ATI video cards

[Gigi3osei]

Hi there.just a quick question,I'm going to swap my worn out FX5200 for an ATI card,these are the options my budget would stand,all of them should do better than the helpless FX I hope...
1 Sapphire radeon 9600xt 256DDr for 112â"š¬ (Euros)
2 ## ## 9800se 256DDr for 140â"š¬
3 ## ## 9800Pro128DDr for 154â"š¬
4 ## ## X700 256DDr for 144â"š¬
5 ## ## X800se 256DDr for 199â"š¬

just need some good advices, they are all AGP bus,and also want to know the best Catalyst version for Il2.
Thanks for your attention ;-)

[Gigi3osei]

Hi there.just a quick question,I'm going to swap my worn out FX5200 for an ATI card,these are the options my budget would stand,all of them should do better than the helpless FX I hope...
1 Sapphire radeon 9600xt 256DDr for 112â"š¬ (Euros)
2 ## ## 9800se 256DDr for 140â"š¬
3 ## ## 9800Pro128DDr for 154â"š¬
4 ## ## X700 256DDr for 144â"š¬
5 ## ## X800se 256DDr for 199â"š¬

just need some good advices, they are all AGP bus,and also want to know the best Catalyst version for Il2.
Thanks for your attention ;-)

[-HH-Quazi]

The best card in your list is the X800 model. But forget about the SE model. Look into the X800XL. Or the X800Pro if they are less expensive across the pond and more inline with your budget.

Now, if you aren't running no better than a 3.0GHz Intel or the equivalent in the AMD cpus', you won't get everything these cards have to offer. If you are running a 2.8GHz or the AMD equivalent, you would still benefit from using them but you will be bottlenecked by the cpu somewhat, but not terribly bad. I would not try to run an X800 series card with anything less than a 2.8GHz cpu.

Anything below a 2.8GHz cpu or the AMD equivalent, the 128MB 256-bit 9800Pro, the 256MB 256-bit 9800Pro, or the 9800XT will do wonderfully.

I know you said you were wanting to go with ATI here, but I would be remiss if I didn't tell you that the Nvidia 6600GT outperforms the 9800Pro's in several reviews and can be had for a decent price. Just something for you to consider.

Oh yea, ATI recommends a minimum of a 300watt PSU to run these cards. And 350watt PSU's for the higher end cards. I have run these cards on less, but not for long as I was scared I might fry other components if my PSU were to fry. It is all about the quality when it comes to using lower watted PSU's to run these cards. It's best not to even take a chance. You should have the proper PSU before you install any of the cards you listed.

[Gigi3osei]

Thanks for the reply,but the choice has to be done between those ones listed,due to budget limitations,the rig has an XP 2000+ as CPU with one Gbyte of DDr333 Mhz RAM,the PSU is a 350Watts unit so no problems here,again I would like to have a good advice between those cards in the list,I know very well that there's plenty of better stuff around but I'll never spend more than that,the X800SE is alreday too much really at 199 ;-)
So please the better compromise between those ones....as I said it has to do better than the FX 5200.....on that machine taht's all i need.
Thanks

[HelSqnProtos]

S~!

I would definetly rule out the x800se. **** card for the money they are asking. Since you don't have much processor sir I wouldn't be going higher than a 9800pro. But I would reiterate what Quazi said about the Nvidia 6600gt. I feel at the moment it is better than a 9800 pro.

[-HH-Quazi]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Gigi3osei:
Thanks for the reply,but the choice has to be done between those ones listed,due to budget limitations,the rig has an XP 2000+ as CPU with one Gbyte of DDr333 Mhz RAM,the PSU is a 350Watts unit so no problems here,again I would like to have a good advice between those cards in the list,I know very well that there's plenty of better stuff around but I'll never spend more than that,the X800SE is alreday too much really at 199 ;-)
So please the better compromise between those ones....as I said it has to do better than the FX 5200.....on that machine taht's all i need.
Thanks </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

OK. It seems I was wrong about the X700 being PCI-E only. I googled and found the X700 in AGP. So get the X700. Why not the X800se? Because your processor isn't fast enough to use it properly imo. So, going by the cards in your list, the X700 would be the better card for your rig.

[Gigi3osei]

Ok we're nearly there :-) so it has to be the
X700,about the 6600,I've found one (not GT,just 6600)256 Mbytes at 144â"š¬
So wich one between these two?
Even though I don't like the Nvidia drivers....

[-HH-Quazi]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Gigi3osei:
Ok we're nearly there :-) so it has to be the
X700,about the 6600,I've found one (not GT,just 6600)256 Mbytes at 144â"š¬
So wich one between these two?
Even though I don't like the Nvidia drivers.... </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I understand what you mean about the Nvidia drivers. Our Nvidia m8's have been having a hard time of it here lately. But Nvidia is bound to finally release a set of drivers that will stop all the issues and troubles these m8's have been dealing with.

As far as the 6600GT, I believe the X700 is ATIs' answer to the 6600GT. And between the two, I can't really pick one over the other, only to say I have heard that the 6600GT is a great card, and that I have used ATI for the past 3yrs and have had no issues out of their drivers that ATI didn't take care of quickly.

If you are ready for a change, and no headaches over drivers, then the ATI X700 will fit the bill nicely. Plus ATI's driver support is the best. We get new Cat drivers every month. And 9 times out of 10, we get frame rate increases with each one. Sometimes only a 1 fps increase. But at times we have gotten nearly 4 fps as an increase. You will not be disappointed as far as the drivers go. And I am sure you will be very well pleased about the performance of the X700.

Just make sure that before you install the ATI drivers, that you completely rid your rig of the Nvidia drivers. If you don't, you will have issues. And if you are unsure of the proper procedure, or the best way to make the driver change, just say so in your next post and myself or another m8 here will give you instructions on how to properly rid yourself of the Nvidia drivers, and the proper procedure to install the ATI Cat drivers. And usually, the latest Cat driver release is the best drivers to use. I update every month.

[Gigi3osei]

Thanks a lot HH you've been very kind,I'm gonna pick the X 700 tomorrow ;-)
On the other machine i use, (an XP 2500+) I have a Radeon 9600,
(not XT, a normal one) with 256DDr with wich I'm pretty happy,so I think the X700 will be a great improvement over my actual Fx5200,
also Catalyst drivers are quite good,and give less problems than Nvidia drivers lately.
Cheers ;-)

P.S.
about gettin rid of Nvidia drivers,isn't it enough to go with the standard disinstallation procedure through the control panel?
Do they leave something behind that has to be dealt with in another manner?

[Urufu_Shinjiro]

use a drivercleaner, you can find one here I think: downloads.guru3d.com Just uninstall through add/remove programs then follow the directions in the drivercleaner readme file.

[-HH-Quazi]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Urufu_Shinjiro:
use a drivercleaner, you can find one here I think: downloads.guru3d.com Just uninstall through add/remove programs then follow the directions in the drivercleaner readme file. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Along with a program called DriverCleaner 3, it is a good idea to get rid of any registry entries referring to the deleted Nvidia drivers before installing the ATI Cat drivers. A program called RegSupreme at http://www.macecraft.com has done an awesome job for me. It has never deleted any registry entry that didn't need getting rid of.

If you have never run a registry cleaning program before, after you delete the Nvidia drivers using DriverCleaner 3, and when you run RegSupreme, it may find many obsolete and useless registry entries. I have seen as many as 1800 obsolete and useless registry entries after running RegSupreme on a friends computer. No worries. Go ahead and selct "all" and click on fix. The program automatically creates a backup of what it removes just in case you find any programs installed not working properly after the cleaning. But myself, and everyone I know that uses this program has never caused this problem after using it to clean out our registries.

Now RegSupreme has a 30-day trial period. So you can download it and use it for 30-days before it asks that you purchase a liscense. There are other registry cleaning programs out there that are free, but I am comfortable telling you to use this one because of my experiences with it.

After using DriverCleaner 3 to get rid of all Nvidia listings, and RegSupreme to get rid of all registry entries related to Nvidia, then you can turn your rig off, remove your Nvidia card and install the X700. When you restart, Windows will want to install the drivers automatically. Do not allow Windows to do this. Press "Cancel" everytime Windows asks if you want it to install the drivers. I think you will be asked twice. Afterwards, you are clear to install the Cat 5.7's from the exe you should have already downloaded and put somewhere on your computer. Most people download the latest Cat drivers and put the program on their desktop for easy access.

As a matter of fact, before you start getting rid of the Nvidia drivers and registry entries, go to http://www.ati.com and get the Cat 5.7 drivers.

Now, there are two downloads for each Cat driver release. One uses the old style Control Panel that requires nothing more than downloading and running after you cancel Windows attempts to install the drivers.

The second option, and the one I would suggest you use, is the Cat 5.7's with the Catalyst Control Panel, better known as the CCC. In order to use the CCC, you must do an Express Windows Update and make sure you have the latest version of Net Framework 1.1 If you do a Windows Update using the Express Windows Update and it finds a Net Framework 1.1 update for you, then install this, restart your computer if it is required, and then go back and run another Express Windows Update. If at this time around it finds no more updates for Net Framework 1.1, then run another Windows Update using the Custom button because there is a patch available for Net Framework 1.1 and this is the only way to get it. The Express update is for critical updates and the Custom is for optional updates. The Net Framework 1.1 patch is only found using the Custom (optional) updates. Once Net Framework 1.1 is updated and patched, then you are ready to install the Cat 5.7's with the CCC. After the driver install you will be asked to restart your rig. Once restarted, you can double click on the ATI Catalyst icon on your desktop and start getting familar with the CCC. It is an awesome program.

I hope this covers everything enough to where you will not have any issues making the switch to the X700 m8. Good luck!

[Gigi3osei]

http://forums.ubi.com/images/smilies/11.gif great...thanks a lot http://forums.ubi.com/images/smilies/16x16_smiley-wink.gif