Going to buy FX 5900, but...

[emericanchaos]

i agree with hurk. only thing i would change is get the NF7-S and downgrade the graphics from a 9700 pro to a 9700 non pro. the difference between cards isn't worth the $90 you can save. you can get a 9700 non pro for $200 at mwave.com or if you don't want the nf7-s stay with the Epox 8RDA and get the 9800 non pro from newegg.com. last time i checked it was $279.

i say go with the 9800 non pro because he's most likely going to get into overclocking after posting a bit on the boards. this will lead to OC'ing his graphics card and if he does decide to OC the 9800 non pro he could turn it into a pro and save $180.

 

[IR1]

Yes anything is better than buying a 5900 non ultra, especially since its a 370 dollar card!

Yeah 9800np and good board... with good memory better CPU! its well worth the little extra you would spend.

 

[q149]

Get the what he said with the 9800np. Really there's no point in getting the NF-7s over 8rda+ unless you want like FSB 215+ without doing any mods.

 

[IR1]

unless you want like FSB 215+ without doing any mods.

Sounds like a good enough reason to me

He may not be ready to start voiding warranties. I know it took me a little time to get comfortable enough to start voiding my warranties.

Of course 8rda is still good without the mods... and its cheaper.
But I found a good deal here for a NF7-s 2.0, and I liked the idea of not h aving to mod to get a 200+ fsb

 

[method().man]

Some people here are talking like the 9500np softmod is a sure thing. Let me inform, it is anything but. Some websites claim a 60% success rate while others go as low as 20%. I, myself have bought two such cards and both FAILED to softmod properly to 9700 levels (heavy artifacting in both cases).

IMO, people who are interested in the 9500 np should be buying it because they like the 9500 - if the 9700 mod is successful, then great, you get an extra bonus. However, expecting a 9700 out of a 135 dollar card is just plain silly. If you want 9700 performance guaranteed, just get a 9700.

 

[Yuriman]

What I dont understand is the A7N8X bashing. Its not harsh bashing, but mine does 220fsb outa the box fine. If you have a 2.0 then your fine. If you have a 1.4, like my friend, your still fine! We both hit over 215fsb. Of course, I have to Run my memory at lower clocks then the fsb.

Back to the original subject, both Ati and Nvidia cards are great. I have seen many cards that everyone says is better than another right next to each other in dif computers, and personaly, I'd go with what I liked better, or randomly. People have said a card is soooo much better because a bar on a website was twice as high, but it had the little /\/\/ at the bottom. Come on! You wont see a dif between 1600/1200 4xaa and 6xaa. You also wont see the dif of 10fps. A card is not "way" better if it wins in almost every test by a small amount. Personaly, If I could choose, I would have a 5900u and a 9800p in my computers, not two of the same card.

 

[OC Noob]

I agree with the "overcomplicators." Get a 9700 non-pro and put the other $200 into system upgrade. You will have a nice solid non-overclocked system or a solid VERY nice overclocked system. You will also have graphics that are just as good...no better then your current system with a 5900 non-ultra (assuming you overclock or get something like a barton 2500+ if you don't overclock).

Most importantly, you have a sweet system that you can overclock if you want to so you won't be kicking yourself for staying with crappy unoverclockable parts when you had the chance to upgrade.

Overclocked or not, killer rig, killer graphics = a win-win situation.

 

[kaltag]

Personally I thank you HURK for returning this to a gentleman's thread that is relevant to the subject. I agree that the 1800 would be a big bottleneck. I had a dual system running them and changing from a GF3 ti200 to a ti 4200 to a ti 4400 to a radeon 9700 pro and so little to no increase in 3d performance until I upgraded to the current dual system and my scores went WAY up. Spending the money on a 2500 would be a great bang for the buck way to go. Just my .02

 

[Hurk]

Well good luck to U|tim4T3z and let us know your choices and results!

 

[fiji]

stinky pooo pooo the 5900 non ultra is crapy dont was your money on that man get the radeon 9800pro instead or save couple more bills and get the 5900ultra... case nonpro had crappy benchmark... for its money... but its up to you..

for real

 

[james.miller]

wow. you can cut the tension with a knife in here.

first off an fx5900 isnt worth the money in that system. NO way, NO how. It just isnt.


here's what a 9700np* does with an xp1800+. you think thats worth the money? what will a 9700pro get? well. they run at 325/310. i overclocked that 9700np to 345/303 and only got 900 points more. so, call that 12k with a 9700pro?


not exactly mind-blowing for that money is it? how about a 9800pro then? 5900ultra? need i say more?

leave the current card alone, and get an xp1700+,nf7-s and a decent psu instead. the use whatever left to get the best ati card you can.

*it's really a softmodded 9500np

 

[R4z0r4mu5 Pr|m3]

Chaces are if you put any of these cards in your system your PSU is going to BLOW UP.
Don't waste your money on an Enermax 350-400w.. you can get a Fortron 350 that will probably blow away any Enermax that costs twice as much.. or Fortron 530 for 70$.

you should read up q149, video cards like the 9800pro and 5900u use the 12v line which is massive on Enermax supplies, they will slaughter fortrons on that line, don't listen to everything you hear, value doesn't always equal performance, you get what you paid for

try not to give advice if you don't know what you're talking bout' k?

 

[q149]

I'm talking about his current psu blowing up....
Anything from Enermax up to twice the Fortron 350 price has weak *** 3.3/5v output and weak *** total output compared... and it costs way more to boot.. I don't know anybody that would get an Enermax when they have a choice.. espeacially since an Enermax that can compete with the Fortron 350 is about the price of the Fortron 530.

 

[james.miller]

Oh dear. your doing it again. I CANT BELIEVE YOUR DOING IT AGAIN, R4z0r4mu5 Pr|m3.

Gigabyte bundles the card with their usual software suite, which isn't too exciting. Because of the power requirements of the R300 GPU, the GV-R9700Pro comes with a power cable to connect to your power supply to feed the card the appropriate amount of current it needs. You won't need a special power supply as the current draw of the card is no where near the max current on any decent +5V rail, but you will need to connect power to the card.

from here:
http://www.anandtech.com/printarticle.html?i=1686

what does that say to you? it says the card uses teh 5VOLT rail, not the 12v.

try not to give advice if you don't know what you're talking bout' k?

How about taking your own advice for once?

 

[U|tim4T3z]

Thanks...

Anyway, I would like to thank all of you for kindly advice. I have made a decision which, I am not going to buy any graphic card soon, just to wait until the doom 3, HL2 released and price drop. I have sold my SONY cd-rw and buy a new TDK cd-rw. BTW, I choose enermax as my new PSU is because it is very silence and quite stable. I don’t know much about Fortron and it is not been sold at the local store here…

 

[emericanchaos]

good choice. it's smart to wait as anything can happen between now and then.

 

[james.miller]

yes. in the end you will get the better deal - that's what it's all about

 

[Mykex]

OK question, many here have claimed the 5900 is "crap" compaired to the 5900ultra. Looking at all the specs the only difference is the ultra has a 50mhz higher core clock, both dual 400 ramdac and both have 850mhz RAM. How does a 50mhz lower core = "crap"?

Also with all the ATI complaints that still exist in real game situations I wont buy one. Never have I seen a thread drooling over the next release of nV drivers I see it pryor to every ATI release.

Edit: Take note that until owning one I never liked nV. My sig pic is still my last Radeon.

 

[Evnas]

Also with all the ATI complaints that still exist in real game situations I wont buy one. Never have I seen a thread drooling over the next release of nV drivers I see it pryor to every ATI release.

We "drool" of every driver release because things keep getting better, and better...as in the majority of us get more performance, ect.

Ive seen nVidia drivers drooled over plenty too...jus as much, though probably more then ATi drivers, and for the same reasons.