New to the board, need some advice

[guitarboy716]

it doesn't say it comes with HL2 ...so i dunno

but yeah, even if it doesn't the 9600XT sounds like a good deal

[amd_man2005]

It does, all 9600XT's do

[guitarboy716]

oh dear...well there goes my grades... :shrug:

[Soulburner]

There seems to be a LOT of misinformation in this thread.

First off....the 5900 in any form will wipe the floor with any form of the 9600.

Second...i'll recommend a different board. Instead of that Gigabyte get the ASUS K8V Deluxe. You'll thank me later.

The rest looks good.

[Mista K6]

I don't think a 5900SE will "wipe the floor" with a 9600 XT, but it'd probably be a little faster. I'd get the 9600XT just to get Half-Life 2 anyways. Also, did you read tweaktown's review of A64 boards? The ASUS is quite a bit slower than the Gigabyte and their packages are both pretty good. I'd stick with gigabyte. : peace2: Mista K6

[guitarboy716]

from the reviews I've read, the Gigabyte and MSI mobo's are the best...with the MSI running a little faster

the gigabyte board had more features though...and is in a better price range for me

[Soulburner]

I don't think a 5900SE will "wipe the floor" with a 9600 XT, but it'd probably be a little faster. I'd get the 9600XT just to get Half-Life 2 anyways. Also, did you read tweaktown's review of A64 boards? The ASUS is quite a bit slower than the Gigabyte and their packages are both pretty good. I'd stick with gigabyte. : peace2: Mista K6

The 9600XT is a 4 pipeline card. The 5900 uses 8 (for most things).

I would like to see a 9600XT beat my scores....its damn near impossible, it would take volt modifications and supercooling to even see my dust trail.

For reference here is the highest current 3DMark2001SE 9600XT score in the world. 700+mhz on the core can only muster 93fps in Nature while i'm getting almost 150fps at a mere 490mhz core.

http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=7312458

It also gets owned in 3DMark03. Show me a 9600XT scoring 6-9k points.

And i'm on stock cooling with no volt mods.

As for the board...the ASUS K8V is not slower, I take the results of the actual overclockers over reviews any day, and that board rocks. For a Via, its a damn fine overclocker.

Though I won't doubt the Gigabyte, it could have potential, they just always fall short of ASUS.

[Beefy]

Soulburner is totally right. The 9600 XT ain't that great of a card. My old 9700 Pro 'wipes' it, and the 5900FX beats that again (in most cases).

Just a little side note - I'd be careful getting any Gigabyte boards that come with their Dual Power System feature or whatever they call it (DPS). It needs a fairly hefty PSU to deal with that, from experiences I've had.

[EvilMike]

The point is that both cards are mainstream DX9 cards,overall is the 5900 faster but when it comes to shaders 2.0 the ATI beats it.

It's up to you what tastes better.

And yes,the 9800 (pro/XT) is a better card,to me the 5900SE mentioned before is the only interesting nVidia chip due it's pricing.

In all other cases high-end and mainstream (low-end I don't consider for games at all) ATI has the upper hand.

Doing some reviews pay attention that the cards are tested in OPENGL,DX8 and DX9 synthetic and actual game benchmarks.

The DX9 performance of course is the most important.

Don't be silly = don't be brand loyal.

Get the best for your money,I seen many nVidia and ATI fanboys and they are all mental.

[Mista K6]

well said EvilMike :thumb:

[G13man]

double check that half life offer.... ati only offers it for the xt chips sold BEFORE the new year [although some board manufactures r still offering it - no guarrantie] i know i've been looking.. i'm waiting for 1 more paycheck to get an 9800xt ... 9600 and 9800 are direct x 9 compatable, 9500 and 9700 arent..... so while the 9700 r affordable now... and beat the9600... this is in non-dx9 test..s. i know alot to think and spend on

[guitarboy716]

well, I'm going to wait till about April, if they have anything better out, I'll get a better mobo, and i'll check on the graphics card

(if I wait till April, I get all my software for free...win xp pro, ms office, photoshop..etc)

[G13man]

if its free , its for me....... how u get it free?
also looked up 9700 ati chipset , i stand corrected it is dx9 compatable sry for earlier post

[Fatguy3]

9700 is completely DX9 compatible. That and the 9500 were the first DX9 cards sold. Theres a thread on this somewhere else.