Radeon 9800 or Nvida 6600?

[nodepoints]

Going to be using Sage with a 60" HDTV that does not have DVI input - so I will be using component for video. My budget allows for either:
1. Sapphire Radeon 9800 (http://www.sapphiretech.com/vga/9800atl.asp) with a dongle to get component
or
2. Chaintech Nvida GF 6600GT (http://www.chaintechusa.com/tw/eng/p...o=14&PISNo=316) that includes the HDTV out.

Any suggestions? Thanks.

[korben_dallas]

A few questions:

1. Why the 9800 and not the 9800 Pro?
2. What do you have right now?
3. Do you play any games?
4. What resolution would you be running out to the HDTV?
5. Will you be using the S-video out or a DVI to Component converter or ?

I have an ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB. I bought it about 3 months back for $250. I have not been dissapointed with it. I run 1024 x 768 out to a standard TV, and the picture quality is great. It has a stock ATI fan, but I cannot hear it, even with my Zalman P4 cooler. For games, the rendering is fantastic.. Half-Life 2 looks amazing on it. I think the price has stayed about the same on the ATI version, but dropped $20 on the 3rd party versions.

I did a bunch of research into the 6600GT (AGP) line. Nvidia really has made a great card. The core doesn't have the problems that the 6800 line has. It's fully DirectX 9.0c compliant. It has a lot newer technology and programmability over the Radeon. If the 6600GT had been on the shelf at the time of my purchase, I probably would have got it instead. It is more "future proof", if there is such a thing in computerland.

As a whole, the 6600GT isn't enough of an upgrade for me to spend $200+ for only 5-10% improvement, and I don't know what the picture quality looks like on it, so I'm sticking with my Radeon for the time being.

Hope this helps

[kny3twalker]

a 6600 GT is more comparable to a 9800 Pro not a 9800
if that helps make your decision

[stanger89]

I'm rather partial to the Geforce 6 series myself, the deinterlacing and overall video quality on them seems to be most excellent. (wooh! 80's lingo alert!, having flashbacks to Bill and Ted)

[nodepoints]

Originally Posted by korben_dallas

A few questions:
1. Why the 9800 and not the 9800 Pro?
2. What do you have right now?
3. Do you play any games?
4. What resolution would you be running out to the HDTV?
5. Will you be using the S-video out or a DVI to Component converter or ?
Hope this helps

1. Local distributor only carries the 9800
2. Currently a ATI AIW 128Pro
3. NO games - only Sage and web surf - maybe a Karaoke App.
4. 1280x720 res would be optimal res to display
5. Would be using either DVI to HDMI cable or DVI to component

[mlbdude]

Anyone have success with at 6600 or 6800 via component at 1080i? I have never gotten an nVidia to work at 1080i via DVI but don't have a card that has component. My ATI 9600 is a dream with the dongle getting to work at 1080i and while I like my nVidia too I don't want to get back into driver hell .

[GbrNole]

mlb - only the 6600's come with the component dongle. everyone that uses the 6600's have no issue with 1080i and the dongle the issues only start when they want to use 1080i via dvi.

i believe the 70.90 beta drivers now allow 1080i via dvi with no issue but from what i've read the drivers seem to be very buggy.

nodepoints - one thing that you may need to consider is that ati cards when connected via straight dvi suffer black crush and provides a completely unnacceptable picture quality. this problem is eliminated when you use the dvi to component adapter though (or driver hack and dvi to vga to component cables)

[mlbdude]

Originally Posted by GbrNole

nodepoints - one thing that you may need to consider is that ati cards when connected via straight dvi suffer black crush and provides a completely unnacceptable picture quality. this problem is eliminated when you use the dvi to component adapter though (or driver hack and dvi to vga to component cables)

From what I read on the AVSForums this is a DVI problem in general and not specific to ATI.

Having tried both cards via DVI and the ATI via component I can confirm that at the same resolutions I can't tell a difference. But the ATI at 1080i wins hands down . I wish they put out a regular 6600 AGP. I don't like to spend big $$$ on video cards anymore.

[GbrNole]

albatron already has a 6600 agp (non gt) ready to go i just wish they would hurry up and release it.

my 5900xt via dvi paints a pretty picture except i can only use it at 960x540p with acceptable results. any other resolution my tv sees as 720p and the rescales that back to 1080i which isn't pleasant.

i think i'll dump my 5900xy in one of my dad's htpc's and change to either a 9550 extreme with dongle or step up to a 6600 here pretty soon since i have a native 1080i tv while both his tv's are 1280x720p native.

[rotaryracer]

I was going to move my Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB from my gaming box to my HTPC to replace my old non-VMR9 compliant 9200SE. I was going to put a Zalman ZM80D on that, and then replace the gaming vid card with a 6800GT or such. I started getting a little itchy when I started adding up all the dollars. Even the 6600GT AGPs were over $200.

I ended up keeping the 9800 Pro in my gaming machine and putting a 256MB Aopen 5700LE in the HTPC (with a Zalman ZM80D). The 5700LE pushes HDTV in VMR9 with no problems over a DVI connection and auto-recognized my TV better than my old ATI card. The 5700LE was $100, plus $35 for the Zalman (from Newegg).

It might not be the latest and greatest, but it works great in MCE2005 (I'm assuming Sage would be the same) using the NVIDIA decoders for HDTV, SDTV, and DVD.

Jason

[mlbdude]

I would assume you are using 720p then? HDTV is either 720p or 1080i. For me the card really needs to work with both to be considered HDTV compliant. However, for 720p users the nVidia is plug and play over DVI.

[GbrNole]

mlb - did you ever try setting up a 960x540p resolution with one of those cards and comparing it to a good 1920x1080i resolution with the same card?

i've always used 960x540p with my hdtv as it provides a crisp image and allows me to surf the net quickly if i feel so inclined but i've never really been able to compare the benefit of what a true 1080i image from the card would look like and whether it's precieveably better and worth me trying to achieve.

[mlbdude]

Originally Posted by GbrNole

mlb - did you ever try setting up a 960x540p resolution with one of those cards and comparing it to a good 1920x1080i resolution with the same card?

i've always used 960x540p with my hdtv as it provides a crisp image and allows me to surf the net quickly if i feel so inclined but i've never really been able to compare the benefit of what a true 1080i image from the card would look like and whether it's precieveably better and worth me trying to achieve.

I have not. I guess you need powerstrip for that? I don't like messing with that. The benefit for 1080i for you would be for DVD's only probably.

[GbrNole]

you can setup 960x540 right in both catalyst 4.12 for dvi and forceware 66.93 for dvi and vga.

[mlbdude]

Originally Posted by GbrNole

you can setup 960x540 right in both catalyst 4.12 for dvi and forceware 66.93 for dvi and vga.

Must be my TV then, I only get black screen.

[g808]

Try reading though some of these posts. They talk about the same issue (DVI at 1080i with nvidia):
http://htpcnews.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=8670
http://htpcnews.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=9144
http://htpcnews.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=9016

As far as available 6600 AGP cards (from newegg):
Albatron 6600GT
Chaintech 6600GT
Apollo 6600GT
XFX 6600GT

GameVE also has them:
http://gameve.com/gve/Store/quicksea...Key=6600%20agp

mlbdude - you may want to stay away from the XFX card since it does not come with the s-video to component adapter. The others have it.

[rotaryracer]

Originally Posted by mlbdude

I would assume you are using 720p then? HDTV is either 720p or 1080i. For me the card really needs to work with both to be considered HDTV compliant. However, for 720p users the nVidia is plug and play over DVI.

I am outputting 1280x720P over DVI. I tried 1920x1080, but the picture went to hell (jitters, etc.).

[mlbdude]

Originally Posted by rotaryracer

I am outputting 1280x720P over DVI. I tried 1920x1080, but the picture went to hell (jitters, etc.).

Yeah, that is the nVidia bug . I would love to hear directly from someone using an nVidia via component that is happily using 1080i.

[GbrNole]

mlb - is your 9600 a standard 9600 card or a pro/xt variety?

considering that i don't have to use the dongle to get 1080i out any more (thanks to the driver hack) i'm seriously thinking about changing back to ati.

just want to make sure i get something that is vmr9 proficient with the ability to play wmv-hd clips if i want to.

[mlbdude]

I use a plain old 9600. Since I use ffdhow and the VPP though I am sure most of the work is done by my CPU. I have played 720p WMV-HD clips fine though (as long as I don't ffdshow resize them ). Most of my experience with it though has been with film content. All my video content viewing is done in MCE. For Sage though I wouls suspect you might want something better for watching TV in VMR9 at high resolutions.

I have never gotten 1080i to work long on my ATI though out of DVI. What info do you have on that? Basically for me it looks like it is working after I set it up in powerstrip but at times it looses sync. Usually when I load up ZoomPlayer.