overdrive on a 9800 pro... (taw, your help is appreciated)

Sat Sep 18, 2004 2:50 am by Chips

Oohh - I got caught on the doorstep by ScottishPower - who spent twenty mins with the hard sell. They got me to check out a price comparison website (they were two smiling 20 year old patronising perverts), and were smugly trying to show how much they could save me. They were right - around 80 quid a year.....but when i went to the independant energy website - Powergen could save me a ton thirty a year. I went back downstairs and thanked them profusely for showing me the light.............then told them that i was going for powergen. They were not even slightly amused - they got all that attitude going and stuff. Funny that.....partonising is supposed to sell the power to us somehow - i really don't get it. I wasn't going to sign with them simply BECAUSE they were patronising...whether it cost me money or not, i didn't care. Would check out the sites by the way - can make a nice saving as long as you know how much your average bill is of course. Powergen make some/most of their own power - hence they aren't increasing prices yet....and might not do either!

As for the card, i took into consideration what you said, went back and saw the 9800 pro one for a ton thirty i think it was - and was thinking of going with that. There was another one that was 77quid - but only had 4 tubes instead of 8 or whatever that means. I guess thats half of something relevant to performance though....so I will probs go with the more expensive one instead of the cheaper one. My housemate needs a new HDD too - so we maybe getting him one, although he will be IDE instead.

For the cards, I just don't get the differences between all the numbers (9000,9200, 9500, 9600, 9800) - but I think i maybe able to stretch. Order will probs be lodged next week (tues) for a weekend arrival hopefully.

Sapphire ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB DDR TV-Out/DVI - Lite Retail (GX-017-SP)
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: £119.95 (£140.94 Including VAT at 17.5%)
----------------------------------------------------------------
Sapphire ATI Radeon 9800SE 128MB DDR TV-Out/DVI (AGP) - Lite Retail (GX-042-SP)
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 128-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.

- 270MHz Core clock speed
- 128MB of 540MHz DDR memory provides increased performance
- 128-bit memory interface delivers the bandwidth for real-time 3D graphics
- 4-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: £76.00 (£89.30 Including VAT at 17.5%)

Thats the two.

Sat Sep 18, 2004 3:46 am by Esquilax

Warning! Warning! The second card is one of those bloody dodgy "SE" cards that is a bloody cheap trimmed-down version of a proper card that runs at significantly reduced speed. That's why they are cheap. The 128-bit memory interface and reduced number of pixel pipelines are the main problems. I hate it when they rename stuff to "Special Edition" and reduce the quality of the card in order to dupe the average person into buying them! Conniving bastards! I hate them so much!?!?

Ahem, sorry. I haven't had any ginger beer today, and I'm getting aggressive due to withrdrawal

.

Edited by - esquilax on 9/18/2004 4:48:11 AM

Sat Sep 18, 2004 4:06 am by Tawakalna

the rabbit-headed one is 100% accurate - do NOT get the SE version, I repeat do NOT get the SE version. get Pro or XT. if you're going to ATi, that is. as far as the numbers are concerned, the higher the number the later the version, that's all. why not just tell us how much you're actually prepared to spend, what you want, and we'll tell you if you can do it and what to get? as far as i can see its 250 notes and you want a hdd, 17" tft and a decent video card, is that right?

(i got British Gas one day, Powergen the next, Scottish power the next. since privatisation all this has become a nightmare. it should have stayed just the Gas Board. Noo Labour promised to put all these privatised utilities back under public ownership, but never did. now we don't even know where the money goes and the MEB still owe me £240 from 5 years ago, which I aint never going to see))

Sat Sep 18, 2004 8:10 am by Chips

Well - yeah, you got the money right. About 250 - 300 notes MAX (note the max on the 300!). Originally i was going TFT, but that would mean i couldn't get anything else for months! At that point, apart from deskspace, i won't really notice the difference that much between the two....and I really am not bothered (just thought i would treat myself to looking s****y with a monitor

). The others were born out of necessaity..when someone said ANY card better than mine would improve performance....and my monitor is SO bad that the text is actually blurry. I kid you not - its a REAL headache maker. I never noticed as my eyes "Autostrain" to get it in focus....which is why this whole thing was starting orginally!

Monitor is the must have, and hard drive.
After that - as long as the graphics card shows an image on my new screen or decent quality (my decent - not your idea of decent!) then i don't worry too much.

The easiest way to figure how i am about things is that i won't buy a DVD player until i actually own a television and audio setup that is actually going to ALLOW me to notice the difference in quality over my present TV

. Basically - i am no connesieu......connesi.....perfectionist of presentation (or spelling).

*edit* - the four stars are for a knaw letter

Edited by - Chips on 9/18/2004 9:11:18 AM

Sat Sep 18, 2004 8:51 am by Dark_Shadow2004

hey chips, if you got a PCX slot look into the card i have no complaints on this one

GeForce FX 5950 Ultra

Graphics Core 256-bit
Memory Interface* 128-bit
Memory Bandwidth* 30.4GB/sec.
Fill Rate 3.8 billion texels/sec.
Vertices per Second 356 million
Memory Data Rate 950 MHz
Pixels per Clock (peak) 8
Textures per Pixel** 16*
Dual RAMDACs 400 MHz

CineFX 2.0 Engine
UltraShadow Technology
Intellisample HCT

"To live is to die....but living is to die slowly..why waste time on trivial things just play as hard as you can"

Sat Sep 18, 2004 1:50 pm by Tawakalna

you can get a Raddy 9600 Pro or XT for just over 70 notes, Chips. how's that fit into your budget? if you can get your Nividia cheaper than that, then go for it, you're getting a bargain.

Sun Sep 19, 2004 7:21 am by -------

I'm certainly looking for new video card too. I'm not looking for the most powerful video card out there. I'm sick and tired of having to buy budget cards like the Radeon 9200SE that I have in my machine right now. My next video card has to have at least 256 megs of RAM in it. I want to go ATI, but NVIDIA will do in a pinch.

@Taw: Which would you recommend? I'm not looking to spend more than 200 USD on it, though.

Sun Sep 19, 2004 7:36 am by Tawakalna

ATi 9600XT or 9800 Pro, Nvidia as long as you avoid the lower-end budget FXs (like the 5200, complete cr*p) You'll get a decent mid-to-high end card for about that. Whatever card you do get, cooling is terribly important. The stock fans that come with cards just aren't man enough to do a good job, so I strongly recommend a decent vga cooler if you have the space for one. shouldn't cost more than a few dollars, Tom.

Edited by - Tawakalna on 9/19/2004 9:15:44 AM

Sun Sep 19, 2004 9:12 am by Indy11

The 5700 nVidias are quite good and reasonably priced if you are looking for an ATI alternative.

Sun Sep 19, 2004 10:57 am by Chips

I will probs stretch to that 9800 pro for me

. Got KOTR today, def need a better graphics card. Mine is down near min specs - and BOY does it suffer from "lag".

Sun Sep 19, 2004 11:12 am by -------

I just found a card, that looks possible. It's an Xtasy 9600 Video Card, 8x AGP, 256MB DDR
It's 150 USD. What do you think? At least it's not an SE.

Sun Sep 19, 2004 11:18 am by Tawakalna

for 256mb I think that's a fair price. go for it, I say.

Sun Sep 19, 2004 1:38 pm by -------

I think I will. This is the second time in less than a year that I've had to upgrade my video card.

Mon Sep 20, 2004 12:21 am by Esquilax

Mee - I'd save up for something better but if you are sure... *shrugs*

By the way, that 5950 recommended by DS still only has a 128-bit memory interface which can be a bottleneck.

Mon Sep 20, 2004 5:49 am by Indy11

Problem with holding out is that soon enough something else that is supposed to be the new best will pop up.

That said, I agree with Esqy in that you may be able to pick up an affordably priced 9800 XT w/256mb DDR before this year is out... as the X800 line of Radeons begin to fill the shelves more completely.

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