Don't get an X800 Pro!!!

[beedubaya]

The ATI Radeon X800 Pro is an excelent 3DMark03 and Aquamark scorer, and i testify this because my system got excelent scores from both benchmarks. However, when it comes to actual gameplay, I have had nothing but trouble with framerates from this card. I don't know if its driver problems, or what, but in games, even the 9800 Pro performs better. Far Cry was the first game to give me trouble. There were some places in that game where my framerate got as low as 19 FPS. Thats at 1024x768, 4xAA, 8xAF. I complained about it and everybody told be it was just the engine of Far Cry that was sloppy. Then came Doom 3. On Doom 3, i run at 1024x768 on high settings and get around 45FPS, it will go down to 30 during intense times. However, if I throw in 2xAA and 4xAF, i run at about 15-20 fps, which is basically a slide show. People with 9600XTs are able to run it on ultra settings without too many problems, but if I run it on ultra, its virtually unplayable. This is what I get from a $425 card! My benchmarks show otherwise though, so I'll wait till the next catalyst drivers come out and see what happens, but I am definately not happy with this ATI product.

 

[zerozero]

Did you try the BETA 4.9. It is supposed to be better for DOOM 3.

 

[ShoobieRat]

Huh.
I thought Doom3 had its high-end graphics adjustments geared towards the PCI-Express technology and newer stuff. I could have sworn I heard them say something about being ready for the next generation...

Anyway, I'll have to plug around for some benches on the new geforce 6800 chips.

 

[dbernie41]

Best graphics cards for Doom 3

http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20040809/index.html

 

[KornNut]

Did you try the BETA 4.9. It is supposed to be better for DOOM 3.

What are the details/info on that? Does it do better for all video cards (both the lower quality and high quality)?

 

[zerozero]

supposedly mostly for the X800

 

[WQ87]

Yeah, it's meant for increasing the performance of the X800 series ONLY! It didn't do much for my 9800 Pro. Maybe a 1 or 2 increase in 3dmark03.

 

[beedubaya]

I upgraded to Catalyst 4.9, it signifigantly lowered my Aquamark 3 score, but Doom 3 performance is noticable improved.

 

[ShoobieRat]

Isn't there a newer bench than Aquamark's?

Someone grab a PC-Gamer and look.

 

[jblaze725]

according to ati the beta driver should help all newer radeon cards not just the x800 series.