I'm going to upgrade...need your opinion pls

[IMF-Arel-]

Hi,

First, I'd like to say I've been lurking around these forums for some time...Really great place...lots of info here :)

Ok...
my situation...
I am gearing up to upgrade my old and over used G-force 3 TI-500
I initially was waiting for the Gforce FX to come along, but we all know what happened to that. I've always been on the nVidia side
of things...But I am totally fed up with waiting and waiting. So I am looking at the other side of the fence.

I was thinking of picking up a All-in-Wonder 9700 pro. I do alot of video recording and DVD authoring besides gaming...so it seems to
be the obvious choice.
I also do all my gaming at 1280x960 (or 1280x1024) so what I'm looking for is a card to work great at those resolutions with
AA and AF cranked up. From what I see...the biggest gains from 9700 to 9800 or to the imaginairy NV3x seems to be at 1600x1200+....so I'm thinking that I'd be ok with a 9700.

Now...my problem is that I know the new ATI 9800s are coming out soon (or are out). Is there really that big of a step up from 9700 to 9800? Also...I imagine the AIW 9800 version wont be out for some time right?

So anyways...I was planing on picking up a AIW 9700 pro this week or weekend for a few simple reasons.

1. It's available
2. It's seems to have good TV features
3. It still seems to kick butt even if its an older card


What would you do?



IMF-Arel-


_________________________________

Forgot to post a little bit about my system.
Here's the main part of my setup.

Intel P4 2.4Ghz
Asus P4S8X Motherboard
1.5Gigs DDR 333Mhz
Maxtor ATA 133 7200RPM 80 Gig
Maxtor ATA 133 7200RPM 40 Gig
Maxtor ATA 133 7200RPM 30 Gig
Pioneer A05 DVD Writer
Sony DVD-Rom 16x

[Darth Rancid]

You got a powerful CPU?...

If you have and want a AIW card I suppose the 9700 is the only way to go...
I don't do any real video editing and such, but I have heard that those who do it "for real" prefer a separate card for those bits...

Since I don't do any video editing and don't have any experience of ATi hardware newer than Rage Pro I can't give you any good answers... but I thought I'd post anyway just to be supportive and advice you to specify what other parts are in your computer.. like CPU and mainboard and such... because the people of nVnews will want to know that when they try to give advice..

Welcome to nVnews....

:)

[ragejg]

1. Welcome to the forums... :)

2. www.hardocp has a very comprehensive article discussing the miniscule perf. differences/improvements the 9800 has... doesn't seem to be worth it, esp. given the fact that there are varieties of the 9500 AND 9700 that can be soft modded to *darn near* match 9800 spec/perf...

3. Sellin your GF3ti500? :):D:) GF3's run gr8 @ high agp freq's... good for OC'able kt266a chipsets. my kr7a-133RAID is on it's way, and I don't know if my GF4ti4200 can put up with the higher agp freq's... blaber blabber blabber... still on my 1st cup o joe :) Don't mind me...

4. btw did I say welcome to the forums? :)

[IMF-Arel-]

I got my AIW 9700 pro yesterday.
So far I'm quite pleased with it :D

Only wish there was a fix for the Splinter Cell lighting bug
other then switching off AA.

But All in All, I'm very pleased with the entire AIW Bundle.
nVidia and its card makers really need to get something together
to compete with a bundle like AIW. Not to mention the chip itself.
Best of all, ATI's Bundle actually works like a dream. I didn't have
any problems what so ever.

Here's one hard core nVidia fan that has been Converted! :)


IMF-Arel-

[Unit01]

No, just temporarily under a spell :p :D

[cavalier]

Two weeks ago, I swapped by GF3 TI 500 out for a 9700 Pro ($259 at gamestop, BTW).

Since then, I've been completely blown away by the performance and IQ difference between the two cards.

I, too, would have bought an ATI card sooner had the Nvidia crowd here not been dissing the drivers and such. But you know what? ATI can now go toe-to-toe with Nvidia when it comes to the drivers.

The new 3.2 CATS are awesome and with them, I experience NONE of the stuttering which has been reported.

In addition, I have now tested my entire collection of games (35+) and out of both the old and new games, guess how many don't work/perform poorly/ or lockup? ZERO!

That's a real testament to how far ATI has come.

To boot, I am able to overclock this mad mother of a video card from its stock of 310 core/324 memory to a wild 350 core/337 memory. AND THAT'S WITH ATI'S STOCK GPU COOLER AND NO RAM SINKS!

I can now run several of the newer titles which previously crippled my GF3 TI at 1024 rez and medium settings (Rallisport Challenge is one) at 1280 rez with max detail, 6X FSAA and 16X Ansio and these games still blaze away at a fast FPS rate. And I'm running it on kind of a lowly processor (Athlon XP 1800). It shows how well this card scales with the comp's brain. I can't imagine the performance you'd achieve on a higher-end processor.

For any Nvidia card owner considering the leap to ATI but is hesitant, I highly recommend doing so. Here are some other random observations about how the 9700 Pro compares with Nvidia cards:

1. FSAA is WAY better in terms of quality (different sampling method ATI uses versus Nvidia makes a HUGE difference).

2. Mind-blowing 2D image quality (but it's really about 3D and the games, isn't it?)

3. Great overclocking (all ATI cards are known for this, aka 9600)

4. Whisper quiet (compared to the FX/NV30, but then again what isn't).

5. Richer and more vibrant colors which even digital brightness can't compensate for.

6. Better all-around IQ in games.

Again, I can't say enough positive chings about this card and ATI, coming from a guy who was previously scared to make the leap away from Nvidia cards.

My hat's really off to ATI on a job well done.

And a big thanks to Nvidia who, unwittingly with the awful NV30 debacle, convinced me to buy my 9700 Pro.

P.S. --- I, too, installed the 9700 Pro and drivers without doing a fresh install of XP and had not a single problem. Just wiped the old DETS. off the computer with Det Destroyer and did an add/remove of the Nvidia display drivers from the add/remove in control panel.

[Rogozhin]

go for the 9700 AIW

the remote wonder is a nice bonus (i bought it for my 9700)

I wouldn't wait for the 9800aiw even though it has been anounced.

rogo

[Greb Jnnayr]

You have made a good choice. I to was a big fan of Nvidia and was hesitant to buy an ATI card since my previous expierence with the Classic Radeon was a bad one. But my GF4 TI4600 quit working for no apparent reason ( I have proper cooling and Air flow, plus I don't overclock). I had the card for 4 months, and with in that time Visiontek was pratically no more at the time. So I thought the Lifetime Warranty was gone also. So I needed a new video card. So I lurked around the nvnews and Rage3d forums trying to get information about video cards. I figured that if I was going to spend $300 for another GF4Ti4600 that I might as well spend $350 for the 9700Pro since it was getting great reviews and scores. Also I was reading alot about how the drivers have come a long way so I decided to take the plunge. Now I am very happy with the ATI Radeon 9700 Pro. I probably would have bought the Geforce FX had it been available at the time. But if it was then I would have missed the greatness of the Radeon 9700 Pro.

Thank you Nvidia for taking so long on the Geforce FX.

[ATI LoVeR 9700]

Get the All-in-Wonder. Not only does the 9700 Pro have great 3D, the AIW version has some awesome video editing features. The AIW is a great card. Awesome 3D, Radio Remote Control, and great video features.

It's cheap for all that it has on it too.

[Greb Jnnayr]

I just reliesed something about what you wrote in your post.
You are an ATI lover.:p

[ATI LoVeR 9700]

Originally posted by Greb Jnnayr
I just reliesed something about what you wrote in your post.
You are an ATI lover.:p

:eek2:

Does that make me biased or something?

:bleh:

[Greb Jnnayr]

I was just having fun by stating the obvious.:D Seeing your forum name made me chuckle.:D

[digitalwanderer]

ATI suxors, nVidia roxors! :p



(Sorry, had to try it on for size.....I don't think it fits.) :rolleyes:

[Greb Jnnayr]

No NV30 sucks and blows. Ati just sucks.;)

[Kombatant]

Originally posted by digitalwanderer
ATI suxors, nVidia roxors! :p



(Sorry, had to try it on for size.....I don't think it fits.) :rolleyes:

Since I registered today, I might as well slap you here as well :p

As for the card, depends on what you want really. If you really want the AIW features or not, that is. But you can't go wrong with the card. Imagine how i felt back in November when I switched from a GF2Pro :D

[nin_fragile14]

Glad to hear you got the All-In-Wonder. Shutting down...