"I'm making this post a sticky for a while.
ATI for sure launched a cheap version of the Radeon 9800 Pro graphics card. We recently already reported this in our news section. Again I like to warn each and everyone of you that is in the market for a Radeon 9800 Pro that there is something very questionable going on in the industry right now. And it has ATI's approval as more manufacturers are selling this version.
I was just checking our forums and noticed that people are able to buy a Radeon 9800 Pro in the 170-180 USD range, and they have no clue why the card was so cheap. Fantastic price, yet a way too low price. It's a Radeon 9800 pro alright, yet equipped with 128-bit memory where it should be 256-bit. Basically frame buffer bandwidth is cut in half and despite full eight pipes it's placing itself in the mid-range segment as core and memory clocks are lowered also. This will have a serious effect on overall performance. Take a Suzuki Hayabusa motor cycle which can do like 300 KPH yet it is forced to drive on a small road where it will never exceed 100 KPH. Look at the Suzuki as the Radeon 9800 Pro and the road the memory bandwidth.
I'm not saying it's a bad card, I do think you should be well informed to make a proper decision before buying.
These 'castrated' versions seem to pop up everywhere ... if you click here you can see a Radeon 9800 Pro priced at 164 USD !! When you read on you'll notice 128-bit memory, it's just something that a lot of people never heard of or can understand.
Please be careful when buying and ask the salesmen if it is the 128 or 256-bit memory version !"
Radeon 9800 Pro Warning (again) at Guru3D
ATI for sure launched a cheap version of the Radeon 9800 Pro graphics card. We recently already reported this in our news section. Again I like to warn each and everyone of you that is in the market for a Radeon 9800 Pro that there is something very questionable going on in the industry right now. And it has ATI's approval as more manufacturers are selling this version.
I was just checking our forums and noticed that people are able to buy a Radeon 9800 Pro in the 170-180 USD range, and they have no clue why the card was so cheap. Fantastic price, yet a way too low price. It's a Radeon 9800 pro alright, yet equipped with 128-bit memory where it should be 256-bit. Basically frame buffer bandwidth is cut in half and despite full eight pipes it's placing itself in the mid-range segment as core and memory clocks are lowered also. This will have a serious effect on overall performance. Take a Suzuki Hayabusa motor cycle which can do like 300 KPH yet it is forced to drive on a small road where it will never exceed 100 KPH. Look at the Suzuki as the Radeon 9800 Pro and the road the memory bandwidth.
I'm not saying it's a bad card, I do think you should be well informed to make a proper decision before buying.
These 'castrated' versions seem to pop up everywhere ... if you click here you can see a Radeon 9800 Pro priced at 164 USD !! When you read on you'll notice 128-bit memory, it's just something that a lot of people never heard of or can understand.
Please be careful when buying and ask the salesmen if it is the 128 or 256-bit memory version !"
Radeon 9800 Pro Warning (again) at Guru3D