There are a zillion different reviews and write-ups of the ATI Radeon 9700 Pro graphics adapter; I do not think we need another one. If you want to see a review of it's hardware, it's vertex shading capabilities, it's pipeline, there are many: Anandtech, [H]ardOCP, etc., etc. - the list goes on and on. This is one user's thoughts on the card along with screencaps of the ATI demos.

Let me first say that I decided on this card early; I had pre-ordered it, and have since had it from the day it went public. I have put it through it's paces in many 2-D daily apps along with some 3-D rendering and of course games. All the screencaps here are from the ATI Radeon 9700 Pro demos. The reason for this is simple: I could post screencaps of various games here sure, but you've probably already seen plenty. And, all games (ALL) currently use at best DirectX 8.1; there has yet to be a game that was built with DirectX 9, which is (will be) one of the R300's (the graphics processor used to build the Radeon 9700 Pro) major high points. Because of that, posting screenshots of games could be misleading; you would see blemishes here and there and might get it in your head that this is due to the card. Believe me people, of the small list of games I've played on this card (including Unreal Tournament 2003, NHL 2002, Undying, The Thing, Grand Theft Auto III, America's Army, Jedi Outcast II, and Return to Castle Wolfenstein), none of them have left the card sweating at all. Any shortcomings you might see in screenshots of said games would be in the game itself, not in the card's interpretation of it. Sure, certain levels of UT2K3 can bring down the framerate at maximum resolution, but I rarely play anything at 1600x1200. I run it that way a few times to see what this card can do, but when it looks incredibly similar to 1280x1024, why run it? Why heat the card for no discernable reason? A good analogy in my mind would be that people who buy Ferrari's do so because they love the look, the love the performance, they love the speed, they love the handling, etc. But these people do not buy that car to run it at full throttle every time they sit in it; not only would it be rediculous to think that everyone that buys a Ferrari wants to drive 240mph all the time, but it would invariably and eventually tear up the car. But, the performance is there when you need it. This is how I look at this card; it was a forward-thinking investment with all the power I can see needing for a couple years. This is similar to how I view overclocking: don't even think about doing it unless you already have the money to replace a fried component, because it can (and usually will) happen eventually. And I for one do not have another four bills to throw down on a video card.

Before we get into it too far, here's a brief rundown of the hardware in my box:
Asus A7V333
1Gb DDR333 Corsair RAM w/heatspreaders
AMD Athlon 1800+
WD 120Gb 7200rpm ATA133 HD w/8Mb buffer

Everything else seems irrelevant to these caps.

For starters, here are my settings for OpenGL and Direct3D, along with desktop res and color depth: As you can see, everything is maxed out.

Running these demos was very smooth; I encountered no lag whatsoever at any point. All demos are designed around DX9, and this was my first experience seeing anything like that.

Let's take a look at something "simple" first: the bacteria screen saver.

• Shot 1 (338kb) and Shot 2 (420kb)
  these shots are a nice example of the R300's detail and depth in a dark environment. I particularly like shot #2.

Now let's step it up a bit to the "Rendering with Natural Light" demo:

• Shot 1 (348kb)
  This demo consists of a circle of colored crystal balls on stands around one larger central one on a stump in the middle of a forest. I love this first shot because you can clearly see the forest reflected and refracted in the ball closest to you.
• Shot 2 (287kb)
  A great closeup shot of the clear ball. You can clearly see the dark depths of the forest reflected along with the other balls dimly lit by shadow. Nice.
• Shot 3 (329kb)
  I thought this was an interesting angle focusing on the red ball. My favorite part of this shot are the reflections visible in the white and gold balls in the background...

Moving right along, this next series in from the "Bear" demo - he's semi-imposing, eh?

• Shot 1 (469kb)
  The individual hairs and the wetness of his nose highlight this shot.
• Shot 2 (566kb)
  Roaring now. The highlight for me is the inside of his mouth and the textures visible on his tongue, in addition to the same qualities of Shot #1.

Next up is the "Car Paint" demo. I get the distinct feeling ATI is most proud of this one.

• Shot 1 (670kb) and Shot 2 (524kb)
  Here we see the car from the front then from the rear. There are just so many things going on in these shot - the texture of the platform, the patters in the wheels, the carpet, and most obviously the paint job and even the headlights.
• Shot 3 (611kb) and Shot 4 (716kb)
  As if to illustrate these points for us, ATI gives us these split-screen examples of the scene with and without normal image maps, and also with 8-bit and then 16-bit maps. Further examples of what DX9 and a good processor (R300) can bring to the table. Anyone drooling about the thought of fully DX9-compliant games yet?
• Shot 5 (670kb)
  Front view of the car with multiple color schemes. Just more showing off.

Lastly we have my favorite - the Radeon three-headed dog screen saver!

• Shot 1 (717kb) and Shot 2 (1311kb)
  These shots are tell-tale; one look and you can see everything this card can do all at once. The brushed chrome effect on the dogs sits in sharp contrast to the rusty ring and fan blades around them, all encircled by a highly polished machined chrome tube. These are beautiful shots, IMO.

Again, this is not a formal review, just samples for you to draw your own conclusions about this highly-touted card. Is it worth it? To me, sure; if you do any high-end graphics and/or run any rendering/film production work, you will certainly notice the difference immediately. And if you're a gamer, this card will make you ecstatic. If I wanted to be picky, I'd say that in the Car Paint shots you can pick out some minor artifacing. This could very well be due to the fact that programming for DX9 is still very much in its infancy, or possibly my monitor, who knows. But as I said, that would just be nit-picking. The card is clearly capable of some amazing feats. I only wish I had a game good enough to show off screenies of that!

RADEON 9700 PRO 128MB - 10/10

Beautiful! I'll definitely be buying myself a 9500 and modding it to a 9700 Pro as soon as I can afford it

since you brought it up, i should probably link to this article.