for future gaming

[BeZ]

Im really looking forward to doom 3 and my geforce mx gets 1 fps on it. Now that its in the garbage i need a new card that will make me happy. [not the 9700 pro] [not rich].
I was thinking of the 9500 pro but im not too sure that it can handle the sweet looking graphics doom 3 offers. My other choice was the ti4600 which beats the 9500 pro by around 10% will these cards be able to support my future gaming needS?

 

[Spitfire_x86]

Radeon 9500 Pro is a better buy than GeForce4 Ti4600. It will perform better in future games like Doom3 Quality will be better, too.

Let us know <A HREF="http://forumz.tomshardware.com/community/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=25703#25703" target="_new"> What File compression format you use? </A>

 

[BeZ]

im just kinda worried tho cause i dont wanna end up getting 20 fps with a brand new card you know.

 

[hartski]

Since you are getting a mid-level card set your "future" games or DOOM III to medium to high. That should give you good FPS. Also I think DOOM III was made to run best on an 8 pixel pipeline vidcard. If you want check if the R9500 Pro if it's 4 or 8 pixel pipelines. I believe the R9700 non-pro and the R9700 Pro is the only one with 8 pixel pipeline. Definitely the Ti4600 has only 4 pixel pipelines.

Btw my friend has a leaked DOOM III and he plays fine with Ti4200. No FSAA or Aniso though.

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by hartski on 12/09/02 06:46 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[BeZ]

yea my friend had the same leaked demo. How well did the 4200 perform?
btw radeon 9500 pro has 8 pipelines

 

[hartski]

He's set his card at balanced mode and had no AA or Aniso or whatever and didn't tell me any problems. I have to ask though if he's running it at 1024x768x16. So the R9500 Pro has 8 pipelines,well then definitely worth it.

 

[vegandago]

i have the demo... runs smooth as a whistle on my 9700pro

If you are worried about doomIII then I would wait until right before the game comes out to make your purchase.

"There is no dark or light side, only power and those too weak to seek it."

 

[BeZ]

well what are pipelines anyway ?
how much do they effect the performance

 

[Ub3r_n00b]

Personally, I don't believe that DOOM 3 will be designed specifically for the ultra-high end market. Right now, the ultra-high end market (namely the R9700pro) makes up about 1% of the overall market, and any company that targets that small of a market will be setting themselves up for.... well, doom.

Right now, the market is saturated will people running GF4 4200's, and for ID to completely ignore this wuld be plain stupid and kill the sales of D3.

With all these benchmarks I see, the only way I can see them getting this benchmarks is with the Alpha leak, which is HEAVILY unoptimized (from what I know, it is just the unplayable movie demo of doom 3 with UT2003 physics code added to make it playable), so any numbers that come out of that are completely unfounded and unrealistic.

<font color=red> Remember, there is no such thing as a stupid question... just stupid people. </font color=red>

 

[BeZ]

well said
totally true

 

[HolyShiznit]

Personally, I don't believe that DOOM 3 will be designed specifically for the ultra-high end market. Right now, the ultra-high end market (namely the R9700pro) makes up about 1% of the overall market, and any company that targets that small of a market will be setting themselves up for.... well, doom.

Exactly. While Doom3 is a good reason to <b>wait</b> for upgrading to a new system, it won't be a necessity. The GF4 cards are really nice and very powerful...I'd be surprised if they didn't run Doom3 quite well.

 

[uther]

Trust me. Performance tuning is one of the last things that really gets manipulated in software development. If you are playing with alpha and beta releases, I would not put any stock in the numbers you are seeing.

 

[BeZ]

so right now im really considering buying the 9500 pro, unless the 9700 non-pro oem is reasonable

 

[hartski]

Not SPECIFICALLY but is designed with high-end graphics card in mind. Let us not forget that games can be tuned down, enable this, disable that. EQ2 makes use of the GF FX but it doesn't mean the Ti series won't be able to run it. You can but prolly not with FSAA and Aniso or suffer performance drawbacks. I've watched ATI's video ragarding Doom III and they did use the R9700 Pro to it's fullest to make DOOM III look at it's best. Same with EQ2 video when they talked about using the power of the GF FX.

I play Asheron's Call 2 and that game has so many options to fine tune the visuals in your game to suit your videocard. The settings are VERY LOW, LOW, MEDIUM, HIGH, VERY HIGH. I'll tell you that on LOW and VERY LOW you think you are playing using a TNT2 M64! hehe...

I'm glad to see that games of today cater to a wide range of consumers, from those who have GF2 to those who have Radeon 9700/GF FX.

As for me I am happy and glad I made the right choice. I bought an AIW 9700 Pro. Nvidia never beat ATI when it comes to all-in-one cards so why wait for NV30 if there is an AIW 9700 Pro available now.

 

[Ghostdog]

I'll tell you that on LOW and VERY LOW you think you are playing using a TNT2 M64! hehe...

Dude, that´s not funny, I am playing on a TNT2m64.

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

 

[hartski]

hehe...how about I give you my R8500 LE! That LE was able to handle the HIGH settings, of course no FSAA but Aniso didn't decrease the performance. I love Aniso! Gives you crisper textures!

 

[Ghostdog]

Sure! I´ll pick it up tomorow .
No, I have the cash, I just want to see how the GeForceFX does, and if it´s worth waiting for it. I guess I´m just scared that if i buy a Radeon 9700Pro today, the GFfx will blow it away when it comes out (unlikely, but still...), I want to keep the upgrade for maybe 2 years.

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

 

[hartski]

I had the same thinking too. Why buy the R9700 Pro if the GF FX is coming out next year. If you just want an uber gaming card then go wait for the GF FX. I however want a gaming card and a multimedia card therefore I wisely decided to go with the AIW 9700 Pro. Nvidia has plans on making all-in-one cards based on the GF FX, but at what cost? Has Nvidia ever beaten ATI when it comes to all-in-one cards, they can't even beat ATI on TV-out. I'm good with the AIW 9700 Pro for a year or two.

*If you keep on waiting and waiting you'll eventually get nothing. Besides the R9700 Pro is a great buy, Everybody gives it a 9 out of 10 unlike the past uber card from ATI which is the R8500