Aqua-Soft Forumsok, so i'm looking at several different radeon cards. what would be the best to get?
radeon 8500 64mb ddr
radeon 8500le 128mb ddr
radeon 9000 pro 64mb ddr
radeon 9000 pro 128mb ddr
radeon 9100 64/128mb
or maybe a geforce 4 ti4200?
thanks everyone! 
[help] Choosing Vid Card
Well, I dont know as much about Radeon's as I do about GeForce's but ill give it a shot. One thing I do know, is that the Higer Model Number (Eg. 9000) makes it a better card. The "Pro" will also mean that its better. For example, you can get a Radeon 9000 or a Radeon 9000 PRO, its just that the Pro will be better. with that information, you can obviously tell that the 8500, 8500le, and 9000 pro 64 wont be as good as 900 pro 128 ddr. I would say that you narrow that list down to 2 options:
radeon 9000 pro 128mb ddr
radeon 9100 64/128mb
This comparison is hard, because although 9100 is higher model, its not pro, which means that the 9000 has the possibility of being better than the 9100. Also, I do not see a DDR after radeon 9100 64/128. If the 9100 is NOT DDR, then MOST DEFINETLY go with the 9000, because it should be much faster. But if the 9100 is ddr, it will be hard to decide. Weather that Pro or Not Pro makes a difference I really cannot tell you, but I have heard that it does.
GeForce 4 Ti4200 you ask? Well yes, that would be an excellent card. And in fact, better than all of your other radeon options. The GeForce 4 Ti4200 will out do the 9000 and 9100 by quite a bit, so if you can, I would get the GeForce4. But if were talking price, perhaps those Radeons are better options. Hope that helps!
well, i thought the higher numbered ones were better too, but then i saw some benchmarks that showed the 8500 doing really well, in fact, beating the 9000 pro and 9100 at a lot of the tests, so that confused me a bit, plus comparing boards with equal ram, the 8500 is more expensive, at least at one place i'm looking.
as for the amount of ram, i thought that there wouldn't be much difference between 64 and 128 unless you're playing at a higher res (but i play at 1024x768 anyway) or there's a lot of texture, and i also thought that the 128 version would be a little slower than the 64, at least that's what a lot of benchmarks said.
the 9100 is ddr, by the way.
regarding the ti4200, well, the 64mb version is comparable in price to the radeons, but the 128mb is a bit too much for me right now. would 64 still be good then?
ok so here's what it looks like so far.
prices with shipping included:
radeon 8500 64mb: $75
9000 pro 128mb: $77
9000 pro 64mb: $67
9100 128mb: $75
9100 64mb: $69
gainward ti4200 64mb: $90
Honestly, out of the bunch, I would go with the Geforce4. I have the Ti4200 64MB version and I have been very pleased with it. It is well worth it's price if you play 3D games on your computer at all.
persoinaly i would spend a little and get a card that will last you forever. GO and buy a radion 9500 and do a soft mod to a radion 9700 (research this a little to find out wich cards can do this) The setup will cost you mabie 140 (double) but ther preformance will be outstanding
The 9500 is the best value card you can get your hands on at the moment. I wouldnt touch a Radeon under 9500 rating.
As for the nVidia line up, you can find GeForce4 Ti 4200 128DDR cards on sale at stores like Best Buy for right at $100 - which is a killer buy, seeing as how they compete benchmark to benchmark with a $200 GeForceFX 5600 Ultra or a Radeon 9600. The 9500 is in the $200 range, but outperforms the GeForceTi series and the Radeon 9600.
Myself, I got very lucky last week, and a friend sold me his Radeon 9700 Pro for $150. He hasnt been using it since he bought his 9800 Pro about a month ago. So the 9700 has about 5-6 months of use. Hot damn!
Just remember, if you want to use it in Linux/BSD, you HAVE to go Nvidia. And their Linux drivers are great by the way. They even have support for the FX5900, ALREADY!
Just a quick question; is the 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600 (Sapphire) a respectable card?
Very respectable!
Any new card that comes out today will run Doom3/HL2 great.
Yeah, the 9600Pro is a good card, but surprisingly, its worse than the 9500Pro. And not much cheaper. If you can still find the 9500Pro, id get that.
Originally posted by deadzombie@Jul 29 2003, 07:49 PMMyself, I got very lucky last week, and a friend sold me his Radeon 9700 Pro for $150. He hasnt been using it since he bought his 9800 Pro about a month ago. So the 9700 has about 5-6 months of use. Hot damn!
God damn it! I just paid $300 for my ATI R9700 pro two moths ago!! :6
Originally posted by Iceman@Jul 31 2003, 03:47 PMGod damn it! I just paid $300 for my ATI R9700 pro two moths ago!! :6
Yeah, Im one lucky bastard.
Thanks for your help. I'll keep an eye out for the 9500
Keep in mind that you can use the softmodded hack drivers to "upgrade" a 9500 to a 9700.
If you didn't want to go that route, i'd suggest a GeForce 4 ti4200 with a little overclocking. You'll get pretty good results although NO Geforce 4 card will provide a great score in 3D mark 2003 so keep that in mind.
Still, try 9500 to 9700 hack as prime choice.
only some boards are softmoddable. make sure you get the right one.