is this a good Graphics Card?

Tue Mar 16, 2004 10:56 am by Aod

Alright Esq, Taw, the others, i would like to know if this is a good
Card, Radeon, Obviously (see its my Birthday soon so i wanna get
a Good new Graphics card)
here:

PowerColor Radeon 9800 128MB - Retail (GX-009-PC)
RADEON? 9800 Series of visual processors is the most visually advanced 3D performer on the planet, delivering an immersive, cinematic experience for the most demanding next-generation games with up to 256MB of DDR memory and a 256-bit memory interface. Merging advanced stability with revolutionary features, RADEON? 9800 Series is the only Visual Processing family in its 2nd generation. Prepare yourself for the world's fastest and most compelling gameplay, courtesy of the unprecedented power, control and eight-pipeline architecture of RADEON? 9800 Series. Experience feature film quality on your PC, the new standard in 3D entertainment. Advanced stability meets revolutionary features with support for Microsoft® DirectX® 9.0, OpenGL® feature sets and the only cinematic quality Visual Processing Unit in its 2nd generation. Featuring CATALYST?, the industry's most stable 3D acceleration software

- 128MB of DDR memory provides increased performance
- 256-bit memory interface delivers the bandwidth for real-time 3D graphics
- 8-pixel pipeline architecture doubles the rendering power
- SMARTSHADER? 2.1 supports latest Microsoft® DirectX® 9.0, enabling cinematic quality lighting and shadow effects
- SMOOTHVISION? 2.1 delivers the sharpest, clearest textures without sacrificing frame rates
- 128-bit full floating point enables billions of color variations for same lighting and effects as Hollywood studios
- Featuring CATALYST?, the industry's most stable 3D acceleration software
- Supports the latest Microsoft® DirectX® 9.0 and OpenGL® feature sets
- FULLSTREAM? removes blocky artifacts from streaming Internet video
- VIDEOSHADER? integrates features to provide unprecedented support for digital and high definition video

Full Specification

Price: £104.95 (£123.32 Including VAT at 17.5%)

Really What's the difference between a 9800, and a 9800Pro?
(other than the price)

The Angel of Darkness

Edited by - Aod on 3/16/2004 10:59:02 AM

Tue Mar 16, 2004 11:03 am by gromit

I've had a Radeon 9000Pro for a year now, I use it for professional graphics creation as well as gaming...and I'd swear by it. The 9800 is supposed to be a vast improvement (which I can't physically imagine) so I'd recommend it with bells on. I'd also recommend you look at the 9800Pro All-in-Wonder (if there is such a thing), the All-in-Wonder versions tend to offer a few more inputs/outputs and therefore may last you a little longer.

Hope that helps.

Edited by - gromit on 3/16/2004 11:05:08 AM

Tue Mar 16, 2004 11:26 am by Chips

I am interested in this topic as well, mainly as i have finally got myself a job

and the one thing i will be doing is upgrading. However, what are th pros and cons of the two main makes? Which is better etc, and just how good are they? (in laymans terms

)

Tue Mar 16, 2004 11:27 am by Aod

@Grom-well my 64Mb 9000, is cracking up
the A$$HOLES at PC world said to
my dad when he bought it, "the
Radeon 9000, is a very NEW card
and is has really high performance

Losers, there is the card, the PRO,
the XT, and the ALL-IN-WONDER,
they dont combine

this one has all the future nessesary
ports and holes, DVI, PS/2, UHF

@Chips-well to put it simply, say you buy a
ATI Radeon that does the job at 70%, that
will cost £150, then a nVidia GeForce, to do
the same job would cost £200, in other
words, nVidia Suck ATI's A$$, and ATI are the
BEST

Edited by - Aod on 3/16/2004 11:30:57 AM

Tue Mar 16, 2004 11:52 am by Indy11

In all fairness to NVidia, until the most recent ATIs came out from the Radeon 9600 series on up, NVidia ruled the homePC and gaming roost. So it is all a matter of timing afaik.

Chips, right now, ATI has the product to beat. It has been a see-saw battle
between ATI and NVidia over the years....as you may have seen yourself.

Word is out, though, that by this Fall, a whole new generation of video cards
will be trundled out by both ATI and NVidia. So all new battles and comparisons will start raging soon.

If you can wait, you might be able to pick up the top of the line Radeon 9800XT for dirt cheap by late summer. Here, current full price for it is $500 so that's rather too steep. AND as Grom said, the All-In-Wonder version is a much more versatile card as it allows for TV in/out, etc.... if that matters to you.

Tue Mar 16, 2004 12:20 pm by Chips

oh - TV socket would be awesome, but i am on a shoe string budget for now. There was a 128Mb Radeon for sale in the shop for about 75 quid ($150) and I was wondering if i should purchase when my first pay check comes through - or hold out.

Also;

Hard Disk Drives......they had ones called Satas or somthing? Are they compatible (I am using IDE at mo I think, Maxator), but what makes are the best? In fact, same for processors (am using Celeron 1.7 at moment, but noticed that pentiums were more expensive I think - so they are better? And athelons? etc - lol. I built comp on budget, so stuff is pretty cheap and low spec, apart from the 512Mb of mem i got

)

Tue Mar 16, 2004 12:24 pm by Aod

EEEEKK hardware N00B!!!

well thats a big list of questions
lemme draft up answers in word
wait a while

Tue Mar 16, 2004 12:36 pm by Indy11

SATA = Serial ATA. The cables are different, they are supposed to be faster if truly SATA... can't really say that it has been proven but it is the current standard. You probably need a new disk controller card to go with SATA, quite a few makes are available that will handle both SATA and regular ATA. IDE also is known as plain ATA or parallel ATA.

Maxtors are good. They don't outperform Western Digital drives but they make the quietest ones out there, if you are sensitive to too much machine noise.

Who makes the best? Hard to say although WD usually wins the reviews lately. Seagate, an old name in HDDs is better known for their SCSI equipment. Some WD's currently come with built in caches of 8Mbs or more which really makes the WD's perform quite speedily.

Celerons vs. Pentiums vs. AMD Athlons, etc. Well, many other threads are on this. Very briefly, Celerons are not ideal for gaming but are quite useful in most business settings. Pentiums (P4s) are best suited for gaming on the Intel front. Check out the threads on which is better, AMD or Intel. You're probably going to have to get a new mobo if you're really serious about improving your cpu to something more state of the art.

I think you'll notice that Intels are generally preferred by the guys who actually have to provide support to others whereas AMDs are preferred by the more self-sufficient PC owners. In loose comparison, you'll find that AMDs generally are priced lower than Intel equivalents. AND, right now, AMD is the only maker of actual 64-bit processors for the home desktop.

Tue Mar 16, 2004 1:12 pm by Esquilax

Chips - Indy has pretty much covered it, but I can't be bothered going through the differences between ATI and nVidia again. There have been heaps of graphic card-related threads in the last few months (usually started by AoD, and answered by Taw and I strangely enough), and we discuss the pros and cons at length there. I'll let AoD publish his work, and we'll see if he's accurate

.

AoD - the card you have selected is fine. It's probably the one I would consider if I did not have my OC'd Radeon 9700

. The difference between the Pro and Non-Pro is (as I keep telling you), that it has a slightly faster clock speed.

Edit: Before I forget, PCI-Express cards are coming out very shortly, and they hold significant advantages over AGP, especially when games start being written specifically for them. Personally, I'd wait. The only thing is, that PCI-Express cards necessitate a new MB, so unless tyou are considering an upgrade, go for AGP.

Edited by - esquilax on 3/16/2004 1:16:03 PM

Tue Mar 16, 2004 1:49 pm by Indy11

@Chips,

PS. $150 for an ATI Radeon 9800 Pro would be at about the low end of the general market range for this card ($150-$200). Don't know if it is the absolutely best price possible if you look hard enough but it is not a bad price.

Tue Mar 16, 2004 1:50 pm by Sirius

If you want a real gaming card, get the 9800XT version. It is a lot faster than the Pro version. I wouldn't go with nVidia myself.

Tue Mar 16, 2004 3:49 pm by Tawakalna

AoD, it's a good card. I have the 256mb version. One word of warning, some of the Powercolor 128 9800 Pros have rubbish coolers and you'll know if after a couple of days your display begins to collapse and pixellate then your pc won't boot. Make sure you keep your receipt esp. IF you get from OCUK

like your spec quote is.. if they cut up a bit p*ssy about taking it back, ask to speak to Mark Proudfoot and tell him Pete from NVS says to stop being a tightfisted c*nt and to swap it out for you. Obviously don't swear; you won't do it as well as me...

BUT other than a bad few batches, the cards are excellent. Swear by mine

Tue Mar 16, 2004 7:52 pm by Chips

I am not convinced i will need a new motherboard truly :p

Here is what I have got, cause i don't really know much

SiS648Chipset DDR333
Socket 478 Intel P4 CPU support
533/400 Mhz FSB Support
DDR 333 Memory Support
AGP 8X
Serial ATA Support (SATA Capable?)

I know it can take up to 3Gb of memory, and a 3Ghz chip - so I would have thought this would be good enough........ - is it any good?

Wed Mar 17, 2004 2:46 am by Esquilax

Taw - He said that he doesn't want to spend heaps, and the XT is only slightly faster than the Pro. Don't give him expensive suggestions, or he'll spend all of his lunch-money!

Chips - I have similar specs, including the SIS648 Chipset. I have been able to run even the most modern games; UT2004 Demo, Max Payne 2, Halo, etc really well, so I doubt that you need an upgrade. The 648 chipset supports SATA if I recall correctly, so you're ok there. I'll consider upgrading only when I can't run games very well.

Esky

Wed Mar 17, 2004 2:51 am by Tawakalna

it's not expensive Eskie, it's only £150 notes (ex VAT) and that's NOT a lot of money (unless you're a povvo)

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