last question before shopping

[maniac_113]

Ive seen ALOT of video cards and comments on Radeon and Nvidia and i am really confused.
i now have the following

XFX Geforce fx 5600 256mb ddr

Ati Radeon 9600XT 128mb

Ati Radeon 9600 Pro 128mb

eVGA GeForceFX 5900se 128MB DDR

which one in these is the best and will stay relativly good for the next 3 years?

Please no biased people i want some concrete info.

is eVGA any good???

BTW WHAT DOES "se" MEAN IN 5900?

[John Prophet]

review of 5900xt se http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/...900_xt_review/

Evidently the "SE" doesnt mean the same as what ATI uses it for...in other words, here the SE doesnt mean its a wimpy watered down vid card.

It’s also interesting to Quote-->"note that while NVIDIA borrows ATI’s naming conventions for the GeForce FX 5900 XT core and the GeForce FX 5900 SE cards that are based on it, this is not a crippled graphics card like ATI’s “SE” series, which are often stripped down models with narrower memory interfaces or half their pixel pipelines disabled. The GeForce FX 5900 XT boasts all the features of the other 5900 GPUs, including such goodies as UltraShadow. This is what we like to call “a good thing”."

So they dont really tell what it IS...they tell what it ISNT, lol.

JP

[slinky]

What's better than all of those cards is the 128MB 5900 ($192-200). You can find these with VIVO too. The eVGAs are pretty good- they overclock well.

[EndobioticChaos]

According to the reviews I've read, the ATI Radeon 9800XT is the "best" on average. I think both the 9800 XT and the 5900Ultra each have their places where they outdo the other. It depends on which specific features a game uses.

Some cards to avoid are: The Radeon 9000 and 9100, any GeForce MX card, and the FX 5200.

Pretty much all the other current cards are decent, and are priced relative to performance. The GeForce 4 TI 4xxx series is an especially good value, though underpowered for the very newest games, like perhaps Doom3 and HalfLife 2.

and will stay relativly good for the next 3 years?

None of them will. Last year this time the Radeon 8500 was king of the heap, and had performance that left everyone drooling. (The GeForce 4 series came out February of this year in response.) Now it's not even considered as an option for "budget" gaming machines, and the Radeon 9800 XT gets up to twice as many 3DMarks, even with the same CPU.

[tony_j15]

Last year this time the Radeon 8500 was king of the heap, and had performance that left everyone drooling. (The GeForce 4 series came out February of this year in response.) Now it's not even considered as an option for "budget" gaming machines, and the Radeon 9800 XT gets up to twice as many 3DMarks, even with the same CPU.

Wrong there! You saying the ge4's were released in February of 2003? Check your calender again!

maniac: First, there is no such thing as unbiased information.

XFX Geforce fx 5600 256mb ddr

Ati Radeon 9600XT 128mb

Ati Radeon Pro 128mb

eVGA GeForceFX 5900se 128MB DDR

What do you mean on the 3rd line? Of the four listed, the 5900 is the best. But a Radeon 9800 is better.

[pinipig523]

endo - i think you are 1 year off. geforce 4 was released feb 2002 since 9700 was released in nov 2002. now it is almost 2004.

i say that something the caliber of 5900 or 9800 will stay decent for the next three years... it will no longer be awe-striking... but will be able to play lots of games at default settings or so. a prime example of this is the geforce3 ti500. that card can still rock! 8000-9000 on 3dmark2001... aint bad at all.

anyway, have you looked at the 5700ultra? it bests the 9600xt. not sure about the 5900se however.

[Omardeth]

manic to be honost and not trying to be a fanboy i will tell ya it this way .

out of the 4 you listed the 5900 is the best . i would put them in this order

eVGA GeForceFX 5900se 128MB DDR

Ati Radeon 9600XT 128mb

Ati Radeon 9600 Pro 128mb

XFX Geforce fx 5600 256mb ddr

now the answer to the 3 year question .. to be honost NOBODY can truely answer that . 3 years is a very long time for pc hardware . i would think they will all still work fine in 3 years but i am sure there will be much better cards out by then .

when picking a new video card keep acouple things in mind . benchmarks are just that benchmarks . like tony said there is no such thing as a non biased review . so only take benchmarks and reviews with a grain of salt and use them as a tool rather than the last word . lets face it if video card AAA can play the "kill them all" game at 150 frames per second and the video card BBB can play it at 170 frames per sec but cost 50$ more which is the best ? well the BBB card is truely better in benchmarks but you can't see the difference in the real world so is it better ? now thats up to you but for me i would go with the lower costing card .

each card you picked will work very well . and if you aren't a hardcore gotta have the fastest card out guy , then all will work fine and you should be happy with them all .