New Graphics Card

[sabotai]

Yes, yes, we have one of these every week, but I'm starting a new one damn it!

I'm getting a new video card, as my ATI Radeon 9000 is showing its age. Before I was always a "just get the $100 one, it's good enough" guy, but this time I'm going at it as the "I still don't see a chance in hell of me spending $400+ on a graphics card, but I think I can go as high as $250" guy.

I've been looking all over and have come to a decision (that I can still be swayed on, btw). I'm either getting a RADEON 9800 PRO, or a RADEON X600 XT. They are both priced around the same. It seems to me, without doing much reading, that the Radeon 9800 PRO was the end of the last chip set, while the x600 is the beginning (close to it) new.

So, specifically, I'm looking for what are the compares and contrasts between the 9800 PRO and the X600 XT?

[Samdari]

About the X600 XT, it is not the beginning of a new chipset line, just a souped up version of the 9600 XT.

From VR-zone hardware:

"The Radeon X600 XT was first announced when the R420 was launched a few months back, but unlike the R420, it is not a complete revision of past graphics cores. Instead, the Radeon X600 XT has the same feature set and hardware support as the Radeon 9600XT, ATI's famed mid-ranged graphics card. Both the X600 XT and the Radeon 9600XT use the same four pixel pipeline architecture and include two programmable vertex shader pipelines. The two cards also share similar clock speeds, with the X600 XT clocked at a 500MHz core and 740MHz memory speed while the Radeon 9600XT is clocked at a 500MHz core speed and 600MHz memory speed. If you'd say that the Radeon X600 XT is a higher clocked PCI Express enabled Radeon 9600XT, you'd pretty much be on the money."

[sabotai]

Looked into it and am going with the 9800 PRO. Seems like X600 was made to showcase PCI Express? I'll just stick with AGP for now.

[pjstp20]

I think it would be a mistake to not spend an extra 50 and get a 6800 nu. It's way better than the 9800 pro and supports shaders that will be popular in future games. Future meaning the end of the year and next year.

[sabotai]

The 9800 PRO I ordered from NewEgg.com was $194, and the cheapest 6800 NVidia card they have is a little over $280 (closer to $100 more than $50). That's out of my price range.

[pjstp20]

Oh I thought your price range was up to 250. I think youd get more overall value from the 6800 though. The 9800 pro is about a year and a half old which may mean you'll have to upgrade it sooner than the 6800. Plus the 6800 runs games a lot faster at higher resolutions. But if thats not worth an extra 100 to you it's not. Its just good to take those things into consideration before you make such an expensive purchase. Even a 200 dollar card isnt chump change.

Also, DirectX 9.0c just came out and the ATI cards dont utilize all of its features, where as the Nvidia 6xxx series cards do. Just food for thought.

[pjstp20]

I dont mean to sell the 9800 Pro short though, it's a damn good card and will run most games well for the next couple years, I had one.

I have a 6800 Ultra now though. Yeah I know, I'm insane.

[sabotai]

Yeah, I was willing to go as high as $250, but my credit card has suffered the damage done by me saying "It's only $50 more." (about 50 times too many).

Besides, I don't play that many graphic intensive games. I plan on buying Half-Life 2 and Doom III, but that's about it as far as the "latest, greatest" games go. So a $300 graphics card is a little over the top for me (considering I spend 10x as much time playing text sims/old games than I do new, graphic intensive games).

[pjstp20]

Originally Posted by sabotai

Yeah, I was willing to go as high as $250, but my credit card has suffered the damage done by me saying "It's only $50 more." (about 50 times too many).

Believe me I know the feeling. You'll be quite happy with the 9800 Pro.