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128 or 256 9800pro? help me decide!

S

seepy83

Platinum Member
i'm trying to decide if it will be very beneficial to go with the 256mb 9800pro over the 128mb one. i've heard that in current games there is little to no improvement, but i'm thinking about the future. the big question bugging me is if there will be a significant difference with the 256mb card in the next generation of games(hl2, doom3, etc), or if the only significant improvement for those games will be when we see the next generation of video cards.

money is definatly somewhat of a factor...like anyone, i dont want to spend more than i have to. but, at the same time, when it comes to vid cards i like to go with the top of the line now so that i dont have to be constantly upgrading. just as an example, my current card is a 64mb geforce2 that i bought when they just came out, and before that the last card i had was a voodoo3 3000. i wanna make sure i get a card that will give me a good 2-3 years.
 
by the time you will need 256 ram on a video card, the 9800 will be obsolete anyway. 256 is worthless nowadays. save 100 bucks and get the 128
 
Originally posted by: nick1985
by the time you will need 256 ram on a video card, the 9800 will be obsolete anyway. 256 is worthless nowadays. save 100 bucks and get the 128
Click to expand...

 
If the price difference is small then get the 256 MB version, otherwise stick with the 128 MB version.

The 9600 Pro isn't really fast enough to fully take advantage of the extra VRAM unlike the 9800 Pro/9800XT.
 
I like your way of thinking,cauz it's pretty similar to mine (upgraded 4 months ago from a gf2gts to a 9800 pro 128mb)
You say you don't want to spend more than what you have to.So take the 9800pro 128mb undoubtely.
256mb is useless or better unessecary in 95% of today's games.
As for HL2 everything that it's stated are pure speculations. Not even benchies are out yet
Take a 9800 pro 128mb and if you find it tough in a game o/c the heck out of it.
 
Originally posted by: nick1985
by the time you will need 256 ram on a video card, the 9800 will be obsolete anyway. 256 is worthless nowadays. save 100 bucks and get the 128
Click to expand...

 
If you read benchmarks, the 9800pro 256MB is only faster at 1600x1200 with AA/AF enabled. No future game is likely to be playable at that high of a setting, so you're not buying yourself any future-proofing at all.
 
Originally posted by: Schadenfroh
Originally posted by: seepy83
any of the 128mb 9800pro cards come with the free hl2 voucher?
Click to expand...

nein, tu must get teh XT for teh hl2 coupen
Click to expand...

the Asus 256mb 9800pro (not XT) comes with an HL2 voucher...at least it's on the box pictures at newegg...so i figured i'd ask about it...
 
wow VAIN... would you spend the 100 dollars more on a card to get 1-2 FPS more on current games with high but not extreme resolutions? if so youre really an odd guy =P
 
after a lot of debating i went with the sapphire 128mb 9800pro. almost ordered the AIW 9800pro, cause then when im at my dorm i can run a cable line from the living room to bedroom and watch tv in there...but i've been fine without it so far, and it's another 100 bucks for the AIW. if i decide i really wanna have a tv tuner, i can always get one of the pci ones...even though it probably wont be as good as the ati one.

next question:
can someone give me a quick guide to making sure all of my current nvidia drivers are uninstalled before i install the new ATI card? i think all i have to do is uninstall the nvidia drivers before i take out the card, then shut down in swap cards...but is there a way to make sure none of the files are left lying around somewhere? maybe a utility to clear out all nvidia files or somethin?
 
I plan on waiting a bit. I was ready to jump on one of the top 128 Meg models that have recently come down in price. But I read a few articles that have speculated that HL2 & Doom 3 will probably use more than 128. Also, I'm not particularly happy with some of the benchmarks I've see with some of these "top" cards with all the eye candy turned on and resolutions high. What a pain in the butt that would be to buy one of these cards and have to dummy it down a bit right out of the box to get good frame rates.

I'm also considering games like HL2 and Doom3 and am looking to get a card that will last 2 to 3 years (no laughing please), I'm guessing that 256 will be the way to go. But it probably also depends on how you play those games. I play UT and UT2003 on line quite a bit. UT2003 can use the extra memory. And in the heat of battle with 10 players and rockets going off, your fps can dip quite a bit. If your frame rates get to low, your opponent can have quite an advantage on you. I now plan to wait till I see the benchmarks on the "released" versions of these games. Hopefully the card I buy will let me play at least for the first 6 months with high resolutions and all the eye candy turned on. njrich2

BTW, here's a link to a site where you can get Driver Cleaner (box to the left on the site). It's worked great for me in the past. Good Luck.
http://www.driverheaven.net
 
I think you are the insane one. How about the fact that Doom3 comes with about 80MBs of textures and then applying any high res and AA and AF would not be wise and there are 1 or 2 games that require 256MB already, even BFG10K said so. If history has told us much is that a memory standard lasts about 2 years and 128MB time is up. This year and the next will be ruled by the 256MB.

The other thread.
 
and there are 1 or 2 games that require 256MB already, even BFG10K said so.
Click to expand...
That's true but you also have to factor in the extra cost and the fact that he might not even play any of those games.

For this generation if the cost difference is too high then it's probably not worth getting 256 MB variants. In the next generation it'll basically be compulsory though.
 
That's true. Also if he cares too much about future games, he might as well wait for the new cards to arrive.They will give him the extra performance that he will need for top games regardless the 128mb or 256mb version, instead of paying now so much money for no reason at all (only KOTOR and another 1-2 games for 100 more?)
 
By the time HL2 and DoomIII arrive we should have R420 and NV40. By then you'll be able to pick up a 9800Pro 256MB for much less.
 
i'm upgrading now for a few reasons. the main one being that my current gf2 64mb card is fading fast. it's either overheating or has other problems, because i get a LOT of artifacts playing NFS Underground, and Call of Duty (my 2 current addictions). It's so bad in NFS that the game becomes unplayable (textures from some buildings/cars/whatever extend all the way across the map, blocking your view). not to mention that i have to play NFS:Underground in 640x480 with all the settings on low. I had been planning on waiting for the next line of cards to come out in a few months...but that's the way things go.
 
they may be 4 month old but we can stil use them for judgement.

nvidia could have fixed the fx memory cache thing, but then again they could have not.


im just saying that there are benchmarks
 
Originally posted by: conlan
By the time HL2 and DoomIII arrive we should have R420 and NV40. By then you'll be able to pick up a 9800Pro 256MB for much less.
Click to expand...

*waits for VAINS explanation*
 
i'm upgrading now for a few reasons. the main one being that my current gf2 64mb card is fading fast. it's either overheating or has other problems, because i get a LOT of artifacts playing NFS Underground, and Call of Duty (my 2 current addictions). It's so bad in NFS that the game becomes unplayable (textures from some buildings/cars/whatever extend all the way across the map, blocking your view). not to mention that i have to play NFS:Underground in 640x480 with all the settings on low. I had been planning on waiting for the next line of cards to come out in a few months...but that's the way things go.
Click to expand...

IMHO....
If you need a stop-gap VidCard for the time being i'd look at a ti4200, 8500/9100 or something similar till either the high-end prices drop or or the next-gen Cards arrive. My sons play both COD and NFS Underground w/ our 8500 just fine. (We're waiting for Q1 - Q2 for the price drop as well) 😉
 
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