It's nearly my B-Day and I am upgrading a video card

[Kruno]

My current video card is a Geforce 3 standard.
I am thinking of buying an Ati Radeon 9700 soon.

I want to know if:

Best brand (I am currently looking for a Gigabyte)?

2d quality will surpase my Leadtek GF3?

Video and DVD quality will surpase my GF3? (remember by video I am looking forward to all mpegs, Avi's etc... to increase in quality and all DVD's to increase as well in quality)

Will all games be able to play 1024x768 32bpp with max FSAA (6x) and AF (16x with TF)?

Issues with new games like Neverwinter Nights and other similar games?

Cost from Australian retailer?

Thanks

PS: (GF4 [all flavours] are a rubbish upgrade IMO, QAA doesn't have any filtering or not as much)

[StealthHawk]

Originally posted by K.I.L.E.R
Will all games be able to play 1024x768 32bpp with max AA (8x) and AF (16x with TF)?

8x FSAA?

anyway, once NV30 arrives R9700Pro prices should drop down a little too, so it certainly will be a good time to upgrade :)

[Raptorman]

Shop around and you can get it for around $300.

You should be able to play *all* your games at 6x AA, and 16x AF. If that doesn't work, just bring it down to 4x AA, and 16x AA. Though you will see a slight difference between the two (and that's at 1280x1024). So, yes at 1024x768... definetely will be capable of that.

Qualty is all around better than a GF3s. In every catagory imo.

[Kruno]

How about my crappy quality pr0n movies that run at 320x240? Will they look nice and clear than blocky and crappy?

[ragejg]

There's some technology on ATI's new (9000, 9500, 9700) cards that deals with the blockiness of cheap video footage, and if I remember correctly, it works how it says it works. An early review of a 9000 spoke of this. I don't remember who did the review tho...

-r-a-g-e-j-g-

[Bigus Dickus]

No, Fullstream technology only helps if the original content was encoded with that in mind I believe. Could be wrong though. At the very least, the playback codec must support it through a plugin.

[creedamd]

Originally posted by K.I.L.E.R
How about my crappy quality pr0n movies that run at 320x240? Will they look nice and clear than blocky and crappy?

you need better sources, you should't be fawking around with that low quality shat.

[Kruno]

Any such plugins around for WMP and other players?


Originally posted by Bigus Dickus
No, Fullstream technology only helps if the original content was encoded with that in mind I believe. Could be wrong though. At the very least, the playback codec must support it through a plugin.

[thcdru2k]

will the r9700 make my pr0n look better lol...

[StealthHawk]

Originally posted by K.I.L.E.R
How about my crappy quality pr0n movies that run at 320x240? Will they look nice and clear than blocky and crappy?

they will look blurry and crappy instead of blocky and crappy :p

[gravioli]

Originally posted by K.I.L.E.R

Best brand (I am currently looking for a Gigabyte)?
Doesn't matter that much. Some have better cooling than others. I am using a "made by ATI" 9700 Pro and it works fine.
2d quality will surpase my Leadtek GF3?
I upgraded from a Gainward GF3 and the 2D quality is essentially the same IMO.
Video and DVD quality will surpase my GF3? (remember by video I am looking forward to all mpegs, Avi's etc... to increase in quality and all DVD's to increase as well in quality)
I think the video and DVD quality are outstanding on the 9700. Note: IMO, the ATI DVD Player has better image quality than PowerDVD XP 4.0 even though it uses the same engine, but if you want more features then I would use WinDVD or PowerDVD instead of the ATI Player.
Will all games be able to play 1024x768 32bpp with max FSAA (6x) and AF (16x with TF)?
"All games"? You've got to be kidding right? Anyway, the 9700 should get about the same performance with 6xAA and 16xAF that your GF3 had in 1024x768x32 without AA and AF.
Issues with new games like Neverwinter Nights and other similar games?
Haven't had any issues yet. BTW, you won't be able to use shiny water in NWN until BioWare releases the 1.28 NWN patch.
Cost from Australian retailer?
I have no idea.

[Kruno]

Haven't had any issues yet. BTW, you won't be able to use shiny water in NWN until BioWare releases the 1.28 NWN patch.

It's actually with hte 1.27 patch. :)
That should be out soon I heard anyway. :)

Thanks.

I seen it for $750 at one retailer, I wonder how much is it for the most expensive brand.
Which has the best defualt colling solution?

[AngelGraves13]

porn movies?? I don't look at porn anymore... but the Nv30 will have this technology too...that is making the movies look better.

[Bigus Dickus]

Originally posted by K.I.L.E.R
Any such plugins around for WMP and other players? I think there is a plugin for WMP, but not for other players yet. Could be wrong about that... but I'm pretty sure that, at least a month or so ago, there was just one player that had a plugin, and I'm pretty sure it was M$'s.

[Megatron]

Originally posted by Bigus Dickus
No, Fullstream technology only helps if the original content was encoded with that in mind I believe. Could be wrong though.

I think you are correct on that, and unless Im mistaken i think you need a fullstream enhanced player? (perhaps i am full o crap on that..not positive..i just thought i remembered something about a FS enhanced real player or something...)

[Chalnoth]

Kiler, now that I have a Radeon 9700 in my system, I would suggest against it. The drivers right now are, well, ****ty. The performance is vastly below where it should be (That doesn't mean it's bad...usually...just that it should be far better). There are also silly stupid bugs that just shouldn't be there.

Examples:
1. Stuttering in a few games in high-quality modes (FSAA/Aniso). Two examples are NWN and the Tenebrae mod for Quake.

2. Z-buffer errors in a few games, such as Morrowind.

3. If I have FSAA enabled when starting Baldur's Gate 2, the screen goes mostly black. With anisotropic enabled, the screen is divided into a series of blocks. Though there's no problem in turning these off, it's just a hassle that I don't have to deal with on my GeForce4.

So yeah, the Radeon 9700 is nice...when it works. The drivers still have a LONG way to go, though.

[Kruno]

Ahh, thanks guys.

I'll hold out for a now. :)

[druga runda]

Nahh... buy 9500 PRO... now that is the card for today, id won't cost nearly as much, and by this time next year, you will be upgrading again to NV40 :D

[Smokey]

Originally posted by K.I.L.E.R
Ahh, thanks guys.

I'll hold out for a now. :)

Ask your folks to put the money aside until early next year ;)
But Bloody hell!! $750 AUS :eek: My first car cost me $1500 :D