9700 VS 9800

[Dilbert135]

I'm building a new computer and I need to get a video card with a capture card. I was going to go with a 9600 Pro and then a capture card but I'm partial to the AIW (and don't know any good cheaper PCI capture cards) so here's my question:

Is the AIW 9800 Pro worth the $100 more than the AIW 9700 from both a capture and graphics standpoint? I need to cut corners, and I'd like to keep the newer technology but how new do I really have to go to get a card I can be happy with for at least a year or two?

All-In-Wonder 9700

All-In-Wonder 9800 Pro

[freestyler]

If you're a hardcore gamer and do capturing on the side, any two of these would be good cards. I believe that their capture feature is identical on both cards, but I am in fact familiar with and own an AIW 8500DV 64 MB that I've had since it barely came out and the only difference in the capture mechanism in my card is that mine has a special digital tv tuner on it (as opposed to the analog chip in the older AIWs and in the newer AIWs. They stopped adding them in newer AIWs because they got pretty damn hot during operation.

Heck, even the PCI TV Wonder (not the VE) is the same thing you're getting in the AIW series from what I've read.

Aside from that, I'd say get what fits your budget, and make sure you stick in some fast hard drives and maybe consider RAID for those big files you're gonna get while capturing.

my 2 cents,

freestyler

[Dilbert135]

I've heard competing views on RAID while here, but here is what I've decided. I'll be using a 2.8 800 mhz Pentium with 3200 DDR and the hard drives I'm looking at are two 120 gb 7200 8mb. I just have to decide on brand, and that will only depend on the special prices I find this next week. I've already got a 200 gb WD (not sure if it's 7200 or 5400) 8mb I've been using that'll be in there too. I just don't have the money to throw in for SATA RAID (what'll be on my motherboard) nor the stomach for risk of losing data if the RAID messed up. I'd love to hear more opinions, but I'm leaning towards the 9700. If anyone knows of good deals on it, I'd love to hear 'em.

[lordsmurf]

Yes and yes. The 9800 has a newer graphics chipset, and more of the MPEG encoding is done in the new 9800 chip. It is better on both fronts. Is it $100 better? Well, I'd say no. But it's still better.

And the AIW Radeon series cards are much different than the other ones, in terms of capturing quality and chipsets. AIW Radeon is well beyond the cheaper ones.

I've had my older ATI AIW Radeon DDR32 for two years. Works great for me, no complaint. I don't play many games, but I work with lots of photography, and it handles everything pretty well. Color-matching cooperates almost perfectly.