Scant7
03-06-03, 09:27 PM
I think I will just go ahead and buy a $300 ATI Radeon 9700 Pro at CircuitCity in the next couple of days. Seeing the benchmarks of the 9800 Pro v the 9700 Pro.. yes it is better.. but I don't think it is $100 better right now. The main area it was better was when turning up the resolution real high and with AA + AF (I think it's AF, sorry) And looking at all the reviews.. the 3dmark 2001 score advantage is about 1,000 points. I don't/won't play any games over the resolution of 1027x768.. so I think the 9700 Pro will do just fine. I would rather invest the $100 in a new cpu/mobo. Right now the 9700 Pro will let me play the newest games that I play.. CS.. T2.. Splinter Cell.. C&C... GTA3.. Mafia... ut2003... Unreal2.. at 1027x768 max details and I will also try and squeez 4xAA in there. If I do get the 9700 pro, the next card I would upgrade would be a 256mb card.. possibly the r400. The 9700 Pro is a big upgrade from my current video card, or any that I have owned before. $300 is a very good price to go in and pick up the card.. better than when I was contemplating buying it at $320 from crucial.com.
I plan on OC'ing the card and I have plenty of case fans to keep it cool. Not sure what I could reach on 3dmark2001.. maybe 13k-14k OC'd.
I'll make up my mind and keep you posted if I get the new card and tell you how it performs..
one thing I like about circuit city is it has a 14-day tryout period for computer related products :D
I plan on OC'ing the card and I have plenty of case fans to keep it cool. Not sure what I could reach on 3dmark2001.. maybe 13k-14k OC'd.
I'll make up my mind and keep you posted if I get the new card and tell you how it performs..
one thing I like about circuit city is it has a 14-day tryout period for computer related products :D