Radeon vs nVidia

[Rob]

Hi people....

I am in the process of ordering my my parts (as below)... I was set on plumping for what I thought was a 'mid-range' Ati Radeon 9600 pro 128Mb. But having read a few reviews it doesn't seem to fair particularly well.

So I am now having a complete re-think, hence the question... What are the main differences between the two platforms and which might go better in this setup? I wonder if it's better going down the nVidia route as the Abit NF7-s has nForce 2 on board, would this then reduce any possible conflicts? Or just go for a 9800 instead? I will be adding a DVD RW+/- if this makes a difference.

I would prefer go to about £80 for now, just to get system built, which obvioulsly I can upgrade later. As for usage, I will be gaming (at last ) <the words far cry waft gently into a fevered imagination>. Also run a lot of video/media.

TIA if any of you have a view on this

Rob

[LayZeh]

get a 9700 pro, there's loads going for roughly £80 at the moment,there's one in the for sale forum right now.

[Rob]

Thanks LayZeh....

Have just paid for mobo/cpu etc, so one in forum will prolly be gone by next month!!!

[LayZeh]

they'll be others

[MurphmanL]

I gots a 9700 pro, fantastic card, couldn't be happier with mine, runs everything max settings on high resolutions, and thats without overclocking!

[Rob]

Thanks Murph...

This is starting to look a bit one sided!?!

Nice rig though mate!

[MurphmanL]

Thanks for the compliments
Definately get the 9700 pro over 9600, the 9600's are budget cards and even the XT falls to the 9700 np most likely. I picked my 9700 pro (ATI edition) with vga silencer artic cooler for £95 retail

[mike_w]

You might want to wait a couple of weeks, since the new cards are about to come out if I remember correctly (nVidia Geforce 6800/ ATi Radeon X800). The prices of 9700/9800s should be coming down accordingly (hopefully...)

[Rob]

You might want to wait a couple of weeks, since the new cards are about to come out if I remember correctly (nVidia Geforce 6800/ ATi Radeon X800). The prices of 9700/9800s should be coming down accordingly (hopefully...)

Thanks Mike (And Murph!)

Will have to wait couple of weeks anyway, till payday

Have to say I am having a little trouble locating 9700's.

I picked my 9700 pro (ATI edition) with vga silencer artic cooler for £95 retail

Are you a particularly heavy user?

[MurphmanL]

I use my pc for games a lot of the time, and like to know i can run them on high settings for some visual eye candy, as well as be future proof
People with older cards will have some troubles, i know for sure the 9500's @ stock speeds have some issues with doom III leaks.

[Rob]

high setting and eye candy

Oh yesss

[chrisf6969]

you'll have no problem locating a 9700 in a few weeks.... as well as probably some 9800's too. As there are plenty of hardcore gamers with big wallets that are going to be upgrading to X800 or 6800 and will be ditching their old hardware.

Plus any inventory of new parts at stores will be hit by price cuts also.

Hell, I might be selling my 5900 depending on the price of the mid high range cards. I'm not buy a $500, but if I can find a $300 that performs like I want... I'll probably buy it.

[Rob]

Grrr.... I give up!

Looks like I will have to stretch to a 9800, as I cannot find a single retailer stocking (or even listing) 9700! Found a few on ebay - but I like my shiny original boxes and warranty!

Anyway, thanks for the advice guys... Very much appreciated!

Rob

[mike_w]

9700s are last generation, so not produced anymore. That'll be why you can't find them anymore. The successor to the 9700 was the 9800, so that's your best bet if you want to buy new. And they're pretty good value now, not to mention what silly price they'll be selling at in a couple of weeks!

But like chrisf6969 said, a lot of people will be selling their 9700s and 9800s in a couple of weeks, so you should be able to find some then. I would personally look in the For Sale forum here (its not too hard to get 50 posts), most of the people are decent enough!

[MurphmanL]

9700 pro's are still produced apparently, check the ati website

[Rob]

Thanks guys!

And yes Murphman, that's what confused me - they are still shown on the Ati site! Which is why I expected at lease some retailers to stock them.

Still, on the upside - I might have to dig a little deeper into me pockets, but at least it will give me longer before upgrading... Although might just have to get a quieter fan from what I read so far...

Mind you mobo, case and chip arrive friday... (Woo-Hoo!!!) Let's see if me patience can hold out

Again thanks all