9800Pro 128 vs 256 (and more)

[Woohah]

I've been looking to get a new board for months, and finally have some extra cash but now with the x800 releases on the horizon the situation gets a little difficult. I have been tracking the 9800 pro 128MB for a few months and it has held ~$200-230 for that whole time, and the 256MB closer to $300.

NOW, for opinions on different scenarios:

-Get a 9800Pro 128 immediately and be done (for about 12-18mo)
-Wait for release of X800 and see what happens
-Do nothing

I'm suspecting that the release of the X800 will push the 256MB versions down closer to $250, but leave the 128MB's about where they are. So the real question is whether the benefit of the 256MB is significant over 128MB.

Any input? I'm having a very difficult time making up my mind.

My current system includes:
P4 2.8C (HT enabled, for what it's worth)
ASUS p4p800 deluxe
1ghz mushkin black level 1 ram (PC3200)
120MB SATA HD
Geforce 3 ti200 (you are the weakest link, goodbye)

I didn't get a new card right away because everything was so "HL2 DoomIII uncertain" last fall.

Presently I can "run" FarCry. NFSU, etc in an acceptable fashion with no special shading/particle effects. They both look so much better than before. I'm not an FPS whore, so I'm PRETTY SURE i'll be happy with 9800pro performance vs. my g3ti200--Especially considering the already good performance from the rest of the system.


--Woohah

 

[Dman877]

I'd wait and see how the new cards are priced. They have announced a x800 SE variant using 8 pipes, this may or may not perform on par with a 9800/p/xt depedning on clock speeds. Haven't heard anything about budget nv40 yet though.

 

[nRollo]

You've waited this long, wait a little more. When the first price cut comes for the new stuff, the current good stuff will drop lower.

 

[ForceCalibur]

Are you kidding? First of all, Radeon 9800 Pro = ~190 USD now NEW OEM. Refurbished = ~150 USD.
Second, after X800 comes out, those prices ^^^^^^^ will come down even FURTHER.
How long will you have to wait? 2 weeks to a month.

As for the 256 megabytes of memory, less than 1% of games use more than 64 megabytes of memory.

 

[Woohah]

Alright, thanks for the input. Let's see how it all plays out.

--woohah

 

[Dman877]

Originally posted by: ForceCalibur
Are you kidding? First of all, Radeon 9800 Pro = ~190 USD now NEW OEM. Refurbished = ~150 USD.
Second, after X800 comes out, those prices ^^^^^^^ will come down even FURTHER.
How long will you have to wait? 2 weeks to a month.

As for the 256 megabytes of memory, less than 1% of games use more than 64 megabytes of memory.

I agree with you today but many newer games are recommending 256 mb video memory for the high detail modes and this will only increase with time. He obviously keeps his cards for a while so he may want to shell out for 256mb.

 

[Vonkhan]

if u're buying a card for the long haul, get a 256mb one ...

i'd wait

 

[SickBeast]

in both far cry and ut2004 i notice a very large performace hit if i run at the highest texture settings. this tells me that these games require more than the 128mb that my 9700pro has to offer. i would wait 2-4 weeks then buy a 256mb 9800.

 

[Woohah]

Thanks Dman, Vonkhan and sickbeast for the insight. Yes, I like to make my stuff last. I know there is no way to tell whether a 9800pro 256 would have any better longevity than say, a 128MB or an X800 SE, but what do you all *think* would happen? This is a tough question for semi-enthusiasts like myself that build computers, enjoy high performance, but are reluctant to pay excessively or sacrifice any stability (i.e. overclock/softmod).

Video cards are the worst culprits since "the next best thing" appears every 6 mo, and what was $500 six months ago may only be $250 now. My CPU has dropped about $40 since I bought it in november and that's the ONLY piece that has fallen significantly since then, even my RAM has stayed about the same.

Anyway, now that I've gotten tastes of dx9/ps2 effects in games like Halo, FarCry, NFSU .... I don't want to go nuts trying to find something for HL2!!

Another point - - If I get too impatient, do you all have good luck selling not-quite-top-of-the-line cards after a few months? I'm curious if it would be a waste to get a card now, wait for all the hype to settle down, pick a new card late summer and sell the "old" one.

--Woo

 

[Pete]

Or you could just try to find a used 9700/Pro for about $130, and have fun with that for a few months until the next-gen, with seriously improved DX9 performance, drops to reasonable <$250 levels. I'm not expecting next-gen 256MB cards to dip below $350 for a while, though the 9800XT may drop (well) below $300 in a few months.

Remember, even the 9800P doesn't exactly fly through HL2. Look at the early benchmarks again, and you'll see it has trouble getting above 60fps at 10x7, IIRC. So if you want AA+AF at high res on HL2, you're basically left with two options, both expensive: GForce 6800 or Radeon X800.

If you're lucky enough to find a used/refurb 9700/P for ~$130 now, I'm sure you can sell it for ~$100 by the end of the year.

 

[nvfx]

Dont run your games at ULTRA High Resolutions, wont make much of a difference but the 1000 x 800 + Pixels mark has become a standard though, If your a Action Gamer, youll concentrate more on the Games than to identitify any AA differences. To be honest, buying a 5900XT wont hurt, WHAT a few lesser than 9800 Pro but wont notice any of these, If far Cry Jerks ocasionally on 98 Pro than it will do on a 5900 as well yet you cant just say 9800 Pro is way much beter because of some 5 FPS, Plus you get VIVO + Way much better bundle + Good Cooling On NV Cards.

Consider a Leadtek Winfast A350XT ( Has VIVO + Cooling + Style + 2.2 Ns memory )
ATI cards are than ugly, poor Overclockers, But outperform NV

It up to you

 

[HermosaBeach]

Sadly, Far Cry does not play well enough with my 9800 Pro at 1600x1200. I have had to drop the resolution to 1280x1024. I agree with the earlier post, the new games seem to require more than 128 MB of video memory. I no longer consider 128 MB of video memory enough.

I look forward to the ATI X800 XT with 256 MB in order to play Far Cry and UT2004 at 1600x1200 with AA and AF turned on and all the details turned on.

Sadly, UT2004 requires just a tad more than 512 MB of real memory on my wifes computer as well. But this is off topic.

 

[Regs]

Originally posted by: SickBeast
in both far cry and ut2004 i notice a very large performace hit if i run at the highest texture settings. this tells me that these games require more than the 128mb that my 9700pro has to offer. i would wait 2-4 weeks then buy a 256mb 9800.

That tells you the pipeline and bandwidth of the memory can't handle it. Not by how much capacity you have.

 

[SickBeast]

interesting...thanks for pointing that out.

 

[Soulkeeper]

256mb might help more in certain "industrial" tasks utilizing graphics programs
but for gaming 256 will not yeild much more performance (maybe 2% if yur lucky)
i can't speak for next year's game's tho

right now get 128 over 64 tho if you can
256 if you upgrade in the next product cycle and there is little to no price difference