Need upgrade from GeForce 5600 128 mb for $100

[Malladine]

Originally posted by: DarkPrime
I will consider the extra few bucks to go to a 6600GT, but if I can get something like a 9800xt or 9800 pro for say $80 used, I would rather go that route.

9800pro/xt and 6600gt paired with 1gb of ram will both run either of those games very nicely (wow at 1600x1200 all maxed and hl2 at 1024x768 with 4xaa and 4xaf or 1280x900 with less aa/af. All other settings maxed.)

 

[unclebud]

"So you ignore logic because you hold a 4 year old grudge against an entire forum based on 1 person's advice?"

that's not logic that i'm ignoring. its MERELY an opinion(s)
and it was several that said that baloney, just like this thread

"for all who are arguing with this guy"

either way

"Or are we to assume that Anandtech, THG, Digit-Life, and my personal experience (as well as Pete's, I'm sure) are *all* wrong?"

or do we acknowledge that they are ALL are paid to "review" and praise the newest products that provide the revenue for their sites?

 

[Pete]

Originally posted by: unclebud
see there. was that so hard?

No, because I said the exact same thing in my first post. Is it hard for you to admit that a 9800 can show an improvement over a 4600 or 5600 even in Doom 3?

or do we acknowledge that they are ALL are paid to "review" and praise the newest products that provide the revenue for their sites?

Now we're talkin' cynical, and I can appreciate that, but the 9800 isn't exactly a new card in the benchmarks we linked. It has been superceded by the X700 for AGP and X800 for PCIe. And we're talkin used, <$100, generation(s) old cards, here, not brand new retail ones.

DarkPrime, if you can find a 9800P or even 9800XT for $80, I'd definitely recommend it. Obviously you'll need a decent PSU, preferably 300W or higher, and the stock fan might bother you--but you'll face the same problem with most fans this size on cards this price--probably even some 6600GTs, too.

What CPU do you have, by the way?

 

[DarkPrime]

The machine this will go in has an enermax 450 watt quiet power supply and i'm running and ABIT AC7-MAX3 with a 2.4 ghz P4c overclocked to 3.0 ghz with 1 gig dual channel ram.

 

[RussianSensation]

Originally posted by: unclebud

2 9700 pro
9500 pro
5200
5500
2 8500 le
2 ti 4200
9200se
7000
3 riva 128
2 v 3 2000
v 3 3000
2 kyro 4000xt
fx 5900

No wonder you are not happy with your performance increases. You could have gotten ATI 7000, then Ti 4200 then 9700Pro and skipped all the cards in between.

 

[Steelski]

Dark prime. please as a joke could you run 3dmark 2006 with the 5600 card. Dont worry if it looks like its frozen, i'm sure thats normal.
Get the 9800 pro and save yourself some money. http://cgi.ebay.com/ATI-Radeon-9800-Pro...35QQcategoryZ40158QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

only sayin that because this is a stop gap.

 

[Steelski]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ATI-Radeon-9700-TX-...4QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
this might also be a nice buy for you. Its dells version of the 9700pro, i'm sure it will be able to overclock to the same or similar speeds as the pro version. either way its only $55 shipped.

 

[unclebud]

"Is it hard for you to [believe] that a 9800 can show an improvement over a 4600 or 5600 even in Doom 3?"

fixed

 

[Pete]

Originally posted by: DarkPrime
The machine this will go in has an enermax 450 watt quiet power supply and i'm running and ABIT AC7-MAX3 with a 2.4 ghz P4c overclocked to 3.0 ghz with 1 gig dual channel ram.

That's a nice machine. You'll definitely see an improvement with it.

unclebud, sorry to hear about your past bad advice, but a P4-3GHz will max out a 9800P or 6600GT, so the OP will definitely see in the range of twice the performance of a 5600.

Please don't turn this thread into your beliefs vs. real-world testing, though. You got bad advice on the Kyro. If that Kyro 4000 was a PowerVR card, then know that Voodoos were typically less CPU-reliant, while PowerVR cards were much more so--you needed a fast CPU to exploit them. The same is not the case with a 9800, but even if it were, a 3GHz P4 is enough to max out a 9800. If you don't believe me, I'm sure some of the benchmarks Matthias and I linked were run on a P4 3GHz system.

 

[gtd2000]

Originally posted by: Matthias99

In Q3 or the original HL? Your 9700Pro or FX5900 will be usable, but your 5500 or Ti4200 will grind to a halt. Fire up UT2K3 or HL2 at any but the lowest detail/resolution settings and you'll see ENORMOUS performance differences between those cards.

are you saying a Ti4200 will grind to a halt in HL1?

A lowly GF2 MX card could already run HL at full resolution at max speed of 99fps....

 

[imported_Rampage]

Do or spend what it takes to get a 6600GT or higher.. or I'd just stick with what you have..

dont bother with stuff from the same era (radeon 9600 ect).. either keep what you have or take a significant upgrade with the 6600gt.

either go with a 6600GT if you are on a budget as it sounds, or a 7800GT for the budget high end choice.. you can get the evga@newegg for $275 (what i have)
and 7800GT SLI is the best thing going for bang/buck on the high end (even with the new radeon x1900s out).

 

[wwswimming]

i upgraded from a 5600 a few months ago.

first i tried the ATI AIW X800XT, thinking, "great, now i can watch "monk" when i need a break"

well, i have a rule about computers. i used to spend hours tweaking them. now i give them a half hour.

the X800XT was super slow. a driver problem i think. i was running Solidworks and frequently had crashes when i was working on a larger file using texture mapping (e.g. using a map of manhattan on a background to build 3D models of the city). thought the X800XT would fix it. probably would have if i had persisted, but after a half hour, i stopped & re-installed the 5600.

then bought a 6600 with 256 MB. $139. not a high-scorer on benchmarks. but very satisfactory.

i've since added a second program, One Space Designer. 3D solid modelling type software. i have both Solidworks and OSD shortcuts in my start-up folder, with 4 browsers running for different purposes & email accounts.

anyway, it works.

i also have an ATI X850XT on a second OC'ed machine, running 3D Studio Max. but that consumes a lot of electricity, i usually only run it when i want to run Max.

i'm real happy with the 6600.

 

[unclebud]

"Please don't turn this thread into your beliefs vs. real-world testing, though."

they are the same thing

"If you don't believe me, I'm sure some of the benchmarks Matthias and I linked were run on a P4 3GHz system."

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2679&p=6

"These days, we are running out of ways to push our performance tests. Plenty of games out there are CPU limited, and for what purpose is a card as powerful as an X1900XTX or 7800 GTX 512 purchased except to be pushed to its limit and beyond?"

 

[Pete]

You're being deliberately obtuse because you were advice-abused as a forum newbie, right?

You realize the reason Derek said that is because he's testing cards with 48 pixel shaders and 50GB/s of bandwidth, a far cry from a piddling 5600 and a semi-piddling 9800. Quite explicit in that quote is that you buy a faster card to push it to its limits, and you can do that by increasing the resolution, AA, AF, or in-game effects. A 9800 will whoop a 5600 on all of those counts, in both performance AND quality.

I specifically said a P4 3GHZ b/c that's what DP has, so the benches Matthias and I linked will show him almost exactly what he'll gain. (Also, in its day, a 9800P could scale all the way to a P4 3GHz; meaning, you'd want a P4 3GHz to extract max performance from a 9800P.) Believe what you want, but know that a 9800P or 6600GT will be a significant improvement over a regular (not even Ultra) 5600 on a 3GHz system. DP should also be able to sell whatever used AGP card he buys now later this year, so his total outlay won't even be $100 for a year of smoother, better-looking gaming.

Thumbs down to your condescending tone, bad advice, and inability to acknowledge or even recognise good advice.

 

[unclebud]

"DP should also be able to sell whatever used AGP card he buys now later this year, so his total outlay won't even be $100 for a year of smoother, better-looking gaming."

gonna give him $100 if it doesn't?

 

[Malladine]

Originally posted by: unclebud
"DP should also be able to sell whatever used AGP card he buys now later this year, so his total outlay won't even be $100 for a year of smoother, better-looking gaming."

gonna give him $100 if it doesn't?

Look, please ignore this guy. Pete et al. know their sh1t.

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: gtd2000

Originally posted by: Matthias99

In Q3 or the original HL? Your 9700Pro or FX5900 will be usable, but your 5500 or Ti4200 will grind to a halt. Fire up UT2K3 or HL2 at any but the lowest detail/resolution settings and you'll see ENORMOUS performance differences between those cards.

are you saying a Ti4200 will grind to a halt in HL1?

A lowly GF2 MX card could already run HL at full resolution at max speed of 99fps....

You cut half of my post and took it out of context.

I was asking him to run at 1600x1200 with full AA/AF enabled. A Ti4200 or FX5500 will run very badly at those settings, even in HL1 or Q3.

 

[unclebud]

"Look, please ignore this guy."

yah, everybody complaining so far got a doctorate in recommending inflated card expectations... can't front on that

 

[imported_Kiwi]

Originally posted by: MalladineLook, please ignore this guy.

A troll is just so sad when ignored. The only reason it writes is to stir trouble and try to be banned, so it can play at being a martyr. Typically, a troll has no real knowledge, only that desire to make trouble. It's patently obvious that this one is 1. illiterate 2. stupid 3. a pain in the ass.

Rather typical credentials for its life's work of being a jerk.


:frown:

 

[kmmatney]

I agree somewhat with UncleBud, and it depends on what cpu is on the original poster's system. If you are planning on getting a PCI express board, then I wouldn't waste the money on a $100 AGP card. Wait to you get the PCI express and spend the money on a better card.

I had an Athlon XP 2400+, and upgraded my Ti4200 to an AGP 6600GT, and was very dissapointed. Pretty much a waste of money. It provided little "real-life" improvement. If the net cost is only $50, then its not so bad, but in "real-life" don't expect miracles going from a 5600 to a $100 card, unless you have a fast cpu. Save your money for the PCI express switch.

 

[kmmatney]

Did the OP ever mention what cpu he currently has? If its slower than a Athlon XP 2400+, then the current 5600 is a good match. I had an Athlon XP 2400+ hooked up with an AGP 6600GT - I didn't consider DOOM3 to be very playable. Half-life2 was a little better, but still choppy, and not very enjoyable. In retrospect, I wish I had not bothered getting the 6600AGP, and just stuck with my Ti4200 until my PCI Express upgrade.

I made up for my first mistake by getting a Sempron and an X800GTO2, and overclocking both like mad! Awesome band for buck!

Edit - Just saw above that its going with a P4 3.0 Ghz. That should be a pretty good cpu to go with a 6600GT or 9800 Pro, especially with a "net" cost of $50.

 

[Inappropriate4AT]

I second the 9800 pro or the 6600gt if you can find one.

 

[rogue1979]

No one mentioned the X700? It can be had new for about $108 shipped and has roughly the performance of a 9800 Pro.

 

[unclebud]

"...a troll has no real knowledge, only that desire to make trouble."

thanks for the vindication. i wuz starting to get worried for a second there
good to see at least one member backing me up on this. peace

 

[imported_Kiwi]

Originally posted by: rogue1979
No one mentioned the X700? It can be had new for about $108 shipped and has roughly the performance of a 9800 Pro.

TBOMK, rather few of the X-series are readily found anywhere in AGP form, other than the X800's. According to some information I read, the X300, X600, and X700 all contain one or another Radeon 9xxx GPU, anyway, so when you say X700, you are saying "PCI-e version of a 9800", more or less.

This makes suggesting these GPU's in their X-names a problem for owners of MB's with AGP slots.