Upgrading Graphics card; advice please...

Ronaldo7

I have a Radeon 9000 pro with 128mb ram.

I bought it last March when i was building my pc.

But its starting to annoy me because as more recent games come out like Halo for example, i cant have it on full everything like i could before.

Im just wondering whats a good, future proof graphics card to get that will last about a year and a bit and be able to cope with half life 2 when its out...

Any advice greatly appreciated,

Cheers...

Creamy Goodness

well considering the half-life2 movies shown at E3 were running on a radeon 9800pro 256mb (the ram is overkill imo).

if your looking to play half-life2 i'd look no further than this card.

****Or****

you could get one of these ATI AIW 9800SE which MAY (and it may not) soft mod into a 9800pro these are 260 euros while a 9800pro will set you back 400+ euros

Col_Loki

There is a 9800pro on the komplett specials this week for €271 !! The problem is that they dont have it in stock which sucks.... really good price all the same.
There is a Power color 9800pro on komplett for €325 either..... and its in stock.

Other than that mabye a 9600xt for around €200, or definetly think about the 9800se AIW like Cr3m0 said since it has TV functions, is a good performer, and has a nice chance of softmodding to 9800pro which is an animal. (hercules cards softmod at a much higher % than the other ones from what ive heard and are available for €215 from jes computers germany).

Jes Computers - 9800se AIW - Out of stock at the min but they are fast at re-ordering i think.

[edit] If your not going for the 9800se AIW, and your going ATI i would try to get one that includes HL2 as this will save you €50. Ps ATI cards are the top choice at the min IMO.

Ronaldo7

Peats have a radeon9600xt with free half life 2 for 259. is that ok do you think? i wont be able to order from the internet because i cant get hold of a credit card. is this a good card?

Ronaldo7

has a nice chance of softmodding to 9800pro

Excuse my ignorance but what does this mean? Does this mean it can be overclocked to a 9800 pro? Damn newbies!

Col_Loki

Elara.ie will accept cheques, postal orders, bank drafts, cash etc ..... they have it for €220 (HL2 package).

You can go up and collect it from them also. Think they might be out of stock at the min, might be worth e-mailing them to be sure..... could save you €40. I really dont like spending money in peats.......

[edit]

Softmodded is basicly using different specific drivers. On the 9800se(4 pipelines) the pipelines are the same as the 9800pro (8 pipelines) except 4 of them are closed off. Using the softmod it is possible to re-enable these and your card will run as a 9800pro. (i think i got that right feel free to correct me anyone ) . Its not really overclocking. I will looke up a few benchmarks but from what ive been told the 9800se will perform simularly to the 9600xt.

[edit again]

Sorry Giblet, crossed your post there

Giblet

Not overclocked as such, a 9800se is a 9800pro, with some features disabled due to alot of them failing at Pro level. They just turned some features off to make them run stably again, but there are a few which came from the same wafer, which have no problems, but had features diabled.

You can get drivers to re-enable the features again, and make it into a fully functional 9800 pro.

It's not guarentee'd, but the card is similar to a 9600 pro in a lot of ways, hence the similar pricing. So if it works GREAT, and if it don't, you get what you paid for.

Ronaldo7

i get ya man. Cheers for explaining.

So basically if i can, try get a radeon 9800se and if not get the 9600 xt instead?

Col_Loki

The Hercules 9800se is the card to get. The saphires dont softmod as regularly at all.

The 9800se is around the same performance level as the 9600pro (as Giblet said ). The 9600xt is a better card if your running it as standard.... main advantage of the 9800se is you have a chance (reasonably good one) of getting it to be a 9800pro..... wheather its worth it or not is up to you, id probably chance it but thats me. There is a thread about this in the hardware and tweaking section (in electronics) might be worth a read.