runnin in standard state the new agpx8 readion 9700 pro posted the highest mark ever on the 3d mark 2002 se tests (14641, gf 4 ti4600 in same mode gets 12609), with aa + af turned on it posted results that were almost DOUBLE the speed of an gf4 Ti4600 on almost every important test, actualy being slowed down by the speed of the p4 2.6ghz processor.

http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=MzQwLDM= if you want to see the results and read why it might pay to switch from nvida to ati.

with the closure of visiontek nvida is now struggling to find anyone able to fully support its graphics sets, only small manufacturing companies remain now, companies like creative had their gf cards made by vision tek along with many other companies. hercules have now switched alligence to ati, at present nvida have no chipset that comes close to the ati radeon 9700 pro (although it does cost $400).

those thinking of upgrading their graphics cards my need to think of following nintendos lead and go with the radeon 2 over an nvida chipset.

On quake 3
Very good scaling across the board and the Radeon 9700 Pro simply blows the Ti4600 and Parhelia out of the water when the antialiasing and anisotropic filtering are turned on. What we found really surprising was the AMD 1.5 scores. Even with the CPU being 1GHz slower, the Radeon 9700 Pro still outpaces the Ti4600 by 100%.
On 3d mark 2002 se build 330
The Radeon 9700 Pro delivers scores of over 10,000 3DMarks even at 1600x1200 resolution. That is simply amazing. What is even more incredible is the fact that even with the AA and AF turned on we still have benchmarks nearing the 10K threshold. Do take notice again that we see the AMD 1.53GHz system not get beat once by the Ti 4600 and the Pentium 4 with or without the AA and AF turned on.
Overall
The ATi Radeon 9700 Pro is the best video card we have ever laid our hands on. ATi is going to be first to market with some very impressive technology and the gamers are sure to take notice. I think the benchmarks at 4XAA/16XAF speak for themselves. The image quality is nothing less than beautiful in both 2D and 3D. Then considering we already know it is going to be a powerhouse card that has the ability to run DOOM]|[ next year and you are almost guaranteed to have a nice long term upgrade for your hard-earned cash. I just don't see how the ATi Radeon 9700 Pro is going to leave you any way but satisfied.

i'm impressed