Bargain?

[3rd gen noob]

i'm kind of looking for a mid-range video card (for hl2 and doom3)
i'm considering anything up to approx £150
and then i found this (http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=48146) card.
it's a geforce fx5600 ultra for less than £100

i don't know if there is something wrong with that picture...?
it seems to good to be true

anyway, is this card good enough to play up coming games (hl2 and doom3 mainly) along with the rest of my system (athlon 2700, 512mb ram etc)...?

thanks in advance for any advice/help

[3rd gen noob]

forget it, it's not the full featured card
no video in and the ramdac is only 270MHz

:'(

[Livy]

Geforce FX5600 256MB DDR AGP RP DVI VO £115

http://www.dabs.com/value/value.asp?s=374

[DarthInsinuate]

you should look for 9600pro cards, they're around £120 lookit (http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=51440)

and based on the DX9 benchmarks, that are starting to arrive, Nvidia's performance is shocking

also your system is one step short of being a monster

[3rd gen noob]

Originally posted by Livy@22 September 2003 - 14:12
Geforce FX5600 256MB DDR AGP RP DVI VO £115

http://www.dabs.com/value/value.asp?s=374
it's not the ultra though, and it doesn't have video in either :(

thanks anyway though, this one looks good:

Geforce FX5600 Ultra 128MB DDR AGP RP ViVo DVI VO
Mfr code: I-5600U-F3F3S
Quicklinx: 2HZLWS

£139

[3rd gen noob]

Originally posted by DarthInsinuate@22 September 2003 - 14:13
you should look for 9600pro cards, they're around £120 lookit (http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=51440)

and based on the DX9 benchmarks, that are starting to arrive, Nvidia's performance is shocking

also your system is one step short of being a monster
yeah, i wasn't sure whether to get radeon or nvidia...that card does look pretty tempting though :D
i'd need to oc the 9600 though to get really good performance, but that shouldn't be a problem...

p.s. thanks for the compliment on my spec...i'm gonna get another 512meg of ram at christmas too...

[3rd gen noob]

ok, just bought that card you linked to Darth...

i think i've been to that page before, i can vaguely remember reading some of the reviews there...

anyway, hopefully this video card will live up to my expectations, it can't be any worse than a GeForce 3Ti 200 64MB anyway...:D

thanks for advice anyway, Darth and Livy

[adamp2p]

here is a review of that (similar card, same GPU) card...apparently is does very well...
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/fic-r96p.html

plus, Rage3d tweak is gnarly! It is an excellent Radeon tweaker, with a built in overclocker...

[3rd gen noob]

yeah, it does look pretty good...:D
i just hope it lives up to my standards...

thanks for the link :D

[adamp2p]

TYAN Tachyon G9600 PRO Graphics Card Review (http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/tyan-tachyon-g9600pro.html)

http://www.xbitlabs.com/images/video/tyan-tachyon-g9600pro/q3a.gif

http://www.xbitlabs.com/images/video/tyan-tachyon-g9600pro/q3a_fsaa_af.gif

http://www.xbitlabs.com/images/video/tyan-tachyon-g9600pro/rtcw.gif

http://www.xbitlabs.com/images/video/tyan-tachyon-g9600pro/rtcw_fsaa_af.gif


So, we have just tested a Tyan Tachyon G9600 PRO graphics card based on the ATI RADEON 9600 PRO chip. The product left a good overall impression, although does have certain drawbacks.

First of all, I don’t quite understand why the manufacturer used 3.6ns memory chips. Moreover, it’s already overclocked by the manufacturer as its nominal frequency is 275MHz (550MHz DDR). This doesn’t look like Tyan, a company known for its super-reliable server products. Usually, graphics cards of the RADEON 9600 PRO class are equipped with 2.8-3.3ns memory. The Tyan Tachyon G9600 PRO card seems to be targeted at enthusiastic users and overclockers, but doesn’t suit exactly for this type of buyers. All others should be glad to have a reliable monitoring and cooler control systems. Moreover, the version with two DVI-I outputs may be of interest to those people who edit graphics on two LCD displays. By the way, such a card would be a unique product, as it would be the first non-professional RADEON 9600 PRO based card to feature two digital connectors.

As for manufacture quality, it’s very high, as by any product from Tyan. The performance level of the card is quite high, too, although doesn’t reach Tyan Tachyon G9500 PRO, because the latter boasts 8 pipelines against only 4 pipelines by the newcomer. Of course, the higher frequency of 9600 PRO makes up for this to some extent, but still is not enough.

The recommended price of Tachyon G9600 PRO is $195, and the card is already in stores. So, if you want to buy a relatively inexpensive DirectX 9.0-compatible card with a diagnostics system, Tyan Tachyon G9600 PRO may suit you. And if you want to have a solution with two DVI-I outputs, you’d better take it from Tyan and no one else. In any other case, you may want to look for a card with faster memory chips.

Highs:

Diagnostic system;
Fan rotation control system;
Overclocking options;
High production quality;
Low noise.
Lows:

Insufficient contact between the memory chips and the heatsink;
Slow memory, already overclocked by the manufacturer;
Few accessories.


Yes, a rather lengthy post...I am trying to sum the lot of it up for you...looks like you made a nice buy. B)

[3rd gen noob]

i kind of skimmed the review, making note of the con stated in the conclusion
i'm also wondering why they used such apparently 'slow' memory...

hopefully it's not gonna matter hugely anyway, but it does look like a good budget/middle range card

[DarthInsinuate]

skimming through i don't think it mentioned the card has a temp. sensor

i don't really get all those finer details - i just know its a 9600pro and its cheap

[adamp2p]

3rd gen, my friend;

you are going to be really happy with that card. I am stoked because you are going to be stoked on that card. It appears to me that if well overclocked, you can get the performance of the 9500 pro, which is one badass sample (no hiccups in games or anything at all)...Midnight Club 2 is excellent with my 9500 softmod/pro, I am sure you will be a Radeon freak after you try one. The image quality boost itself from the Radeon series will also be a cause for a "yipppie!"

Anyways, dude, make sure that you, after, of course, downloading and installing the newest Catalyst driver set (it depends on your preference, I personally use Omega's driver set as it has the 9500non pro>9500 pro mod integrated into the install, and they are nice too...) and control panel that you download and install (doesen't one go with the other...make sure NOT to download the whole package...download the driver and control panel and NOT the "package for high speed connections" as you are not getting the "All in Wonder card series")

After installing the drivers and connecting the card to the power source (the card will probably be one freaking powerhog) and achieving stability, install Rage 3d tweak, the best radeon tweaker (http://www.rage3d.com/r3dtweak/)

And Follow this guide as it walks you throught the more advanced feature set of Rage 3d Tweak... (http://www.techspot.com/tweaks/radeon/index.shtml)

Anyways, dude, I am happy for ya, keep us updated...

your bud :) B)

[3rd gen noob]

thanks for the advice :D
i downloaded this driver set from the ati site today:

wxp-w2k-catalyst-7-93-030812a1-010735c-efg.exe

heard some bad stories about older ati drivers (hasn't everyone) so i'm not taking my chances with the ones that come with the card...

i'll take a look at the rage site, but i'm not really looking to overclock as soon as i get it
i'll try running for a period at standard speeds, if i want more performance (hopefully i won't) then i'll give it a go

i overclocked the card i have just now (geforce 3ti200) from 175/400 to a stable 209/500, so i know of the huge benefits, but hopefully i won't need to overclock too soon...

anyway, i should have the card and my new hard drive any time between 8am and 6pm today...i'm looking forward to it :D

[adamp2p]

From that X bit article it seems that the card is already a little overclocked from the default speeds. You should not need to overclock to see massive improvements from your older card. Just make sure to play with the Rage 3d app in "advanced tweaker mode." For sure you should set "3dNow" because you have an AMD based system. BTW, do you overclock that?

[3rd gen noob]

Originally posted by adamp2p@23 September 2003 - 05:05
From that X bit article it seems that the card is already a little overclocked from the default speeds.  You should not need to overclock to see massive improvements from your older card.  Just make sure to play with the Rage 3d app in "advanced tweaker mode."  For sure you should set "3dNow" because you have an AMD based system.  BTW, do you overclock that?
ok, will do
thanks for the help, again :D

i've not really overclocked my current cpu, i only did it once a wee while ago...
went up about 50MHz (not a huge difference, but enough to 'transform' my 2700 into a 2800...

i think my current setup is pretty good anyway, with regards to cpu performance, i don't really work it hard, only some games and occasional movie conversion...