Hey guys....newegg has a 5900 non ultra on sale for 200$. Would this suit my new vid card needs(replace 8500) of playing HL2 and Doom3 adequately and keep me current for the next year/year and a half
If you want to play HL2 and Doom3 go for ATI.
Anything from the 9600 and upwards.
Geforce FX cards aren't very good in DX9. /me makes the understatement of the year
how about a 9700 AIW non-pro? They have one for 190$
Could that run it??
Definetly. My old 9700 non pro was bios flashed to a Radeon 9700 Pro since 9700np's are locked. It got 5,100 in 3DMark2003 which is a pretty good score and should run hl2 and doom III well
Definetly. My old 9700 non pro was bios flashed to a Radeon 9700 Pro since 9700np's are locked. It got 5,100 in 3DMark2003 which is a pretty good score and should run hl2 and doom III well
Ok....so if I don't flash the bios would it still run well?
And can essentially every 9700 be flashed with a 9700 pro bios and perform as such? Or is it card specific? Also, if I do flash the bios....obviously the bios is replaced, but what will the catalysts recognize the card as? 9700? or 9700 pro? and I know this is an easy question but I only have to do it once....and I can continually install new driver suites without having to re-flash right?
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Geeky1University of the Pacific (Stockton, CA, USA)
edited November 2003
Check Newegg's refurbished video card section regularly (read: obsessively), and you'll be able to pick up a 9800 Pro for <$230
If you don't flash the bios it will just run at 275/270 instead of 325/310. Which will definetly run well. Well, I can not answer that question for every card, but keep in mind my 9700 NP had hynix 3.6ns memory. Some of the slowest memory they put on any DX9 Cards. Despite the ram's spec being 290 it ran flawlessly at 310. If you flash the bios it will recognize as a 9700 Pro in windows, device manager, etc. The catalysts will recognize the card as a 9700 Pro and there will not be any software issues. If you ever have any problems and see artifacts just make sure you save the NP bios and later on you can just reflash it back.
Essentially all the 9700NP -> 9700Pro flash is doing is unlocking the 9700 NP and changing the clock speeds.
McBain had this to say
Al_Capown had this to say
Definetly. My old 9700 non pro was bios flashed to a Radeon 9700 Pro since 9700np's are locked. It got 5,100 in 3DMark2003 which is a pretty good score and should run hl2 and doom III well
Ok....so if I don't flash the bios would it still run well?
And can essentially every 9700 be flashed with a 9700 pro bios and perform as such? Or is it card specific? Also, if I do flash the bios....obviously the bios is replaced, but what will the catalysts recognize the card as? 9700? or 9700 pro? and I know this is an easy question but I only have to do it once....and I can continually install new driver suites without having to re-flash right?
MJO had this to say Hmm Al_Capown you say that the spec for your Hynix 3.6ns ram is 290Mhz?
I read that the spec for my 3.3 infineon is 300Mhz.
Is that correct?
I didn't need to flash the bios on my Sapphire.
But I have heard that sometimes you can OC higher when flashed.
My 9700 np is recognized as 9700 Pro everywhere.
But it is the same card, only difference is slower memory modules.
Comments
But for the same price you can probably find a 9700 Pro which would suit both tasks far better than the 5900 non-ultra.
Anything from the 9600 and upwards.
Geforce FX cards aren't very good in DX9.
/me makes the understatement of the year
how about a 9700 AIW non-pro? They have one for 190$
Could that run it??
If you can OC it to 9700 Pro levels it would be very nice card.
Dunno if you can find anything better at that price level.
Definetly. My old 9700 non pro was bios flashed to a Radeon 9700 Pro since 9700np's are locked. It got 5,100 in 3DMark2003 which is a pretty good score and should run hl2 and doom III well
Ok....so if I don't flash the bios would it still run well?
And can essentially every 9700 be flashed with a 9700 pro bios and perform as such? Or is it card specific? Also, if I do flash the bios....obviously the bios is replaced, but what will the catalysts recognize the card as? 9700? or 9700 pro? and I know this is an easy question but I only have to do it once....and I can continually install new driver suites without having to re-flash right?
Essentially all the 9700NP -> 9700Pro flash is doing is unlocking the 9700 NP and changing the clock speeds.
I read that the spec for my 3.3 infineon is 300Mhz.
Is that correct?
I didn't need to flash the bios on my Sapphire.
But I have heard that sometimes you can OC higher when flashed.
My 9700 np is recognized as 9700 Pro everywhere.
But it is the same card, only difference is slower memory modules.
Yes 3.3ns's spec is 300(600DDR). As for flashing bios giving you more OC headroom i'm not the guy to tell you that. Rage3D has a large wealth of information on that and I'll just send you here: http://rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?s=&threadid=33667164&highlight=Radeon+9700+Non+Pro+to+Pro
They will not run at even 1.5 Mhz out of spec.
That sucks.
In this case it is 301.5 MHz.
That gives me artifacts.
Thanks for the link BTW