Is this a good card?

[stan79]

this powercolor 9600 ez pro is like a cheaper verison of regular 9600 pro, which ez is something like the xt in nvidia cards.
go get 5700, 5700 ultra, 9800se, 5900xt.

 

[Gudster]

Hi, Sorry to make an new thread but i am impatient At the moment in my pc i have a crappy 32mb Nvidia TNT card (dunno the full name) but its shite and i want a new one, i will only have a budget of about 100 quid for a new one and i have had the following card recommened to me because its meant to be a good card and great value.

PowerColor/Mediamax Radeon 9600 Pro EZ 256MB (GX-012-PC) - £90 inlcuding vat from www.overclockers.co.uk

Now obviously going from 32mb to 256mb will be a HUGE improvement but i also know that its the make of the card which is the most important, I am not after a card to play pes3 on..I just want a graphics card for genral gaming.. So any thoughts would be gratful...Also could you tell me what class it is in from that other thread? Thanks

Its a good card, however if you could stretch another 30 quid, go to Komplett.co.uk and get a 9800 Pro. There is a world of difference between the two and it is totally worth the extra outlay, esp with a decent system like yours.

PES3 runs like silk on my 9800 XT and there is no reason why it shouldn't on the pro.

 

[t1000v2.0]

Sorry guys, been away a week on holiday (tenerife, hehe) Giggsy...a 9600 is a good choice of card, to go with your system. With the CPU you have, I wouldn'#t really go for a 9800, as that will strain your cpu, and bottleneck peformance (Basically a 9800 is too high a step for the cpu that you have, unless you intend to upgrade cpu also, but the extra power from the 9800 wont be utilised with the setup you have right now) For the budget you have £100, a 9600 is an excellent choice, the only other would be an FX 5600XT...which I think is retailing for around the same (not 100% sure though)

Anyways, whatever card you get now, will be a huge leap over the one you have now, so i say go for that 9600...but just look around a little bit more before you decide (unless you have bought it already...if so......enjoy!!)

 

[asher b]

Im dreading giggsy getting his new card. He wont shut up about it as it is so itll be worse when he gets it. I'll have to block him on msn for a few weeks to stop him sending loads of sreenshots.

 

[Giggsy11]

Im dreading giggsy getting his new card. He wont shut up about it as it is so itll be worse when he gets it. I'll have to block him on msn for a few weeks to stop him sending loads of sreenshots.

lol...I shall get pes3 then so you can look at them

 

[Gudster]

wrong

a 9600 will play these games shitty

Not shitty, but the difference between this kind of card and a top end card is highlighted in these type of games.

Anyone with a 9700 NON pro and above will be able to run Doom 3 smooth as.

 

[stan79]

Don't get the ez version of powercolor, it is a "eunuch" verison, which means it is not as good as a regular, even they said it is ultra or turbo
The 9600 ez pro is not equal to other regular 9600 pro.

 

[sheringham316]

giggsy if you are thinking of playing games at the best of there abilty, think again

Your comp wont be good enough to play even pes3 if you have a 1.8. I had this problem before. Once you buy a new graphics card you will then find out you need a new cooling system, motherboard, better powersupply, etc etc You'll find yourself spending all your hard earned money on a comp which your gonna play games on!!

I seen it happen to my bro. He wanted a brill comp which he will be abe to play games the best they possibly can. He ordered his stuff from the same place as you. Overclockers ( they are good ) He got all his parts and he was soo excited. After a couple of days he found out that his powersupply wasnt powerful enough to run all his new shit. So he got is changed. He then found out that his powersupply was heating up too much so he had to buy new cooling systems. From there i just lost interest, too much money wasted on his computer. Plus his is a super comp with lots or high spec things and he still had problems.

Trust me on this giggsy, when you get the card you'll find lots of problems, though the cards are very good!!

Oh 1 other problem "I" experienced, with a lower speced graphics card you could adjust the level of detail, making it look shitter but making it run better. With the newer graphics card such as the 9600, 9700, 9800 and the GForce FX's, my old comp which was a 1.7 ghz you could have the best graphics and it would run shit, if you put the detail down it would still look shit and still run shit. You need lots of power im afraid

Give it a go anyways, if it dont turn out how you wanted you could always give it back.

 

[-=[101st]=-]

you get ur self a 300 watt power supply and you will have no problems... you will not need extra cooling, but it would be good... it would be a good thing to get a month after you get ur pc... i recommend an athlon xp 2100 or a 2400 instead of the 1.8... wait a little longer which will mean that you will enjoy it much longer.. that is what i did and i am glad i did it..

 

[Giggsy11]

giggsy if you are thinking of playing games at the best of there abilty, think again

Your comp wont be good enough to play even pes3 if you have a 1.8. I had this problem before. Once you buy a new graphics card you will then find out you need a new cooling system, motherboard, better powersupply, etc etc You'll find yourself spending all your hard earned money on a comp which your gonna play games on!!

I seen it happen to my bro. He wanted a brill comp which he will be abe to play games the best they possibly can. He ordered his stuff from the same place as you. Overclockers ( they are good ) He got all his parts and he was soo excited. After a couple of days he found out that his powersupply wasnt powerful enough to run all his new shit. So he got is changed. He then found out that his powersupply was heating up too much so he had to buy new cooling systems. From there i just lost interest, too much money wasted on his computer. Plus his is a super comp with lots or high spec things and he still had problems.

Trust me on this giggsy, when you get the card you'll find lots of problems, though the cards are very good!!


Oh 1 other problem "I" experienced, with a lower speced graphics card you could adjust the level of detail, making it look shitter but making it run better. With the newer graphics card such as the 9600, 9700, 9800 and the GForce FX's, my old comp which was a 1.7 ghz you could have the best graphics and it would run shit, if you put the detail down it would still look shit and still run shit. You need lots of power im afraid

Give it a go anyways, if it dont turn out how you wanted you could always give it back.

I already have a good power supply (300 watt), My whole system is brand new, and i reckon pes3 will run fine on my pc with my new card, Paul B can run pes3 on his 32mb card and he has less memory and a worse proccesor, It just depends on the machine. And i already have 3 fans in my pc so that should provide enough cooling.

 

[Gudster]

I already have a good power supply (300 watt), My whole system is brand new, and i reckon pes3 will run fine on my pc with my new card, Paul B can run pes3 on his 32mb card and he has less memory and a worse proccesor, It just depends on the machine. And i already have 3 fans in my pc so that should provide enough cooling.

Can I just point out that a 9700/9800 series of video card or any of the higher end FX series really do suck the juice and if that 300 watt PSU is a cheapie no named number, you will hear fans dimming under pressure and the posibility of the Unit exploding (well, popping and not working anyway). And if it goes, because it is cheap it will have no surge protection and could take something with it (a new video card or processor). I speak from experience, I have gone through 4 no named PSUs in the time I have purchased my Enermax 350 Watt for my own rig. A good name makes a difference with the Enermax having far superior rails and being far more reliable that the other 4 cheapies (including 2 Q-tec PSUs).

So if you use multiple optical/magnetic drives, a powerful video card, fans and (to a lesser extent) LEDs, beware.

 

[Giggsy11]

Ok i have seen this other card, bearing in mind the price which of the 2 are better?

Creative 3D Blaster 5 GeForce FX 5600 128MB - Retail (GX-002-CT)
- 325MHz core clock speed
- AGP 8x
- 128MB 550Mhz DDR memory
- DirectX 9.0 support
- 128-bit studio precision colour
- Nvidia CineFX engine
- TV-Out
- 400MHz RAMDAC
Price: £57.50 (£67.56 Including VAT at 17.5%)

-or-

PowerColor/Mediamax Radeon 9600 Pro EZ 256MB (GX-012-PC)
- 400MHz Engine Core
- 256MB 400MHz DDR Memory
- Full AGP 8x/4x/2x support
- DVI/TV-Out
Price: £76.50 (£89.89 Including VAT at 17.5%)

Now obviously the Radeon will most prob be better, But i just wanna make sure befor ei sepnd the extra cash.

 

[asher b]

for the sake of 20 quid you may as well have the better one i think

 

[Giggsy11]

I guess, but i hoping to scrape some more money together with the 20quid i save to get FFX-2 - My favorite type of game..Its been 2 months and i useually get it the day it comes out Cheap tho aren't they?

 

[Gudster]

Ok i have seen this other card, bearing in mind the price which of the 2 are better?

Creative 3D Blaster 5 GeForce FX 5600 128MB - Retail (GX-002-CT)
- 325MHz core clock speed
- AGP 8x
- 128MB 550Mhz DDR memory
- DirectX 9.0 support
- 128-bit studio precision colour
- Nvidia CineFX engine
- TV-Out
- 400MHz RAMDAC
Price: £57.50 (£67.56 Including VAT at 17.5%)

-or-

PowerColor/Mediamax Radeon 9600 Pro EZ 256MB (GX-012-PC)
- 400MHz Engine Core
- 256MB 400MHz DDR Memory
- Full AGP 8x/4x/2x support
- DVI/TV-Out
Price: £76.50 (£89.89 Including VAT at 17.5%)

Now obviously the Radeon will most prob be better, But i just wanna make sure befor ei sepnd the extra cash.

Go with the Radeon. Its the better card.

 

[Giggsy11]

Yeah i did, And its imense!

 

[ashmufc]

Giggsy, does the PES3 PC work fully without lags on the max resolution?

 

[Giggsy11]

Dunno mate, I ain't got pes3 for pc..I may wait till pes4. I have my card's settings fully up to the max and i play FIFA on 1024x768 and Max detail, And the only thing i notice is a slight jump, But this may have something to do with me having the cd in, because obviously thr pc will be trying to access the cd while i'm playing so it may cause lag, But when i get the FIFA patch installed i won't need to cd which will we good.

 

[ghoul.ck]

lol..untill yesterday i had ati 9000 ..pes struggled like a bitch...now 9800 pro everything maxed...4x af ..4x aa...game looks a dream...and giggsy for 80 quid extra u could have had a next gen card instead of a go between that will be outdated b4 the end of the year..and with that card fifa should run fine on 1284 reso.

ps my 9800 is only 128mb

dont let that fool you when u buy a new card...my 128 would eat his 256 for breakfast..

not showing off..just some people see 128mb and automatically think that 256mb may be better.

And to be blunt...you are not going to get a "good card" for under £150.00.

 

[Giggsy11]

I didn't have an extra £80, And my card runs like a dream on everything maxed out!!!