Isn't Anyone Using The Radeon 9700?

[Guest]

I've searched the archives and can't find anyone yet who has the Radeon 9700. I read that Timber had it and was having problems with lockups. I read one other person who had problems installing updated drivers. I want to get this card, but would like to know how it performs in FS2002.Someone out there must have one in use by now. Anyone out there have some feedback you'd like to share?Sincerely,Hans Groenewold

[Guest flightpro08]

I haven't heard to many good things about it. Stick with nVidia. The GeForce4 Ti4200's are available for like $120 bucks now and can be overclocked to Ti4600 speeds. :-)Ryan-Flightpro08 :-coolVATSIM Pilot/ControllerZLA ARTCC Controller 1 (C-1)SAN TRACON Lead [link:www.taxiwaysigns.com]Taxiwaysigns.com Scenery Designer-----------------------------My "Home Made" System Specs:Intel Pentium 4 2.2GHz ProcessorTurbo Gamer ATX Mid-Tower with 420W Power SupplyEPoX 4G4A Motherboard with Intel 845G ChipsetVisiontek XTASY GeForce4 128MB Ti4600 (Det 40.41 Drivers)512MB PC2100 DDR RAM40GB Matrox 7200RPM Hard DriveWindows XP Home Edition*No CPU or GPU Overclocking*3dMark2001SE Score: 11298

[Guest]

Thanks for responding. If I were to do that, I'd get the Ti4600 like you got. Three months ago I got a Pentium 4, 2.4 GHZ,768MB PC2700 SDRAM. I got my old ATI 64MB DDR card in there right now. I just read about three reviews that said the ATI 9700 won hands down over the Ti4600, which I had my eye one first.I won't be able to get it until Christmas now anyway, so I guess I'll keep reading up on it.Thanks,Hans

[Guest flightpro08]

If you're going to wait until Christams to get a new card, get nVidia's newest card, the NV30. Its specs are about double that of any video card on the market now. Release dates have been thrown in the air, but but I believe it will be out before Christmas.Ryan-Flightpro08 :-coolVATSIM Pilot/ControllerZLA ARTCC Controller 1 (C-1)SAN TRACON Lead [link:www.taxiwaysigns.com]Taxiwaysigns.com Scenery Designer-----------------------------My "Home Made" System Specs:Intel Pentium 4 2.2GHz ProcessorTurbo Gamer ATX Mid-Tower with 420W Power SupplyEPoX 4G4A Motherboard with Intel 845G ChipsetVisiontek XTASY GeForce4 128MB Ti4600 (Det 40.41 Drivers)512MB PC2100 DDR RAM40GB Matrox 7200RPM Hard DriveWindows XP Home Edition*No CPU or GPU Overclocking*3dMark2001SE Score: 11298

[John_Tavendale 453]

I'm interested to find out too. I'm eyeing off one of those 9700s :-hahI have a friend who's getting on to review for a magazine sometime soon, so I'll see how he says it goes.

[Guest]

FlightPro08:I read a little about the NV30 in the 9700 review. It said that it would compete more directly with the ATI 9700. Would the NV30 be the successor to the GeForce4 or will there be a GeForce5? Also, you think the price of the NV30 will be about $400. as with the 9700? Christmas seems to be the time of year to wait for, price wise anyway. From what I'm reading so far, I'm glad circumstances dictated that I wait.Thanks, Hans

[Guest]

You can read a review on the 9700 with FS2k2 here: http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MzQ0 You can also check out the forms over at: http://www.rage3d.com/ Reports of those that are having no issues whatsoever with the 9700 in FS2k2 other than great framerates with everything maxed on the card. Others have reported lockup problems. I think it's probably a "head space" issue. New term I just recently picked up that's rather funny. I'm still waiting for my Alienware 2.53; 512PC1066; 9700 Pro to arrive. Suppose to ship tomorrow. Only been 3 weeks. I'll load up FS2k2 and we'll see what happens. I don't plan on messing with drivers or anything else. If I have problems, I'll call for onsite support. Other reports are that IL2 is awesome with the card.One thing you should keep in mind is that there is not yet any AA support for 16bit games. It's planned for the future from what I hear. Otherwise, I'm hoping I'll be flying with 4x AA at 16x AF at 1600x1200x32.

[Guest]

mgdbottled,Please report back when you get it. I remember reading your post and that your PC was order, that's great. I hope it's all you hoped for.Thanks,Hans

[Guest]

Will do; I can't believe there aren't a few avid flightsimmers using that card with FS2k2 yet. Maybe they're the silent majority. It'll either work or it won't. If it does, you won't find me messing with the system trying to get that little bit more. A good thing is that it comes with a one year warranty and one year on site service. If it's a major headache, I'll have em' bring me a Ti4600. I've always went with nvidias before and never had an issue. But, I think it'll work fine though cause it'll be installed on a brand new rig by someone other than me. hehe. All the reports I've read indicate that the drivers are much more mature than they were when the 8500 was released.

[Guest]

Hi guys,I wrote this this morning: Radeon 9700 Pro Mini-Review After some initial troubles related to a SIS 645 chipset, I have been using the 9700 Pro for three days on a VIA KT266A board with an Athlon 1600 XP. As I look to my right, the New Zealand landscape is spread beneath an A320 enroute to Auckland. The lines of the aircraft are absolutely without aliasing effects and there is not a scenery shimmer or popping polygon to be found. Configured at a rather average setting of 1152x864x32, the anti-aliasing is set at 4X with anisotropic filtering at 8X. Max frame rates are at 40 and that is pretty much where they hover around. Lightning-fast view changes, the most gorgeous graphics display I have ever seen, teamed with stunning performance are making me laugh; this card is a flight simmer's dream and brings out the best of FS2002. Even when using an pokey old 800MHz Thunderbird, the Radeon seemed to take over much of the work load and provide wonderfully smooth performance. This card makes the GF4 4200 look, well, outdated (like me.) :-))Conclusion; There is nothing this card is lacking and I wonder how NVidia might surpass this with the upcoming NV30. You NVIDIA ONLY people crack me up.Take care ,Greg Gott

[Guest PhilC]

Well, my 9700 is being returned tomorrow. I seem to be one of the minority that just could not get it to work on my system. I don't like having to pay a 15% restocking fee (yes, that's right) but I'd rather pay that than have a $370 paperweight.Now, as far as the GF cards go... what are the recommendations? A Ti4600 with 128Mb? MSI, Gainward, or what? Best places for prices and service?Any help is appreciated. I won't be getting a new PC for another 8 or 9 months so I would like to upgrade the video for now.My current specs:Dell Dimension PIII 1GHz, Intel Chipset, 512 Mb RDRAM, ATI Radeon 32 DDR, SB Live! soundcard, Windows XP Pro w/SP1, MSFS 2002 Pro

[Guest flightpro08]

Hans,The NV30 is indeed the sucessor to the GeForce 4 line of video cards. Technically, all of the nVidia cards have been called NVxx (this can be varifired by looking at OEM files in your Window's INF folder.) Though, nVidia in the past has decided to market them as 'GeForcex' cards. The NV30 is really a 'GeForce 5', only that nVidia is not going to use the name 'GeForce' anymore.Rumors have it that the card will be $400 US dollars. This, of course, will be its intial price. Expect the price to come down early in 2003. Also, if you don't have $4000 bucks to spend on a video card, grab a GeForce 4 this winter. With the release of the NV30, GeForce 4 prices are expected to drop dramatically within the next few months. (Kind of like the GeForce 3's did with the GeForce 4's came out.)Overall, and this is no way a flame towards ATI, as they're a fine company, the NV30 and the 9700 can not be put in the same sentence. :-) The NV30 will introduce so many features (8X AGP just to name one) that people will be blown away.Though, with all the good things that the NV30 will bring, I wouldn't recommend buying it right away. The first reason being that it will be $400 bucks on release, which is quite a bit of money. :-) The second reason being that it might be pretty buggy. Since the NV30 is introducing so many new things, it'd be surpirsed if it's release is as smooth at previous nVidia cards. I'm not saying that it will be terrible, but it could be somewhat troublesome. Wait a few months for the price to go down and the bugs to be fixed and the NV30 will be the best investment you'll put into your computer. :-)Ryan-Flightpro08 :-coolVATSIM Pilot/ControllerZLA ARTCC Controller 1 (C-1)SAN TRACON Lead [link:www.taxiwaysigns.com]Taxiwaysigns.com Scenery Designer-----------------------------My "Home Made" System Specs:Intel Pentium 4 2.2GHz ProcessorTurbo Gamer ATX Mid-Tower with 420W Power SupplyEPoX 4G4A Motherboard with Intel 845G ChipsetVisiontek XTASY GeForce4 128MB Ti4600 (Det 40.41 Drivers)512MB PC2100 DDR RAM40GB Matrox 7200RPM Hard DriveWindows XP Home Edition*No CPU or GPU Overclocking*3dMark2001SE Score: 11298

[Guest christian]

I have a Ti 4400 and had heaps of problems with the SIS 645 chipset. I had to trade the mobo for an Intel chipset... Cheers, Christian

[Guest]

PhilC; This cured the lockup problem with the 9700 in FS2k2 for a fellow who'd posted with problem over at 3drage:YES!!!!!!!!!!!As soon as I went into DXDIAG, and turned off AGP texture acceleration, I could play. AWESOME IQ, great FPS!!!!damn--forums are a great thing. This Radeon 9700 kicks #####!Maybe it's worth a try.

[Guest Sabadin]

" The NV30 will introduce so many features (8X AGP just to name one) that people will be blown away."Um, the 9700 is also 8x AGP and DX9 compliant.