ATI Radeon 9700 Pro. Can anyone say anything good about this card?

pdkinder · Sep 29, 2003, 08:06 PM

I have been looking at the posts in this forum for a very long time in hopes that they would help me decide which card to put my money into. Just when I think I've decided I come back here to check out what others have to say about the card I've decided on and what I find are nothing but complaints.

I go away thinking no matter which card I get, 9700 or 9800 pro or any of the Nvidia cards that I'm in for nothing but problems and nightmares! :<

I was hoping I could hear from anyone who has a good experience with the 9700 Pro (or even 9800 Pro). I mean it actually works in their PC without all the hellish reports in this forum and on others? I have been looking at the Hercules 3D Prophet 9700 Pro ($299.00).

Thanks for the feedback.

pdkinder · Sep 29, 2003, 08:08 PM

I do not plan to overclock this card at all!

~~craig588~~ · Sep 29, 2003, 08:11 PM

The best card I have found is the r9800pro. I have played around with a fx5900, and I currently use a r9700pro, but the r9800pro is much better than both of them. It has a better power connector, and I havn't run into any wierd issues with it like I do with my r9700pro. (Needing to raise the agp voltage, needing to remove the shim to get stock cooling to work right, ect)

pdkinder · Sep 29, 2003, 08:19 PM

Excellent! This is exactly the kind of input I was looking for.

kinetic · Sep 29, 2003, 08:43 PM

I've got a Sapphire 9800 Pro I upgraded from a GF4 Ti4200 which was an excellent card, but the 9800 Pro is a quantum leap forward!

The IQ is simply amazing and as yet, I have had no problems whatsoever!

As for overclocking trust me, you won't need to!

~~HawK~~ · Sep 29, 2003, 08:48 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by pdkinder
I have been looking at the posts in this forum for a very long time in hopes that they would help me decide which card to put my money into. Just when I think I've decided I come back here to check out what others have to say about the card I've decided on and what I find are nothing but complaints.

I go away thinking no matter which card I get, 9700 or 9800 pro or any of the Nvidia cards that I'm in for nothing but problems and nightmares! :<

I was hoping I could hear from anyone who has a good experience with the 9700 Pro (or even 9800 Pro). I mean it actually works in their PC without all the hellish reports in this forum and on others? I have been looking at the Hercules 3D Prophet 9700 Pro ($299.00).

Thanks for the feedback.

You seem to forget that forums in general are for those who are having a problem of any sort, and seek help to solve it,
those who have no problems are here to help or for disussion in general, or for whatever other reason.
I for one just came for tips in general about the 9700, and stayed, because ilike most of the members, but never had a real problem with the 9700,
but one tip I must give is when installing any kind of software always read the readme !!!
it will save you from 90% of the troubles that mhight occur.

~~craig588~~ · Sep 29, 2003, 08:51 PM

I'm here because I'm a loser with no life. All I do is play chrome and talk in forums.

kinetic · Sep 29, 2003, 08:54 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by craig588
I'm here because I'm a loser with no life. All I do is play chrome and talk in forums.

Same here but I don't play Chrome!

Shadow Lady · Sep 30, 2003, 01:37 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by craig588
I'm here because I'm a loser with no life. All I do is play chrome and talk in forums.

and u have that PC only to play chrome???

~~craig588~~ · Sep 30, 2003, 01:41 AM

I only play one game at a time. I barly get time for chrome as it is, I might play maybe 1-2 hours a week.

mainman · Sep 30, 2003, 01:51 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by craig588
I'm here because I'm a loser with no life. All I do is play chrome and talk in forums.

Well im here cuz i have nothing bether to do at work, yes, i have the best job in the world, im paid to do nothing, well almost nothing, my shift is from 24:00 to 08:00 so theres hardly anything to do. About the card, the 9700 Pro is a very good card and the hercules one is sure a nice buy, but if you have the money just buy a 9800 Pro.

Capt'n Carnage · Sep 30, 2003, 04:19 AM

Im not a serious fan of the radeon 9700pro , my first one died when a chip actually burnt out (i actually saw the flash of flame and it left a tiny scorch mark) and now my second 9700 pro is over heating when i play 3d games, when i play Counter strike it locks up with in 20-50 minutes and when i play Ages of Empires in 1600x1200 it locks up within 2-5 minutes. when it locks up i have to do a hard boot and if i pop open the case the video card is so hard you could burn yourself (we very close)

I have noticed upping the voltage seems to give me alittle longer play timeut how far can i take that? I really wish i had waited for the 9800pro, from what i hear a much more stable card and faster to boot.

~~craig588~~ · Sep 30, 2003, 04:30 AM

yeah, I loved my r9800pro it had no problems, the r9700pro just seems like its ready to fall apart any day. (No offense to ATI, its still an awsome card, but something about it seems a little off)

DriveEuro · Sep 30, 2003, 05:00 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by craig588
yeah, I loved my r9800pro it had no problems, the r9700pro just seems like its ready to fall apart any day. (No offense to ATI, its still an awsome card, but something about it seems a little off)

No problems? You killed it by volt modding it.... So essentially there was a problem...

BWX · Sep 30, 2003, 05:18 AM

I have a built by ATI 9700pro

Get the 9800pro-

I have a 9700pro and the stock HSF was designed by a moron (no offense to whoever designed it)- but YOU know you messed up bad! The stupid thing doesn't come into contact w/ the GPU because of a shim that sticks up too far, on some cards the gap is bigger than others. On mine the gap was huge, so I had no choice to take the shim off, which almost killed my card-

I HAD TO VOID my warranty to allow my 9700pro's GPU to get good cooling

- that's the bottom line, so Don't buy one.

The 9800p has a HSF that is designed to make direct contact w/ the GPU by having a protrusion that gets around the shim problem, or so I've read.

Also if you don't plan to OC, you need the 9800pro- next year you will wish you had if you don't. Just make sure you have good case air flow- these highend cards get freaking hot, and need a steady supply of cool air to keep them going.

Also you may want to wait to see what ATI comes out with early next year- you may want that card, and if not, it will instantly make the price of the 9800p come down quite a bit.. Oh, and just in case you were thinking about it- don't get the 256mb version, it isn't any faster in 99.9% of situations you will encounter in games.

[/my 2cents]
edit- whatever you do - don't buy an Nvidia FX card if you want to play HL2.

Vampyromaniac · Sep 30, 2003, 05:22 AM

I've had no problems with my 9700 Pro, I love the card in fact! If the 9800pro costs over $50 more than the 9700pro where you live, I'd say definitely get the 9700

BWX · Sep 30, 2003, 05:27 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Vampyromaniac
I love the card in fact!

I love mine too , believe it or not. I just wouldn't recomend it to anyone who in any way has the cash for a 9800

toddsmack2k · Sep 30, 2003, 07:10 PM

Yeah if you have the cash get the 9800 over the 9700. I however do have a 9700 pro and love it. Not a single problem out of it and can overclock it to 385/340 stock with no problems.

Sep 29, 2003, 08:06 PM	#1
pdkinder DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 8 Rep Power: 0	ATI Radeon 9700 Pro. Can anyone say anything good about this card? I have been looking at the posts in this forum for a very long time in hopes that they would help me decide which card to put my money into. Just when I think I've decided I come back here to check out what others have to say about the card I've decided on and what I find are nothing but complaints. I go away thinking no matter which card I get, 9700 or 9800 pro or any of the Nvidia cards that I'm in for nothing but problems and nightmares! :< I was hoping I could hear from anyone who has a good experience with the 9700 Pro (or even 9800 Pro). I mean it actually works in their PC without all the hellish reports in this forum and on others? I have been looking at the Hercules 3D Prophet 9700 Pro ($299.00). Thanks for the feedback. __________________ Building a new system, hardware so far: Gigabyte GA-8INXP MB Vantec Stealth 480 watt power supply Kingston PC2100 DDR EEC RAM, 1GB SB Audigy 2 P4 2.4Ghz Northwood Thermaltake Spark 7 CPU Fan Windows XP Pro

Sep 29, 2003, 08:08 PM	Thread Starter #2
pdkinder DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 8 Rep Power: 0	Forgot to add one thing I do not plan to overclock this card at all! __________________ Building a new system, hardware so far: Gigabyte GA-8INXP MB Vantec Stealth 480 watt power supply Kingston PC2100 DDR EEC RAM, 1GB SB Audigy 2 P4 2.4Ghz Northwood Thermaltake Spark 7 CPU Fan Windows XP Pro

Sep 29, 2003, 08:19 PM	Thread Starter #4
pdkinder DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 8 Rep Power: 0	Thank you Excellent! This is exactly the kind of input I was looking for. __________________ Building a new system, hardware so far: Gigabyte GA-8INXP MB Vantec Stealth 480 watt power supply Kingston PC2100 DDR EEC RAM, 1GB SB Audigy 2 P4 2.4Ghz Northwood Thermaltake Spark 7 CPU Fan Windows XP Pro

Sep 30, 2003, 05:18 AM	#15
BWX unplugged Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: USNY Posts: 19,669 Rep Power: 110 System Specs	I have a built by ATI 9700pro Get the 9800pro- I have a 9700pro and the stock HSF was designed by a moron (no offense to whoever designed it)- but YOU know you messed up bad! The stupid thing doesn't come into contact w/ the GPU because of a shim that sticks up too far, on some cards the gap is bigger than others. On mine the gap was huge, so I had no choice to take the shim off, which almost killed my card- I HAD TO VOID my warranty to allow my 9700pro's GPU to get good cooling- that's the bottom line, so Don't buy one. The 9800p has a HSF that is designed to make direct contact w/ the GPU by having a protrusion that gets around the shim problem, or so I've read. Also if you don't plan to OC, you need the 9800pro- next year you will wish you had if you don't. Just make sure you have good case air flow- these highend cards get freaking hot, and need a steady supply of cool air to keep them going. Also you may want to wait to see what ATI comes out with early next year- you may want that card, and if not, it will instantly make the price of the 9800p come down quite a bit.. Oh, and just in case you were thinking about it- don't get the 256mb version, it isn't any faster in 99.9% of situations you will encounter in games. [/my 2cents] edit- whatever you do - don't buy an Nvidia FX card if you want to play HL2. __________________ Last edited by BWX; Sep 30, 2003 at 05:24 AM.

Sep 30, 2003, 05:22 AM	#16
Vampyromaniac confutatis maledictis Join Date: May 2002 Location: somewhere dark Posts: 5,974 Rep Power: 77 System Specs	I've had no problems with my 9700 Pro, I love the card in fact! If the 9800pro costs over $50 more than the 9700pro where you live, I'd say definitely get the 9700 __________________ *Digitalis 3.3* Athlon 64 3000 // ASUS K8V SE Deluxe // 1024MB PC3200 (2-2-2-10 1T) ATI All-In-Wonder 9700 Pro // 20" Dell 2005FPW (DVI) M-Audio Revo 7.1 + Philips Acoustic Edge // Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 320/16 Western Digital WD3200KS + 120/8 Seagate 7200.7 NEC ND-3550A 16x DVD±RW + Lite-On 52x24x CD-RW Antec Sonata case // 480W Antec TruePower personal bests \|\| Aq'3: 46796 \| 3D'01: 20461 \| 3D'03: 6336 \| 3D'05: 2677 \| PC'04: 4605 \| PC'02: 7691,9092,1250

Sep 29, 2003, 08:11 PM	#3
~~craig588~~ Banned Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: In clothing Posts: 3,510 Rep Power: 0	The best card I have found is the r9800pro. I have played around with a fx5900, and I currently use a r9700pro, but the r9800pro is much better than both of them. It has a better power connector, and I havn't run into any wierd issues with it like I do with my r9700pro. (Needing to raise the agp voltage, needing to remove the shim to get stock cooling to work right, ect)

Sep 29, 2003, 08:43 PM	#5
kinetic DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: Manchester England Posts: 2,559 Rep Power: 0	I've got a Sapphire 9800 Pro I upgraded from a GF4 Ti4200 which was an excellent card, but the 9800 Pro is a quantum leap forward! The IQ is simply amazing and as yet, I have had no problems whatsoever! As for overclocking trust me, you won't need to!

Sep 29, 2003, 08:51 PM	#7
~~craig588~~ Banned Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: In clothing Posts: 3,510 Rep Power: 0	I'm here because I'm a loser with no life. All I do is play chrome and talk in forums.

Sep 30, 2003, 01:41 AM	#10
~~craig588~~ Banned Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: In clothing Posts: 3,510 Rep Power: 0	I only play one game at a time. I barly get time for chrome as it is, I might play maybe 1-2 hours a week.

Sep 30, 2003, 04:19 AM	#12
Capt'n Carnage DriverHeaven Junior Member Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: NB, Canada Posts: 24 Rep Power: 0	Im not a serious fan of the radeon 9700pro , my first one died when a chip actually burnt out (i actually saw the flash of flame and it left a tiny scorch mark) and now my second 9700 pro is over heating when i play 3d games, when i play Counter strike it locks up with in 20-50 minutes and when i play Ages of Empires in 1600x1200 it locks up within 2-5 minutes. when it locks up i have to do a hard boot and if i pop open the case the video card is so hard you could burn yourself (we very close) I have noticed upping the voltage seems to give me alittle longer play timeut how far can i take that? I really wish i had waited for the 9800pro, from what i hear a much more stable card and faster to boot.

Sep 30, 2003, 04:30 AM	#13
~~craig588~~ Banned Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: In clothing Posts: 3,510 Rep Power: 0	yeah, I loved my r9800pro it had no problems, the r9700pro just seems like its ready to fall apart any day. (No offense to ATI, its still an awsome card, but something about it seems a little off)

Sep 30, 2003, 07:10 PM	#18
toddsmack2k It Never..... Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: Kentucky Posts: 3,173 Rep Power: 0	Yeah if you have the cash get the 9800 over the 9700. I however do have a 9700 pro and love it. Not a single problem out of it and can overclock it to 385/340 stock with no problems. __________________ [color=blue]*Bleeding From the Inside Pouring Out, The* *DriverHeaven* Spiral, We Shall Never Let Go Of.[/color]