eVGA 5900SE or Radeon 9700?

[wakedog102]

Leaning towards 5900se cause of COD, Doom3 speeds and overall picture quality is good. Concerned about HL2 performance, however. 9700 sounds good, but concerned about longevity of support as compared to the 5900SE and compatibility.

Any suggestions?

 

[modedepe]

I would expect the longevity of the 9700 to be as good as a 5900. It really is in a lot of ways a toss up. As you've said, the 5900 will be faster at doom3 ogl games, whereas the 9700 will be faster at hl2 dx9 games. Really though, rather than looking at a 5900se, you might try getting a regular 5900. They're down to $162 and there are some that come with call of duty.

 

[Keysplayr]

You just made a post asking about 9700 vs. 9600XT.
Anyways, you should be fine with either card in this case, however you can get a regular 5900nu from BFG for about 165 ish. Not the SE version but a regular 400/850 Non Ultra card.

In which case the 5900 would be a better buy than a vanilla 9700non pro.
It will offer great Doom III performance and acceptable HL2 performance.

Anyways, make up your mind already!!!

 

[Pete]

5900SE's still come with CoD? I thought that deal ended.

I'd imagine both cards will be well-supported in the future, but ATi should have more longevity with newer games simply because its architecture seems better suited for them. That remains to be seen, though.

 

[CaiNaM]

Originally posted by: wakedog102
Leaning towards 5900se cause of COD, Doom3 speeds and overall picture quality is good. Concerned about HL2 performance, however. 9700 sounds good, but concerned about longevity of support as compared to the 5900SE and compatibility.

Any suggestions?

make absolutely sure w/ the vendor that it comes with CoD. that promotion ended on 1/5/2004:

CALL OF DUTY PROMOTION UPDATE

eVGA.com will honor the COD promotion from any FX 5900 or FX 5900 SE that was purchased from an eligible vendor on or before the date of 1/5/2004.

In most cases the game will already be packaged with the card.

For those cards without the game, please follow these procedures:

If your card came with a promotional coupon, please register your card at http://www.evga.com/register and use the coupon's promotional code.
If your card did not come with a promotional coupon, please fax your name, mailing address, phone number, and original dated invoice to eVGA.com at 714-528-4501, Attn: COD Promotion.
For customers registering with the promotional coupon, or faxing their invoice in, eVGA.com will ship a copy of the COD game to your provided mailing address. Please allow 2-3 weeks for shipping.
For questions about this promotion, please send email to COD@eVGA.com

link

that being said, if you have the room for a bit longer card, you can get a full blown 5900 for less. the bfg asylum 5900nu is selling for < $170, and a few have mentioned they still have some with CoD pack in.

 

[Bucksnort]

5900 beats out 5900se/xt just by a nose hair. And 5900se beats out 9700. If you find cod with 5900se get it otherwise go with 5900. I got the 5900se and its a great card. The 5900se has a clock of 400-700 and 5900 has 400-850. The se uses 2.8ns ram and 5900 has 2.2ns. The se runs its ram at a lower latency which makes its performance on par with the 5900 unclocked. The 5900 has more robust cooling than the se does. The 5900 takes up 2 slots where the se uses only 1. The se is a great card if you can get cod and you dont want to oc terribly. COD being ~ a 40-50 buck value. My autodetect for oc on the se is 455-810. Seeing that prices are still ~182.00 for the se makes me think they are still bundling cod with it. Recent consumer reviews on newegg point to that. Makes no sense otherwise seeing that some have the 5900 for 175.00 without cod. By what I hear shortly there will be no 5900 and the choices will be 5900se\xt, 5900ultra, 5950. Here is a good benchmark of all the new and recent video cards by Tom's Hardware:
Video card benchmarks

 

[Keysplayr]

All correct except for the two slot thingy. My eVGA 5900nu uses one slot and does not prevent the installation of a pci card in the adjacent slot.
The BFG I just ordered (5900nu) is also a one slot solution.

 

[Bucksnort]

Really? I looked at the BFG and it was definately 2 slot.

 

[CaiNaM]

Originally posted by: keysplayr2003
All correct except for the two slot thingy. My eVGA 5900nu uses one slot and does not prevent the installation of a pci card in the adjacent slot.
The BFG I just ordered (5900nu) is also a one slot solution.

but it's silly to use the slot right below the agp as it cuts off the air circulation somewhat as it leaves only about 1/4-5/16" of and inch between the pci card and your video card.

as a matter of fact, you "could" technically squeeze a pci card in the slot next to the bfg - it doesnt actually cover the second pci slot (it would leave about a 1/8" space between the video card and the pci card). bfg stated that they deliberately put in the double "card holder" so this wasn't possible, altho i wish they wouldn't have as you could at least put in like a usb thing there instead of another card.

 

[CaiNaM]

Originally posted by: Bucksnort
Really? I looked at the BFG and it was definately 2 slot.

i've actually seen 2 different styles of heat setup on bfg5900nu, altho both the one's i have seen block off the 2nd slot. if you go to pricewatch and search you will see both styles.

 

[cindy22]

if your planning to buy a 5900se expect your card to be much slower than 9700non pro with aa/af in most recent games,
nvidia's 5900se usually slower than ati's 9700 non pro by an average of 20% - %30 or 10fps to 20fps with those settings in this benchmark ,
also consider if you plan on buying new or future games, 5900se performance
will cripple so badly compared to 9700,

this benchmark doesn't have 5900se, but has only 5900 (non ultra) and 5900U( ultra), so expect the 5900se to do worse than 5900(non ultra):



5900 non ultra and 9700 non pro benchmark with aa/af



also consider that nvidia's graphics market share used to dominate ati's by a large amount , but lately nvidia's shares are going down while ati's going up , ati is even beating nvidia in recent graphics market share, so doesn't that make you go hmmm?

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: Bucksnort
Really? I looked at the BFG and it was definately 2 slot.

Dude, your right, I apologize. Just my eVGA is 1 slot.

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: cindy22
if your planning to buy a 5900se expect your card to be much slower than 9700non pro with aa/af in most recent games,
nvidia's 5900se usually slower than ati's 9700 non pro by an average of 20% - %30 or 10fps to 20fps with those settings in this benchmark ,
also consider if you plan on buying new or future games, 5900se performance
will cripple so badly compared to 9700,

this benchmark doesn't have 5900se, but has only 5900 (non ultra) and 5900U( ultra), so expect the 5900se to do worse than 5900(non ultra):



5900 non ultra and 9700 non pro benchmark with aa/af

Thats pretty funny Cindy. Keep em comin. I could always use a good laugh.

 

[cindy22]

I know it's funny how nvidia's losing in every way and there's stupid nvidia fanatics still supporting them.

check out nvidia's graphics market share for example, it's not doing so great like it used too it's actually losing ati's.LOL!

nvidia losing in graphics market share to ati

 

[modedepe]

also consider that nvidia's graphics market share used to dominate ati's by a large amount , but lately nvidia's shares are going down while ati's going up , ati is even beating nvidia in recent graphics market share, so doesn't that make you go hmmm?

Yes, and that makes so much difference cause you can only buy from the market leader

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: modedepe

also consider that nvidia's graphics market share used to dominate ati's by a large amount , but lately nvidia's shares are going down while ati's going up , ati is even beating nvidia in recent graphics market share, so doesn't that make you go hmmm?

Yes, and that makes so much difference cause you can only buy from the market leader

hehehe

 

[cindy22]

"Yes, and that makes so much difference cause you can only buy from the market leader "

it means that what many people, articles,magazines and websites said are are right , ati cards are faster and better than nvidia's cards .
if 1 company that used to do so well but now drop in sales and market share so much, it usually means that company's aint making cards like they used too.

keysplayr2003 and modedepe - are nvidiots(= nvidia fanatics that are idiots) that's in denial and proud of their slow fx card and that their nvida fx card will be crippled in new and future games

 

[Keysplayr]

Cindy22- another name for an AT user that doesn't have the stones to voice its opinion using its real name. In denial and proud of its unstable ATI card and that it will be endlessly patched in new and future games.

Your from planet Uranus aren't you.....

 

[cindy22]

keysplayr2003, like I said before, I'm sorry for upsetting you again, because your already upset at your bad purchase with your slow, bad image quality, fx card !

 

[modedepe]

Originally posted by: cindy22

keysplayr2003 and modedepe - are nvidiots(= nvidia fanatics that are idiots) that's in denial and proud of their slow fx card and that their nvida fx card will be crippled in new and future games

Wow, it sure hurts to be called an nvidiot by a fanATic. How you even draw I'm an nvidiot is beyond me. If you'll refer to my original post in this thread I stated both would have good longevity and it really is a toss up. Sure sound like an nvidiot, huh? Seriously, quit coming up with such asinine statements.

 

[Keysplayr]

I'm sorry Cindy. But the mods will be petitioned this evening to try to ban you. If they dont go for it, at least I tried. If they do, I know a bunch of folks in here who would throw a party.

 

[cindy22]

modedepe and keysplayr2003 nvidiots-
Later nvidiots,
I'm going back to playing maxpayne2 using 6aa/16af with 1600x1200 res at fast smooth framerates, while you nvidiots are stuck chatting and not playing because your fx sucks in all of the best and latest games with aa/af!

 

[modedepe]

Originally posted by: cindy22

it means that what many people, articles,magazines and websites said are are right , ati cards are faster and better than nvidia's cards .
if 1 company that used to do so well but now drop in sales and market share so much, it usually means that company's aint making cards like they used too.

Yes the sales rank does show that ati is infact doing a lot right. However, trying to base performance off this and make an assumption as to which is a better card is ridiculous. I'll stick to benchmarks.

 

[Keysplayr]

Mods have been petitioned as of 12:55am

 

[modedepe]

Originally posted by: cindy22
modedepe and keysplayr2003 nvidiots-
Later nvidiots,
I'm going back to playing maxpayne2 using 6aa/16af with 1600x1200 res at fast smooth framerates, while you nvidiots are stuck chatting and not playing because your fx sucks in all of the best and latest games with aa/af!

Good plan cindy, crawl back to your hole till you find some more ati propaganda.

P.S. Guess what!? I don't even have an FX card!