Gah, quick tech question.. can't help myself.Follow

Damn EQ and your awesome graphics!

Alright... here's the deal. I recently upgraded to 1 gig of ram and oh.. my.. god.. The game ran SOOO smooth, and so I turned the textures up a bit. Still, the game runs alright, but laggy after playing for a few hours. I really like the look, but even the slightest lag gets me kinda wanting to upgrade. SO!

Question number 1:

What's better? The Radeon 9600 XT 256 meg OR the Radeon 9800 XT 128? I've heard that the 128 is better.. But why? Both cost the same, but the 256 is twice the memory, so there has to be something good.

Question number 2:

What the difference in

SAPPHIRE ATI RADEON 9600XT Video Card, 256MB DDR
DIAMOND ATI RADEON 9600XT Video Card, 256MB DDR
Info-Tek ATI RADEON 9600XT Video Card, 256MB DDR
POWERCOLOR ATI RADEON 9600XT Video Card, 256MB
Rosewill ATI RADEON 9600XT Video Card, 256MB DDR
Jetway ATI RADEON 9600XT Video Card, 256MB DDR
ABIT ATI RADEON 9600XT Video Card, 256MB DDR

It's the same card.. but with different names? How do I know which one to get?

Please reply:) Payday's comin'!






Edited, Wed Dec 8 03:37:32 2004 by Kensi

Disclaimer: I've studied graphics cards a bit but am by no means an expert at them. So take my advice for what it's worth.

Question 1:

The Radeon 9800 XT has different hardware that make it internally better than the 9600. They may have more pipelines so that even though there is less memory, more information can move to and from the memory. It also might have a higher internal clock speed which would boost performance. I'm not sure what exact features that the 9800 offers over the 9600, but I'm sure it's something within those lines.

Question 2:

Those are all different brands of cards. Basically, a manufacturer will take the basic chip set (which is the 9600XT) and impliment it on their card. Some brands are more reliable than others or offer better tech support. I'd research which brand has a good and reliable history and go from there.

Also worth pointing out: EQ2 does have some serious memory leaks. It doesn't clear out the memory quite right after you zone, so no matter how much memory you have, it'll eventually get used up. I played on a 3.4 GHz Pentium with an x800 and a gig of ram and it slowed down; granted it took 24 hours, but it still slowed down. Just something to consider before spending money on a new graphics card.

Let's compare it this way.


Would you rather have an Athlon 2100+ XP with a Gig of DDR266 ram, or an Athlon 64 3200+ with 512 megs of DDR400 ram.


The 9600 is just a slower card with more ram. The 9800 is just an all around faster card. It doesn't have as much ram, but it can move info in and out of the ram it has much faster than the 9600.

This will bring up the question of what you are running now? You may not want to go to a X800 Pro (Great choice One and Only), but, if you are running something like a 9800pro, upgrading to a 9800XT is a waste of money.

What I am say is, if the card you have now is only a little slower than the 9600 or 9800, then upgradeing is going to cost a lot and give you very little performance boost. Check E-bay and see how much your current card sells for and just save for a big upgrade. (unless of course you are running a Geforce3, or a Radeon 8500 or something, then by all means get rid of it ASAP)

Mine is an AGP 8x/4x. I think the X850 is PCI Express.

Oh, forgot to say that I'm using a Radeon 9600 All-In-Wonder 128 meg. Yea.. definately need to upgrade. So the Radeon 9800 XT 128 meg here I come!:) Thanks guys;)

I see this on Pricewatch

RADEON X800 SE 256mb AGP

For $310

This is like $100 than the 9800.


I am sure it will be even lower after the holidays. A little patience may go a long way.

Just never buy PC parts in the retail stores like Bestbuy or CompUsa. Check out the sites like Pricewatch, Bizrate, etc..

I'm getting a Radeon 9800 256 Meg for 205 dollars.. Yay;)

simple and cheap solution.

stop being a noob user and time to learn about computers.

spend 30 bucks and buy a VGA cooler for your ATI card. most computer stores sell em. compusa, micro center, or buy online.

next, welcome to the world of overclocking !

look on google for atitools or simply just type in ati overclocking. there is nothing seriously hard about this process.

you will need to install new drivers for your video card. basicly they are the same drivers, but modified so that it can be overclocked(OC) most video cards come "locked" meaning you cant OC them, or if you do they reset back to thier default values.


now, with your cooler installed and your new drivers installed, its all about configuring the software to OC your card. this is a very cheap solution, and most of the time you will get the performace of the next model video card in the upgrade. like a 9600 to a 9700 or maybe more. you never said what card you have now, but here are some core values for a range of cards.

Geforce 2 mx200 DDR: stock 175/266 max:240/310 (64 bit)
Geforce 2 mx400 DDR: stock 200/266 max:235/310 (64 bit)
Geforce 2 TI: stock 250/400 max:285/475 (BAD overclocker)
Geforce 3 ti200 DDR: stock 175/400 max:230/480
Geforce 4 mx420 SDR: stock 250/166 max:275/180 (BAD overclocker)
Geforce 4 mx440 DDR: stock 270/400 max:285/450
Geforce 4 ti 4200 128mg: stock 250/500 max:310/610
Geforce fx5200: stock 250/400 max: 320/480
Geforce fx5600: stock 325/550 max: 400/610
Geforce 6800: stock 325/700 max: 390/830
Geforce 6800GT: stock 350/1000 max: 400/1100
Radeon 9000: stock 250/400 max:280/450
Radeon 9200: stock 250/400 max:290/440
Radeon 9550: stock 250/400 max:390/460
Radeon 9600: stock 325/400 max:420/500 (GREAT Overclocker)
Radeon 9600 pro: stock 400/600 max:520/710 (GREAT overclocker)
Radeon 9600 XT: stock 500/600 max:560/680
Radeon 9800 pro: stock 380/680 max:420/770

now what you need to do is figure out where in between the stock and max values of your core and memory that you can run your card at.

i would kick it up about 15% to 20% and start and test it out for a few hours running 3dbenchmark03. after that, if your feeling brave just keep going up by 5%. you should be able to reach max core values with a name brand cooler, but results will vary for each card and user.just remember, you need to keep that heat under control. so make sure the video card cooler is a good one.

if your wondering, i currently run a 1.8 P4 OCed to 2.6 with 1 gig of DDR. ATI 9550 w/256 megs.

i use water cooling to keep my system temps down.

so, learn a few thigns about your computer and save some cash for a little bit longer till you can afford to buy that real nice card. and then OC it to get even better performace.

Gokar
23 Bruiser
Blackburrow
Dark Legion