[Nico]

Yeah I know, another video card thread. Anyway.
I want to buy a new video card ( fed up of the incompatibilities between my old radeon 7200 and XP ), so I've done some searches, read advices etc etc.
the conclusion, seems the way to go ( not regarding prices for now ) is either a radeon 9000 or higher on one hand, and a Geforce4 Ti 4200 minimum on the other hand.

I go on grosbill.com ( french site sorry ), that sells stuff at factory price, to take a look at what I could pick.
Then the horror begins. There's way too many versions of the same card...
first, what's better:
let say an Hercules 3D Prophet ( blablabla ) 9700 128Mb DDR (cost 379 euros, so about the same in USD if you wonder ) or the exact same card, but as a generic ATI card ( which cost much less, 329 euros )? they have same conectics, same AGP handlers (2x/4x/8x), TV output, DVI ( no idea what that means ), vga input.
So where's the trick in there?
in the same range, why is the leadtek GEforce4 TI 4200 AGP etc etc at 205 euros, the AOPEN at 225, the MSI at 239 euros and the asus at 249 (won't say them all, there's too many of them )? -note the leadtek is the site's selection for that range of cards, if that's worth anything.

I'm really not a techy guy, so I'm completly lost

[Fetty]

humm where to start
usualy all cards that came from ati where made by ati
but now they are producing only for usa and canada and are selling their chips to other companys for europe and rest of the world
im not sure if i would go for an radeon 9000 thou
and with geforce ti4200 make sure u dont get the 8x models (as they cost more and absolutly dont have any performance gain)

dvi is for lcd monitors mostly

and since ur french if im not mistaken
hers a good read
http://www.tomshardware.fr/article3d.php?IdArticle=220&NumPage=1
enjoy

[Ryx]

I would select a card according to price and chip, it's based on.  I looked at grosbill and a "generic  ATI" 9500 seems fairly reasonable. 199 Euros, DX9, 64 Mb. If you can find the  PRO version, I'd go with that.

Good reviews here http://www.beyond3d.com/reviews/index.php

And DVI is the connector for flat screens (LCDs), IIRC.

[Nico]

heh thanks
as expected, the radeon 9700 and 9700pro own all.
alright, from what I've seen, the radeon 9000 doesn't do better than the 8500 and even does worst.
so what interest me would be from the less to the more powerful:
1) radeon8500
2) Geforce 4200 and better
3) Radeon 9500 to 9700

now the fun part... let see the prices

[Nico]

Originally posted by Ryx
I would select a card according to price and chip, it's based on.  I looked at grosbill and a "generic  ATI" 9500 seems fairly reasonable. 199 Euros, DX9, 64 Mb. If you can find the  PRO version, I'd go with that.

Good reviews here http://www.beyond3d.com/reviews/index.php
 

according to that link, ATI made cards are always pro versions?

[Ryx]

I don't think so.

The Pro version has 128 Mbs of memory. This card has 64.

PRO:
# 275MHz Core Clock speed
# 128MB of DDR RAM at 270MHZ (effective 540MHz)
# 128-bit memory bus, 8.6GB bandwidth
# 8 Pixel Pipelines, 1 Texture unit per pipe
# 2.2G Pixels/sec, 2.2G Texels/sec, 13.2G AA Samples/sec
# 275M Triangles/sec
# AGP 8X
# DirectX9

Standard 9500:
    *  275MHz Core Clock speed
    * 64MB of DDR RAM at 270MHZ (effective 540MHz)
    * 128-bit memory bus, 8.6GB bandwidth
    * 4 Pixel Pipelines, 1 Texture unit per pipe
    * 1.1G Pixels/sec, 1.1G Texels/sec, 6.6G AA Samples/sec
    * 275M Triangles/sec
    * AGP 8X
    * DirectX9

[Nico]

yeah, well my choice would be the 9500, but now to see the price difference between the noraml and the pro... I have to find both versions from the same manufacturer to see.

[Gortef]

I have Radeon8500DV AiW (as you may know )
and so far, I have been really satisfied with it. Of course 9500 would be more high tech and even much more faster but AFAIK 8500 is not that far behind to be left out

but I can't really advice anyone because I like Radeons and that's why I usually have more positive feeligns for them than GeForce cards

[Nico]

Originally posted by Gortef
I have Radeon8500DV AiW (as you may know )
and so far, I have been really satisfied with it. Of course 9500 would be more high tech and even much more faster but AFAIK 8500 is not that far behind to be left out

but I can't really advice anyone because I like Radeons and that's why I usually have more positive feeligns for them than GeForce cards

well, you might notice I like ati too
anyway, checking the benchmarks, a 8500 is a better choice than a 9000 (cheaper, does as good and even sometimes better ), but the 9500 is really better, no doubt.

[Ashrak]

Originally posted by Ryx
I don't think so.

The Pro version has 128 Mbs of memory. This card has 64.

PRO:
# 75MHz Core Clock speed

Standard 9500:
    *  275MHz Core Clock speed
   

that was a typo yes no?

[Redfang]

Yeah, Radeon 8500 (renamed to 9100) is faster than 9000 usually. GF4Ti4200 is faster than both, and Radeon 9500 Pro is a bit slower than GF4Ti4600, but if you turn anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering on, it can be up to 100% faster than Ti4600...
 
So I recommend you to get the 9500 Pro. Standard is much slower, as it only has 4 pixel pipelines instead of 8, so it's fill rate is half of the 9500 Pro.

Originally posted by Ashrak


that was a typo yes no?

I can tell you it was.

[Ryx]

Originally posted by Ashrak


that was a typo yes no?

Fix0red

[Vertigo1]

http://www.descentbb.net/ubb/Forum8/HTML/004711.html

WELL worth the read, trust me.

[Alpha Leader]

Since I'm an ATI fanatic (:thepimp: ) I should tell you to buy the R9500 Pro or 9700...but I'll recommend the 9500 Standart because in few weeks you should be able to get your 9500 run as a 9700

[Nico]

Originally posted by Alpha Leader
Since I'm an ATI fanatic (:thepimp: ) I should tell you to buy the R9500 Pro or 9700...but I'll recommend the 9500 Standart because in few weeks you should be able to get your 9500 run as a 9700

I've decided I'd get a 9500 pro, and no I won't wait coz in a few weeks I won't be more willing to do chirurgical strikes on my videocard tha I am today

[Alpha Leader]

in few weeks you won't have to do a chirurgical strikes lol it will be a software only!:nod: RivaTuner

[Vertigo1]

Originally posted by Alpha Leader
in few weeks you won't have to do a chirurgical strikes lol it will be a software only!:nod: RivaTuner

Umm...you are aware that RivaTuner is for nVidia cards only, right?  Leave the technical stuff to the techs.

[Vertigo1]

Originally posted by venom2506


I've decided I'd get a 9500 pro, and no I won't wait coz in a few weeks I won't be more willing to do chirurgical strikes on my videocard tha I am today

Yeah, then hack that sucker into a 9700 pro.   (the hack only works for the 9500 pro series cards)

[DragonClaw]

Might have been just my radeon card, but my old radeon had some massive transparency issues. It didn't handle transparency nearly as well as my GeForce3 does, so I'm curious to know if the newer radeons have this issue fixed...

[Vertigo1]

Dragon: Your best bet is to hop on over to www.descentbb.net and ask Max_T.  He's the resident ATI fanboy so he'll be able to tell you one way or another.