$550 upgrade - Page 2

**CingularDuality** · 03-04-2004, 08:26 PM

Yeah, I got all excited when the ol' lady said I could upgrade and immediately thought about all this cool stuff that everyone's getting...

I think I'll probably go with the Asus 9800Pro. It's $330 and comes with free HL2.

**CingularDuality** · 03-05-2004, 12:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CingularDuality

I think I'll probably go with the Asus 9800Pro. It's $330 and comes with free HL2.

This is what I'm going to get for now: http://secure.newegg.com/app/WishR.asp?ID=649580

This should allow me to at least crank up all the graphics details on Battlefield...

**Overlag** · 03-05-2004, 01:17 AM

nice....

i kinda do my upgrades odd...new gen gfx cards are released every 8months, yet my "product" cycle is probably 16months (had my 9700pro for a 15months so far).....while i upgrade cpus every 2-6 months it seems.

should be the other way around really, since Gfx cards DO add alot of performance where as the 200mhz/rating upgrades i do rarely change a thing... i suppose thats because im a nutty overclocker....or maybe its because gfx cards cost so much compaired to the rest of the system?

starting from the same time....

PII350--PIII500--TB800--TB1200--XP1500--XP1800--XP1700--XP2100--XP2500--A643200---
--Voodoo3--------------GF2-------------------GF3------------------ATI9700pro---------------------------

sigh

**CingularDuality** · 03-05-2004, 07:02 AM

Only difference between a 9800Pro and a 9800XT is the clock speed, right? So, how overclockable are the ATI cards? And is it worth it to even mess around with that?

**CingularDuality** · 03-05-2004, 07:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Overlag

starting from the same time....

PII350--PIII500--TB800--TB1200--XP1500--XP1800--XP1700--XP2100--XP2500--A643200---
--Voodoo3--------------GF2-------------------GF3------------------ATI9700pro---------------------------

sigh

Yeah, well, I got stuck here---------------------^

And I'm ready to move to here----------------------------------------------------------------------------^

=Sarc= · 03-06-2004, 11:35 AM

XTs also have a temperature sensor or some fancy thing like that. The drivers have this feature called Overdrive that automatically overclocks your card. It's crap though since it only does your memory or something. Anyway, the Pro should overclock enough to your satisfaction. You could always hang out at the Rage3D forums and check out people's sigs. They usually post their overclocks.

**Overlag** · 03-06-2004, 08:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by =Sarc=

XTs also have a temperature sensor or some fancy thing like that. The drivers have this feature called Overdrive that automatically overclocks your card. It's crap though since it only does your memory or something. Anyway, the Pro should overclock enough to your satisfaction. You could always hang out at the Rage3D forums and check out people's sigs. They usually post their overclocks.

i dont overclock video cards unless benchmarking.... far to little improvement offerd by it.... also since the gfx card is normaly the longest running thing in my system im alittle more worried.

near the end of its "life" in my system i will overclock the crap out of it, maybe for the last couple of months. Did the same with my Geforce III...overclocked it nicely and it was faster than Geforce 4 4400s

**Twisted_Firestarter** · 03-10-2004, 01:21 PM

I have to disagree with a few statements that you will not see that much improvement with only a new video card. You will see a major improvement in framerate if you go with the ATI Radeon 9800 XT. I made a similar GPU upgrade and it made a huge difference. I went from running BF1942 at 800x600 with some eye-candy turned off to running it at 1280x1024 with all eye-candy turned on...that is on my old 1.3GHz system. On the 3GHz system I take with me when I am on the road (also with the 9800XT GPU) I run BF1942 at 1600x1200.

So, yeah, the 9800XT is first generation and that makes it expensive. And yeah, 6 months down the road it will probably be 35% less, but neither RAM nor CPU will make as much difference in framerate.

**Overlag** · 03-10-2004, 07:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Twisted_Firestarter

I have to disagree with a few statements that you will not see that much improvement with only a new video card. You will see a major improvement in framerate if you go with the ATI Radeon 9800 XT. I made a similar GPU upgrade and it made a huge difference. I went from running BF1942 at 800x600 with some eye-candy turned off to running it at 1280x1024 with all eye-candy turned on...that is on my old 1.3GHz system. On the 3GHz system I take with me when I am on the road (also with the 9800XT GPU) I run BF1942 at 1600x1200.

So, yeah, the 9800XT is first generation and that makes it expensive. And yeah, 6 months down the road it will probably be 35% less, but neither RAM nor CPU will make as much difference in framerate.

err no, 9800xt is not first generation, its based off the 9700 cores with some tweaks its about 3rd generation, and the last based off that chip....

03-04-2004, 08:26 PM	#16 (permalink)
CingularDuality Join Date: May 2003 Location: Dallas/Ft. Worth area of Texas, USA Age: 33 Posts: 17,126	Re: $550 upgrade Yeah, I got all excited when the ol' lady said I could upgrade and immediately thought about all this cool stuff that everyone's getting... I think I'll probably go with the Asus 9800Pro. It's $330 and comes with free HL2. __________________ Become a supporting member! -- Shop at the Tactical Market! Take the world's smallest political quiz! "I was touched by His Noodly Appendage." TacticalGamer TX LAN/BBQ Veteran:

03-05-2004, 01:17 AM	#18 (permalink)
Overlag Join Date: May 2003 Location: NE Outer London, UK Age: 26 Posts: 1,540	Re: $550 upgrade nice.... i kinda do my upgrades odd...new gen gfx cards are released every 8months, yet my "product" cycle is probably 16months (had my 9700pro for a 15months so far).....while i upgrade cpus every 2-6 months it seems. should be the other way around really, since Gfx cards DO add alot of performance where as the 200mhz/rating upgrades i do rarely change a thing... i suppose thats because im a nutty overclocker....or maybe its because gfx cards cost so much compaired to the rest of the system? starting from the same time.... PII350--PIII500--TB800--TB1200--XP1500--XP1800--XP1700--XP2100--XP2500--A643200--- --Voodoo3--------------GF2-------------------GF3------------------ATI9700pro--------------------------- sigh __________________ From Adam Webb

03-05-2004, 07:02 AM	#19 (permalink)
CingularDuality Join Date: May 2003 Location: Dallas/Ft. Worth area of Texas, USA Age: 33 Posts: 17,126	Re: $550 upgrade Only difference between a 9800Pro and a 9800XT is the clock speed, right? So, how overclockable are the ATI cards? And is it worth it to even mess around with that? __________________ Become a supporting member! -- Shop at the Tactical Market! Take the world's smallest political quiz! "I was touched by His Noodly Appendage." TacticalGamer TX LAN/BBQ Veteran:

03-06-2004, 11:35 AM	#21 (permalink)
=Sarc= Join Date: May 2003 Location: Ottawa, Canada Posts: 4,625	Re: $550 upgrade XTs also have a temperature sensor or some fancy thing like that. The drivers have this feature called Overdrive that automatically overclocks your card. It's crap though since it only does your memory or something. Anyway, the Pro should overclock enough to your satisfaction. You could always hang out at the Rage3D forums and check out people's sigs. They usually post their overclocks. __________________ JO Guides & Tutorials Team Element - It's who you game with.

03-10-2004, 01:21 PM	#23 (permalink)
Twisted_Firestarter Join Date: May 2003 Location: 90064 Posts: 935	Re: $550 upgrade I have to disagree with a few statements that you will not see that much improvement with only a new video card. You will see a major improvement in framerate if you go with the ATI Radeon 9800 XT. I made a similar GPU upgrade and it made a huge difference. I went from running BF1942 at 800x600 with some eye-candy turned off to running it at 1280x1024 with all eye-candy turned on...that is on my old 1.3GHz system. On the 3GHz system I take with me when I am on the road (also with the 9800XT GPU) I run BF1942 at 1600x1200. So, yeah, the 9800XT is first generation and that makes it expensive. And yeah, 6 months down the road it will probably be 35% less, but neither RAM nor CPU will make as much difference in framerate. __________________ Twisted Firestarter a.k.a \|TG\| Harkonian

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