Radeon cards

[103er-Fan]

So, as I already told you, I am going to try a Radeon 9700 (not a Pro version) and will compare it to my Parhelia.
Now I don't know which manufacturer to get, I mainly bought 3dfx and Matrox cards since I am into computers, so I knew that I get quality boards, but there are tons of Radeon 9700 boards out there, and from what I heard yet, there can be major differences in terms of 2d quality.

The card I am looking into would be the HIS Radeon 9700, because it would be the only non-Pro card available at the moment. I also looked to Gigabyte, but their 9700 Pro version is about 100€ more expensive than the HIS card. Are there any problems with HIS cards? I never heard of that company, I already got an el'cheapo 17" screen, now I don't want to spend 320€ to get a POS card.

[DGhost]

HIS is a pretty good manufacturer. they do a lot of work with NVidia, and NVidia has distributed their cards as freebees on a number of occasions.

not the most feature packed or best marketed, but great OEM cards...

[Indiana]

I have a HIS R9700PRO and am very happy with it. But then this is a Pro card and even more it is in fact a BBA (built by ATI) one.
So I don't know how HIS' own built cards are - if they actually have their own production running by now and are not still repackaging BBAs.

[alewisa]

Originally posted by DGhost
HIS is a pretty good manufacturer. they do a lot of work with NVidia, and NVidia has distributed their cards as freebees on a number of occasions.

not the most feature packed or best marketed, but great OEM cards...

Freebies to whom?

[103er-Fan]

Originally posted by Indiana
So I don't know how HIS' own built cards are - if they actually have their own production running by now and are not still repackaging BBAs.

That is what I am worried about, since ATI itself has no Radeon 9700 card in their programme. But I can imagine, that ATI also has some reference design for it, which is used by some 3rd party manufacturers.

I would also buy a 9700 Pro, but I am not sure if it will be really better in my system, from what I've read, a 2000+ would be almost too slow for the 9700 Pro in some situations
A Pro version would be around 90€ (If I would go for HIS) ur 110€ more expensive (If I would go for Gigabyte) than the non-Pro. I have the money, but I don't want to spend more money on something which isn't better than the cheaper thing.

[alewisa]

Originally posted by 103er-Fan

I would also buy a 9700 Pro, but I am not sure if it will be really better in my system, from what I've read, a 2000+ would be almost too slow for the 9700 Pro in some situations... but I don't want to spend more money on something which isn't better than the cheaper thing.

Have you considered the 9500Pro? According to reviews, this card is faster (on average) than a G-Force 4600, is not a lot slower than a 9700Pro, and costs a hell of a lot less than either. I'm sure it's a typo, but dabs.com seem to have some listed for as little as £105 UKP - and others all the way to £200UKP. But a hell of a lot cheaper than £300UK for 9700Pro and GF4600

[Dogbert]

Check the firingsquad. They have a review of Tyan's Radeon.

http://www.firingsquad.com

[103er-Fan]

Hi there alewisa, yes I already checked the 9500 Pro, but first it is hard to get here, and second the one I could get is just a bit cheaper (~30€) than the 9700, so of course I would go for the faster 9700.

Dogbert, I had a look at that review, that card looks really nice! But where to get it in germany?
I searched the four stores I would usually order from, but no one has the Tyan card listed.

[Indiana]

Yes, the Radeon9500Pro is definitely the way to go nowadays if you look at a decent performance/price ratio.
And the XP2000 definitely is too slow to feed the R9700Pro with todays games, my oc'ed XP to 2100+ levels (actually above because of the higherFSB=higher Ram bandwidth) is too slow. A Hammer with 3GHz would make a nice combination with the R9700PRO.
BUT with tomorrows games this might drastically change. The Doom3 alpha is mostly gfx-card limited even with R9700Pro even in 800x600 if you can trust the preliminary benchmarks. Yes, this is an alpha and the performance of the final version most likely will be better but still....

[103er-Fan]

Well, I want to add that I am going to buy a card which basicly can play most games @ 1024x768x32, 4xFSAA, 8xAF at a fast level, I looked at some benchmarks, and for me the 9700 seems to be the way to go. In several cases it is noticible faster in this setting than the 9500 Pro, and as I already said the 9700 Pro would be basicly useless for me, since it is too powerful for my system.

[alewisa]

Originally posted by 103er-Fan
Hi there alewisa, yes I already checked the 9500 Pro, but first it is hard to get here, and second the one I could get is just a bit cheaper (~30€) than the 9700, so of course I would go for the faster 9700.

Dogbert, I had a look at that review, that card looks really nice! But where to get it in germany?
I searched the four stores I would usually order from, but no one has the Tyan card listed.

Try www.dabs.com for a decent price. Also, if you happen to be UK-Forces, (or have a mate in UK Forces), you can save on the postage - BFPO address is treated as Uk address.

Brgds
Alan

[103er-Fan]

Originally posted by alewisa
Try www.dabs.com for a decent price. Also, if you happen to be UK-Forces, (or have a mate in UK Forces), you can save on the postage - BFPO address is treated as Uk address.

Brgds
Alan

Just checked that offer, the problem is that they only have Radeon 9500 (non-Pro) cards.

[alewisa]

Originally posted by 103er-Fan
Just checked that offer, the problem is that they only have Radeon 9500 (non-Pro) cards.

Odd, I found about a dozen different 9500Pro cards on there on Wednesday night....

[Indiana]

If you do a search on www.geizhals.at, you can find the Sapphire R9500PRO listed at just under 200€:

http://www.geizhals.at/deutschland/?a=41226

Sapphire also builds cards for ATI and is said to have equal quality to BBA cards.

[103er-Fan]

Damn, forgot to search there
Anyways, I ordered the HIS Radeon 9700 a few hours ago, I hope it'll be here around wednesday. When I have it, I will post some experiences about the switch from the Parhelia to the Radeon in this forum.
And if I don't like the card, I'll just send it back