No Real Gain from an ATI 9600 Pro -> 9800 Pro

I swapped a 9600 Pro with a 9800 Pro. I got a mix of advice in this thread: http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=55768. It seems I got maybe 1-5 fps in assorted games after tweaking. I used both Omega and Catalyst drivers.

My theory is that my computer was pushing the 9600 as fast it could go while it could not push the 9800 only slightly. So, for now I will keep the 9600 and buy a new monitor. And in the spring I will upgrad to an AMD 64 3400 or so and upgrade my video at a later date.

Just some information for those who might be looking to upgrade their cards with a similar system. My specs are in my sig.

 

Where is your sig?

I hate Dell for selling me computer without an AGP slot---a computer made in 2003, no less. I guess I will have to buy another one to play good games.

Thanks for the advice about the 9600 pro. I was condsidering that one. I also have heard great things about the FX 5900 XT, for the price.

Dave

 

remember tho' that with a 9800pro you can play at higher resolution and with AA/AF with little loss in frames vs. the 9600pro, even tho' your cpu limited.
In other words, better image quality.

 

u don't happen to lay CSS do u? cuz my 9600 can't handle that and i think all i need is a 9800

 

Depending on your rig, what you get with your current 9600 is what you will get with the 9800. I would think you would need at least a 3 gig rig to push the 9800 beyond what you could get with the 9600.

 

Is the 9600 significantly better than the 9400?

 

You said it, I reviewed your system specs from the previous thread and can tell you with sincerety that for your current system a 9600Pro should be adequate, the gain are not worth the money you spend on a new card.
Wait till you get the new rig, using brand new Athlon 64 mobos, you will see that most of them will be using the PCI-Express chipset, then you can get like a GeForce 6600GT (around $175) great performance for the money or if you sell enough lemonades on the weekends :0 then you could get the 6800GT (around $350) and be done with it for couple of years!

PS. a Video card's overall performance is in direct connection with the rig's overall performance (amount of RAM and speed of CPU, mobo bus), the monitor used with it and also the display settings in effect.

 

Turcoloco -

I know. I kinda expected a little more from the card, but I was disappointed. I thought it was worth a try. Instead I am going to get a new flat screen monitor and enjoy what I have on a higher quality display for a bit. I will wait a few months and pick up a new MB and processor and stuff. Not sure which video card I will install. If I end up keeping the 9600 for a bit or going with the 9800 I will follow up this post with impressions for those who might be curious. Unless of course I opt for the PCI express interface then this thread will be irrelevant. I usually don't go top of the line, so we will see!

 

PCI express is fast becoming a standard, not just "Top of the line" anymore. If you plan to upgrade in a few months, a PCI express system would be the first thing i'd check out, and see if you can fit it in your budget.

 

Yes, as InYearstoCome stated as well, even currently the PCI-Express cards is not considered top of the line (cost wise), it is simply a different BUS type, the prices are very similar. In some cases, I noticed the PCI-e type of the same kind of video card is cheaper than its AGP version. Don't buy your new mobo with an AGP slot simply because you want to carry over your existing AGP card, that would not be very wise, imo.
Your next PC will be a completely new rig since you will have to get new mobo, Video card, CPU, RAM and possibly HD, etc. But if you are really tight on the budget of course a new rig would be a bit too much. On the previous topic, a few of my gamer friends got 256MB Radeon 9600 and then 9800 and they said there was noticeable difference but perhaps it depends on how you use your system, for basic video editing, word processing, e-mailing and web surfing I doubt you'd notice any but for gaming hardcore graphical processes supposedly there was a difference.

XT for ATI cards is same as SE for NVidia cards, cards with these letters means a neutered (pardon the expression) version of the original version and the Pro for ATI cards is same as GT (now even the 'Ultra') for NVidia cards which means a superior performer compared to the original version.

Again you do not need a Pro/GT/Ultra type card unlesss you are a hardcore gamer and got a system to keep up with such a card. You monitor should be equally powerful. Even still CRT type monitors are still prefered for gaming due to the refresh rates and color depths they support, it used to be the response times as well but today's LCD monitors have improved greately on response times and now it is possible to find a LCD screen with 16 even 12 milisecond response time. IMO, LCDs are good for all purposes except gaming, especially if you have to change the screen resolution to a settings other that what the native resolution of the LCD monitor is (this could create rather distorted, blurry look on LCD screens). A decent 19" Flat screen CRT around $200 should serve you well if you need a large screen, if you do more video editing and other graphical stuff with web surfing then I suggest you go for a 17" or a 19" LCD monitor.
Your current rig/video card should be fine for you, if not you need one of the high performance cards I mentioned above but don't rush to purchase a new video card, wait till you are ready for your next system.
Good Luck!