9800pro buying questions

[Sunrise089]

Because I have more important things to spend my $$$ on than a large PC upgrade (like food) I am thinking about waitng on the eventual PCI-e upgrade and instead overclocking my Northwood 2.0ghz and adding an AGP card to replace my (gasp!) on-board video.

I am leaning towards a 9800pro, since it seems to occupy a pretty good price-performanc point right now (and since this isn't expected to last that long) but I know there are a few kinds available. Can anyone tell me what I need to look for? How much difference is there between the 128 meg and 256 meg performance on newer games (I know there wasnt much when they were released)? Are there multiple versions/cores available? Assuming a used 9700pro was $65 shipped, a used 128MB 9800pro w/ ATI silencer was $90 shipped, and a used 256 meg 9800pro was $107 shipped, which would you get? Are all cards the same number of pipes? I know some are 128 bit and some 256, how do you tell?

Newegg is selling these cards for pretty cheap, what do you think?

Card 1
Card 2

I know this is a lot of questions. To make it easier, any links to what part I should buy would be great. As long as you can direct me at the best version available for the money, I don't need every individual question answered. Thanks for any/all assistance.

 

[jiffylube1024]

The difference between 128MB and 256MB is virtually 0 in all games - don't get the 256MB version unless it's within 5% of the price of the 128MB version.

I'd definitely get the 9800 Pro with the silencer in your example. Not only is it a good price for the card + silencer, but it should end up faster than the 256MB card if you overclock, because Silencers allow for great overclocks on the 9800 Pro, and you should blast past the 412/365 MHz clocks of the 9800XT.

I've owned several 9800 Pro cards and basically, any core will get you above 400 MHz on stock cooling and a silencer should get you to at least 420 Mhz. The RAM often gets very hot, Samsung chips especially; less so for the later cards that came with Hynix chips. Thich means that the RAM cooling on the ATI silencer allows for big RAM overclocks.


All cards are the same number of pipes - 8 - except for the 9800SE. Don't get that version, stick to the 9800 Pro.