Replacing my thrusty G400MAX

[yjanni]

So - my G400MAX gets my ass whipped in UT and UT2003 is out
of question anyway. The inevitable is here.

Its time to upgrade the card thats served me 101% for the last
+3 years (over 15000 hours of use, 1 cent/hour).

BUT

Which card should I upgrade to? I am demanding - my average
day on my comp consists of multitiered visual work:

- Photo manipulation
- Print&Web graphics
- 3D graphics
- Writing & coding
- 3D gaming

I am an prof. artist --> limited budget, MAX $250 / €240!!

Is the Radeon 9500/9700 Pro worthy of my eyes (& money)?
Is there something better?

Sorry, Parhelion is IMHO way too expensive.

Any comments appreciated

[thop]

Saphire Atlantis 9500pro.

[Guru]

General HW!

[yjanni]

No pårkele! Can you move this post or should I delete?

[Kruzin]

Moved

[yjanni]

Thanks Kruzin!

Thop - I assume you are an proud owner of that card? Mind if
I ask about your OS? And general impressions about that card?

[thop]

Nope not an proud owner (see sig) but probably a proud owner soon I'm looking for a replacement for my g400 as well and so far i've only heard good things about the Saphire ATIs.

[The PIT]

Got A Gigabyte 9700 pro Maya here. 2D not as good as my old G550 but in 3D blows it away. Dual although better than Rad 8500 still sucks.

[yjanni]

Thop - Oh I see. We face the same questions I suppose!
I really want to understand this image quality issue before upgrading. I want to be adamantly sure I get the best IQ (image quality) for the (small) money I'm going to spend. I saw an Sapphire Atlantis (9500 Pro?) for €215, seems like an good deal.

The Pit - aha ok, so Its manufactured by 'Maya'? Seems to me that you think IQ could be better? Mind if I ask what resolutions and what kind of monitor?

I only wish I could bump into an tech-savvy MURCer that could
explain what makes for good IQ..

Finally, here is an link to google groups usenet article on GFX image quality (watch the wrap):

http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=utf-8&frame=right&th=1f27596c1252adb&seekm=ZFGu9.7042%24Fj6.621438%40newsread1.prod.itd.earthlink.net

Yeah, obsessed with image quality!!

[Lambo-Fan]

I replaced my G400Max with a Sapphire Radeon 9700 Pro. IMHO the image quality is good.
The bad thing is the fact that I see some flickering lines scrolling up and down the screen (1024x768 100Hz 32Bit).

[Gurm]

Lambo - that isn't normal, I'd get that card checked out... unless you see those lines only when doing certain things, like accessing the ATI control panel. In THAT case it's a BIOS issue, and asking around about which is the best BIOS for your card would help.

I wholeheartedly recommend the ATI cards. My 8500 is serving me very well, I see no need to upgrade it at this time and it was well under $100.

- Gurm

[Technoid]

strangely ATI card are expensive as hell over at my end

[yjanni]

It seems to me that everyone who's been a friend of MAtrox's
cards is looking at ATi to for 3D power and image quality?

Technoid - so where are you at?