That new video card poll got me thinking. How much longer will I be able to hold onto my 9700PRO? I only game at 1024Xwhatever because I must have the highest refresh rate possible because my eyes are sensitive. I was thinking I could get 2 years out of it still, but then again thats what I said about my original radeon and then my 8500LE. What do you guys think?
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9700PRO longevity?
- Thread starter MiXdNuTs
- Start date
technically speaking, from just a literally "working" aspect, the card could last for 10 years or more.
now as far as working for what YOU want it for, that all depends on what you want it for.
if you play The Sims and other such games, it will last you quite a while. but if you intend to always throw the latest and most graphically demanding games at it, you should probably consider upgrading sometime soon.
now as far as working for what YOU want it for, that all depends on what you want it for.
if you play The Sims and other such games, it will last you quite a while. but if you intend to always throw the latest and most graphically demanding games at it, you should probably consider upgrading sometime soon.
dandragonrage
[H]F Junkie
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A little longer than http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=763287
The 9700pro is still a great card. My son plays far cry on his all of the time, I put him on 1024x768 with no AA or AF, and it seems to be smooth! So it's hard to tell how much longer that it can hang on. Depending on how well games are coded, it may even last through HL2 and D3.
In terms of running a game "smooth" and at a decent a res, you should be ok for at least a year or so, I wounldn't worry too much. By the time you want to upgrade you video card, you'll be prehaps upgradeing the whole system. You'll perhaps get a new proc and mobo, you could get one with PCI-E and get one of the fancy smancy "next-gen" video cards. Hold on to the 9700pro, i should last a while more.
i play Far cry on my 9700 pro, 1024 with 2x aa 4x af and everything set to very high. I get pretty smooth gameplay, only dropping into the 30's during super intense fights. Im gonna hold on to my 9700 pro till i upgrade my whole system (pci-e), and you should probably do the same.
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- Sep 9, 2002
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- 5,657
The 9700Pro was the last huge jump since the new cards. I think I've devellopped my strategy.... just get the big generational leaps. Hold on to the 9700Pro as long as you can. It will be less than a year before ATi's and Nvidia's refresh comes out and it probably wont offer too much over today's XT
E and 6800Ultra.
I love my 9700pro and it still works great, basically hold out until you are unsatisfied and from the looks of things, a product refresh offering a small bump will bring some prices down by that time. yes, something better is always around the corner but know that the next few years hold nothing but tiny bumps in speed. The only wrinkle is Ati did so well on R300 that, not to knock them, but the R420 card is almost like two 9800 (R350) cores fused together which we know offers little architecture wise over R300 other than an F-buffer. Maybe they have something up there sleeve as PS3.0 wrinkle is not one they want used against them year+ down the road. All the more reason to wait a bit.
Unfortunately though, the writing is on the wall for the 9700pro. The next leap has come. Just like last time, you weren't a fool for holding on to a GF4 but by now, err.... not the worst card to have but those guys feel they're overdue. I'm a little more eager than that. It would be like being a Gf4 owner and buyng a 9700pro when the 9800pro's came out. But why now? I dunno, Farcry is the first game where I thought to myslef it would be nice to have a faster graphics card. I still played it through and enjoyed it's beauty.
E and 6800Ultra.I love my 9700pro and it still works great, basically hold out until you are unsatisfied and from the looks of things, a product refresh offering a small bump will bring some prices down by that time. yes, something better is always around the corner but know that the next few years hold nothing but tiny bumps in speed. The only wrinkle is Ati did so well on R300 that, not to knock them, but the R420 card is almost like two 9800 (R350) cores fused together which we know offers little architecture wise over R300 other than an F-buffer. Maybe they have something up there sleeve as PS3.0 wrinkle is not one they want used against them year+ down the road. All the more reason to wait a bit.
Unfortunately though, the writing is on the wall for the 9700pro. The next leap has come. Just like last time, you weren't a fool for holding on to a GF4 but by now, err.... not the worst card to have but those guys feel they're overdue. I'm a little more eager than that. It would be like being a Gf4 owner and buyng a 9700pro when the 9800pro's came out. But why now? I dunno, Farcry is the first game where I thought to myslef it would be nice to have a faster graphics card. I still played it through and enjoyed it's beauty.
My 9700Pro cried at 1024*768 no aa no af in FarCry whenever the flashlight was on or something like that, and the thing just dies in normal gameplay sometimes at 1280*1024 no aa no af on my new monitor. X800Pro/6800GT will be mine withing 30 days, thats how well it holds up in my opinion. Then again if you only play COD or something your fine.
I too had an 8500 LE and built a new PC around the NF2 - AMD 2400 - 9700 Pro. At this point I really only play BF 42 Desert Combat mod and have no problems with all settings max'd out on a 64 person server - even when most people are flying around in the no fly zone (32 vs. 32 guns - bombs - missles...)
Anyway I think you hold out and see what happens when HL2... arrives if your card does not run smooth at your settings then upgrade...
GL
BTW I am currently thinks about pci-e + 939 pin + sata + x800xt blah blah blah in a nice candy shell
Anyway I think you hold out and see what happens when HL2... arrives if your card does not run smooth at your settings then upgrade...
GL
BTW I am currently thinks about pci-e + 939 pin + sata + x800xt blah blah blah in a nice candy shell
- Joined
- Apr 13, 2000
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- 9,337
I'm still using my 9700Pro AIW that I got last summer. It was a refurb from Newegg too, still serves me good today.
I do generally think that I can get 1 more year out of this card. This is an issue for me because girls are expensive and taking more and more of my free cash that used to be spent on hardware. Here is a list of the games I play.
Play:
Natural Selection (HL mod)
DOTA (WC3 custom game)
America's Army
UT2K4
Doom3D (hehe)
FarCry Demo
Plan to get:
HL2
Doom3
FarCry
Play:
Natural Selection (HL mod)
DOTA (WC3 custom game)
America's Army
UT2K4
Doom3D (hehe)
FarCry Demo
Plan to get:
HL2
Doom3
FarCry
archevilangel
[H]ard|Gawd
- Joined
- Jan 15, 2003
- Messages
- 1,824
I think that card will last you quite a while, just look at the 9000 in my system, it plays ut2k4 descently(most of the time) w/ mostly medium settings and that's slower than a 8500, I'd say if you really pushed it any card that was top of the line at one point will last around 2-3 years. You might have to lower some settings, but everything will be playable.