OK, so here's the deal. I only have up to $150 to spend (max, no more $ and don't want to wait) :roll: on my new video card and have narrowed my preferences down to two cards (both are at ~$140):
Sapphire Atlantis 9800 (128bit) and Sapphire 9600xt (128bit)
I know that the 9800(128bit) has 8 pipelines, which is a plus... however, the 9600xt has a higher core and memory speed (500Mhz and 400MhzDDR)
My question to all of you gurus, and the like is which will give me the most bang for my buck? Does the 8 pipelines compensate for lack of core/memory speed? Would there be that much difference? I can't seem to find very much info on this exact comparison or benchmarks. Everything I'm finding for the 9800, is the 256bit version (which I would just love, but no can do).
Has any one overclocked the 9800 to match the 9600xt's speeds? A little advice would be appreciated!
Here's the nitty gritty on the cards:
9600xt
Chipset/Core Speed: 500MHz
Memory/Effective Speed: 128MB DDR/400MHzBUS
Pipelines: 4
AGP 1X/2X/4X/8XPorts
DirectX®9, OpenGL®2.0
Max Resolution@32bit Color: 2048X1536@60Hz
9800 Atlantis (128bit)
Chipset/Core Speed: 325MHz
Memory/Effective Speed: 128MB DDR/290MHzBUS
Pipelines: 8
AGP 1X/2X/4X/8XPorts
DirectX®9, OpenGL®2.0
Max Resolution@32bit Color: 2048X1536@60Hz