I have a 3 year old P4/2.4 GHz (2.6 GHz O/C), AGP 4x, Radeon 9700 Pro, 1 GB
PC2700 RAM, 2 x 1600x1200 CRT monitors. Funds permitting, and depending on
how pissed off I get with my current system, I hope to replace it in maybe
9-12 months with a close to high end Socket M2/dual-core AMD CPU and a close
to high end PCI-Express video card depending on M2 availability and prices
of new technology stabilizing.

I am unhappy with the performance of the 9700 Pro in Doom3, HL2, and
Riddick. Even though I play 3D shooters badly, I need all the help I can
get. I am thinking of getting another video card to tide me over until I
build a new system that I expect to last me for a few years.

It would be cool to have a 16 pipeline card and I can get a 6800 GT or
X850XT AGP for around $300 from ZipZoomFly when they have them back in
stock. I would appreciate some advice on what¹s best to do. Here are a
few thoughts I have:

1. Am I wasting my money on one of those cards as my CPU is so underpowered
and I should settle for a 6600GT, X800GTO, or X800XL (alas, no 6800GS AGP)
or some other card not that there is much to choose from with AGP?
2. Whatever I buy, will I be dissatisfied so I should just put the $300
towards the new system and get it as early as possible?
3. I am not a quietness fanatic as I have four PCs running in my study, but
in the past I just could not put with the noise from a high speed fan on a
P3/700 CPU and just gave up on the PC. That rather turns me off the
Sapphire X800GTO which is supposed to be very loud and makes me wonder about
the 2 slot X850XT.
4. I do play DVDs on my PC and the nVidia MPEG2 is much better for image
quality than ATI according to Maximum PC, but I guess the X850XT would give
me a better chance to try out AA and AF at 1600x1200. I run at 1024x768 no
AA/AF now as I cannot afford the performance hit.

My biggest fear is that I blow $300 on a new card and I cannot tell the
difference.

Thanks for any advice on these questions and any questions I should have
asked instead.

Clive

Pro, 1 GB
Running only a 4x bus, is going to hurt you no matter what you buy.

The sweet AGP spot today is the BFG 6600-GT OC. OC means overclocked.
It'll run almost dead even with a 6800.

"None None" <eoforheard (AT) hotmail (DOT) com> wrote


My experience says you should see a nice improvement going to 6800 or
better video card.

I've tried a 128MB Radeon 9800 Pro (a tad faster than your 9700 pro) and a
6800 in my Athlon XP 2600+, and the 6800 was considerably faster both in
benchmarks and in perception. Of course your actual application will have
quite a bit to do with it since various games favor either ATI or NVIDIA.

I've also done an upgrade from an ATI 9200 to an NVIDIA 6600 in a Duron
1.2GHz machine. Dramatic improvement! I think that the video card, by far,
plays the biggest role in today's 3D game performance, so go for the best
you can afford.


--
Dan (Woj...) [dmaster](no space)[at](no space)[lucent](no space)[dot](no
space)[com]
===============================
"Did I see the shade of a sailor / On the bridge through the wheelhouse pane
Held fast to the wheel of the rocking ship/ As I squinted my eyes in the rain
For the ship had turned into the wind/ Against the storm to brace
And underneath the sailor's hat/ I saw my father's face"

"dannysdailys" <no (AT) spam (DOT) invalid> wrote

I disagree. In real world performance, there is little or no advantage to an
8X AGP bus over a 4X AGP bus. The real bandwidth of 4X AGP seems
to be sufficient for today's games.

The video processor capability and video memory bandwidth far outweigh
the difference between 4X and 8X AGP.

I'll agree that a 6600GT or 6800 are right in the sweet spot of today's market.
If the Original Poster has real money to blow, I suspect that he will still see
an improvement going to a 6800GT or some form of ATI X800.


--
Dan (Woj...) [dmaster](no space)[at](no space)[lucent](no space)[dot](no
space)[com]
===============================
"Did I see the shade of a sailor / On the bridge through the wheelhouse pane
Held fast to the wheel of the rocking ship/ As I squinted my eyes in the rain
For the ship had turned into the wind/ Against the storm to brace
And underneath the sailor's hat/ I saw my father's face"

dannysdailys wrote:

Why bother with overclocking? Is that 10% or whatever really going to
make a noticable difference, or allow you to turn-on a feature such as
AA that you otherwise would not?