ATI Vidcard Advice Sought

I'm considering upgrading my ATI Radeon 9700 Pro to an ATI X800 and was
wondering whether this would be worthwhile for racing sims and/or flight
sims. Many of the latest sims have pretty hefty system and graphics
specs, and I find that I can no longer run many of them at full graphics
settings (at least not without having the framerate suffer drastically).

So has anyone made the switch from a 9700Pro to an X800? If so, was it
worthwhile? If no one has personal experience with this, then perhaps
someone can provide me a link to an online comparison (preferably using
racing or flight sims, but I'll take a looks at any comparison).

I'm looking to maximize graphics without taking a framerate hit. This
would be on an AthlonXP2600 system with 1 Meg Ram, if that matters.

Thanks!

BRH <BRH> wrote:

> I'm considering upgrading my ATI Radeon 9700 Pro to an ATI X800 and was
> wondering whether this would be worthwhile for racing sims and/or flight
> sims. Many of the latest sims have pretty hefty system and graphics
> specs, and I find that I can no longer run many of them at full graphics
> settings (at least not without having the framerate suffer drastically).
>
> So has anyone made the switch from a 9700Pro to an X800? If so, was it
> worthwhile? If no one has personal experience with this, then perhaps
> someone can provide me a link to an online comparison (preferably using
> racing or flight sims, but I'll take a looks at any comparison).
>
> I'm looking to maximize graphics without taking a framerate hit. This
> would be on an AthlonXP2600 system with 1 Meg Ram, if that matters.
>
> Thanks!

Youre going to be somewhat CPU limited but still a worthwhile upgrade. The
only reason I went for the 6800GT over the X800 Pro was down to a couple
somewhat meaningless issues. Shader 3.0 support and 16 vs 12 Pipelines.
Kinda the cubic inch deal. The more the better :-) And for me, Linux
support. I OC it to ultra speeds without any problems and will eventually
keep pushing it. The AA of the ATI cards is still ahead of Nvidias
offering though.

I ran the GTP mod the other day and I maxed everything. When I say
everything I mean it too 16X12 16xAF 8xAA solid 60Fps. Beefier CPU
though. P4-3.2 presscott at 3.6gig.

Simmons mentioned the X800Pro at best buy for the high $250s but none of my
local stores had any. The GT is in the mid $300s still, near as I can tell
(256MB version). Is the small diff worth a sawbuck?

The 9700Pro was a chip WAY ahead of its time so dont let yourself get
underwhelmed the first few minutes after the upgrade

Mitch
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I did that exact same move, from ATI 9700pro to a X800, It was a good move
and if you consider i paid the full x800 release price, i'm sure it is still
a good move. But has Mitch said, maybe the jump will no be has significative
for you then it was for me has i am running a 3200 cpu.

But for about the same amount i paid when i wait from a GF3 to the 9700pro
the upgrade was much more worthwhile compred from 9700pro to a x800.

EL

<BRH> wrote in message ...
> I'm considering upgrading my ATI Radeon 9700 Pro to an ATI X800 and was
> wondering whether this would be worthwhile for racing sims and/or flight
> sims. Many of the latest sims have pretty hefty system and graphics
> specs, and I find that I can no longer run many of them at full graphics
> settings (at least not without having the framerate suffer drastically).
>
> So has anyone made the switch from a 9700Pro to an X800? If so, was it
> worthwhile? If no one has personal experience with this, then perhaps
> someone can provide me a link to an online comparison (preferably using
> racing or flight sims, but I'll take a looks at any comparison).
>
> I'm looking to maximize graphics without taking a framerate hit. This
> would be on an AthlonXP2600 system with 1 Meg Ram, if that matters.
>
> Thanks!

> I'm looking to maximize graphics without taking a framerate hit. This
> would be on an AthlonXP2600 system with 1 Meg Ram, if that matters.


Have you thought about a new CPU?

MadDAWG

On Tue, 1 Feb 2005 04:10:52 -0500, MadDAWG wrote:
>> I'm looking to maximize graphics without taking a framerate hit. This
>> would be on an AthlonXP2600 system with 1 Meg Ram, if that matters.
>
>
> Have you thought about a new CPU?
>

I think adding RAM would be the first option here ;-)

On-topic: I have a similar setup (1gb ram, xp2400+, radeon 9800pro and
get around 24fps at the start and 40-50 in race at monza with 19 ai,
10 visible, track detail set to high.

SCNR, uwe


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"Uwe Schürkamp" > wrote in message
...
> On Tue, 1 Feb 2005 04:10:52 -0500, MadDAWG wrote:
> >> I'm looking to maximize graphics without taking a framerate hit. This
> >> would be on an AthlonXP2600 system with 1 Meg Ram, if that matters.
> >
> >
> > Have you thought about a new CPU?
> >
>
> I think adding RAM would be the first option here ;-)

LOL I had to re-read his post four times before it hit me. Talking about
reading what you want, not what you see. If it were actualy true I'd agree
with you.

MadDAWG

I was running a GF4 ti 4200 & upgraded to the 9800 & I was not happy
with it. There was not much of a difference between the 2. So I went
out & got the X800 pro. What a difference that made. My framerate is a
little higher(avg 40) BUT I'm running N2003 w/ EVERTHING maxed out now
plus 16X AF & the highest setting for AA. It looks GREAT. Best upgrade
I made in a long time. Hope this helps.
Doug D









On Mon, 31 Jan 2005 15:56:43 -0500, BRH <BRH> wrote:

>I'm considering upgrading my ATI Radeon 9700 Pro to an ATI X800 and was
>wondering whether this would be worthwhile for racing sims and/or flight
>sims. Many of the latest sims have pretty hefty system and graphics
>specs, and I find that I can no longer run many of them at full graphics
>settings (at least not without having the framerate suffer drastically).
>
>So has anyone made the switch from a 9700Pro to an X800? If so, was it
>worthwhile? If no one has personal experience with this, then perhaps
>someone can provide me a link to an online comparison (preferably using
>racing or flight sims, but I'll take a looks at any comparison).
>
>I'm looking to maximize graphics without taking a framerate hit. This
>would be on an AthlonXP2600 system with 1 Meg Ram, if that matters.
>
>Thanks!

Odd, as I did the same upgrade. I was using an Athlon 2100 cpu (1.7
ghz) with the Radeon 9800 and thought the image quality improvement was
remarkable. No huge FPS gain, but the ability to actually use the AA/AF
settings for a game was a nice change. I am more of a "quality" person,
rather than needing a bajillion frames, I rather have top shelf image
quality and moderate FPS. Since I upgraded to a P4 3.0, I have the best
of both worlds. FWIW, I run at 1280x1024 on my LCD, most NR2003 & F1C
details at or near max, except for shadows, which are usually a click
lower than the max.

On Tue, 01 Feb 2005 12:35:35 -0500, wrote:
> I was running a GF4 ti 4200 & upgraded to the 9800 & I was not happy
> with it. There was not much of a difference between the 2. So I went

Strange. I upgraded from a ti 4800SE to a 9800 pro and it made all the
difference in the world (near-doubled the fps in every sim except gpl,
of course ;-)

uwe

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