ATI Radeon 9600 PRO users and FS2004 - I need your advice

[Damien BRUNET]

Hi,

I'd like to buy an ATI Radeon 9600 PRO because my ATI Radeon 9000 suffers from a serious lack of haze in FS2004 and I'd like to know if there is haze in FS2004 with ATI Radeon 9600 PRO graphic cards.

Thank you for your answer.

Regards,
;-)

Damien BRUNET - LFQQ.
e-mail : damien.brunet@udb.fr.st

[TheFlightMan]

Get a GeForce FX 5600 Ultra or higher, you will be happy with it. ATI is not bad but gaming has always been better under NVidia. Good luck with your purchase.

TheFlightMan

[vbluguitar]

I don't agree with flight man, He is kind of a one trick pony when it comes to video cards. If you wan't an unbiased comparison of ATI cards versus Nvidia cards, go to www.tomshardware.com and check out his tests results. Also, realize that ATI's customer support does #####, but that their cards work just fine and have features that Nvidia wishes it had (like 4x FSAA with little to no impact on frame rates). That is not to say that Nvidia products are bad, just check out toms hardware and read about the different cards, and make an educated decision as to which card type and brand will suit your needs best.

[Damien BRUNET]

Thank you but I just want to know if ATI Radeon 9600 PRO work fine with FS2004. And what about haze ?

Damien BRUNET - LFQQ.
e-mail : damien.brunet@udb.fr.st

[Bigshot]

I've never had to call ATI support so I wouldn't know whether it's any good or not. Check out www.rage3d.com if you're considering purchasing an ATI card. That's the main ATI site on the web and where you can get help if you have any problems with an ATI product. Heck, ATI support is not who you want to call anyway.

[MIKEYORCHIE]

Well, in my personal opinion, I have only used a ATI card..once, #####, that thing was outta my PC faster than roadrunner. sooo bad drivers, bad installation, I've always used Nvidia since then and I'm glad I did! you wont see any problems with an nvidia card in fs2004, thats a fact. but if you want to to risk it then go ahead, and tomhardware is honestly a load of #####, have a look at guru3d, much better.

[rstansbury]

With due respect, you can not tell me that guru3d will give an honest review, they have Nvidia wrtten all over them. My recommendation is to use guru3d along with rage3d as a guide, you will get the scoop from both sides of the fence that way. I was a Nvidia guy, but switched over to ATI (9800 pro) and am very happy. I replaced a g4 4600 and the visual quality is way better with the ATI. Things I have read say that the quality is much better than the FX series also.

[TheFlightMan]

vbluguitar,

Don't know what makes you think I am a one trick pony, but anyways, you are entitled to your opinion. ATI just recently became a player in the gaming industry, they were never known to be a solid gaming card. I don't have anything against ATI and what does not work for me might work for someone else, it all depends how your cookie crumbles.

But to be honest with you and to answer any doubts you might have, games are written to NVidia standards. Is just like software when it comes, Intel vs AMD, everything is written to the Intel Standards. Why..?? Cause they own the largest market share and the same goes for NVidia.

Again, not saying that ATI is bad but if you get the right NVidia card is just as good if not better. They don't have the market share just because there logo looks nice, they perform.

TheFlightMan

[Damien BRUNET]

Then, which graphic card to choose for FS2004 ?


Damien BRUNET - LFQQ.
e-mail : damien.brunet@udb.fr.st

[Bigshot]

""games are written to NVidia standards"" hehehe, you must have read that at some Nvidia site. No game maker would make a video card to Nvidia's standard. Glad you're happy with you nvidia card. Are we all having fun yet?

[Damien BRUNET]

The aim of this topic was not a debate between NVIDIA and ATI but I just want to know if there is HAZE in FS2004 with an ATI Radeon 9600 PRO. I want an ATI Radeon 9600 PRO, not NVIDIA graphic cards !


Please read carefully the topic and answer the question.

;-)

Damien BRUNET - LFQQ.
e-mail : damien.brunet@udb.fr.st

[vcaptmattsmith]

Yes, it will, I have a friend who has it. But your Radeon 9000 Pro should give you haze with the latest drivers. Mine does.

[Damien BRUNET]

I've got an ATI Radeon 9000 128MB, not a 9000 PRO.

Damien BRUNET - LFQQ.
e-mail : damien.brunet@udb.fr.st

[Coneman]

Dont know if this helps buy my 9500 Pro has haze. Only problems so far are briefly flashing screens when going to the alt menu. And just another note, don't think AA is going to help much in FS2004. The clouds have a real hit on fps. Found it better to crank up the res.

Todd

[MIKEYORCHIE]

urm.... is that why the best online FPS is UT2003, first hing you see, Nvidia logo guy crashes threw it, Rise of nations, again nvidia logo, hmm, should I mention another one, no because I dont have to, ATI were, are, and always will be the small player in the market, Nvidia will be the biggest, and I'd rather be happy with an nvidia card than uninstalling and reinstalling ATI drivers in hope of sucess, urm,, all these haze problems... ATI cards only.. urm.. drivers problems. ati only.. urm. bad customer support.. ati only... just face it, Nvidia are the best and always will be.. , PCGAMER test results... ' the geforce fx cards in question ( 5900 ultra and 5800 ultra ) show a a definate lead in benchmarks.

ATI trying to get Nvidia below them no by developing a beefed up version of the 9800 Pro to push performance past the 5900 Ultra, but Nvidia will have developed their new chipset, ( nv40 ) by then and it should be available widestream availability by early 2004. I can't wait for ATI to be thrashed.

[davidd]

Hi Damien,

I did exactly what you are planning to do. I had a ATI 9000 for about 2 months before I changed to a ATI 9600 about two weeks before FS2004
was released. That was the best investment I ever made in a computer
component. I changed for two reasons. The 9000 had 'jaggies' that I could not get rid of and to make more speed available for FS04 3D clouds and color GPS.
Now the screen is clear and smoooth and more jaggies. As far as the ATI screen flashing, I expect ATI is working on it. The flight simulator following is too large and knowledgeable to be ignored. I have used ATI for along time and I agree that at one point the drivers were below par, but the drivers quality has improved significantly and the performance is great.

One installation tip - use the driver disk that comes with the card, then uninstall them and get the newest version off the website and uninstall the originals. Trying to use the newest version of drivers to works with the card out of the box is a bear. Take my advice. Also, AF at 8x/AA at 2x at 1280x1024x32 is the best combination I have seen. FS204 has excellent visuals and the clouds are a cycle
hog but there are no big performance problems if you pull back a few sliders about 1 notch.

AMP XP 2100+
512MB PC2700
ATI 9600 128MB

Good luck,
DMD

[TheFlightMan]

Bigshot,

Of course support will be included for other vendors but a majority of the tweaking is usually done for the biggest portion of the market share, hence, NVidia.

Like I said before and will say again, I'm not against ATI but I do think NVidia is overall a better product. You just don't give a card high ratings because it looks great with FS2004, how about other games.

Damien,

If you are happy with ATI and it works for you then stick with that line of product. I'm not trying to confuse you or say that NVidia owns the world but just to make you aware that market share or a majority of the population uses NVidia products. I know the crowd will go against me but hey, that is my opinion and what I have read.

TheFlightMan