My friend is in a dilemma which I'm trying to help out. He needs to upgrade his video card to play Doom 3. Here's the catch... He is low on budget.
I suggested him three choices:
Radeon 9800 Pro (which I have right now and recommended)
Geforce FX 5900 XT
Radeon 9600 XT
He said he does not have the budget for the 9800 Pro. The price difference between 9800 Pro and 5900 XT here is a bit more significant than it is in the US. So I suggested the other two.
Now, I know that the 5900 XT is a faster card and will run games running on open gl even faster. What stopped me from completely recommending that card was the poorer image quality I keep hearing about in reviews. I haven't used the FX card before, so I don't know just how bad it is.
If it is noticeably worse, could the open gl possibly make the image quality better on the FX? Is there a driver release to improve the image quality of the FX cards? If not, I might just tell him to go for the 9600 XT. Besides, there are other games that run on DirectX such as Half-Life 2 and Farcry.
The dude will be going abroad in half a year, leaving his computer behind, so the upgrade don't require a "1 ~ 2 year future-proofing" concerns. Unless he gives the computer to me... (but i think he is selling it... damn!)
In addition to your recommendation, any insight on this will be much appreciated. Thanks alot.
I suggested him three choices:
Radeon 9800 Pro (which I have right now and recommended)
Geforce FX 5900 XT
Radeon 9600 XT
He said he does not have the budget for the 9800 Pro. The price difference between 9800 Pro and 5900 XT here is a bit more significant than it is in the US. So I suggested the other two.
Now, I know that the 5900 XT is a faster card and will run games running on open gl even faster. What stopped me from completely recommending that card was the poorer image quality I keep hearing about in reviews. I haven't used the FX card before, so I don't know just how bad it is.
If it is noticeably worse, could the open gl possibly make the image quality better on the FX? Is there a driver release to improve the image quality of the FX cards? If not, I might just tell him to go for the 9600 XT. Besides, there are other games that run on DirectX such as Half-Life 2 and Farcry.
The dude will be going abroad in half a year, leaving his computer behind, so the upgrade don't require a "1 ~ 2 year future-proofing" concerns. Unless he gives the computer to me... (but i think he is selling it... damn!)
In addition to your recommendation, any insight on this will be much appreciated. Thanks alot.