well, i'm about to upgrade my GF2 GTS(got it for free to replace my MX440, and it owned that ... even beats a 5500 256mb in older games) to something newer faster and shinier now i 'll probably have to choose between a Radeon 9600 pro 256 mb ram or a GeForce FX5700 256 mb wich of these 2 cards is the better one ? i want it to play some games at acceptable settings for at least the next 2 years ... system specs, Abit NF7-s, Athlon XP @ 2200 mhz 380fsb 1024 ddr OS will be XP... any thoughts/ other suggestions ?
I wouldn't bother with a 256MB frame buffer if I were you, the board will not run with playable frame rates at resolutions that use up more than 128MB frame buffer. The GPU will not have the required pixel throughput to make the extra storage space worthwhile, but at the same time, the poor memory bandwidth that is caused by the 128-bit memory interface will mean that textures will not be able to get to the GPU fast enough for them to be rendered anyway (that's assuming that the GPU can fill at a rate that will make use of a 256MB frame buffer in current game titles), which it won't be.
Performance wise, the 5700s seem to be doing better, but personally i would wait a month or two on this, and nab a 9800 class card as their price drops. Pretty big diff between the two. Alternately, get a 5900XT. It's about the same price, and with a littel soft modding, can become a 5900U.
tnx for your advices ... i will hang on to my current card just a little longer while i wait for my wallet to grow and the prices to go down ...
Don't wait too long as these previous greats will soon disappear limiting your choice. The 9600PRO is easily better than the FX5700, the PRO is esp good if you're happy to o/c as they often exceed 9600XT speed which is equal to the faster FX5700ultra. The FX5900XT is a particular favourite but it makes much more sense IMHO to go for a 9700/9800 based card which are esp cheap, give better perf stock and still tend to o/c well (but you don't need to depend on the o/c'ing). As said 256MB isn't really needed, it's much better to have a faster card with 128MB for the same money, eg 9700_128MB instead of 9600PRO_256MB.
i was gunna get the 9600XT 256mb.. When I had a second thought... The 9800 PRO has dropped down in price alot . Why not get that ?
9800PRO (0.15) 380/680 8pipes 256bitDDR 3.2Gp/s 21.8GB/s 9600XT . (0.13) 500/600 4pipes 128bitDDR 2.0Gp/s 9.6GB/s Old drivers but for an idea of perf: http://www.hothardware.com/viewarticle.cfm?page=5&articleid=438&cid=2
nice thing about the memory bandwidth is that there seem to be 9800 pro's with 128 bit and 256 bit bandwidth ...
Thanks Bigz, goodness knows how I missed that, recent drivers too. 0013 the 128bitDDR 9800's should be clearly marked as such, thanks to the 8 pipes they are better than the 9800SE or 9600XT but still significantly behind the 9800 which many people may think they're buying. The 9800's with 128bitDDR should be clearly marked as such and it should also be obvious from the price. Not many companies make 128bitDDR 9800's, AFAIK it's Powercolor (yuk anyway) and Sapphire (usually the best brand). Sapphire have announced that anyone who buys a 128bitDDR 9800 believing it to be a full 256bitDDR 9800 will be entitled to a free upgrade.
well i got the FX5900 XT, Aopen Aeolus ....(yeah half my pc is Aopen) shame the heatsink "covers" the memory chips without making contact ... anyone suggest a decent cooler for this card+ ram ... 3d marks 03 with stock drivers 4150 with newest drivers 5250 ... all same clock settings ... quite an upgrade from 290 marks (gf2gts/pro64mb ram) qould like to hear your suggestions on the cooler
Look into the Arctic Cooling VGA Silencers. The original has a few revisions which add in compatibility with more cards each time, surely GF-FX & esp FX5900 series would have been covered at some point. The latest VGA Silencers are targetted specifically for certain families rather than offering wide compatibility. Anyway these coolers are widely considered as easily the best option so are well worth you looking into.
