$50 - $150 Budget

SkyBum

Senior member
Oct 16, 2004
844
7
81
I'm trying to help my nephew to find the best value for his money. Any of these cards would be a great upgrade from his onboard graphics, I really doubt that he needs a $150 card for a 2.6 Celeron rig. I could really use two recommendations here, best value $100-$150, best value under $100.

Looking at the Pricewatch page I see the following ATI cards in that range:

$148 - RADEON 9800 Pro 128MB
$119 - RADEON 9800 256MB (I find the choice between these two the most confusing)

$129 - RADEON 9600 XT 256MB
$128 - RADEON 9600 XT 128MB
$110 - RADEON 9600 Pro 256MB (given the prices on 9800s, should I ignore these cards)

$82 - RADEON 9600 Pro 128MB
$48 - RADEON 9600 128MB (either of these would probably be fine if he goes the value route)

$117 - RADEON X600 256MB Pro
$83 - RADEON X600 128MB Pro (don't really know anything about the X600s)

It's getting pretty confusing with all of these cards lately....

Thanks.


 

boatillo

Senior member
Dec 14, 2004
368
0
0
Im not sure the deal is still going, but from Ati's own storefront page you could get a 9600XT for $85 after some coupons and sending them ANY old card you had.

For under $100 I doubt you could find better new.
 

fishmonger12

Senior member
Sep 14, 2004
759
0
0
a 9800 pro at 119$ is a steal.

what resolution will he be using?

the x600's are all pci express afaik.

100-150$ 9800 pro
under 100... 9600xt? 9600 pro? they really aren't worth considering when you could get a 9800 pro for that price. are you sure you are being quoted from a reputable site?

if he's using a resolution of 1024x768 or a little higher, he will be cpu bottlenecked and the difference between a 9800 pro and a 9600xt will be negligible.
 

impemonk

Senior member
Oct 13, 2004
453
0
0
HEADS UP: the X600 series are only PCI Express, so unless your nephew's system has a PCI Express slot I wouldn't recommend it.
 

SkyBum

Senior member
Oct 16, 2004
844
7
81
Ah, I knew I was missing something about X600's. He has AGP. Res will probably not go over 1024/768.

Prices were from here.

I just don't want to talk him into spending $150 (a LOT to a 14 year old) if $80 will get him by OK.
 

Todd33

Diamond Member
Oct 16, 2003
7,842
2
81
Originally posted by: SkyBum
I'm trying to help my nephew to find the best value for his money. Any of these cards would be a great upgrade from his onboard graphics, I really doubt that he needs a $150 card for a 2.6 Celeron rig. I could really use two recommendations here, best value $100-$150, best value under $100.

Looking at the Pricewatch page I see the following ATI cards in that range:

$148 - RADEON 9800 Pro 128MB
$119 - RADEON 9800 256MB (I find the choice between these two the most confusing)

$129 - RADEON 9600 XT 256MB
$128 - RADEON 9600 XT 128MB
$110 - RADEON 9600 Pro 256MB (given the prices on 9800s, should I ignore these cards)

$82 - RADEON 9600 Pro 128MB
$48 - RADEON 9600 128MB (either of these would probably be fine if he goes the value route)

$117 - RADEON X600 256MB Pro
$83 - RADEON X600 128MB Pro (don't really know anything about the X600s)

It's getting pretty confusing with all of these cards lately....

Thanks.

the 9800s in pricewatch are most likely SEs or non-pros. The choice is pretty easy...

~100 used or sale 9600XT
~140 used or eBay new 9700 Pro
~170 used 9800 pro
~200 6600GT
 

LTC8K6

Lifer
Mar 10, 2004
28,520
1,575
126
The 9800pro is probably the one with 128bit memory instead of 256bit, making it more like a 9500pro.

A real 256bit 9800pro would be considerably faster than a plain 9800 even one with 256MB of ram.

The best value card is probably going to end up being the 9600pro with 128MB of ram. The 9600XT is too expensive for the little boost it gives over the 9600pro. I would not buy less than a true 9600pro with 128MB of 128bit ram and 400/600 core/mem clocks.

Now if that 9800pro is a true 9800pro with 128MB of 256bit ram, then that would be the fastest card of the lot by far.

I am mystified by the 9800 with 256MB of ram, since they didn't make one afaik. I suspect it is a 9800SE, which would be crippled.

Do not bother with 256MB of ram on any of these cards.
 

GreenMonkey

Member
Sep 22, 2004
106
0
0
$148 - RADEON 9800 Pro 128MB
$119 - RADEON 9800 256MB (I find the choice between these two the most confusing)

The $119 one isn't labeled 9800 pro so it must be a vanilla 9800. Yucky compared to a 9800pro.



Solution here IMO:


Refurb MSI 9800pro (RX9800PRO) @ newegg. Generally based on the R360 core so they can be overclocked if you want to (if it is a R360 core it should be recognized by the ATI's recent drivers as a 9800XT without doing any modding/flashing or anything).

See reviews here of the non-refurb one
http://secure.newegg.com/app/C...DEPA=0&item=14-127-127


Linkie to the deal:
http://www.newegg.com/app/View...ion=14-127-127R&depa=0

$165.50 + $1 shipping. :D What I am running myself. My refurb even came complete with the box, games, connectors, etc - complete. YMMV.
 

Matthias99

Diamond Member
Oct 7, 2003
8,808
0
0
The $119 one isn't labeled 9800 pro so it must be a vanilla 9800. Yucky compared to a 9800pro.

Actually a "real" 9800NP would be fine -- it's almost exactly as fast as a 9700Pro, which is only ~10-15% slower than a 9800Pro. It's most likely a 9800SE of some sort at that price, though, which runs more like a 9600Pro...
 

GreenMonkey

Member
Sep 22, 2004
106
0
0
Actually a "real" 9800NP would be fine -- it's almost exactly as fast as a 9700Pro, which is only ~10-15% slower than a 9800Pro. It's most likely a 9800SE of some sort at that price, though, which runs more like a 9600Pro...

Upon looking at benchmarks again, I guess that is true. I agree it seems iffy though...vendor information would be helpful. I would think that spending another $29 at newegg would be a better idea myself.