ATI or Saphire 9800 pro?

[fustercluck]

Yay! Finally time to buy another video card ( i actually don't buy one every month like most of yous ). I've had this GF3 since...for a long time, it was $170 when i bought it so that should tell you something.

Anyhow, i've looked through all of the ATI vs Saphire threads already, and i hate making new topics, but i'd like to get as much info on these as i can. The main question of course is, which one should i get? I can probably get the Saphire for a little cheaper with the deal at Newegg. Overclocking may be a factor as well. I don't know a whole lot about these cards at the moment. So get me educated

 

[Mem]

I would go with the Sapphire model (infact I did) being they are excellent value for money,crisp image quality and even make some cards for ATi.

 

[Maddscientist]

Always get made by ati cards they are usally clocked higher Core & Memory and a 3rd party hasnt changed anything for the worse yet. Unless you have the option to get a card made by crucial for less money then grab it the crucial cards have been doing really well on the overclocking.

 

[Mem]

At stock speeds and at overclocked speeds it hasn?t shown any sings of glitches or hardware stability issues. I can definitely say Sapphire lives up to their quality claims. There have been a lot of questions regarding the fact that it is a 3rd party manufactured card. Is it going to have the same high quality as the made by ATI cards? The answer with this Sapphire card is yes?

Sapphire awards page .

 

[fustercluck]

Originally posted by: Maddscientist
Always get made by ati cards they are usally clocked higher Core & Memory and a 3rd party hasnt changed anything for the worse yet.

Well, how much extra dough would the higher clocked ATI cards be worth? Probably not worth a $40 or so difference. Here's what one reviewer said for the Sapphire at newegg:
" The clock speeds are correct for a 9800pro and the memory is rated for 350MHz (700DDR), which exceeds specifications. "

 

[Maddscientist]

I never said always....... Sometimes the 3rd party cards are clocked higher memory or core but not often.

 

[fustercluck]

Alrighty, one thing sticks on my mind though... is it worth it? I mean, it's a lot of cash (especially for a bum like me). Will games actually look much better or just run better? I remember when i upgraded from my Geforce 256 to my Geforce 3 Ti and there was like no difference at all, i was kind of expecting at the time that it would make a big difference in terms of what my eye's like. Sooooo what i'm trying to spit out is will it make games actually look better or just run better? I kinda want both for that price. I'd make another thread for that debate, but i hate making new threads =p

 

[DarkKnight]

well if u get a radeon 9800 pro, you can turn up FSAA and AA filtering plus all the options in the game, which will make the game look much better (sigh.. miss my radeon 9700pro, I hope newegg sends me a new one soon 🙂).

 

[azntiger0586]

i'd go with sapphire. i came upgraded my card from a GeForce4 ti4200 and i couldnt believe the difference that i was seeing. and since your upgrading from geforce3, you'll see a helluva difference in both performance and quality.

as for between ati and sapphire, i would go with sapphire. i have heard that most of built by ati cards come with infineon ram (not good in overclocking) and most sapphire cards come with samsung ram (very good 😀) as i have received. and i believe sapphire is cheaper in $$.

 

[MDE]

The visual quality difference that I noticed between my old GF4 Ti4600 and my 9600 Pro is drastic, so that should say something about the jump from a GF3 to a 9800.

 

[GreatDaleness]

People say that Sapphire makes both the ATI and Sapphire named cards, so you either way you get the same card. However, the software you get is going to be different, and that might be worth the extra cost to you. As far as image quality, turning up AA and AF to max quality (6x AA 16X AF) settings with Trueform on makes games look COMPLETELY different (in a good way). The games you run on your GF3 should run on a 9700/9800 with AA/AF/trueform all on.