Video Card Help Options

[Sigma-Chi]

ATI Radeon 9700 Pro just dropped to $299, is it worth it or will the GeForce FX series be better?

I have been told that FX will be out in several weeks, and that ATI is fast but very unstable or incompatible with many driver issues.



Would like to hear what some of you have to say before I invest the cash.

[Lt. CrazyIvan]

Well , I have nothing but really good things to say overall about ATI. Been around for over 15 years making video cards. The price is coming down, but I would wait until its lower. I found it for $277 on pricewatch.com.

GeForce's in general have been great Nvidia cards. Never thought they were worth the big cash they demanded for them though. I see the prices on them have come way down, well under $200 for the latest and greatest.

I would say unless you plan on pumping this out to a TV or HDTV plasma screen, get the cheapest 128mb card that has widespread acceptance and support. If you do video this out, then get a Matrox card. Thats right, I said Matrox. The latest card Parhelia is with out a doubt the best out there for PC gaming and multi screens. And thats running around $350.

As far as the FX series, have not seen one yet and did not see they were out yet.

Can't compare to it since I haven't. Main thing is get 128mb of ram on a card now, its pretty much standard deals in this year.

Hope that helps.

[ProjxtShadoW]

If you are strongly considering purchasing an FX card be prepered to have an extra
PCI slot available next to your AGP...It has a huge fan !!

[All over but the Crying]

I would not even consider an fx based card. I understand that the noise level generated by these cards is undesireable to say the least. I hear the radeon 9500 card for around $150 is the most bang for the buck at near 9700 levels plus I believe it has a non-trivial amount of overclocking headroom. If you are dead set on spending $400 on a card, go for the new 9800 that will be out in a matter of days. It is faster than the FX card on many benchmarks without the ridiculous sound levels. I think everybody (nvidia included) realizes that the FX card is a mistake (anybody remember the beast that 3dfx came out with several years back). I think that ATI will be the king of the market for awhile. The FX card which isn't out yet is only arguably better (at most) than the 9700 pro that has been out for 7 months, and the 9700 pro cards replacement will be out in a matter of a couple of weeks. Right now, I am using a Nvidia Geforce 3 that I have had for about 2 years now. I am looking at upgrading as well, and I see the ATI cards as being the logical choice for not only bang for your buck but also for most performance at any cost.


just my 2 cents worth

AOBTC

[SOKHAR_[H]]

I am runnig a GF4 TI4400 well past 4600 speed and I max out the video setting in every game I play (1280x1024 in MOH:AA) with no probs at all and no slow down

if you want to see the rest of my rig see this post the top one is my main rig the second is my server and it can play MOH:aa almost totaly maxed out as well (GF2 OCed to hell)

[realdeal]

I have the ATI Radeon 9700 Pro and love it. No problems here.

[blackcat]

I have the ATI 9700 Pro. Got it it from Newegg:

http://tinyurl.com/7o8v

Been really happy with it.

/bc