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View Full Version : Mainstream GPUs: Radeon 9600XT vs Geforce FX 5700 Ultra


TomaHawk47x
11-15-03, 08:39 PM
I've been under the assumption that the 9600xt is better than the 5700ultra. however, ive read several conflicting reviews from trustworthy sources.

take the 5700 ultra review from anandtech:


After testing the GeForce FX 5700 Ultra, we have been very pleasantly surprised by NVIDIA. We mentioned last week that the 5700's new architecture might help to close the gap. In fact, NVIDIA has flipped the tables on ATI in the midrange segment and takes the performance crown with a late round TKO. It was a hard fought battle with many ties, but in the games where the NV36 based card took the performance lead, it lead with the style of a higher end card.

arent the radeons better in dx9, higher resolutions, and while using quality settings though? and what about overclocking? will an OCed 5700 ultra outperform an OCed 9600xt? the 5700 ultra also seems to have an advantage in that it has a 256-bit architecture and ddr2 (but only 128-bit memory bus). and how will the 9600xt stack up against high quality 5700 ultras such as the gainward "golden sample"?

drivers also seem to be an issue. i had no clue that the 52.14 actually IMPROVED image quality. the 51.XX drivers slashed it to improve frame rates, but apparently this has changed with the 52.XXs:

taken from anandtech:

Yes, they actually did do that. NVIDIA got a 65% performance increase in their new drivers.

The new 52.14 drivers are much better than either the 51.xx or the 45.xx series. The image quality issues are corrected from 51.xx, and a lot of speed has been inked out over the 45.xx drivers. We have actually been very impressed with the speed, image quality, and playability enhancements we have seen. As long as NVIDIA doesn't take a step backwards before the official 50 series drivers are released, we think everyone who owns a GeForce FX card will be very pleased with what they get.

and this really surprised me:

If NVIDIA can continue to extract the kinds of performance gains from unoptimized DX9 code as they have done with the 52.14 drivers (without sacrificing image quality), they will be well on their way to taking the performance crown back from ATI by the time NV40 and R400 drop. NVIDIAs GPU architecture is a solid one, but it just needs to be treated the right way.

BUT, anandtech stated that ati wins this round. it seems that nvidia is rebounding, but is this product worth consideration? i honestly do not think i will notice much a difference between the two cards, but i still want to buy the better one. im on the verge of building my rig, and it seems its going to come down to the 9600xt and 5700 ultra. please give me your feedback and your opinions on the reviews and make a recommendation.

Overclocker550
11-15-03, 08:52 PM
in dx8 games the fx5700 will own, but once we get to dx9 shader intensive games such as doom3 and hl2 id place my bets on the 9600xt and even pro being like 20% faster

TomaHawk47x
11-15-03, 08:55 PM
Originally posted by Overclocker550
in dx8 games the fx5700 will own, but once we get to dx9 shader intensive games such as doom3 and hl2 id place my bets on the 9600xt and even pro being like 20% faster

my decision will basically come down to a sorting of my own nitpicking. for example, the midrange radeons, such as the 9600pro/xt, cannot run homeworld 2. hopefully there will be some sort of patch, b/c i planned on playing this game. i also would like to see some hl2 or other dx9 benchmarks for the 5700ultra, with the new 52.14 drivers.

mage_x
11-15-03, 09:22 PM
are you saying they cant run it because of some type of error, or run it too poorly to play? because my geforce3 runs it quite well

Sir Barton
11-15-03, 09:27 PM
i have a 5700U and no hitches so far.

Overclocker550
11-16-03, 12:44 AM
thats why I like geforces3 and even better geforce4's they run older games best :)

CamH
11-16-03, 12:48 AM
Originally posted by Overclocker550
thats why I like geforces3 and even better geforce4's they run older games best :)

Well, not really. The GF3's and 4's can't run the AA/AF settings as well as newer cards can.

Overclocker550
11-16-03, 02:11 AM
well yea but besides that ;)

Falcon-K
11-16-03, 03:42 AM
i just dont trust nvidia drivers right now, i think its funny that in some games they just choose not to do things in order to make performance gains, when sites review cards they dont always notice things like a light missing here or a shadow missing there since they have so many tests to run. generally i find the ati drivers to be solid(i e every game i play bf 1942, star wars galaxies, empires, max payne 2, halo..run great) so i just look at that, im a gamer and i want my games to run the way they were intended to and thats why i choose ati right now, ill switch back to nvidia in an instance if they can show me that they have cleaned up there act and release solid hardware with solid drivers. heres looking forward to the nv4x series!

id go with the 9600xt you get half life 2 and in some packages the new tomb raider game. two games(one is good the other not quite) and an awsome mid range card for $200. its the safe bet

TomaHawk47x
11-16-03, 08:08 AM
Originally posted by mage_x
are you saying they cant run it because of some type of error, or run it too poorly to play? because my geforce3 runs it quite well

its they way the game is coded. the older radeons can even play it.

Evnas
11-16-03, 11:52 AM
Originally posted by TomaHawk47x


its they way the game is coded. the older radeons can even play it.

Runs fine on my 9500 Pro ;)

Pinnacle2k4
11-16-03, 12:18 PM
[QUOTE]Originally posted by TomaHawk47x
[B]the 5700 ultra also seems to have an advantage in that it has a 256-bit architecture and ddr2 (but only 128-bit memory bus). QUOTE]

for the longest while, vpu have been 256bits. And yes the 9600xt vpu is also 256bits. No advantage there.

DDR II allows for higher speed but it also has higher latency.

Overall from the reviews i saw, the 9600xt is a little better than the 5700 ultra. You might want to go with the 9600xt for dx9, the games i saw though, 5700ultra was very close to 9600xt using the "optimized" driver.

L337 M33P
11-16-03, 12:32 PM
...and the price of this new "midrange" card from nVidia is?....

I'd rather go for the 9600XT and OC it to 600MHz core, and have a free copy of HL2 to go with it :)

Overclocker550
11-16-03, 02:18 PM
are you going to do a v mod and watercool the core to hit 600MHz

L337 M33P
11-16-03, 02:24 PM
http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=NTMzLDg=

http://www.hexus.net/content/reviews/review.php?dXJsX3Jldmlld19JRD02NDQmdXJsX3BhZ2U9MTI =

Hexus got 591MHz, HardOCP got 600.

I would say that with some slightly larger aftermarket cooling 600 is well within my grasp, without Vmod...

But the RAM is likely to be a different story.... 3.3ns standard..

TomaHawk47x
11-16-03, 07:35 PM
i guess ati fixed their homeworld 2 problem, since people on gamefaqs seem to be running it smoothly with a 9600 pro. i guess theres really no reason to pick the 5700 ultra. the 9600xt it is!.... unless i find a cheap high-end card.

tenegg
11-18-03, 06:06 PM
I would get the 9600XT