Best Buy has the 9600 Pro for 149.99 after rebate or the 9800 for 299.99. Is the performance of the 9800 twice that of the 9600 Pro? Which would you buy and why?
9600 Pro or 9800 non-pro?
- Thread starter patrickj
- Start date
Megatomic
Lifer
- Nov 9, 2000
- 20,127
- 6
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Radeon 9800 compared to Radeon 9600 Pro
Check that review out. That's why you should get the 9800 if you can afford it.
Check that review out. That's why you should get the 9800 if you can afford it.
Mem
Lifer
- Apr 23, 2000
- 21,476
- 13
- 81
I personally think the 9700NP is better value then the 9800NP,especially when you look at the performance difference between the two and take the price into account,however if you can afford the 9800NP then that`s probably next best choice (price to performance wise).
If you absolutely have to buy from BB I say get the 9600 Pro. Otherwise a 9800 can be found for about 250 online.
Where, and it is an ATI card or manufactured by somebody else? I was looking at BB because I have a gift card to use as part of the purchase.
Not really sure if I want a saphire card....I have seen a lot of complaints about them on the forums. I'm sticking with a built by ATI card.
Yeah, I've seen a ton of complaints about them recently but I've also heard a lot of good things about them. Plus sapphire makes a lot of of the ones that are "built by ati" so you're going to end up with basically the same thing anyways.
good idea! saphire makes built by ATI cards, so im sure the ones saphire puts in their boxes are such inferior quality...
Do you feel better now? I don't live for video cards...my understanding is that saphire was a manufacturer that purchased the gpu from ati and then built their own card following ati's specs. This is similar to how Nvidia has done it in the past.
I'm sure that you must feel better now that you have demonstrated your superior knowledge of video cards.
Originally posted by: patrickj
good idea! saphire makes built by ATI cards, so im sure the ones saphire puts in their boxes are such inferior quality...
Do you feel better now? I don't live for video cards...my understanding is that saphire was a manufacturer that purchased the gpu from ati and then built their own card following ati's specs. This is similar to how Nvidia has done it in the past.
I'm sure that you must feel better now that you have demonstrated your superior knowledge of video cards.
No, Saphire is just one company that does produce whole boards for ATI. If you take a look at pictures of the cards, you'll find they are identical to the ones ATI offers. Hell, even the OEM Saphire 9800 says ATI on the fan and not Saphire like their retail boards will show. You won't go anymore wrong getting an OEM Saphire over a retail ATI.
But really whether or not you want a 9600 Pro or a 9800 all depends upon what games you are looking to play and what kind of performance you desire. If you aren't that competetive and you just need a card to play some newer games and you have no desire to invest quite a bit into a video card, you'd might as well get a 9600 Pro. If you are a hard core gamer and you need the fastest frame rates at the higher resolutions, then the 9800 will serve you well. Also you need to make sure the rest of your system is ready for a video card upgrade. Throwing a 9600 Pro or a 9800 into a 600MHz PIII with 128MB of PC100 ram won't do you any good.
Where exactly did you find the 9600 PRO for $149.99 after rebate? I checked the best buy web-site and all that I saw was a 9600 non pro for $169.99 with a $20 mail in rebate. I checked the weekly ad link as well, and did not see this anywhere. Perhaps it's B&M only?
$150 for a 9600 Pro built by ATI card is a pretty good deal. $175 is about the avg. online price for the card, you can find a Saphire 9600 Pro for about $155. I've heard the built by ATI are better overclockers, and I just trust them more when it comes to drivers. I've had a few friends with older version Saphire cards that could not get the ATI drivers to install without problems.
Anyway, if you can give me some information on where you saw the 9600 Pro for $150 after rebate at BB, I'd appreciate it. Make sure it's a Pro, if not, I would go for the 9800 Non Pro for sure.
- Sitruk Out
$150 for a 9600 Pro built by ATI card is a pretty good deal. $175 is about the avg. online price for the card, you can find a Saphire 9600 Pro for about $155. I've heard the built by ATI are better overclockers, and I just trust them more when it comes to drivers. I've had a few friends with older version Saphire cards that could not get the ATI drivers to install without problems.
Anyway, if you can give me some information on where you saw the 9600 Pro for $150 after rebate at BB, I'd appreciate it. Make sure it's a Pro, if not, I would go for the 9800 Non Pro for sure.
- Sitruk Out
Originally posted by: bunnyfubbles
Originally posted by: patrickj
good idea! saphire makes built by ATI cards, so im sure the ones saphire puts in their boxes are such inferior quality...
Do you feel better now? I don't live for video cards...my understanding is that saphire was a manufacturer that purchased the gpu from ati and then built their own card following ati's specs. This is similar to how Nvidia has done it in the past.
I'm sure that you must feel better now that you have demonstrated your superior knowledge of video cards.
No, Saphire is just one company that does produce whole boards for ATI. If you take a look at pictures of the cards, you'll find they are identical to the ones ATI offers. Hell, even the OEM Saphire 9800 says ATI on the fan and not Saphire like their retail boards will show. You won't go anymore wrong getting an OEM Saphire over a retail ATI.
But really whether or not you want a 9600 Pro or a 9800 all depends upon what games you are looking to play and what kind of performance you desire. If you aren't that competetive and you just need a card to play some newer games and you have no desire to invest quite a bit into a video card, you'd might as well get a 9600 Pro. If you are a hard core gamer and you need the fastest frame rates at the higher resolutions, then the 9800 will serve you well. Also you need to make sure the rest of your system is ready for a video card upgrade. Throwing a 9600 Pro or a 9800 into a 600MHz PIII with 128MB of PC100 ram won't do you any good.
Actually, I just bought a Dell Precision Workstation with a Radeon VE that I want to replace. The processor is a Xeon 2.4 and the system has 768Mb of RAM. I think it will be able to handle the card. Any thoughts?
9600Pro- no thanks. I hate crippled cards with weak performance. (And no you can't OC a 9600 Pro to get 9700/9800 performance. It has HALF the fillrate so you'd have to OC double?)
Sapphire manufactures ATI boards knowledge: Most people probably don't know this. Anyway, I bought a Sapphire 9800Pro Retail, and it wasn't even the card I saw in reviews with the round fan. It was a reference design ATI card, that even said ATI on the fan. I'm guessing they just pack whatever they have in stock at the moment. I've had not trouble with it, happy to get RTCW and SOF2 thrown in.
Sapphire manufactures ATI boards knowledge: Most people probably don't know this. Anyway, I bought a Sapphire 9800Pro Retail, and it wasn't even the card I saw in reviews with the round fan. It was a reference design ATI card, that even said ATI on the fan. I'm guessing they just pack whatever they have in stock at the moment. I've had not trouble with it, happy to get RTCW and SOF2 thrown in.
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