Wondering how a Radeon 9700 pro compares to...

[WoLFe]

... Other graphics cards on todays market.

I can't actually remember when the radeon 9700 came out, but the 9800 came out surely after I think. 2 years ago?

Well anyway, I've tried putting my radeon9700pro in my ancient rig (1.4ghz athlon, 512mb ram, geforce 2mx 400) to the dissapointment my 4/5 year old rig can't handle it, the pc boots but there isnt enough power to get the monitor out of "power save". So back in went the god awful geforce 2 mx.

What inspired me to do this was I have been trying to enjoy playing a currently free game called "gunz online", an interesting game. Problem is Its like playing some retarded ghost mode for me as all textures display apart from characters, que some bizzare and worrying ghost mode style floating guns.

I'd really like to know if theres any way I can get the pc to boot properly with enough power without changing the PSU, if thats actually possible.

Other than that I'd like to ask how does the trusty radeon9700pro compare to all these new big scary sounding cards i have NO idea about? Like how does it compare or is there another card/price that its an equivelent to? I'm guessing you can get 'budget' cards now sub par £100 that are as good?

Say..

"128MB GeForce 6100 Graphics", "128MB ATI Radeon X700 PCI-X Graphics", "256MB Nvidia 6800LE PCI-X Graphics", and so on.

I'd imagine that 6800 murders it but I've not followed 'cards since the 9700pro came out, so I'm clueless. Any help would be greatly appricated.

[Octavean]

A 9700 Pro is roughly equivalent to an X700 Pro.

If you have more then one PC or a spare PSU, you can use said PSU to connect directly to the video card for additional power. This would be a good test to see if the problem really is the PSU in the system or not.

[WoLFe]

A 9700 Pro is roughly equivalent to an X700 Pro.

If you have more then one PC or a spare PSU, you can use said PSU to connect directly to the video card for additional power. This would be a good test to see if the problem really is the PSU in the system or not.

How could I do that? Is it simple-ish? I have no problem changing a graphics card but I'm not one for dissmantling anything else

[Octavean]

If you are using a spare ATX PSU, there are two pins on the ATX power connection (the 20 or 24 pin power connection for the motherboard) that must be shunted (connected). I don’t remember which pins they are but I can find out if you need to know or someone else may be able to tell you. Once that’s done the PSU will turn on after being plugged in (unless it has an on/off switch in the back). This will allow you to supply additional power to another part inside your case for testing.

Naturally, you need to shut everything down first, make the physical electrical connections (taking care with respect to ESD) , double check your work and then power everything up.

If the PSU is installed in another PC, you can simply use one of the 4 pin power (molex) connectors from the other PC and then power them both up.

[Rohan]

It sounds silly, but are you sure you connected the 4-pin floppy power connector to the radeon 9700pro? I had a friend who was trying the same thing, putting a radeon 9700 in an old gateway machine, but forgot to hook up the extra connector, and it wouldn't POST.

Silly I know, but worth checking.

[WoLFe]

It sounds silly, but are you sure you connected the 4-pin floppy power connector to the radeon 9700pro? I had a friend who was trying the same thing, putting a radeon 9700 in an old gateway machine, but forgot to hook up the extra connector, and it wouldn't POST.

Silly I know, but worth checking.

Yeah I connected that to the PSU, I think, I figured it was for the fan as the fan was spinning with it but not without it. I guess my stock mesh 300watt PSU can't take a 9700pro :\

[Zak33]

simply put: a good PSU is worth owning

[WoLFe]

Okay shall do, thanks.

[Smokey21]

Defo agree on the good PSU thing.

As for a 9700Pro, about equal these days would be a plain 6600, a X700Pro.

[WoLFe]

Defo agree on the good PSU thing.

As for a 9700Pro, about equal these days would be a plain 6600, a X700Pro.

Still ok then? Low mid range? Hmm, I should really get that PSU fixed.