upgrading from a FX5700U worth it?

**longhaul747** · 02-14-2004, 03:06 PM

I currently have a Geforce FX5700Ultra 256mb video card. For the most part it is pretty fast but when I turn on some of the visual candy it chokes out...horribly!!! I did not pay much for this card so I would not feel all that guilty replacing it if it makes a noticable difference.

Doing some research it lookes like the ATI Radeon series cards take top honors. Especially the 9800 Pro and 9800 XT cards.

Would I notice a big difference if I broke down and bought a 9800 Pro card? It is not like my 5700 Ultra is not good. Just slow when I crank the AA and AF settings.

Money is not really a concern but only if I get my moneys worth. Right not I feel the only real bottleneck I have is the video card.

Current specs

Athlon 64 3200+
1024MB DDR
Geforce FX 5700 Ultra 256MB
x2 Seagate Baracuda 120GB HD

**comphollic** · 02-14-2004, 05:56 PM

With the System you have, i say it is worth it....I say buy the 9800pro, they are dirt cheap now, and most overclock to the 9800XT speeds...

**MadMaster** · 02-14-2004, 06:04 PM

You might get your moneys worth and you might not. You just have to take your chances. If you don't mind spending $500 on a new graphics card than go for it. There is no garrentee that you will not regret your purchase. It is just a chance you will have to take!

**longhaul747** · 02-15-2004, 10:25 AM

I just tried an interesting experiment. I traded out my FX5700 Ultra for a FX5200 I had in my old computer. I was expecting a major drop in performance but I hardly noticed any difference if at all. So either the 5700 Ultra is really not that great or FS2004 is not as video card critical as some games.

One interesting tid bit that came out of this experiment was my CTD problem. Like clock work every time I depart FRA and reach about 5,000 ft FS aborts like it never existed. With the FX5200 installed the CTD did not happen. So I wonder if something is haywire with my FX5700 Ultra?

I am going to go ahead and order a 9800 Pro. Most people seem pretty happy with them. I have read several testimonials of people going from FX5900 to the 9800 Pro and have nearly doubled the benchmarks. With certain games they go from 50 FPS average to 90 FPS average. I don't expect that gain with flight sim but most people have seen gains with this card.

I am going to order it today. I am ordering from Newegg and they are very fast. So I should have it Wednesday at the latest.

One question I also have is with the drivers. I have heard that going from a Geforce to a Radeon card can be disastrous if you don't completely remove the Geforce driver. Using the add/remove programs does not remove everything. So how do you completely remove the old driver?

**comphollic** · 02-15-2004, 12:45 PM

The only reason you haven't seen a performance difference between the 5700U and 5200U is because you used it on a old computer. If you have an old computer you will not notice a big difference even between a 5200U and an Ati 9800, except maybe image quality and AA/AF performance. You need a fast computer to really see what the new video cards have to offer in terms of performance..

As for driver issues between the Geforce to Randeon, use a tool called Driver Cleaner, search for it at [link:www.guru3d.com|www.guru3d.com], it will completly remove any nvdia or ATI driver that remains in your system....

**longhaul747** · 02-15-2004, 01:59 PM

Actually I installed the 5200 in the new computer and not the old one. I was curious just how much faster the 5700U was over the 5200. Amazingly not much. Performance wise they felt about the same but the 5700U looked maybe slightly better. Display settings were set the same.

I found Driver Cleaner and downloaded it. I will put it into practice. It looks to be the best one and works for both video card manufactures. I will probably be putting it into good use. I seem to be turning into a hardware geek...LOL :-roll

**MadMaster** · 02-15-2004, 03:30 PM

Whats wrong with that? Chicks dig nerds, as long as you don't blend in with the walls.

The great part is when their computer goes crazy, you come over, take 10 minutes and its workin better than it ever has in 2 years. Action is around the corner...