Curse

TomislavXP · May 02, 2005, 06:19 PM // 18:19

I'm buying Ati Radeon 9600XT 256MB, so is this good enough to reach over 20 FPS?

swaaye · May 02, 2005, 06:37 PM // 18:37

I'd buy a 9800PRO instead, that's for sure. They are cheap on Newegg.
http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Produ...82E16814102477

Another really great option would be a GeForce 6600GT.
http://www2.newegg.com/Product/Produ...82E16814150080

256MB does not make a card superior, btw. If you are concerned about that. A 9800PRO will utterly destroy a 9600XT. 9600XT will run the game fine though.

TomislavXP · May 02, 2005, 07:09 PM // 19:09

Is this for sure? I don't want to waste my money... will the frames per second raise? How much If it's a 6 PFS raise, it's not very impressive then.

edit: the frequency of 9800PRO is 380, an 9600xt 500! Is that better or worse?

TomislavXP · May 02, 2005, 07:41 PM // 19:41

And which is the best card for 200$?
Please, somebody...

swaaye · May 02, 2005, 08:44 PM // 20:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by TomislavXP

And which is the best card for 200$?
Please, somebody...

The best card for around $200 is the geforce 6600gt. Or perhaps a plain 6800. Both are a lot faster than a 9600XT.

http://www20.graphics.tomshardware.c...charts-08.html
http://www20.graphics.tomshardware.c...charts-05.html
Note: The 6600GT is too new for these charts. It's about as fast as a 9800XT though.

beJames · May 02, 2005, 08:48 PM // 20:48

I have an ATI 9600XT, works perfectly fine. No lag outs, no slow downs, everything on high/maxed.

EDIT:
I have a 9600XT 256meg, with max settings, 1280x1024x, 4xaa, 2xaf
-INFERNO2K

How did you set the AF? I only see AA in the options =\

INFERNO2K · May 02, 2005, 09:02 PM // 21:02

Swayye you're wrong.

I have a 9600XT 256meg, with max settings, 1280x1024x, 4xaa, 2xaf
no slowdowns whatsoever, everything is fast and beautiful running perfect.

9600XT is a great budget card, make sure you get the 256meg version.

swaaye · May 02, 2005, 09:15 PM // 21:15

It is a good card, as long as it's around $100 IMO. It's not worth buying if it's close to a 9800PRO in price.

256MB RAM will not help a 9600. Don't argue with me on that. I promise you it's the truth. A 9700PRO with 128MB can run this game with 4X AA 1680x1050 playably. 256MB RAM is only needed on a couple of games and at very high resolutions with lots of AA on. A 9600 does not have the fillrate to push those resolutions, nor the memory bandwidth.

9600 non-XT with 256MB is going to be a ripoff as they'll use cheap, slow DDR chips because the faster chips are too expensive to be worth equipping on a low-mid range card. It's the same reason you won't see a 256MB Geforce 6600GT but do see 6600 non-GT 256MB. The GT uses expensive GDDR3 at 500Mhz while the non-GT uses regular DDR1 at like 250-350Mhz.

Look at the Tom's Hardware links in my previous post. His benchmarks tell all and are the best show of all of the modern cards you will find anywhere.

I would not buy a 9600 anymore. They were good a year or two ago, but a plain 6600 can be had for the same price and will be faster. A 6600GT is completely out of any 9600's league, and will defeat 9800 and even X700 which is supposed to be its peer.

My notebook actually has a Mobility Radeon 9600 in it. It runs the game ok, but my Radeon 9700 in my desktop runs it quite a bit better and at a higher resolution. Radeon 9700 non-pro is a bit faster than a 9600XT.

soldonz · May 02, 2005, 11:06 PM // 23:06

My specs: CPU: Athlon 2200+. Video Card: 9600XT 128mb, Ram: 1GB.

Game runs fine at 1024x768 at the best possible settings in game and best performance at driver settings. However, there is a minor pause when you turn around quickly. (or it may be just random.. ) Not sure if this is caused by the lack of ram on video card..

Game is certainly playable and graphic is stunning

.

Pharalon · May 02, 2005, 11:28 PM // 23:28

I've got a 9600XT, running at 1280x960,2xAA, everything else max, and I generally sit on about 40FPS.

TomislavXP · May 03, 2005, 04:08 AM // 04:08

After reading some reviews on the net, I'll choose nvidia GeForce 6600GT. It is the ultimate choice for average gamer. I think. BTW, By the end of the week, finally I'll receive GW, so see you soon...

sierebe · May 03, 2005, 01:02 PM // 13:02

I bought the ATI 9550 for €60. Works great at 1280x960

swaaye · May 03, 2005, 07:44 PM // 19:44

A 9550 is a good choice for a cheap card. It is what I would recommend to anyone who wants to pay the absolute minimum. I would not buy anything lower on the Radeon side. On the Geforce side I'd stick with 6200 or up. Also try very hard to find one with a 128-bit memory bus. Most of the 9550s have 64-bit memory busses and that is not good.

If you want to upgrade from a card that can play, but you want faster, I wouldn't do anything less than a 6600GT (128-bit) or Radeon 9800PRO (256-bit). This would be for people with low-end Geforce FX cards like <5700 or people with Geforce 4TI/4MX/lower. Radeons 9200 and down.

If you are wondering where you stand right now, or want to see what a possible gain would be, check out this Tom's Hardware guide: (note it lacks Geforce 6600. 6600 sits around a Radeon 9800PRO or 9800XT though).
http://graphics.tomshardware.com/gra...004/index.html

Zexion · May 08, 2005, 07:45 PM // 19:45

Well, I have both 9800 PRO and 9600 XT.
They are both great, though they conflict with MSI boards.
And with the 9800 PRO i run at 75 FPS with 2 GHz and 1024 MB RAM, and 9600 XT runs 30 FPS at 3 GHz and 512 MB RAM.

_Zexion