3DVelocity wish to thank Liz at Crucial in the UK and Rae at Pathway PR for providing these cards for review.

Part One: Introduction

With the Radeon 9700 Pro receiving rave reviews from all commentors the question now becomes; which card is right for me? You need the full power fo the Pro model yet don't want to go over budget just for the sake of a few out of date game titles the maker has added to try to gain your buck. Enter Crucial, more familiar with excellent memory, and Sapphire. Both companies are providing a great card with a basic bundle that takes them to under £250. Which is right for you though? Let's find out.

Part Two: The Radeon 9700 Pro

Technology reviews are plentiful as is the norm' we shall provide a brief outline and then move to the real focus; the cards. Those wishing for a detailed breakdown should refer to Wayne's excellent R300 article.

Overview
ATI revolutionizes the world of graphics technology with the RADEON™ 9700 Visual Processing Unit (VPU). Featuring fast 3D graphics performance, coupled with sophisticated real-time visual effects, unsurpassed image quality and cutting-edge video features, RADEON™ 9700 provides you with an amazing PC entertainment experience.

• First to fully support DirectX® 9.0
  With its new SMARTSHADER™ 2.0 technology, RADEON™ 9700 supports DirectX® 9.0 and the latest OpenGL® functionality to give developers the freedom to create more complicated and realistic visual effects than ever before.
• First 8-pixel pipeline architecture
  RADEON™ 9700 is the first graphics technology capable of processing 8 pixels simultaneously - twice as many compared to any existing product. This highly optimized design provides top 3D performance for both Direct3D® and OpenGL® games and applications.
• 256-bit DDR memory interface
  The high-bandwidth memory interface of the RADEON™ 9700, utilizing the latest HYPER Z™ III bandwidth-conserving technology, removes a key performance bottleneck and provides end users with faster graphics performance.
• Support for AGP 8X specification
  RADEON™ 9700 supports the new AGP 8X standard, which allows large volumes of texture and vertex data to be transferred faster from system memory to the chip (2.0 GB/sec).
• First to use pixel shaders to accelerate video
  With ATI's new VIDEOSHADER™ technology, RADEON™ 9700 continues the tradition of providing industry-leading video and DVD playback. RADEON™ 9700 also offers FULLSTREAM™ - a new technology that removes blocky artifacts from video and provides sharper image quality.

System Requirements

• Radeon 9700 PRO requires connection to your PC's internal power supply for operation. A 300 watt power supply or greater is recommended to ensure normal system operation where a number of other internal devices are installed.
• Intel® Pentium® 4/III/II/Celeron™, AMD® K6/Duron™/Athlon®/Athlon XP® or compatible with AGP 2X (3.3v), 4X (1.5V), 8X (0.8v) or Universal AGP 3.0 bus configuration (2X/4X/8X).
• 128MB of system memory
• Installation software requires CD-ROM drive
• DVD playback requires DVD drive

Crucial's R9700 Pro