low budgeter needs top performance vid card

D

ddogunl

n00b
Joined
Sep 17, 2004
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need to upgrade ASAP as my old GF4 MX 440's cooling sys has broken down, and runs very hot. Want to be able to play games like UT2004, CoH, DX invis war, WarCraft 3, and Halo fairly well. don't care about FarCry and Doom3. But I'm on a budget and THE MOST I can spend on the new card is $150. I did find a 5700U for that price, but I know that its not quite as good as the slightly cheaper 9600XT.
Aren't UT2004 and DX meant for Nvidia cards, though? Would I see a drastic drop in performance in an ATi card on these games?
 
The 9600XT vs 5700U are both pretty close in performance. You should be happy with either. As far as the "made for "nvidia" campaign. That's really just PR crap. Both ATI & NVIDIA will play the games you are asking about well enough.

However, I would take the above posters recommendation and check out ebay. The 9800 pro @ $150 would be great. Ebay is the budget buyers best friend.
 
what about OCing (particularly, looking between the leadtek 5700u and PowerColor 9600xt "ultra")
 
hmmm...ok. I dont know anything about 9700pros...
wowzers thats a cheap 9800pro. Ive heard bad things about sapphire, though, so I'm not sure.
 
9800pro, plus what do you mean by low budget. How much is your budget?
 
by low budget I mean the MOST im willing to spend on the card is $150
didn't I say that?
 
ddogunl said:
hmmm...ok. I dont know anything about 9700pros...
wowzers thats a cheap 9800pro. Ive heard bad things about sapphire, though, so I'm not sure.
Click to expand...

Sapphire makes good cards imo.

darktiger said:
9800pro, plus what do you mean by low budget. How much is your budget?
Click to expand...

Did you read his post? He said $150. :p
 
anybody actually ordered from these guys that are selling the4 cards for cheap? Ive been screwed over by online computer companies before, and have a rather abject fear of non-newegg.
 
(Best - "Worst")
9800 NP/Pro (also hard to find a NP)
9700 Pro
5700 NU/Ultra (hard to find NU though)
9600 NP/Pro/XT

Check around in the FS/FT threads here, I'm sure you can find something along those lines.
 
I bought two 9700Pro's from crucial and have had no problems. $138 total for that kind of performance is a great for this situation. You can spend the extra cash on heatsinks and AC cooler.
 
9700 pro is a damned good card compared to all the rest mentioned besides the 9800 pro, if you can find a new 9700 pro, get the thing, no questions asked. And saphire is just like any other oem... nothing wrong with them.

~Adam
 
:cool: sweet I think I'll go w/ the 9700pro then.
heatsinks/coolers? whats the cooling solution like on that crucial card?
 
I believe it's just the standard stock 9700 cooler, you should probably get a VGA Silencer while your at it.
 
gotta be careful when buying a 9800pro off ebay or other online retailers...most of the cheap ones are 128bit memory and basically half the speed as an actual 9800pro @ 256bit..i'd totally recomment the 9800pro tho..i was able to oc mine extremely high on air..once i put some ram synks on it i'll oc it even higher..

stock is 380/338 (380/676 ddr). I was able to get 445/780 on air
 
ya i know the 9800pro is sweet...my friend has one Oc'ed to XT speeds and he is pretty happy w/ Doom3 performance (although mad that he spent full price right when it came out only to see the GeForce 6800 GT come out a few months later :rolleyes: ) But like I say I don't care about Doom 3 performance, although it appears the 9700pro would do alright with it
 
for a little bit of pocket change more you can get alot more performance..9700pro is a good card, but the 9800pro is just a little more expensive and ocs nicely..if it was me..i'd definately get a 9800pro instead of a 9700pro..that or wait till the x700xts come down in price and get those..you'll see ALOT more performance..
 
yeah I was just going to ask about that, but I didn't want to just make it look like a bump. thanx.
any comparisons between 9700pro and 9800 pro (3dmark #'s, etc.) that anyone could link me to?
 
Look for a 9800pro on Ebay,,,I sold my old 9800pro and I upgraded to a XT PE for $130. shipping included....
 
I had a buddy with a 9700pro that with performance settings...got about a 4700-4900 in 3dmark03...with my 9800pro oc'd with performance settings, i score about a 6700-6900
 
9800 pro = $149 + $10 (shipping est.) + $15 (ac silencer) = $175
9700 pro = $129 + $0 (free shipping) + $15 (ac silencer) = $145

think I'm gonna still have to go with the 9700 pro
 
Sounds good for a well cooled 9700 pro... I would have gone 9700 pro myself but I wanted 9800xt speeds (I'm greedy) so I tried to go 9800se -> 9800 @9800xt >_> well obviously I didn't do enough research because the 9800se I bought online came with 3.3ns ram modules which is 600mhz ddr ram. Sigh, I can't complain, I still think I got an awesome deal for only $121. Now, I haven't found where to buy cheap 9800se's, I got mine at gameve.com and they discontinued selling my line (low $120's, not the $129 one that doesn't tell you whether it's a type 1 or 2 and what ns the ram is either...).

*stops rambling*

~Adam
 
CrimandEvil said:
(Best - "Worst")
9800 NP/Pro (also hard to find a NP)
9700 Pro
5700 NU/Ultra (hard to find NU though)
9600 NP/Pro/XT

Check around in the FS/FT threads here, I'm sure you can find something along those lines.
Click to expand...
You forgot the 5900XT/U/nu

Best - "Worst"
---------------------------------------------------------------
9800 Pro
5900 XT/U/nu
9700 Pro
5700 Ultra - 9600XT
9600 Pro

There have been a lot of 5900xt's and 5900nu's etc... for sale... nvidia fans selling their old ones and getting 6800's.

Same goes for 9800 Pros... a lot of people upgrading to 6800's and X800's.

So I would look in the FS forum here. You should be able to get a good card for $150. I would stay away from the 5700 or 9600 series. Stick with the 9700 Pro + or 5900Xt or higher.

big difference from mid-range to high-end.
 
chrisf6969 said:
You forgot the 5900XT/U/nu

Best - "Worst"
---------------------------------------------------------------
9800 Pro
5900 XT/U/nu
9700 Pro
5700 Ultra - 9600XT
9600 Pro

There have been a lot of 5900xt's and 5900nu's etc... for sale... nvidia fans selling their old ones and getting 6800's.

Same goes for 9800 Pros... a lot of people upgrading to 6800's and X800's.

So I would look in the FS forum here. You should be able to get a good card for $150. I would stay away from the 5700 or 9600 series. Stick with the 9700 Pro + or 5900Xt or higher.

big difference from mid-range to high-end.
Click to expand...

The 5900xt would most likely get raped by the 9700 pro... that's like putting a honda up against a porshe... the honda is a good car, just not as good at all, as a porshe. 5900 U might do well in comparison though, not a bad card. 5900nu would probably lose too..

~Adam
 
Actually the 5900 XT/SE/U are pretty good but they still cost close to $200 (last I checked) were the 9800 Pro is finally around the $150 mark. Thats why I didn't include it but if he can find one within his price range that would be a good contender too (over the 5700 U).
 
Here's a 9800 Pro for sale in the forums for $145 shipped.
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=812908

Can't vouch for the seller, but in general the forums are a decent place to trade. Check references, heatware if possible, get an address & phone # thats verifiable through the white pages, etc.

But that sounds like the best deal.

P.S. a 5900xt wouldnt be raped by a 9700 Pro at all. Maybe I should have put them even. But the 5900U/nu and 5950 all should beat the 9700 Pro in most games. My 5900nu overclocked to 5900U speeds and kept up with many 9800Pros.

5900xt's new are about $172 from newegg and are much better than a 9600 or 5700. Though a new 9800 Pro is only about $198 I think.
 
Last time I checked Newegg 5900XT/SE's were going for $190 (can't remember brand but it was the only one listed) and a Sahppire (however you spell that) 9800 Pro was going for $174. I would check right now but Newegg is down. :(
Although the 5900XT/SE seems to be a great value considering that they easily clock up to Ultra speeds with some going up to 5950 territory...which would make a 9700 it's bitch. ;)
 
I wouldn't get a 9700 Pro if you have a big monitor. My friend has a 9700 pro and then got a huge 22" monitor. The 9700 pro ramdac can't do 1600x1200 @ 85Hz refresh.
 
Somehow I doubt thats true obs, there might have been some issue with your friends 9700 Pro.
 
the best choise in price/GPU power at the moment is X800 Pro for high end pcs and
9800 Pro for low end.

9800 pro can be easily purchased from ebay at 120$ .
 
CrimandEvil said:
Last time I checked Newegg 5900XT/SE's were going for $190 (can't remember brand but it was the only one listed) and a Sahppire (however you spell that) 9800 Pro was going for $174. I would check right now but Newegg is down. :(
Although the 5900XT/SE seems to be a great value considering that they easily clock up to Ultra speeds with some going up to 5950 territory...which would make a 9700 it's bitch. ;)
Click to expand...

Maybe if they downclocked the 9700 and used some really old drivers :p.

mentorxxx said:
the best choise in price/GPU power at the moment is X800 Pro for high end pcs and
9800 Pro for low end.

9800 pro can be easily purchased from ebay at 120$ .
Click to expand...

The $120 9800 pros on ebay still have like 3 or 4 days to go :p.
 
I got a used Radeon 9700pro for $100. I can't complain. It performs really good even games like Farcry and Doom3. It's just a matter oft tweking in these games to get performance.

All other games this card rips through like I can't believe it's not butter.
 
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