X700 Question

[Bman088]

2 quick questions. First of all, I"m doing the intel employee purchase bundle, so I need a PCI-Xpress vid card. Is the X700 a good replacement for my current 9700 Pro? Also, what's the difference between these two x700's on New Egg?

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-102-430&depa=1
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-102-414&depa=1
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-121-523&depa=1

Am I just paying for the brand name or what?

 

[Moloch]

An X700 is basically an 9800 on steroids, so no.
For pci-express, you're fairly limited in choices, either the X700 which is a tad faster than a 9800, or a 500$ X800 XT, though an X800 pro is on the way.

 

[Bman088]

I thought the performance of my 9700 Pro was fine for what I needed. I don't have that kind of dough to drop on a video card. I usually play my games at 1280x1024. I thought far cry looked great on that mode, with no AA or AF. Does anyone know the difference between the three cards i listed? Is it just brand name, or does one have a better feature feature to justify the extra money?

 

[splinter3k]

Runs about even with the 9800xt in most cases, I play the following games at 1280x1024 all high, 2xAA/4xAF or 4xAA/8xAF w/vsych on and consider 60fps an acceptable average framerate...

Call of Duty
Max Payne 2
Splinter Cell
UT2K4
Evil Genius
Half Life 2

and Doom 3 at 1024x768. Everthing runs really well and looks great. While I would love the X800 Pro, my budget only allowed for this and I am not disappointed. The cards you linked are all reference designs across the board, although the Sapphire has sliglhtly different cooling. I would have grabbed the Abit if it was out when I built my box, but I am very happy with the Built by ATI model and the Asus is overpriced. Overall the X700 Pro is an excellent card for the price.