ATI Graphics card question

Praetorian · 10-03-2003 10:15am #1

Ok, I'm just about to pre order an ATI 9800 based card from Visiontek.

Basically I Just want to know is there any disadvantages with going with ATI. I've only ever used 3DFX & Nvidia...(currently have a 4600)

I know the 9800 is a beast of a card when it comes to new games / benchmarks BUT, I have vague memories of ATI cards having difficulties with older games...Half life / Counter Strike / older open GL games (That I still play) Q1 / Q2 etc etc...GL DOOM (Legacy) / N64 Emulators.

Will I have any difficulty with these? Basically I don’t want to lose the ability to run any of my old stuff (perfectly)

darzo · 10-03-2003 10:18am

shouldn't have any problem. If you do well there are plenty of wrappers out there. Olny drawback i would have with ATI is there ability to match NVidia for drivers.

Samba · 10-03-2003 1:34pm

whats the rrp on that card prae?

Woden · 10-03-2003 1:44pm

info on radeon's new cards here

http://www.tech-pc.co.uk/atiprev1-1.php

rrp for the 9800's given in dollars

Praetorian · 10-03-2003 1:55pm

€400 yoyos & or dollars. Might be able to get it for €360-370...

It's not cheap...but I'm going to treat myself

RicardoSmith · 10-03-2003 2:06pm

The Radeons can have issues with older titles especially in 16bit colour. Just check on the games forums to see if there are any issues with older titles that you own before you buy. Its one of the reasons I've stuck with a ti4200 as I have a lot of older games.

Praetorian · 10-03-2003 7:19pm

Originally posted by RicardoSmith
The Radeons can have issues with older titles especially in 16bit colour. Just check on the games forums to see if there are any issues with older titles that you own before you buy. Its one of the reasons I've stuck with a ti4200 as I have a lot of older games.

Sound ominous

RicardoSmith · 10-03-2003 9:22pm

Not unless you play an older titles. To tell the truth I hoping to switch to a 9700 pro and dump most of my older titles anyway.

Dooom · 11-03-2003 6:01pm

hmmm. well personally if i was gettin a new graphics card at this time, id definately spend an extra coupla quid and get a geforce fx 5800 Ultra. its generally better altho not many companies are manufacturing them at the mo. by the way, anyone seen the size of that cooler??

ps those benchmarks are bull. thats just ati. the fx is faster than the 9700 pro. ive seen independant benchmarking and the fx is faster than the 9700 pro by about 30-40fps in ut2003 flyby. talk about honesty, sheesh

SlimShady · 11-03-2003 6:13pm

come on...get it! as if your going to play games in 16 bit colour anyway....the ti4200 is good but dump it!

BKtje · 11-03-2003 6:23pm

Aragorn the FX has gotten newwer drivers recently which gives it an improvement tho i dont think all the review sites are pro ati tbh.Thats a lot of fanATIcs.
Besides the FX dont hold a candle to the 9800 .
Considering these two are released at kinda same time the FX is well beaten. You heard and seen the price tag on FX btw?

SlimShady · 11-03-2003 6:33pm

the nvidia fx thing is a heap of ****...COMPARED to ati 9700 pro. ATI are the beasts of the moment.
NVIDIA way overprices too!

If ATI go into consoles like i heard, maybe Nvidia who said they wouldnt go near consoles will concentrate on making better pc chips but until then, we have to go for ATI cos they are the best.

TacT · 11-03-2003 6:46pm

I definitely wouldn't touch an fx, if I was going to be spending some hard earned cash on something for quality and performance I would buy an ati atm. Besides various nightmare stories I've read about the fx, amongst which are, "it's louder than a hoover, there are artifacts on screen, and it's performance isn't all that" my money would go to a 9700pro or the latest offering.

The only complaints I've heard are funnily enough about cs/dod and there's a couple of threads floating around with people on high end systems getting cruddy fps in cs (mainly due to the way the smoke sprites are rendered atm) apparently but no-one knows for sure, there's talk of it affecting people playing on vac servers and having issues there whereas on a normal server it doesn't happen, dunno, if I was you prae I'd hold onto the 4600 a bit longer and see what happens with pricing and drivers etc

Praetorian · 12-03-2003 10:15am

When the 9700 came out I thought to myself...Ill wait a bit longer

Then the FX came out...and I really didnt want a hoover in my pc...so I thought to myself...Ill wait a bit longer

Now the 9800 is almost out...I'm fed up waiting.

I've tried googling "Ati problems with old games" ... "9700 problems with counter strike" .... "9700 problems with old games" and basicly I've found very little.

Is there anyone out there running Q1 / Q2 / Q3 / Doom Legacy / Counter Strike / on a 9700?

RicardoSmith · 12-03-2003 11:33am

LIke I said you'd be better looking on the forums for those games. I had a radeon 9000 pro for a while and had problems with "Panzer Elite", and "Fighting Steel". I also had problems inistially with "EAW" and "Falcon" but they were resolved with the latest drivers. In the end I sold it and bought a GF4ti4200 which I find a lot faster. However I'll get a 9700 Pro when the first drop a little and I have some spare cash. The AA in IL2 and Falcon makes the games look sooooo much better. The GF4's can't handle it at the moment.

*NemesiS* · 12-03-2003 11:51am

My mates got 2 beast pc,s and he has a 9700 pro in one and a 4600ti in the other, we spend alot of time playin games over network and that includes the likes of q2, q3, tfc, cs, ra2. starcraft etc. Both pc,s are identicle apart from the gfx cards and i can tell ya first hand the 9700 literally beats the **** outta the 4600 and it runs every game we've tried perfect, all that older games problems is nonsense.
And another reason to go with Ati, detenator drivers are no longer being made for geforce and there being forced to find a new range, looks dodgy tbh.
Personally i wouldnt piss on the FX, €600 pfft, go with ya 9800 prae

RicardoSmith · 12-03-2003 11:56am

Originally posted by *NemesiS*
.....all that older games problems is nonsense.
And another reason to go with Ati, detenator drivers are no longer being made for geforce and there being forced to find a new range, looks dodgy tbh.
....

...and the world is flat yeah?.....;)

Praetorian · 12-03-2003 11:59am

go with ya 9800 prae

Thats good enough for me. Cheers Nemesis.

Woden · 12-03-2003 7:33pm

benchmarks i've seen (not from ati) show that with low FSAA and low AF radeon 9800 pro is roughly the same as a gf4 5800 FX ultra (or whatever the high end one is) how trun up the FSAA and the AF and the radeon 9800 soars past the nvidia card. Put this to with the fact that it doesn't sound like a high speed hairdrier (which i'd saw is a real bitch running splinter cell) and the fact that it only takes up one slot. i think you got you your graphics card.

BArra · 12-03-2003 8:15pm

as above ^^

got it a little while back and have being extatic with it, in cs never seen under 100fps, and with the latest driver release has fixed all the problems i had with it. ie wasnt able to alt tab into iwndows while playing but radeon sorted that all out and im very pleased

baz

Praetorian · 14-03-2003 9:44am

N1 Cheers. My first ATI card is on the way

9800 Powa!

Lenny · 14-03-2003 8:12pm

I have the sapphire 9700 pro, and the *only* game I have issues with is tribes2, with the texture unwrapping, this is a known problem on sierra's side but looks like they aren't going to fix it, I get 100fps in halflife+mods, q3 runs great for me too

ATI Graphics card question

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