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I'm almost done with this bad boy, but I'd like some opinions on the video card, which I'm stuck on... people are telling me to get a Radeon, but I hate ATI, although if enough people recommendit I'll do it. Right now, I'm leaning towards the FX 9600, since I don't want to spend ~$400 and want the DX9 bits.
I'd appreciate impressions from all, especially Yoshi with his Radeon 9700, which is one of my candidates.
Why would you hate ATI? They are a vastly different company now than they were years ago.
FX 9600? The GeForce line are the FX (which go up to 5800 or 5900) and the Radeons go up to 9800. To that, read this review and make your desicion. Odds are, the 9600 will be your best bet for the current market on a budget video card. Pricewatch will get you either for about $160 (varies from day to day), but at this point the 9600 is performing better.Quote:
Originally posted by Mzo
Right now, I'm leaning towards the FX 9600, since I don't want to spend ~$400 and want the DX9 bits.
Well, Just like Yoshi, I'm running Radeon 9700 Pro and it works great. For some more dough you can get Radeon 9800 Pro which is even better, and beat out Nvidia FX offering, untill the most newest card of theirs appeared. You can try to get that but it will cost you about $500, and while its indeed a powerhouse, you can have a great performance for much lower price.
You can't go wrong with a either a geforce 4 brand card or one of Radeons latest offerings. I have a GF4 Ti 4200 (128MB) and it works like a champ in my system. I ran the Doom 3 alpha leak and it ran really well. You'll be able to run anything on the market with a geforce 3 and up powered card.
Mzo, I highly recommend the 9700 Pro, although I haven't done any first-hand comparisons. You don't happen to have Corsair RAM, do you? If so, let me know. There's a special setting on the A7N8X DX that I had to use to get the RAM timings right.
I have corsair XMS and a7N8x dx, what might this ram timing deal be? (ram timings are the only bios setting i havent really changed or looked at cuz I dont know what any of the stuff is, I just have it in sync with my processorr)
NApOLm321, it may only be the combination of Corsair, A7N8X DX, and a 9700 Pro, but I had to see mine to 2.5 in order to keep my 3D apps stable.
Whoops, I wrote that in a hurry at work. The FXs come in 5200 (~$80), 5600 (~$200), and 5800 (~$400).Quote:
Mech said...FX 9600? The GeForce line are the FX (which go up to 5800 or 5900) and the Radeons go up to 9800.
I'll definitely look into the 9700 Pro, sounds pretty good. When I get the RAM (333s, hopefully), I'll come to you if I have problems :-P Thanks for the heads up, though.
Radeon 9800 is the fastest thing out now, it officially killed the GeFX, but the price is kind of high :/ (video cards can amount to 1/5 of the price of a computer if you go high quality on everything). If you want cheap I'd go for the GeFX 5200 which can be found for around $100 if you find a good store. Otherwise the Radeon 9700 would probaly be the best bet.