DirectX 9 video card....9600xt or wait it out?

Tue, 30 Dec 2003 12:13:33 GMT, "Mike 'Naggas' Anagno" wrote:

I'm upgrading to a P4 2.6gHz HT, 512mb ram setup soon (upgradable to 3.6gHz
& 1024mb). What I'm wondering about is the video card....now, my main
intention is to be able to run advanced DirectX 9 games *nicely*, most of
which aren't even out yet (e.g. Half Life 2, Doom 3, Stalker, Far Cry...)

After doing some research, it seems the Radeon 9600xt is the best mid-range
card at the moment, not too expensive but not too cheap either. However, I'm
not sure how worthwhile it is in the long-run....do you think it will last
another couple of years properly? i.e. will I be able to play DirectX 9
games with high detail at 1024x768 resolution with acceptable frame rates? I
don't want to spend ~$900AU on a high-end card, so should I take the 9600xt
($300AU), or wait for the 9800pro to come down in price? (from $550AU)


get an nVidia 5900

go to www.pricewatch.com and search on: 5900 video

you'll find that the 5900 has dropped to roughly $200
(due to it having been discontinued for the 5950)

or if you want a more flexible card (that you can
use in older mobos that only have AGP 1.0/3.3v),
then search on: 9700 video

fwiw, the 9500 is still out there too, and is flexible
like the 9700, and at still more attractive prices
than the 9700

all of these have full DX9 capability

bill

The wild card (if you'll excuse the pun!) in all of this is PCI
Express for Graphics, which will be released along with Intel's
My impression was that PCI Express would be like AGP 8x is to AGP 4x,
negligible. It isn't the AGP 8x that makes a 9800Pro that much better than
the Geforce 4, it's the GPU.

3.6gHz & 1024mb). What I'm wondering about is the video card....now,
my main intention is to be able to run advanced DirectX 9 games
*nicely*, most of which aren't even out yet (e.g. Half Life 2, Doom 3,

Stick it out as long as you can. Buying a card now to run games that are
not yet out comes with no guarantees.