Is a 9800 Pro a worthwhile upgrade from a 9500 Pro?

[fireontheway]

I am also a 9500 pro owner, and i would honestly say that im very satisfied with the performance of this card. I noticed that there is
a good number of replies that says to wait till spring when 9800 prices
go down. Would it be wise just to hold on to your money and wait for the price to go down or would it be wiser to save money and get the next generation card?

 

[lifeguard1999]

I would say wait until Spring. The 9500 is powerful enough for now. There is no sense spending your money now for an incremental upgrade.

 

[MichaelZ]

9500 pro was a gift to 3D gamers. decent price and long life span with the dx9 path.

hold on to it as long as u can until you find most of your games are running @ unsatisfactory framerates. by the sounds of it, you do not need to waste money on a 9800 pro.

 

[BFG10K]

BTW - Rest of system is a P4 2.8C with 1GB PC3200.

You'll see a massive difference but if you have enough money then get a 9800 XT instead.

 

[bootoo]

Only reason to switch now is because you can sell the 9500 pro for more, but you'll pay more for the 9800 pro, so I wouldn't consider that a benefit.

Course, I've never owned a 9800 pro so take that for what it is

 

[nRollo]

You'll see a massive difference but if you have enough money then get a 9800 XT instead.

I don't agree with this. I saw a 9800 Pro somewhere yesterday for $240., the performance difference of the XT doesn't come close to warranting the extra money. If you "have enough money" you'd be better off waiting for the next gen due in March or April, I believe.

 

[ponyo]

If your 9500 Pro can't run it well, then neither will 9800 Pro. Just sit tight and wait until next gen come out. It won't be long.

 

[slag]

Originally posted by: shady06

Originally posted by: matrixwalker
The Radeon 9500 pro is essentially an underclocked 9700 pro, and the 9800 pro is essentially an overclocked 9700 pro. you could prolly easily overclock a 9500 pro to 9800 pro speeds. im still using an 8500 128MB, and it is just now starting to show its age but still very capable. Your 9500 pro won't even be showing its age for quite a few more months.

ummm, no. the 9500 pro has 4 pipelines and the 9700/9700 pro/9800/9800 pro have 8 pipelines so even with overclocking you are not going to match the performance of a 9700 pro or 9800 pro

however, a 9500 pro should be more than sufficent to hold you over til the next generation of cards come out

not according to this site:

HARDOCP

They say the 9500 pro has 8 rendering pipelines

 

[kylebisme]

yes the 9500pro has 8 pipes and a 128bit memory bus.

 

[Bartokomus]

I'm not so certain we'll see the 9800's drop that much; i thought neither company allows their flagship model to drop tooo much, i thought they just pull it from circulation. I would say watch the prices on the 9800 and when they start making announcements about the 9800 reaching the end of cycle, grab one. By that point an OEM pro might be close to $220-ish. what a deal that would be...

 

[Tnvolsfan]

Originally posted by: bernse

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile.

Of course, if you can buy a 9800NP for $199, DO IT!

Pricegrabber and Pricewatch have been pulling prices of around $150 for NP and $260ish for Pro's!

Those aren't 9800 NP or 9800 Pro. They are more like $200 and $239 if you are REAL lucky!