Radeon 9700 Pro OR Geforce FX

[Slick]

Ok people, I recently got a new computer and sold off my old one with my old video card in it to get the money to spend on a new video card, but I'm kinda torn here.

I have the money in my pocket, but don't know if I should go out and get the Radeon 9700 Pro or wait for the Geforce FX card to come out. Sure I'm thinking here that the Geforce FX card will probably be superior from what I've been reading, but the thing is that for one, I don't know exactly when it's coming out, they say either Feb or March and they don't know a definate price $399 or $499.

I guess that the price isn't much of a factor, it's the waiting, if I had to wait until early Feb, i could do it, but I'm afraid that it might not be until March and looking around, there's not one site that I can see, that you can pre-order the card, so that's not a good sign that the card is gonna be out in the very near future.

Right now, I don't have any kind of video card on my system, it's just the onboard video, which blows for any 3D game and I feel like I'm going through gaming withdrawels, I need my Battlefield 1942 and Mafia to play.

I've found the Radeon 9700 Pro as cheap as $274 shipped, so I was thinking on jumping on that, but am afraid that I'll be kicking myself in the ass when the Geforce FX card finally does come out.

What would you do ?? Hold out or drop the cash now. I guess that with the Radeon down in price like that, I'd have spare money for other goodies also.

[FlyingIguana]

might as well wait. worst case if you go with the radeon it'll drop in price when the new geforce comes out.

[Backov]

There was an initial review posted somewhere recently, with actual hardware.. And as of right now, the Radeon 9700 Pro edges out the new FX in some real-world type categories.. (Ie, FX does better with Q3, Radeon better with a modern-style game)..

However, ATI has notoriously bad drivers, which some have been claiming are good now..

It's a crap shoot.. The FX might be a little slower (or faster), but it will definitely be solid.. The Radeon is here now and MAY be solid, but will be about the same performance.

Cheers,
Backov

[alias]

I like my radeon 9700 pro, It works great with my hitachi gaming lcd!

All digital baby, good picture super fast response times..

[alias]

Originally posted by Backov
There was an initial review posted somewhere recently, with actual hardware.. And as of right now, the Radeon 9700 Pro edges out the new FX in some real-world type categories.. (Ie, FX does better with Q3, Radeon better with a modern-style game)..

However, ATI has notoriously bad drivers, which some have been claiming are good now..

It's a crap shoot.. The FX might be a little slower (or faster), but it will definitely be solid.. The Radeon is here now and MAY be solid, but will be about the same performance.

Cheers,
Backov

Supposedly ATI is committed to driver update support now.

Mine is rock solid in ut2k3 with newest catalyst drivers & directx9

[Slick]

Hmmm... kind of a split decision here, he he he. If I still had my old card, I'm sure that it'd be no problem waiting, but for now, like I say, I'm cardless and a heavy gamer, ha ha ha.

HOWEVER, there's been many times when I jumped into something, only realizing that it would've been better to wait, so i might just have to rough it out. Maybe I'll install Diablo 2 to help tide me over, ha ha ha.

[ONS]

I just got a Radeon 8500 myself and its working great for me.

[Triple 6]

Originally posted by Backov
There was an initial review posted somewhere recently, with actual hardware.. And as of right now, the Radeon 9700 Pro edges out the new FX in some real-world type categories.. (Ie, FX does better with Q3, Radeon better with a modern-style game)..

However, ATI has notoriously bad drivers, which some have been claiming are good now..

It's a crap shoot.. The FX might be a little slower (or faster), but it will definitely be solid.. The Radeon is here now and MAY be solid, but will be about the same performance.

Cheers,
Backov

Here is a good comparison:

http://www.tomshardware.com/graphic/20021118/

The FX will blow away the current best radeon and the current best nvidia geforce 4 ti 4600 (im gonna sell mine to get the new FX or the next radeon). Of course, the next big thing from ATI will trump the FX, question is, by how much?

[Sassyass]

What do you want to do with the new computer? That should be the biggest factor in this choice. I run Gforces in my boxes that my kids use, but in my video box I use a matrox.

[Dveron]

Had absolutely no problems with my 9700 Pro with the latest drivers.

[Backov]

Originally posted by Triple 6


Here is a good comparison:

http://www.tomshardware.com/graphic/20021118/

The FX will blow away the current best radeon and the current best nvidia geforce 4 ti 4600 (im gonna sell mine to get the new FX or the next radeon). Of course, the next big thing from ATI will trump the FX, question is, by how much?

I knew someone would quote marketing BS.

That article they didn't even have the hardware. Look at the date: 2002-11-18. No hardware, just marketing.

This is the only actual review/comparison I know of:

http://www.maximumpc.com/features/fe...003-01-03.html

And if you'll read it, you'll see that the FX is NOT the King, it's a split decision with the Radeon Pro.

Cheers,
Backov

[Slick]

Originally posted by Sassyass
What do you want to do with the new computer? That should be the biggest factor in this choice. I run Gforces in my boxes that my kids use, but in my video box I use a matrox.

I'm gonna be working on my pages, doing Photoshop and stuff like that, but the main reason for the card is for gaming

[Triple 6]

Originally posted by Backov




And if you'll read it, you'll see that the FX is NOT the King, it's a split decision with the Radeon Pro.

You say theres a split decision, but when I read the 'benchmarks' on that URL you posted, the FX wins 2 out of 3. And shit, why not test on dx9 which is out? ANd you talk about recent ;)

[Sassyass]

Originally posted by Slick

I'm gonna be working on my pages, doing Photoshop and stuff like that, but the main reason for the card is for gaming

Does it really matter if one card is doing 100 FPS @12x24 and the other card only does 95?* The marketing on these cards is silly. With most of the functions, you will never tell the difference between the two. If you used Gforce in the past keep using it. It's a great card. I know the Carmack and the Doom boys are writing their games for the ATI but who cares...

Buy the cheaper of the two and spend whats left on RAM

Can the human eye tell the difference between 100FPS and 90 FPS?*
Is a 2.5Ghz really that much faster than a 2.4Ghz?


*JUST PULLING NUMBERS OUT OF MY ASS TO MAKE A POINT

[Triple 6]

Originally posted by Sassyass


Does it really matter if one card is doing 100 FPS @12x24 and the other card only does 95?* The marketing on these cards is silly. With most of the functions, you will never tell the difference between the two. If you used Gforce in the past keep using it. It's a great card. I know the Carmack and the Doom boys are writing their games for the ATI but who cares...

Buy the cheaper of the two and spend whats left on RAM

Can the human eye tell the difference between 100FPS and 90 FPS?*
Is a 2.5Ghz really that much faster than a 2.4Ghz?


*JUST PULLING NUMBERS OUT OF MY ASS TO MAKE A POINT

Good points. What makes a huge difference is the amount of memory your pc has, of course. I have 1 gig rdram - I never have graphics lag in games like bf1942, sof2, aa, etc

[Slick]

Originally posted by Sassyass


Does it really matter if one card is doing 100 FPS @12x24 and the other card only does 95?* The marketing on these cards is silly. With most of the functions, you will never tell the difference between the two. If you used Gforce in the past keep using it. It's a great card. I know the Carmack and the Doom boys are writing their games for the ATI but who cares...

Buy the cheaper of the two and spend whats left on RAM

Can the human eye tell the difference between 100FPS and 90 FPS?*
Is a 2.5Ghz really that much faster than a 2.4Ghz?


*JUST PULLING NUMBERS OUT OF MY ASS TO MAKE A POINT

I also think that it's a good point and a tough question to answer. I guess that I'm mainly thinking about longitivity of the card. Sooner or later your card will start to lose it's luster, I had a Geforce 3 Ti-500 card and games like Mafia and Battlefield 1942 didn't look as great as they should've, I couldn't jack up all of the graphics that much. As a gamer, I enjoy playing the game the way that it was made to look, so in order to do that, you always need the best.

As far as getting second best, I'm actually thinking about just going for the Radeon right now, saving money and actually being able to get the card now without waiting.

As far as the features go though, right now, the cards may sound neck and neck, but as months go on and games start taking advantage of what the Geforce FX can do, I think that it's gonna show a greater gap in the performance charts.

[Slick]

One other thing that I've stumbled across. What do you guys think of this place - http://www.ocsystem.com

Notice the Radeon9700 Pros that they have on top with the special cooling units on them. According to their benchmarks, they perform a lot better than the standard Radeon 9700 Pros. I've never seen anything like that before.

[Sassyass]

You going for the liquid cooled case too?
Buy good but standard parts, and run your computer in your fridge......

I always do the price/performance check. Rembmers we are dealing in Nano-seconds here *blink* whoa... there goes 50 of them....

Also, game designers are going to make their products back compatible, To stay on top, you only have to update every 24-32 months.


price for radeon

[Backov]

Originally posted by Triple 6



You say theres a split decision, but when I read the 'benchmarks' on that URL you posted, the FX wins 2 out of 3. And shit, why not test on dx9 which is out? ANd you talk about recent ;)

Yep, beta benchmarks. 2/3 is still split, since Q3 is hardly relevant these days. And when both are over 130fps in it anyway, who cares.

As for recent benchmarks, these are the most current, therefore they are the most recent.

The hardware is still vapor, and the drivers are still beta. The FX might totally kick the Radeons ass, but most likely it will be it by 10-15% at best.

Cheers,
Backov

I just bought a 9500 Pro but now I kinda wished I waited until the 9700 PRO All In Wonder was released. That is a sweet card.

I can't complain about the 9500 Pro though, I can run Soldier of Fortune 2 at 1024 X 768 with all the details maxed out and 4X full screen antialiasing turned on and it is smooth as a baby's arse.

[Slick]

Decisions decisions, he he he.