My son has a home built computer consisting of Intel Mobo D845EBG2 with P4 2.4 ghz and 1 gig of ram. He currently has an ATI Radeon 9700 pro video card. He spends his life playing online video games. He asked for a new ATI X800 Pro video card for Christmas. Forgetting about the cost $400, is there really going to be any difference in performance to upgrade to this card? I often find that as you take those last jumps in price, the return on investment seems to be minimal and you are really just paying for the latest and greatest.

Any thoughts?

There would be a significant increase in performance, it is a very expensive card though ... I have also heard that the Nvidia 6800 GT which costs about the same is better value for money, and performs slightly better in some games.
Merry Christmas!

Does Anyone think upgrading the CPU from 2.4 to 2.8 would be more worthwhile than replacing the video card?

It'd probably be best to upgrade video card at this point. 2.4 - 2.8 isn't that significant.

2.8c 800mhz fsb
1 gb 512x2 geil dual channel
asus p4p800 se
60 gb ibm 7200 rpm
80 gb maxtor 7200
thermaltake va3000
sapphire 9800 pro 128mb

if you wanna do comparisongs heres the 2004 VGA chart from toms hardware http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20041004/vga_charts-02.html

by the way IMO go for the 6800GT all the way, cant go wrong with nvidia :D

AMD XP "Barton" 2500+
512MB PC3200
GeForce FX5900 XT
EPoX 8RDA3+ mobo
40GB Western Digital

My son will not let me go with nvidia. He had several nvidia cards in this computer (4200 and then 4600) and had all kinds of problems until he switched to ATI. So it is not my decision to make. I will check out that toms site, I have not seen any good comparison charts yet that had the X800 on it.

Well I checked out tomshardware, but that chart is just based on SPecs, I would like to see some real independent comparison numbers running games. I ran across some on the web but did not include some of the newest cards.

Some things to keep in mind here:

1)A 2.4 Ghz processor will be a bottleneck for an x800 or a 6800 card (there still will be a big performance increase though)

2)The x800 and 6800 series cards require quite a bit more electricity than that 9700 pro. You should have atleast a 350 watt or even a 400 watt power supply to run it.

3)Lastly, everything I've heard about the 6800 series cards has been positive. The 6800 GT is about 2 times faster than your sons current video card, here are some benchmarks. http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20041004/vga_charts-04.html#3dmark_2003

One more thing, can you buy me one too? Just kidding ;).

Asus P4P800
P4 2.4c @ 3000 Mhz Zalman CNPS7000A-Cu HSF
ATI Radeon 9800 pro
1 GB OCZ pc 3500 ram
Sound Blaster audigy LS

which games will your son be playing? name some and ill try to see which video card is better for that game

AMD XP "Barton" 2500+
512MB PC3200
GeForce FX5900 XT
EPoX 8RDA3+ mobo
40GB Western Digital

You may also want to try omegadrivers.net

Download and install the omega drivers for ATI over the top of your ATI drivers. I have them runnings on my PC. It really increases the visuals on my games. Best thing I've done for my gaming experience. And they're FREE. But you can make a donation if you'd like.
The thing video cards is you need to pay particular attention to the RAM speed on the video card. Also. Faster system RAM helps greatly. And a HDD with like an 8mb cache 7200 rpm ATA133 really smoothes things out.

I currently own a 9700Pro and I can play all the newer games just fine, also as Frosty hinted a very fast card is only complemented by an equally fast CPU or there lies your bottleneck.

Not only do you need a suitable PSU for a 6800GT, you need one with decent amp distribution on the 12v rail, because that card draws its juice primarily from that rail.

Lastly what's that "My son will not let me go with nvidia", what a lucky critter. I think he needs to be told Santa disapproves that attitude.

-- Always do what you are afraid to do --

He Plays mostly Counter Strike and World of War Craft.

hey what a coincidence, those are the 2 games i play mostly also, (maybe were both 15 eh!?) but anyway.. i say go with the 6800 GT, just because it has dx9.0c support, more pipes.. and its nvidia.. real solid drivers, ive been playing world of warcraft with about 60 - 80 fps on medium settings with my 5900 XT.. shaders and such are all on though ofcourse, but if he really has a pure hatred for nvidia.. i just go for the X800 Pro.. i persist on the 6800 ofcourse, i can almost guarantee nothing but quality and performance. even on the box of WoW it said "to make your WoW experience even better get a GeForce 6 series card!" :D

AMD XP 2500+ @ 3200+
512MB PC3200
Aopen FX5900 XT
EPoX 8RDA3+ mobo
40GB Western Digital
Raidmax case w/ 7 fans
Aopen 350W Power Supply

Hey, I have a NVIDIA 6600GT and I'll tell you one thing a 350W PSU is not sufficient (it even says on the box that 350W is MINIMUM). I just got my new computer a couple of days ago and I'm experiencing lack of power to the card in Doom 3 at ultra setting (no lag at all), and my computer crashes when the game a race in Toca Race Driver 2 (graphics stutter then crashes). Here is a picture of my power supply: http://www.maxpoint.com/products/pccase/spec_pg/cs3088/gallery/slides/11-124-071-07_jpg.jpg. I'd suggest a 420W PSU, which is what I'm planning to upgrade to.

The 6600GT is definitly a great buy and has no lag in Doom 3 (ultra setting) however I can feel lack of power when the game just starts, NFS U 2 and Toca Race Driver 2 (odd times when it doesnt crash loading).

If it was for me X800 VS 6600GT, I'd pick 6600GT its $300-400 more cheaper with not that much of a difference in performance (6600GT outperforms the X800 in certain tests).

p0rsche

Its better that u stick to the current 9700 for now. Unless your son want to play a really2 demanding game, to switch on AntiAliasing, play on a higher resolution or just to "show-off" to his friends how powerful his PC is. BAD ATTITUDE!

The X800 or 6800 is expensive for now and not worth it to play game like Counter Strike and WoW as the game didnt require such a powerful PC. You can buy another PC for the same price of this one card!

Really demanding game like Stalkers, Elder Scrolls 4, FEAR or Unreal 3 won't come out until next year or so. Its better that you stick to the current card and buy the card when the card is cheaper.

P4TypeC 2.8GHz HT
ASUS P4PEX/i845
Apacer 1GB DDR400RAM
Seagate 40GB/80GB HDD
GeForceFX 5600XT
LiteOn DVD Drive
ASUS CDRW Drive
Sound Blaster Live!Value
WindowsXPSP1/Windows98SE

but its christmas.. why would he not get what his son is asking for.. lol, and i dont know what your saying that WoW doesnt need a powerful pc! >.< i cant even play on 1280x780 res with max settings without getting 20 - 30 fps whenever i go on raids, and raids are like the best part, if your computer sucks you cant raid because theres like 80 other people there casting magic, summoning, you would get like 10 - 20 fps.. trust me i would know because when i had 5700LE in my rig my fps would go down to 0.. but yea i only run 1024x768 on my 5900 so i can put on max settings with 50 - 80 fps, if your son gets that 6800 or X800 i bet he would get a big difference in world of warcraft

AMD XP 2500+ @ 3200+
512MB PC3200
Aopen FX5900 XT
EPoX 8RDA3+ mobo
40GB Western Digital
Raidmax case w/ 7 fans
Aopen 350W Power Supply

Well I gave in and bought the X800. I will give it to him this weekend, becaue we go away skiing for the holidays so we usually have our Christmas early. I will let you know if there is any major improvement. Hey whatever, it is the only thing he asked for.

Final report. Well my son was very pleased with the new X800. We installed it last night and there was a big difference. He is now able to turn on all effects like shadows at max res and refresh. He is real happy with the performance.

BUT IT IS NOT CHRISTMAS YET!!!
COLUDN'T HE HAVE WAITED 4 DAYS LIKE THE REST
OF US?

Merry Christmas! LOL

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