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Thread: Cheap Upgrade

  1. #1
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    Question Cheap Upgrade

    Looking for a cost effective upgrade to tide me over till a full system upgrade after I get married!

    I currently have a Radeon 9100 64Mb ad found this
    RETEKDIRECT radeon modified to 9700PRO

    I assume I will see a vast improvement but is it a good idea. It's a very tempting offer.

    Thanks for your thoughts
    HP HDX 16 Laptop

  2. #2
    sneaks quietly away. schmunk's Avatar
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    • schmunk's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Abit NF7-S v2.0
      • CPU:
      • AMD Athlon-M 2500+
      • Memory:
      • 1GB of Corsair BH-5 and 512MB of something else
      • Storage:
      • 160GB Seagate Barracuda
      • Graphics card(s):
      • ATI Radeon X800Pro, flashed to XT
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      • Case:
      • Antec cheapy
      • Monitor(s):
      • AG Neovo F19 LCD
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      • Virgin Media 4MB/s
    Yeah, go for it. However, be aware that Retek cards have been known to crap-out after a short time (but more than the 30-day warranty period)...

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    Senior Member SilentDeath's Avatar
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    They are known to have the heatsink very poorly installed... butapart fromthat they are fine and will last for ever. Change the heatsink when you get it and you wont have problems...

    HOWEVER: if you mean this card :ATI Radeon 9500 128MB with 9700 Pro specs
    Thats not 9700 specs. Yes the core and mem speeds are, however its only got 4 pipes and 128bit mem bus as it says above. It may be that this text is wrong... probablly is.. but I would phone up and check.. OR wait for it to arrive and send it back if thats the case (they will probably give you a better card)...

  4. #4
    HEXUS.timelord. Zak33's Avatar
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    • Zak33's system
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    lot of hassle though.....and you do have to pay to post it back.

    Budget? £40 all in?

    Quote Originally Posted by Advice Trinity by Knoxville
    "The second you aren't paying attention to the tool you're using, it will take your fingers from you. It does not know sympathy." |
    "If you don't gaffer it, it will gaffer you" | "Belt and braces"

  5. #5
    Senior Member SilentDeath's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Zak33
    lot of hassle though.....and you do have to pay to post it back.

    Budget? £40 all in?
    Im just saying that the description is very wrong. A 9500 w. 4 pipes and 128bit bus, at 325/310, wont even be half as good as a 9700pro.
    Clock speeds are easy on these cards, most should hit 400+ on core..

    Also I doubt that these softmod, or they would be sold as such..

    For the price, these are still resonable.. much better than your 9100... but still very near the bottom of dx9 cards. Expect ~30 fps at most in any recent game with everything turned off...

    But if they describe it wrong, you have a right for replacement/refund..

    Best to phone up and check, get them to correct the description..

    Edit: I would think a 9600pro/xt would perform a LOT better.. and I expect these would be around the same price now..
    Last edited by SilentDeath; 05-03-2005 at 02:30 PM.

  6. #6
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    Well spotted that it only had 4 pipelines

    I don't think I will go for it now and save for a proper upgrade

    Thanks for all the advice
    HP HDX 16 Laptop

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