Upgrading Video Card

[themeat]

Ok, so I have a 256mb Radeon 9200, and frankly, I'm not happy with compatibility with Direct X 9.0b etc and I want to upgrade it. I found on a website for a store near me an ASUS AGP RADEON 9600SE 128MB 8X DVI for $119, and I'm thinking that sounds like a good deal, especially if I can trade in my old graphics card, but I want your opinion.

Is this a better card, and will I get better performance/compatibility etc with games? I'm mainly wanting it for Far Cry, Doom3 and Rome: Total War which have all been assaulting me with video glitches and sub par performance because of the incompatiblities with Direct X 9.0b.

So yeah, opinions please.

 

[Topato]

Your better going with the 9600xt or 9600. The 9600se is not worth the money as its much slower. Anyway, I upgraded from 9200 to a 9600 and games like doom3, farcry, and halo look and run better. They also take advantage of the new pixel shaders so everything looks alot more uhhhh.... Shadyer.. I guess.

 

[Tumbleweed36]

Hi,

I agree with Topato on this one. I have a ATI 9600 pro and it is a great card. The SE models are simply an entry level cheap card with limited features and I could never recommend them for the games you are playing.

 

[Tranquility]

9800 Pro cards are amazing and they're going very cheap.

 

[Topato]

$200 cheap....

 

[themeat]

$200 US cheap. I decided in the end that it's all too expensive for me. I'm not a huge gamer anyway, so it's probably better to spare myself the cost, and save up for something more worthwhile.

 

[techkid]

Simply try for the best card you can afford.