Video Card

[Biohazard]

The last component for my upgrade is a video card. I'm reading the reviews and am now a little hesitant on the FX. I would like to know what you all think about the FX compared to the 9700 Pro. I'll just go ahead and post my specs just in case:

Windows XP Pro
1.7 GHz Pentium 4
768 RDRAM
100 GB Hard Drive
SB Audigy
Geforce 3 (Dumbed-down Dell version)

[WildBill]

The 9700 is about half the price, and barely slower, if at all. It's also out right now, and it's been shown to have no major flaws. The FX is totally untested and not even released.

[LaughingRat]

I'd read at one point that they were going to cancel it altogether, but apparently not.

[Tankazz]

nVidia all the way! :grin:

[koraX]

ATI rulz !

http://www.googlefight.com/cgi-bin/compare.pl?q1=ATI&q2=Nvidia&B1=Make+a+fight%21&compare=1&langue=us

and ATI Radeon ownz j00 !

http://www.googlefight.com/cgi-bin/compare.pl?q1=Radeon&q2=Geforce&B1=Make+a+fight%21&compare=1&langue=us

i have radeon 8500 and i am satisfied

[Curunir]

The ATI Radeon AIW 9700 PRO owns ALL other graphics cards, including the unreleased GeForce FX. That is all.

[MrEricSir]

If I were you, I'd get my hands on one of the Radeon 9500 cards that can be upgraded to a 9700. That could save you around $200.

[Curunir]

But there isn't an AIW 9500.

[Bloody-Reaper]

The 9500 can only be upgraded to 9700... and as far as i know there is only about an 50% chance that you can. And not every card manufactur make cards that can be upgraded. Anyway, the Ati Radeon 9700 pro is still better then the 9500 even if it's get upgraded.

[WildBill]

Clock speed isn't everything. For video cards, it's a far cry from it.

[LeatherMan]

I'd read at one point that they were going to cancel it altogether, but apparently not.

The latest news (dated Friday Feb. 7, 2003) is that the 5800 Ultra will be cancelled! That vacuum cleaner didn't have a chance!

[Rob FILTH]

I can tell you guys now from a bitter experience that I'm currently going through-

DO NOT GET GEFORCE FX!

I recently picked a new pc (3ghz,512 ram,120gb hard disc etc) with one of these cards in(Geforce FX5600 ultra)specifically cos I wanted a Directx9 card for when Half Life2,Doom 3 etc comes out and had listened to a lot of the feverish ranting and raving about the TI series of Geforce cards so naively thought a FX series would be a fairly safe bet-and boy am I sure regretting it now.

The thing certainly does push out the fps,but for the atrociously loud noise of the stupid cooler stuck on it(which also dominates one of the PCI slots),it just isn't worth it.The damn thing sounds like someone with a hedge trimmer or a bloody lawnmower in the next room almost.It really is quite horrible.

Even whilst doing simple non-taxing 2d operations causes the thing to whine to the point of giving you a total headache and having to turn the PC off after a few hours.Listening to MP3's quietly at night is an impossibility and the only way to appreciate dvds and hear the dailogue without a constant whirring and whining noise is to whack the volume up full.(no good last thing at night if people in other rooms are sleeping)

Some games do suffer strange graphical glitches which I guess is down to dodgy drivers which come with the thing.UT2K demo and the No One Lives Forever2 demo had strange smearing graphical glitches,Quake 3 engined games seem to play smooth but also have strange red glow glitches in places from either dots in the sky to red glow patches on the wall.I tried the detonator drivers but to no effect.

I've waited years for a decent pc after running an antiquated 450mhz voodoo3 system and am now feeling really sore about this "pc from hell with the graphics card from cacophonous bedlam" which has been bestowed upon me.

The damn FX card also has compatibility issues with XP and certain types of ram which made about 90% of games crash until the ram was changed.

UT looks ok on it and Thievery looks pretty good(more fps but not as sparkly looking as my old voodoo3),Undying isn't bad but Wheel Of Time has strange texture problems and can't render blood or fireballs well under it(which is a fucker cos I LOVE that game almost as much as Thievery)

But at the end of the day-it doesn't really matter what game you run under it cos after a few hours the whirring and whining noises from the cooler fan will put you off wanting to play games for life.

I'm gonna try and get a refund for the damn thing tomorrow after having 2 weeks of headaches from it and already one return to base for the ram compatibility problems-or at the very least a downgrade to a quieter bloody graphics card!

I just listened to an mp3 sample of the noise that the GeforceFX 5800 makes(which IS out now) and thats even bloody worse!I pity the poor sods who are fooled into buying that card!

I mean what on earth were Nvidea thinking of putting these stupidly noisy coolers into their cards?Did they sign a pact with the headache tablet company?

As far as I'm concerned unless they sort out their cooler systems for their new range of cards pretty shortish they will experience the same kind of situation 3dfx were in when they bought them out and Radeon will dominate the market.

Do NOT get this card-despite the hype from some of the Gaming mags-it's a piece of crap.

[Master-Builder]

...cos I wanted a Directx9 card for when Half Life2...

Lol... Take a look at the benchmarks that our out for HL2. Gives you even more reason the regret it.

[CrouchingDork]

Rob, just get a new cooling system, and then update your drivers at www.nvidia.com

[Rob FILTH]

Rob, just get a new cooling system, and then update your drivers at

well,one of the first thing I did when seeing odd graphical glitches was update the drivers but to no effect,absolutely sweet F.A. difference.
As for a new cooling system-well thats for the idiots I bought the damn thing from to sort out cos personally I just ain't too impressed from this frankenstein card-Christ, I think I'd rather go for a lowly Radeon 9000 which will have half the frame rates if I don't have to suffer from the damn whining noise anymore...

Personally I think they can have the damn thing back even if I have to carry the damn thing round there in person and drop it on their heads from a high hight.

My gaming experiences have been seriously traumatised by this damn card.