getting new high end video card

i want to buy a good video card with excellent performance, and i've got the money to buy pretty much anything i want. i dont feel like wasting money though, so i dont think i'll buy a 9800xt, but im wondering if even a 9800 pro is worth it. it costs some $60 more than the 9700 pro with 3-6fps gain most of the time. i dont want to overclock my video card, because i dont feel like jepardizing that much cash. however, does anyone know how the 9700 pro compares to the 9800np? is one better?

i am getting the new card in order to play games such as hl2, doom3, etc. dx9 games. so, i want it to run them with good framerates. (if the framerate approached the refresh rate of the monitor, (60fps) i would be happy, but i dont think most video cards are going to do that. 35-40 sounds reasonable though.

in the first quarter of 2004 new video cards based on new cores that are (much?) more powerful than the ones out today will be out, and they will run on dx9.1. will that new version have anything that older cards just cant do? it would suck to buy a video card now and then have it not be able to run the newest pixelshaders not 6 months in the future. or am i worrying over nothing?

thanks for the help everyone! i've been researching as much as i could, but i've been finding the internet short on some benchmarks and some information lately.

The ATI9800 pro is definitely the way to go. It is only slightly slower than the 9800 XT. Go to the link below. They are selling the full retail version for $239.

http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0157390

you dont have to overclock your video card, but overclock that xp1700 of yours, you can get like 2.2GHz outta her, maybe even more! If not, get an a64 xp3200. cpu keeps those fps high

I don't know for sure but I doubt the preformance increase btwn the 9700 and 9800 cards is much... If not you might just wanna go for one of those...

The 9800 Pro is looking to be the best option ATM, as the 9800np is quickly getting scarce, and the 9700 Pro is even more difficult to find. If you can find either the 9800np or the 9700 Pro, both are good options, as there is not much of a performance increase with the 9800 Pro, as you mentioned.

Concerning DX 9.1, who really knows when it will come out or what it will support (it was rumoured to come out March 2003, but that obviously wasn't correct). However, my guess is that it will have a new version of Pixel and Vertex Shaders, that the R4xx Series will support (ie, be fully DX 9.1 Compliant) and the R3xx Series will not.

One more thing to note will be that the new R4xx Series will most likely be more expensive than the 9800XT is now, so if you don't feel like spending that much $$, then the 9800 Pro is a very good option, as I don't think 9800 Pro prices will drop that much when the R4xx series arrives.

i think the link above (if reputable) would be a very good deal. otherwise, i found benchmarks at tomshardware pointing that the 9700pro and 9800np are virtually identical in performance, with the 9700pro ticking reliably about .5 fps above. so, considering i can find it for 217 or so, i think thats what i'll get.


dont worry my cpu is overclocked. 2255 at the moment. it would be higher, but my ram is dying so its at 150 instead of 200 and i cant do 150*15.5 for some reason. the option doesnt show up in the bios