MSI 5900XT vs ATI 9600XT

[Ambiguous]

Ok, Iam building a computer for my girlfriends dads business and Iam debating between these two cards. Now he wont be playing games or anything but I still want to get him the best performance since he wont be upgrading for a long time so I need something that will last. Now the prices of these two cards are about the same price, so which one would have the better performance of the two? Thanks for your imput guys, you never let me down.

ambi

[DDR-PIII]

i think the NV will have more memory bandwidth "i think" not to sure, but it might have 256bit mem, and the 9600 only has 128bit. usually ATi's has betetr quality due to their drivers:) so its tricky :P i would buy the ATi :) ive had both nvidia and ati cards i like ati :)

[NewbiePerson]

the 5900xt is a lower clocked ver of the 5900.
300/600 I think. It still has 256bit mem and the 8 pipelines.
The newest beta driver 56. something another greatly increased the IQ in games.

[Dragonprince]

What kind of business? If he's doing taxes or other business software I would not waste money on a mid level card. Just buy a plain old 9600 or 5600, they have plenty of power and are cheaper. Spend the extra cash on more system ram.

If he does photo editing or video editing or any other demanding non-cad type of work I would look for a cheap 256 meg card like a 5600 or 9600.

In either case I doubt he would see any diffrence between an XT or a plain 9600, but he would see a big difference in load and work times doing photo/video work with a 256 meg card vs a 128....

If he's doing engineering or cad work your looking at the wrong stuff completely.

[Ambiguous]

it wouldnt be any video editing or anything like that, mostly just spreadsheet,internet,word proccessing type stuff. But Iam already getting a 512stick of corsair pro pc3200, do you think another stick for a lesser card would make that much difference for that kind of work? Another thing why I didnt go with the 2 sticks of 512 was because iam working with a socket 754board which only supports single channel, so I wouldnt see to much performance increase with an extra stick right?

[shortyes]

For people like your GF dad I would say go buy a dell and forget the hassle.

They build comp for people like him at a price that is 300-500 dollars with all the trimmings

[Ambiguous]

For people like your GF dad I would say go buy a dell and forget the hassle.

Yeah I know I could get one of those walmart specials that run a celeron 2.0ghz for like 600bucks, but he wants something that will be sufficient without having to upgrade for awhile, plus I couldnt bring myself to see him buy a dell lol.

[Th0r]

Originally posted by Ambiguous


Yeah I know I could get one of those walmart specials that run a celeron 2.0ghz for like 600bucks, but he wants something that will be sufficient without having to upgrade for awhile, plus I couldnt bring myself to see him buy a dell lol.


I don't see why not... i know Dell has a rep for bad things but its not for gamming.. LoL

[L337 M33P]

Originally posted by Ambiguous
it wouldnt be any video editing or anything like that, mostly just spreadsheet,internet,word proccessing type stuff. But Iam already getting a 512stick of corsair pro pc3200, do you think another stick for a lesser card would make that much difference for that kind of work? Another thing why I didnt go with the 2 sticks of 512 was because iam working with a socket 754board which only supports single channel, so I wouldnt see to much performance increase with an extra stick right?

Why on earth are you considering a gaming card? The 9600XT, 5900XT are targeted for GAMERS, i.e. people who need graphics power. Last time I checked, spreadsheets do not require DX9 compatablility.

Get a cheap arse card, Radeon 9000 or so. Why will he need to upgrade? An 8mb PCI S3 Savage card does just fine with desktop 2D stuff.

[Damian]

Originally posted by L337 M33P


Why on earth are you considering a gaming card? The 9600XT, 5900XT are targeted for GAMERS, i.e. people who need graphics power. Last time I checked, spreadsheets do not require DX9 compatablility.

Get a cheap arse card, Radeon 9000 or so. Why will he need to upgrade? An 8mb PCI S3 Savage card does just fine with desktop 2D stuff.

Quoted for truth

Get a geforce2.

Corsair PC3200? :eek: For doing SPREADSHEETS?

[stabber]

He's building the computer so it will be up to standards in the future. He's doing the right thing IMO. Ya never know when the dad may go out and buy a flight simulator or something like that. Lots of middle aged guys do. If he comes home and it doesnt play, boyfriend is in trouble :D

I say get a 5900. I had a 9600xt, didnt like it at all

[Ambiguous]

Corsair PC3200? For doing SPREADSHEETS?

Well the chip Iam getting is a A64 which has a fsb of 200, so wouldnt you need pc3200? like I said iam building this comp so it will last a LONG LONG while without having to upgrade, I dont know exactly what he will be doing with it so I am just building a sufficient machine and working within the budget that he gave me so Iam just trying to get the best bang for his buck.

I say get a 5900. I had a 9600xt, didnt like it at all

What about the 9600XT didnt you like? was perfomance bad?

Ya never know when the dad may go out and buy a flight simulator or something like that. Lots of middle aged guys do. If he comes home and it doesnt play, boyfriend is in trouble

Exactly I dont want him coming back to me sayin I gave him a pos comp and cant do what he wants, I am not exactly sure what he would be doing with it, Iam just guessing speadsheets,internet etc cause thats what most business's would use it for, but he owns his own big rig truck repair shop, so maybe he might use some 3d graphics program about trucks and stuff. But yeah Iam just looking for comments on the two cards and the pros and cons about them. Thanks.

[comfortablynumb]

Originally posted by stabber
He's building the computer so it will be up to standards in the future. He's doing the right thing IMO. Ya never know when the dad may go out and buy a flight simulator or something like that. Lots of middle aged guys do. If he comes home and it doesnt play, boyfriend is in trouble :D


Right on!

I have better toys than any of my daughters boyfriend's (future) will ever have..!!!

:mad: :cool:

CN

[stabber]

Originally posted by Ambiguous


Well the chip Iam getting is a A64 which has a fsb of 200, so wouldnt you need pc3200? like I said iam building this comp so it will last a LONG LONG while without having to upgrade, I dont know exactly what he will be doing with it so I am just building a sufficient machine and working within the budget that he gave me so Iam just trying to get the best bang for his buck.



What about the 9600XT didnt you like? was perfomance bad?



Exactly I dont want him coming back to me sayin I gave him a pos comp and cant do what he wants, I am not exactly sure what he would be doing with it, Iam just guessing speadsheets,internet etc cause thats what most business's would use it for, but he owns his own big rig truck repair shop, so maybe he might use some 3d graphics program about trucks and stuff. But yeah Iam just looking for comments on the two cards and the pros and cons about them. Thanks.
Yes performance was bad on the 9600xt. To me anyway. I bought a 9800pro for $212 at newegg. I say get one of those or get a BFG5900. 5900 would probably give him less problems. Nvidias drivers are a HELL OF A LOT more stable than ATI.

[Bailey]

The 5900 just has too much horsepower for the 9600 to even compete.

[NewbiePerson]

A 9600xt is by no means a bad video card. For $150 or less its a good pick. A ti4200 isn't bad either though for nearly half that price.
Doesn't the a64 still use ecc ram until the socket 939 comes out?
Also doesn't the a 64 have an integrated fsb so that means it should either be 800 or 1600 depending on what u get.
Not to sound bad against amd but he might notice better office performance with a similar priced intel.

[Ambiguous]

Doesn't the a64 still use ecc ram until the socket 939 comes out?Also doesn't the a 64 have an integrated fsb so that means it should either be 800 or 1600 depending on what u get.
Not to sound bad against amd but he might notice better office performance with a similar priced intel.

Iam using the 3400+ on the socket 754 motherboard which uses normal ram.

[capmuffin]

i hope dell dies sry.they ripped my mom off gave her a 2.4c tho omfg rofl it was funny running in a crappy mobo so i took it and put it in a asusp4c-E 800 LOL my mom payed over 1k for it with onbo video
GO WITH a 9600 reg and get more RAM