ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 256MB @ Micro Center (DEAL STILL ALIVE)

DestruyaUR

Senior member
Jan 23, 2002
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DEAL IS STILL ON - the 229.99 price is still in the most recent circular, which means this price will stay the same for at least the next two weeks.

Link

No rebates involved, 5.99 standard shipping (two-day shipping is 8.99) bringing the two-day shipped price to 238.98 and standard shipped price to 235.98 (before possible applicable taxes).

Tax will be charged in CA, CO, GA, IL, KS, MA, MI, MN, NY, OH, PA, TX, and VA as Micro Center has B&Ms in those states. Their site might not be the prettiest but they're a good company. Even after taxes this is less than what Newegg is charging for the card now, plus there's PM opportunities.

List of MC B&Ms (could be worth the drive for some)

Oh yeah - they're also selling D3 for 46.87 (new permanent price until August 29th)

EDIT: Michigan residents are able to recieve rainchecks on items not in stock. Lucky b*stards :) Proof is in the fine print at the bottom of this ad:

Link

EDIT 2:: Wording on the MC Visa page claims the 50 dollar certificate is valid on your next purchase - though some have claimed to get the discount immediately...I'm labelling this as YMMV as the mail time for the coupon could very well exceed the end of this deal.

Additionally, the $50 certificate is ONLY available when applying for the MC Visa IN-STORE and the certificate is only good for 90 DAYS from date of receipt.

Some people have reported some B&Ms are willing to take the 50 off immediately, but treat this as a YMMV occurrence.
 

gotensan01

Golden Member
Jul 6, 2004
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I love my 9800 pro 256mb. I also bought the newegg deal for $223 :D. This Micro Center deal is really great too. I would highly recommend BGA RAMsinks as they get really hot on this card. Has anyone tried flashing to 9800XT?
 

cw42

Diamond Member
Jan 15, 2004
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Originally posted by: gotensan01
I love my 9800 pro 256mb. I also bought the newegg deal for $223 :D. This Micro Center deal is really great too. I would highly recommend BGA RAMsinks as they get really hot on this card. Has anyone tried flashing to 9800XT?

plenty have including myself, just do a search on the Video forum.
 

DestruyaUR

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Jan 23, 2002
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cw42

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Jan 15, 2004
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i find it stupid that they charge way more for 8 tiny ramsinks that barely do anything compared to a vga silencer.
 

athakur999

Member
Jun 22, 2001
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Damn. I bought a 128MB card from Best Buy last week using for $170 AR. I wish I would have waited. Already cut out and sent the UPC for the rebate so I can return it :(
 

cw42

Diamond Member
Jan 15, 2004
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Originally posted by: athakur999
Damn. I bought a 128MB card from Best Buy last week using for $170 AR. I wish I would have waited. Already cut out and sent the UPC for the rebate so I can return it :(

you could always sell it on these forums or on ebay if you really wanted to. you can def get at least 180 for it since it's practically new and BBA.
 

DestruyaUR

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Jan 23, 2002
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Oh - Micro Center keeps their prices constant for two weeks, too.

Then, if the sales are successful or it seems they're losing money or not getting a good turnout, they either re-run the ads and prices over again in a second run of the ad or start a new deal set.

That being said - this price should be static for a month - the only limitation really will be their supply - but the last time they had their 20% off deal on ATI Video Cards they got regular restocks every week or so.
 

apoppin

Lifer
Mar 9, 2000
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alienbabeltech.com
Originally posted by: cw42
Good price, got mine off the old newegg deal for 223, then the price jumped back to 265. You might be able to flash these to a 9800XT. What i'm not sure about is the DDRII memory. Here's a guide to flashing your 9800 256mb.

http://www.rojakpot.com/default.aspx?location=3&var1=92&var2=0
i believe i posted that deal here (after grabbing it in video i think).

Flashing is a piece of cake and it is REversible if something goes wrong . . . study the guide if you are interested.

The 9800xt has about 10% more performance over the regular pro and probably 5% more "free" performance simmply from the flash. Best of all it unlocks the thermal diode and allows for thermal management auto O/C'ing.

IF you flash, you will see tems ~80 C. GET an ArCtic-Cooling VGA silencer REv3 . . . it exhausts hot air from the case and will drop your temps by over 10 C (without being any louder).
 

athakur999

Member
Jun 22, 2001
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Originally posted by: cw42
Originally posted by: athakur999
Damn. I bought a 128MB card from Best Buy last week using for $170 AR. I wish I would have waited. Already cut out and sent the UPC for the rebate so I can return it :(

you could always sell it on these forums or on ebay if you really wanted to. you can def get at least 180 for it since it's practically new and BBA.


Thanks, that's a good idea. I'll buy this card but leave it sealed and try to sell my old one. If I can get a good price for it, I'll sell it and open up the new one, otherwise I'll just return the new one.
 

athakur999

Member
Jun 22, 2001
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Just checked the Richardson, TX location and they were OOS for now :( Should be getting more in soon though.

Has any gotten one of these cards? According to the MicroCenter link, the cards have DDR II memory. According to the Rojakpot article, the DDR II model is NOT flashable. Can anyone verify which card exactly they got?

EDIT: Looking at Newegg, there are a few 9800 Pro 256MB models that show up as being DDR II, but the comments say people have had success flashing them. I dunno...
 

apoppin

Lifer
Mar 9, 2000
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alienbabeltech.com
Originally posted by: athakur999
Just checked the Richardson, TX location and they were OOS for now :( Should be getting more in soon though.

Has any gotten one of these cards? According to the MicroCenter link, the cards have DDR II memory. According to the Rojakpot article, the DDR II model is NOT flashable. Can anyone verify which card exactly they got?

EDIT: Looking at Newegg, there are a few 9800 Pro 256MB models that show up as being DDR II, but the comments say people have had success flashing them. I dunno...
the flashable Pro 256 (r360) has Hynix 2.5ns memory . . . the (old r350) one has Samsung memory. ;)


Here are the available xt BIOSes

Just to recap, the card comes with Hynix 2.5ns memory chips. The memory chips have the model number HY5DU573222-AFM25. These memory chips are DDR memory chips, unlike the 2.2ns DDR II Samsung memory chips used in the older 256MB Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro.
 

DestruyaUR

Senior member
Jan 23, 2002
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If the card isn't flashable (one would hope that if the XT flash fails you have the decency to reflash it with a working BIOS) - Micro Center has a no-questions-asked 30 day return policy on computer hardware.
 

LeeM

Member
Feb 23, 2000
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sweet day for me, picked one up in ATL. Today was the last day for the "tax free" weekend. Also, if you applied for microcenter credit card, you get $50 back. Already flahed to 9800 XT and running smoth. 229.99 out the door, then $50 back. YEAH....

leeM
 

DestruyaUR

Senior member
Jan 23, 2002
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Originally posted by: LeeM
sweet day for me, picked one up in ATL. Today was the last day for the "tax free" weekend. Also, if you applied for microcenter credit card, you get $50 back. Already flahed to 9800 XT and running smoth. 229.99 out the door, then $50 back. YEAH....

leeM

50 bucks'll pretty much cover the ramsinks and VGA cooler to get it stably running at XT speeds :)
 

LeeM

Member
Feb 23, 2000
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Is 179.99 (after $50 back) still too much to pay for an outdated card? (even though its now an 9800XT). I've read that the X800 can really spank this card.
 

DestruyaUR

Senior member
Jan 23, 2002
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Originally posted by: LeeM
Is 179.99 (after $50 back) still too much to pay for an outdated card? (even though its now an 9800XT). I've read that the X800 can really spank this card.

When you get to a certain point, speed doesn't really matter anymore.

This card will most likely keep you happy for a year and a half before you should feel it's time to upgrade it.
 

zzzz

Diamond Member
Sep 1, 2000
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I got one and it looks like it is modable( from the website pictures). I have a question though, the website says not to flash unless you have the cooling. Now can I flash it anyway and run it "underclocked" to the 9800 pro speed and then up the speed when I buy better cooling? Is there any benefit to this as opposed to just leaving as it is (retail radeon 9800 pro speed)?