Took the 9800 Pro plunge

[Typedef Enum]

Just thought I would tip my cap to the engineering staff at ATI for producing such an excellent product. I haven't had but 1 day to play with this product, but already I can tell you that there's no looking back.

The IQ of this board makes nVidia's offerings look pitiful in comparison...and I really mean that. The filtering is clearly better looking, and the AA cannot be compared. It's laughable to even consider doing an Apples to Apples comparison.

Anyhow, this just drives home the point about competition. Without it, we would definitely be stuck with crap like Quincunx AA, etc forever and a day.

On a sidenote...one thing I would welcome is some form of Digital Vibrance. It seems a lot of people have made similar observations/requests...

[Typedef Enum]

No...

It's definitely not too dark (dark, as in the old days when trying to get nVidia hardware to look bright during the 3dfx era). I think DV is a nice option to have, and almost always kept it at around 60% or so.

[Shaitan]

I like the nVidia Dig Vib.. And it would be cool if ai had a similar feature. I do use 3Deep with my Ati 9700 Pro (as well as with all my nVidia cards) 3Deep does help a tad.

[Moose]

Originally posted by Typedef Enum
The IQ of this board makes nVidia's offerings look pitiful in comparison...and I really mean that. The filtering is clearly better looking, and the AA cannot be compared. It's laughable to even consider doing an Apples to Apples comparison.


I agree. I went from a TI4600 to a R9700 and it was like someone wiped the layer of vaseline off my screen.

I'll probably wait for the next gen to upgrade again (although the AIW9800 would be very tempting), but there is no way I'm going to even consider Nvidia until they improve their AF and AA. I've been totally spoiled by ATI's IQ.

There just is no comparison period.

[Typedef Enum]

Yeah...

I bounced the idea of waiting on the NV35, but it ultimately came down to this very basic idea: NV35 is not going to magically bring significant advances in IQ to the table, like the R3xx series.

So, even if it's faster than the 9800 Pro, it's still going to look like ass.

I like your vaseline comparison...spot on.

[GlowStick]

Congrats Typedef Enum! Welcome to the club!

Give us details VisionTek, Built By ATi?

All of us VisionTek'ers need to have certin days where we all wear our T-Shirt blareing!

Then get secret handsakes etc.

[Typedef Enum]

I bought this one from Best Buy...It's an ATI board. I'm going to start going to Frye's over the next 10 days, and if I spot a VisionTek board, I'm going to grab it.

They've always been very good to me in the past...

[GlowStick]

Originally posted by Typedef Enum
I bought this one from Best Buy...It's an ATI board. I'm going to start going to Frye's over the next 10 days, and if I spot a VisionTek board, I'm going to grab it.

They've always been very good to me in the past...

Haha cool idea, but rember the VisionTek comes with no games : (

[dohcmark8]

I would be happy to own one, just for the sheer fact that a bunch of canucks concieved and designed this.

(I'm american though):beer:

[Typedef Enum]

Hmmm...

I never even bothered to check the ATI CD. Are you saying that it came with free games? (I'm just too lazy to pull out the box!)

[farmer]

Just a quick question here guys. I have a 9800 Pro coming this week in a new system and was wondering what "Tweak Utility" worked best for these cards. I've been using Riva Tuner for a while and have learned my way around it somewhat and sorta kinda hate to change if it is a good option for the ATI cards. Hope someone can help me out here....

Later....

[saturnotaku]

I could be wrong, but the only thing you can do with RivaTuner on an ATI card is overclock and do the soft-9700 mod. You can't change things like anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering with it. For that, the best program is the ATI control panel. It's still far and away better than any NVIDIA control panel I've used. If you want some detailed tweaking options, the only major player I've found is Rage3D Tweak. I would normally recommend Radeonator, but that project is dead and for that I shed a tear. :(

[SnakeEyes]

Originally posted by Typedef Enum
Hmmm...

I never even bothered to check the ATI CD. Are you saying that it came with free games? (I'm just too lazy to pull out the box!)
Nope. I have the retail ATI 9700 Pro. No games came with it either. Not that it's a problem, since hopefully we have our own games that we've been looking forward to using it with anyway. ;)

[5150 Joker]

Originally posted by dohcmark8
I would be happy to own one, just for the sheer fact that a bunch of canucks concieved and designed this.

(I'm american though):beer:

Americans from California designed it. :beer:

[GlowStick]

Originally posted by 5150 Joker
Americans from California designed it. :beer:

Yea, i read that article, they say all the stuff shifted to cali.

[Typedef Enum]

Just thought I would also mention...

I have just begun O/C'ing the card, and I'm now up to 420/380 (core/memory). I played a straight hour of UT2003 and other games, at extreme settings (12x10 and 16x12 with 4xAA and 16x A.F.), and didn't have a single lockup and/or visual error.

I think before it's all said and done, I can get this baby up to 450/400...

That's with stock cooling BTW...and no modifications.

[druga runda]

Originally posted by Typedef Enum
Just thought I would also mention...

I have just begun O/C'ing the card, and I'm now up to 420/380 (core/memory). I played a straight hour of UT2003 and other games, at extreme settings (12x10 and 16x12 with 4xAA and 16x A.F.), and didn't have a single lockup and/or visual error.

I think before it's all said and done, I can get this baby up to 450/400...

That's with stock cooling BTW...and no modifications.

Now that is a Kick A$$ card...

[ClyssaN]

Just thought I would also mention...

I have just begun O/C'ing the card, and I'm now up to 420/380 (core/memory). I played a straight hour of UT2003 and other games, at extreme settings (12x10 and 16x12 with 4xAA and 16x A.F.), and didn't have a single lockup and/or visual error.

I think before it's all said and done, I can get this baby up to 450/400...

That's with stock cooling BTW...and no modifications.


Now, probably you will think twice before change it for a VisionTek board :)

[Hellbinder]

On a sidenote...one thing I would welcome is some form of Digital Vibrance. It seems a lot of people have made similar observations/requests...

Interesting thing about this subject.

There are several posters at Rage3d who recently moved away from Nvidia to ATi. usually there is some comment about digital Vibrance. However.. almost witout exception somewhere down in the thread they come back and say *never mind, I realize this looks much better. I can see all kinds of details in the textures etc that i never could with my Nvidia card. Also I realized that the colors with DV are not better just *overbrighted*, almost unnatural etc etc etc" {[/end little story]

IMO, DV does not make the overall quality look better. It simplky overbrights the colors so they stick out more. They end up with a little background glare etc. Not very natural looking at all. Besides with the whole reason for DV is the general lack of color clarity that Nvidias DEfault Hardware provides. If you would like to see what ATi has to offer then use Rage3d tweak and enable "Colorfill". It is very nice i think you will like it.

[Hellbinder]

BTW type..

I know you are a proud owner of a Parhelia also. What was your impression of FAA VS ATi's 4x and 6x FSAA??? Speaking of Quality not speed of course.

[ClyssaN]

Originally posted by Hellbinder
BTW type..

I know you are a proud owner of a Parhelia also. What was your impression of FAA VS ATi's 4x and 6x FSAA??? Speaking of Quality not speed of course.

Good question. Is the IQ Similar Typedef Enum ?!

[ibGoodEnuf]

Congrats Type,

Your overclock #s are astounding. I can do 430/370 before artifacts. I hope you enjoy your new card!

[Typedef Enum]

I'm just leaving work, so I'll just say this quickly...

FAA on the Parhelia is an excellent idea/feature. I hope to God nVidia/ATI find a way to make this thing work 100% of the time...and that, into and of itself, is hte biggest drawback of the feature. Matrox were never able to get it to work 100% of the time.

Pretty much everybody knows that it was an issue @ the HW level, and could never really be fixed via drivers.

In terms of the whole package...Best looking, IJW (It Just Works), etc. etc. There's no question that ATI is the King of the hill.

At the present time, nVidia has nothing to offer but a bunch of re-tread legacy AA modes. Nothing personal...Quincunx had a purpose back in the day, but it looks absolutely hideous compared to anything in the 9800P arensal. The other modes attempt to bridge the gap, but they don't cut the mustard. They're either too slow, or just simply look inferior.

I mean, look @ some of the reviews that use that circular image with varying samples comparing the R3xx to the FX...In most cases, it's extremely difficuly to even distinguish between nVidia's 2x mode and everything else! It gets even worse once you factor in performance.

At the end of the day, the only thing you can really say is that nVidia needs to just completely _gut_ their hardware of all those GF3-era AA modes (and/or their drivers, as it's clear that 1/2 the modes are a combo of hardware/driver), and just come up with something comparative to what ATI's now doing.

[GlowStick]

Thx for the matrox info.

Truthfully, after my Multi-Montior experinces, i decided i 'cant live' with out 3 monitors, 2 is now, just to little!!!

Im consideing building a box for web browsing etc. with the new Matrox card thats just for superior 2d with 3 montitors : P

[Typedef Enum]

I've got triple head rolling with this 9800 Pro. I bought a cheap Radeon 7000 PCI about 4 weeks ago, and it works like a charm.