janika's Full Review: ATI RADEON 9000 PRO, (64 MB) AGP Video Card
Hello
This review is going to be reflecting the ATI Radeon-9000 Graphics accelerator card with 64-Mb DDR memory and 4X AGP.
The basic specs of this card are: 4X AGP architecture, 64 or 128-Mb DDR VRAM, 128-bit processing. I was very skeptical about this card but I bought it regardless. I’ve listened to the reviews and the technical recommendations of others by browsing different 3D and hardware forums and web sites. I’ve been using NVIDIA based cards for the past three years due to my earlier experiences with ATI cards. Since than I learned that the earlier ATI cards were not bad. The problems were with the device drivers that controlled these cards. I am talking about the earlier Rage, Expert and all the others. Since the first RADEON cards have been released, the drivers are good and up till now they’ve gotten even better. I guess ATI has learned a thing or two from NVIDIA. Now they have a universal driver that works with all ATI Radeon cards, 7000 and up.
The card I had in my current system is an NVIDIA based XFX GeForce-2 MX400 4x AGP, 64-Mb SDRAM card. I can’t say many bad things about the NVIDIA cards other than they’re slooooow! Especially the MX based cards. I was looking at two cards before I’ve decided on this one. The other one was the MSI GeForce 4 MX440SE-T - MS-8878. That card was almost the same price as my Radeon. They are both 64-Mb DDR cards. Meanwhile I got tips and suggestions from my fellow board members talking me out of the NVIDIA card. Boy I am glad I listened to them. What a difference! My screen image is so much brighter and sharper without adjusting anything on my SAMSUNG SyncMaster 950b CRT monitor. When playing games, it behaved like my old MX-400 card. However when I raised the pixels and the colors in the game settings, my GF2 chocked. The ATI Radeon-9000 handles any 3D game cranked up the it’s highest settings.
Some features
ATI RADEON 9000 graphics technology from ATI promises to deliver high-end performance and features to the mainstream market. From 3D gaming like Quake-III Arena or business like Office suites and multimedia applications like Media Player. DVD and streaming video. The RADEON 9000 has the power and advanced technology to deliver fast graphics performance.
Features 250MHZ & 400MHz engine / memory clock speed,
It is the ideal solution for those that want high-end features, but need them at an affordable price.
This card is not only for gamers. Graphic artists, web designers and everybody else who wants a nice, laser sharp & crisp screen.
The famous Quad-pipe architecture Four parallel, highly optimized rendering pipelines give the Radeon 9000 the incredible pixel processing power and fast gaming performance. Sweet stuff. Programmable Pixel and Vertex Shaders SMARTSHADER technology takes advantage of the advanced new features of DirectX 8.1, enabling more complex and realistic lightning effects in all the latest games. High-Performance Anisotropic Filtering. The Radeon 9000 shows excellent image quality with SMOOTHVISION.
Full-scene anti-aliasing technology. To this day the industry's most advanced anisotropic / filtering algorithm system. They use all these features in the more expensive models too, like the Radeon 9700-Pro. It supports modes up to 16X and shows the sharpest, clearest textures without ruining the frame rates. Industry-leading Video Playback RADEON 9000 pushes the limit of PC video quality using a adaptive de-interlacing technique and FULL-STREAM video acceleration. This is a new technology that removes blocky artifacts and enhances Internet streaming video. You have probably seen screens where the windows close like a curtain. Good Dual Display Support With HYDRAVISION! That’s something NVIDIA lacks. ATI's multi-monitor management software, The RADEON-9000 supports multiple display configurations that can increase productivity as well as enhance the gaming experience and makes you love your PC again when looking at the screen.
Installation
ATI recommends that you uninstall the existing graphics driver and than install the card and the driver for it. This card came in a nice and tasteful box. The box included the card which was in a sealed antistatic bag. It had two CDs. One with the drivers and the other is with application and video editing software. There was also a cable for the TV out. You never know when you need this cable. I turned my system off completely and left it plugged in so I am grounded in case of ESD. I pulled the old card out and fitted the Radeon right into the same spot. I gave it a firm but not too hard push from above and the card was in it’s place. Secured it with a screw to the side of the case. Plugged the monitor into the new card. Turned the system on. I saw there is picture, so I knew the card is in it’s slot properly. Closed up the side of my case. Windows XP professional detected the card but did not know what sort of graphics / VGA adapter was. I cancelled the wizard that popped up on my screen and inserted the driver CD which was included with the package. The CD auto ran and asked me if I want to install the display adapter drivers. I clicked “Install driver” it toke my system about a minute to install the driver. At the end of the installation, the system asked me to reboot my PC and warned me that the screen my flicker because the program will do some tests to stabilize the driver with my OS. It sure did just that and the screen got adjusted to a high pixel setting automatically.
I re-adjusted the screen settings to 1024x768, 32-bit true color at 85-Hz refresh rate. Now my screen looks beautiful. Sharp, crisp and fast. What a difference!
Conclusion
I highly recommend this card for gamers and for everybody else who likes a beefy performer in their PC. This card in my opinion is the best bang for the buck out there now. The price was only $99- Canadian. That’s about $65- US. It beats most NVIDIA based cards, including the higher rated MX cards. When you increase the settings on your favorite game, you’ll see the Monster Radeon’s real teeth come out.
There is no comparison whatsoever.
Thank you for viewing this article and rating it. Cheers!
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