus I want the AIW features!

 

[bloaty]

Drivers are nothing to worry about these days. However there have been a few motherboard and PSU issues. Just make sure your PSU is a good one and your motherboard can run it fine.
I also had an 8500LE before i got the 9700pro both are great cards just the 9700pro it least twice as good =P

 

[hartski]

The moment I knew the R9700 requires to connect to the P/S I planned on buying a quality P/S coz I won't risk any trouble! I currently have a 300W P/S but it's made by futurepower so I am gonna buy an Enermax EG365P-VE. I can also benefit from the 8 power connectors :]

My mobo is a Gigabyte 7VRXP so I believe it will handle the R9700 fine.

 

[icy_oblivion]

Since you want to do a lot of multimedia work I think that ATI has the best of the features.

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