GeForce FX 5800 Ultra vs Radeon 9700 Pro

[GotNoRice]

I ran a FireGL X1-128 during the 9700-Pro era. I loved that card. The FireGL X1-128 was identical to the 9700 Pro in almost every way except that it had two DVI ports instead of one DVI port and one VGA port, something almost unheard of on consumer cards back then. I was able to install actual consumer drivers on it (instead of the FireGL drivers), all I had to do was make a tiny modification to the driver INF file each time.

 

[FlawleZ]

Someone wants pure gold for this one
https://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-RA...457450&hash=item4424d84fe6:g:3PwAAOSwzvZbbatw

 

[Nolan7689]

Someone wants pure gold for this one
https://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-RA...457450&hash=item4424d84fe6:g:3PwAAOSwzvZbbatw

I’d rather buy the two and a half ounces of gold then that card.

But I suppose I’m not a collector

 

[Dan_D]

Yeah, no. That card isn't remotely worth a fraction of that price.

 

[Hornet]

I still remember being excited when I read about the benchmark result of the 9700 Pro. Those were the days when games were pushing hardware.

Couldn't afford one thought, and I got the 9600 Pro instead. Which was still an amazing card for its segment at that time.

 

[AltTabbins]

I still remember being excited when I read about the benchmark result of the 9700 Pro. Those were the days when games were pushing hardware.

Couldn't afford one thought, and I got the 9600 Pro instead. Which was still an amazing card for its segment at that time.

I did the same thing with a 9600xt. It was when BF2 came out and I was really happy with the performance. There was no way I could pay for a 9800xt at the time, but I’d always go to CompUSA and just stare at it. Lol.

 

[EMdubs]

Was too cheap for the 9700 Pro back then, so I settled for a 9500 Pro. Funny thing is, I didn’t feel like I was settling

 

[bosox188]

Was too cheap for the 9700 Pro back then, so I settled for a 9500 Pro. Funny thing is, I didn’t feel like I was settling

Even better if you had one of the 9500's that could unlock the remaining pipelines and OC to effectively turn it into a 9700 pro.

 

[cyklondx]

Just a note, No, you couldn't turn typical 9500 to 9700 pro.
all 9700 Pro were actually running with 256bit memory controller.

You could only flash to:
9600 TX
9700 (the 128bit one) - but it didn't offer anything better over 9600 TX cards - the TX had little bit higher clocks = no point.

In terms of Pixel Shaders, TMU's and ROPs you would be getting same configuration as 9700 pro, and 9800 cards. (basically 8/4/8/8 config from 4/4/4/4), in terms of clocks, and actual memory bandwidth (half) well you were behind. Thus you would never actually get same performance, as you'd be lacking a lot in memory bandwidth.

// There were couple extremely rare 9500 (FireGL, All-in-Wonder variants) that had 256bit memory controller. Those could be flashed to 9700 Pro. (but basically they didn't meet specification in binning for those higher models.) ~ they were called "R300 GL" instead of your typical "R300"

I've got one of the rare FireGL 9500 128M card, if any1 is interested i can put it up on ebay. (for normal AGP x8, not the AGP Pro 8x)

 

[horrorshow]

I remember my 9800 Pro with great fondness....

 

[Byle_Kennett]

Just a note, No, you couldn't turn typical 9500 to 9700 pro.
all 9700 Pro were actually running with 256bit memory controller.

You could only flash to:
9600 TX
9700 (the 128bit one) - but it didn't offer anything better over 9600 TX cards - the TX had little bit higher clocks = no point.

In terms of Pixel Shaders, TMU's and ROPs you would be getting same configuration as 9700 pro, and 9800 cards. (basically 8/4/8/8 config from 4/4/4/4), in terms of clocks, and actual memory bandwidth (half) well you were behind. Thus you would never actually get same performance, as you'd be lacking a lot in memory bandwidth.

// There were couple extremely rare 9500 (FireGL, All-in-Wonder variants) that had 256bit memory controller. Those could be flashed to 9700 Pro. (but basically they didn't meet specification in binning for those higher models.) ~ they were called "R300 GL" instead of your typical "R300"

I've got one of the rare FireGL 9500 128M card, if any1 is interested i can put it up on ebay. (for normal AGP x8, not the AGP Pro 8x)

You're remembering it incorrectly.

There were two types of 9500 non-pros. One had an L shape memory layout (2 chips above and beside the GPU), the other had all the memory chips in a row. If it had the L shaped layout, you could flash it to 9700 and unlock all 8 pixel pipelines and the full 256 bit memory bus.

There was no 128 bit Radeon 9700, they were all 256 bit. The 9700 Pro was just higher clocked.

The 9600 XT was a completely different chip that was manufactured with low-k technology to clock higher, but was limited to 4 pixel pipelines and 128 memory bus. I had a 9600 XT growing up.