Is a Rad9800Pro REALLY good or what?

[Zak33]

Well....today I got a chance to find out

David has been at mine for 24 hours now, uploading stuff on my Broadband connection as he needed some extra bandwidth. He brought his Shuttle with him......

He's had to go out.... which was shame, cos his shuttle PC contained a Rad9800Pro.... and he's no where to be seen to defend it

So.....as the transfer que had finished on the upload, I kind of....well...kind of "borrowed it"

The question in my head....was it REALLY that much better than my 9600PRo. We are talking a lot more money, and would it be worth it.

Well, first up, I am NOT a monster Tech Head, but I DO play games.....1 game in particular. Its got planes in it, and my mates all shoot me a lot, but I love it anyway

For a quick Benchy.....just for you tech heads

3dMark 2003 on my nForce 2 Asus A7N8X with a Thorobred at 12.5 x 180 = 2250 in Dual Mem mode.

1024x768x32 and all the Vid card drivers set to Default

9600Pro - 3347
9800Pro - 5599

Thats a BIG jump.....its bloody mammoth. 67% Increase

And it looked it too.....you know the way stuff looks even better than th escore and the image quality makes you realise you have a special "thing" in your PC.

U Huh.....this did it for me

But the TRUTH of the pudding is in the flying

And its gonna kill your Modem..sorry

I set the vid card to default (ie no Antialiasing or Anisotropic filtering) and ran it 1024x768x32.....

Then I slid the Radeon Image Quality SLider bar right up to the top....my 9600 Pro wont run at all smoothly on this setting, so I wanted to see if all those special eye-candy features were "Worthy"

Oh my word.....these screenies HELP, but to see it in full motion......its unreal....truly divine!

[Zak33]

First up......Default settings, so its 1024x768x32 in Direct X setting

Note: the metal edge of the wing tips, the rockets under the wings, the metal canopy, the tension wires between wings, the actual metal effect of the rocket fins.....

[Zak33]

And now for the fun bit.....full eye candy.....

remember....its the SAME resolution.....1024x768x32.....

quite unreal...and in motion..its heaven

[Zak33]

[Russ]

oh my gosh! i wish i wasnt so tight, i would buy 1 just for fb :/

[Zak33]

Now....I know this doesn't make me fly any better.....nothing short of living with Skii or Dak for a week solid would sort THAT....

No...this is to do with making the PC user SMILE

Its really better than I had ever dreamed. I hope your montitors do it justice.....the FULL SCREEN versions were just fantastic....

and in MOTION......

I gotta say..its score time:

Installation: 10/10.....I just NEVER have the troubles that sometimes go with nVidia

2d Image Quality: 9/10...I'm sure there must be something better, but where I dont know. Matrox maybe....well deserved 9/10

3d Image Quality...: hehe 10/10...can't help it.....in motion it is nearly sexual.

Chances of David realising he has a Rad9600Pro in his shuttle, not a 9800 Pro......3/10

Chances of me risking it...11/10

Done....he needs to leave it with me

[luke313]

Chances that you have increased the odds of David noticing that he doesn't have his 9800pro in his Shuttle now you have posted this thread 10/10

[Trash Man]

I will be getting one of these very soon

I was gonna use HL2 (as it was supposed to be out before doom3) as an excuse. I just need to find another excuse now so that I can make my self not feel guilty about spending £300 on a GFX card.

[TiG]

Damn you Zak, i've just been out for a few beers and now your making me drool.

There is no way in this world that you'll get me to spend £300 on a graphics card just to play FB with all the eye candy on

Its tooo much for a graphics card...

TiG

[Howard]

Hmmm...Those images aren't too bad...Maybe you should have tried a game with real graphics like Unreal 2 at fullest resolution! It kills my mate's R9700pro lol

[acidrainy]

Originally posted by Howard
Hmmm...Those images aren't too bad...Maybe you should have tried a game with real graphics like Unreal 2 at fullest resolution! It kills my mate's R9700pro lol

Runs sweet and smooth

Although a bit overkill at that rez!

I generally knock the rez down a couple notches and make sure the quality is right up
I like to get a few more fps out of games like that!

[Butuz]

67% increase in performance for a 120% increase in cost?

*steers clear *

Butuz

[acidrainy]

Originally posted by Butuz
67% increase in performance for a 120% increase in cost?

*steers clear *

OMG! is it really that much?
/me stares @ 9800pro......

Oh well at least it will last me. I'm sure to get my moneys worth out of it yet, heh!


There is a pipeline difference between the 9600pro and the
9800pro is there not? Just trying to find the major diff between the cards other than clocks...

[luke313]

Pipeline difference, different core, different optimizations. The 9600pro is a completely new core, whereas the 9800pro is like an upgraded 9700pro core.

[Bindibadgi]

"full eye candy" what does that mean exactly? Cause those 2nd set of screnies look SERIOUSLY SWEET!

Cant you get fraps and a fps counter up?

[Zak33]

Originally posted by Bindibadgi
"full eye candy" what does that mean exactly?

It means, go into the Radeon Device properties and go into Direct3d properties and slide the qualilty slider bar to the TOP.

Then go into IL2 Forgotten Battles, and choose DIrectX as the device...then knock ALL the options to the highest (including terrain effects to PERFECT....)

and this vid card runs it smoothly...you can play it, with no jerkyness..

Its heaven mate

Sadly...he has it back now