Radeon 9700 Pro or Geforce FX 5800

[chrisf6969]

fx5800 = 128-bit memory interface (had to have 1Ghz memory to offset) = dont get it!!

fx59x0 = 256-bit memory (good) 4x2 pipelines, but not as efficient

9800/9700 Pro = 256-bit (good) and 8x1(better) pipelines

the 9700/9800 Pro are the fastest cards available right now (if you can afford it)
I personally think the best price/performance is the 5900XT.

Here's my long list of cards I would NOT buy:
5900 ultra, 5800 U or 5950 U - too expensive, for price I would get a 9800pro
5700/5600 - almost the same as ti4200 and only slightly cheaper than 5900xt
9600 xt/pro - same as 5700, marginally better than a ti4200
5200/9100, etc... - crappy budget cards

So that really only leaves:
5900xt, 9700 pro, 9800 pro or 9800xt (and soon 6800)

[MurphmanL]

So whats this streaming video deblocking technology ATI cards posess? I hear the ATI 9700 Pro is a rich card, providing slick clean quality images and good frame rates, how does one turn on streaming video deblocking? And does it make a noticable difference?

[SilentDeath]

hmm prob not on max settings, i think you might start to see it struggle later this year when doom3 comes out.

shame u cant get a 9800pro. your getting a lot of card for ur money at current prices with one of those.

Talking out your anus?

doom 3 alpha runs about 64fps iirc on mine with 340/315 Bthat was BEFORE i watercooled my card.

ATM I can run farcry on max everything 4aa 16af and stillget a very nice framerate.

[Korky]

murphman the 9700pro will play farcry on full detail very smoothly as long as the rest of ur system is up to date, the 9700pro is still amoung the best cards you can buy.

[MurphmanL]

Thanks for that reassurance korky, i noticed in most benchmarks the 9800 pro only pulls ahead by around 5 fps max, hardly noticable and that is at MAX... so im gonna go for a 9700 pro when it suffers, ill overclock it a bit with extra cooling, and anyways by then the next gen cards will be lower priced anyways... im just a tad shy stepping into ati territory, i did download the 9700 pro bear demo, the bear was funny but my fx 5600 xt made a dogs dinner of it... stutter, stutter stutter, and when the screen splits 4 ways... laggggggggggggggggggg
I do hope the 9700 pro is decent, and whats this video deblocking technology it has and how does i enable it, also, what effects does it have on DivX video, it appears DIVX recommend the 9700 pro for playing back divx...

[mike_w]

The point is, although the 9800 Pro may only pull ahead by a small amount, its cheaper and first hand!

The people selling those cards at those prices must be making a tidy sum

[Korky]

ye forgot plz murphman dont spend £170 on the 9700pro! get a 9800pro! lol

[da_ging]

arnt there any other shops nr u MurphmanL rather than this 1 selling a 9700 at £170

where abouts are u located?

[steve threlfall]

ye forgot plz murphman dont spend £170 on the 9700pro! get a 9800pro! lol

Agreed

Wont your mum let you mail order one instead? you could do this from nearly all of the sites we buy onilne from

if all else fails tell her you need a one to do your homwork or you will fail your exams

[leeboh]

I dont know much about that Nvidia card, but I certainly know that after 2 years Ive had my Gigabyte ATi Radeon 9700 Pro Maya II 128Mb that its been very reliable over the years and has seen a great change in drivers, back 2 years ago i remember the drivers being very unreliable and also a big let down. Now that the drivers have been let say revolutionised since then the ATi card is still keeping up with the new ones about.

However!!!! Ive tried overclocking mine many times, using ATi Tool and ATi's latest drivers and I have not manage to squeeze any more than 25Mhz out of the bastard. Then i resorted to trying the omega drivers as they are better for overclocking cards, yet I stilll noticed that the overclocking situation here wasnt to exciting. Temps are around 40degrees through my case and this is not the cause of the problem.

Its up to you, I would still say its a great card dspite this, but if its overclocking your looking for here, then I would look into it a bit further to see if you can find a solution that I havent yet found.

Hope this helps

[Agent]

Why the uber bump ?, this thread is ~7 months old :\

[iranu]

OMFG 170 quid for an owned 9700pro he must be joking! Retek are doing refurbished 9700pros for under 70 quid. ( I paid £160 for mine overe a year ago).

9800 pro is cheaper from just about anywhere.