Jump to content

New ATI Video Cards


LostInSpace
 Share

Recommended Posts

From Gamespot.com:

The graphics company announces faster versions of its cards and a deal that will bundle Half-Life 2 with the new cards.

ATI today announced its newest graphics cards, the Radeon 9800 XT and Radeon 9600 XT. Both are faster versions of the current Radeon 9800 Pro and 9600 Pro and are scheduled to be in stores in October. ATI has also struck a deal with Valve that makes the company the "preferred graphics partner" for Half-Life 2, and those who purchase the two new Radeon cards will receive a free copy of the game when it's released.

The $499 Radeon 9800 XT runs significantly faster than the current card. The core chip speed is 412MHz, and the card is equipped with 256MB of 365MHz DDR2 memory, as compared to 380MHz and 340MHz for the 9800 Pro. Between the raw speed increase and efficiency improvements, ATI expects the new card to have roughly 20 percent better performance than the 9800 Pro. The card also features a new cooling system with a larger, slower fan that's designed to be quieter.

The Radeon 9600 XT will cost less than $200 when it's released this fall. It uses a "low-k" .13-micron design that allows it to be clocked faster and require less power, which means it's quieter and is one of the few current-generation high-performance cards not to require a direct connection to a PC's power supply. ATI said that the chip will run at over 500MHz, and the 128MB of memory will run at over 300MHz.

Both cards have an on-chip temperature sensor that will work with an automatic overclocking feature, called Overdrive, which ATI will release in a driver update near the end of the year. Since card speeds are normally set with a wide safety margin so that they don't malfunction in a very hot room, with Overdrive turned on the chip and memory speeds will increase and be automatically regulated at a level that's faster than the factory settings. ATI suggested that the increases will average around 10 to 15 percent for most situations, and since the overclocking is done in a controlled manner, Overdrive does not void the warranty.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

quote:

LostInSpace:

ATI has also struck a deal with Valve that makes the company the "preferred graphics partner" for Half-Life 2, and those who purchase the two new Radeon cards will receive a free copy of the game when it's released.

talk about a back stab to Doom 3. they had some kind of a deal with id too didn't they?

well no matter since i have a snazzy new computer with a.....NVIDIA card!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

quote:

Originally posted by Commander Elio Jason:

quote:

LostInSpace:

ATI has also struck a deal with Valve that makes the company the "preferred graphics partner" for Half-Life 2, and those who purchase the two new Radeon cards will receive a free copy of the game when it's released.

talk about a back stab to Doom 3. they had some kind of a deal with id too didn't they?

well no matter since i have a snazzy new computer with a.....NVIDIA card!!


From what I could find out it was nothing formal. Just that ID was using ATI to showcase it's game at E3 since NVIDIA cards are showing their age and can't seem to handle DOOM 3 all that well (even Half-life 2 for that matter). The only big news I came across was that ATI was getting blamed for that DOOM3 E3 alpha leak. Anyway, NVIDIA needs to get back to developing video cards instead of concentrating on their image and falling back on their legacy. NVIDIA will not go far that way and could go the way of 3Dfx.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Anyone else think that this current situation with Nvidia and ATI is kind of similar to when 3DFX's reign as the graphics kings company was snatched away by 'the underdog' NVidia? I'd love to see ATI win this, purely for the irony of it all

Link to comment
Share on other sites

quote:


Originally posted by PowerCow:

Anyone else think that this current situation with Nvidia and ATI is kind of similar to when 3DFX's reign as the graphics kings company was snatched away by 'the underdog' NVidia? I'd love to see ATI win this, purely for the irony of it all


HO LEE COW!!!!

*splutter*

PowerCow IS THAT YOU?!?!

/me keels over ass first

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yep it's me

All grown up now, finished school... finished university... and now working as an IT Manager/Consultant, its all turned out well

I still frequent these forums as its the best place to get honest movie reviews on net!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

TO dredge this topic up again...

Anyway I'm looking for a new video card and after looking over some of the tests it looks like the Radeon 9500 pro is the best that fits into my budget. Any opinions on ATI drivers? Good/Bad?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Catalyst drivers have been pretty solid lately although I've heard issues with the last couple of revisions (3.7 with Homeworld 2 and 3.8 with Call of Duty). But who knows, I also heard these issues are with certain motherboards, i.e. Nforce 2. I'm sticking with 3.6 for now. I've had zero problems running on a 9800 Pro.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

quote:

Originally posted by Eclipse:

TO dredge this topic up again...

Anyway I'm looking for a new video card and after looking over some of the tests it looks like the Radeon 9500 pro is the best that fits into my budget. Any opinions on ATI drivers? Good/Bad?

9500 egads check this out ATI DISCONTINUED PRODUCTS. I'd say keep saving that money and just get the 9600xt it'll be ranging in price from $199-$150. The Screen Savers did bench marks on 9800xt/9600xt V. Nvidia cards. 9800xt smoked them all and the 9600xt equalled or was a little better than the nvidia cards. I've been looking for that test on their web site for that benchmarking they did on the show but it's not showing up on their search. I'll keep looking for it though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

quote:

Originally posted by RaptorRage:

Any idea if the Radeon 9600 XT has better overall performance than the Radeon 9700 Pro?

Seems those two might be close in price now, since the Radeon 9800 Pro and 9800 XT have replaced the 9700 Pro as ATI's high end graphics card.

Well I was able to find this on the screen savers it's not the XT card benchmarks but the pro versions ATI 9800/9600 pro V. Nvidia benchmarks but I've read that the XT versions are suppose to be up to 20% better than their pro counterparts.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I realize the 9500 pro is on the discontinued list, but it's perfomring right about the same level or better than the 9600 XT

The other option I've found is 9600 pro which does a nice job of outclassing the FX 5600 Ultra.

Thanks for the info

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have a 9800 Pro running on an Asus P4PE on one of my rigs. No problems at all. Maybe there is an issue with a certain Asus motherboard but I hardly believe it would blanket ALL Asus boards. The specs on these boards, even from a single manufacturer, vary greatly from board to board.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

quote:

Originally posted by Cruis.In:

ive seen an ati 9800 xt or pro cant remember, probably xt for 499 u.s why would anyone pay this for a graphics card? unless they have a lot of money to spare of course.

It's all a status symbol. Take for example a person who owns a Jaguar and one who owns hmmm let's see a Volkswagon. Both cars do the same thing they get you from one place to another. But the Jaguar gets you there in style as compared to the Volkswagon. Same with video cards. I have a Radeon 9000 pro and it does a great job but in the world of video cards it's probably considered a Toyota by now. But hey it does what it's suppose to. Max Payne 2 at 1600x1200 runs perfect. GTA vice city runs perfect as do alot of my favorite games. The only game it really has trouble with at resolution over 1024x768 is Jedi Outcast.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

i have a radeon9000 on my laptop. it runs everything fine for me. im not sure how people can play in 1600*1200 things on screen are too small to me squinting.

but i run all games at 1024 and get no probs. i could use some more memory though. recently played the call of duty demo, its quite good, but i noticed they changed the gun sounds, not so authentic as allied assault sounds.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

quote:

Originally posted by Cruis.In:

i have a radeon9000 on my laptop. it runs everything fine for me. im not sure how people can play in 1600*1200 things on screen are too small to me squinting.

but i run all games at 1024 and get no probs. i could use some more memory though. recently played the call of duty demo, its quite good, but i noticed they changed the gun sounds, not so authentic as allied assault sounds.

Yeah on a laptop screen reading would be difficult at 1600x1200. I just got my new viewsonic G90f 19" perfect flat crt monitor and let me tell you holy cow!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...