Should I buy a 9800 Pro?

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Greg04

Golden Member
Jun 11, 2004
1,224
1
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Okay, I have read a few "what is the best card for $xxx.xx" threads. I htink I'm headed to newegg for a 9800 pro of some sort.

I'll spend $200 more or less and basically prefer to play flight sims. with IL2 being the latest.

I have a Dell 8250 w/2.4ghz/512mb blah blah.

So...is the 9800Pro the way to go?

Thanks, and thanks for answering the question for 5,000th time with humor.


UPDATE: Bought the Hightec $175 newegg refurb...motherfkr rat bstards. Arrrggghhhh. Artifacts all over the place. Card seizes whenever you do anything more than move the mouse. Newegg has some splaining to do...well, pack it up and ship it back. They aren't kidding with all the warnings in red ink about refurbs being crap. My advice: buy retail.
 
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Super56K

Golden Member
Feb 27, 2004
1,390
0
0
It really depends. I plan on keeping my 9800pro as long as I can. I'm not really into FPS games as much as other games anymore so the extra power from other cards I don't feel I need yet. Not too mention my 17" monitor's highest res is 12x10 anyways.

There is the option of getting a nvidia 6600gt or an ati x700xt card. I don't believe either of those has an agp version available yet though. Just some food for thought. Their benchmarks are on par with a 9800pro and in a lot of cases better if I remember correctly.
 
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PrayForDeath

Diamond Member
Apr 12, 2004
3,478
1
76
Yeah, the 9800 Pro is the best card for your budget, I think the MSI version has the R360 core (XT core) so that should be your best option since it's flashable to XT, and stay away from the 128bit version (Sapphire Atlantis), they're crap.
edit: yeah, if you're patient enough, you can wait for the 6600GT/X700XT AGP versions to hit retails in 2 months, but don't consider anything higher than that (6800/X800) since you will be CPU limited with those cards.
 
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blacktankofhopelessness

Senior member
Feb 5, 2003
211
0
71
Actually, the Sapphire Atlantis Radeon 9800 Pro has 256bit memory. I know, I own one. New Sapphire's are also guaranteed to come with 360 cores. They flash and overclock easily.
 
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KoolDrew

Lifer
Jun 30, 2004
10,226
7
81
If you are willing to buy off ebay you could try and get a 6800 GT for $200. That is what I did. Or get the regular 6800 on ebay which performs better then the 9800 pro.
 
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xbassman

Golden Member
Feb 25, 2001
1,243
0
0
best stock heat sink..
Click to expand...

Well This one is over $200 but it truly has the best stock heatsink. High Tech ATI RADEON 9800PRO
I picked up one of these from NewEgg "refurb" for $185 a few months back and it has performed flawlessly.
Even though the one I purchased has the R350 core, my case temps dropped 2C. I also run Doom 3 without a glitch (after a few tweaks)

IMO no video card is worth paying >$200. You just get more pissed when the next generation comes out and your card drops in value by about 50%.
 
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Marsumane

Golden Member
Mar 9, 2004
1,171
0
0
Yes, just get the cheapest 9800p u can find if u want a card today. The X700p and the 6600GT arent out today in AGP form nor will they be anytime real soon so the 9800p is the best bet for today.
 
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effee

Golden Member
Sep 4, 2004
1,797
0
0
Uhh, could someone enlighten me on why the Saph atlantis is crap? I thought i was getting good stuff when i got this 9800pro... what is the difference?


also, if i have a 9800pro 128mb my memory is 128bit not 256bit? how do i tell?
 
Bateluer

Bateluer

Lifer
Jun 23, 2001
27,730
8
0
Originally posted by: effee
Uhh, could someone enlighten me on why the Saph atlantis is crap? I thought i was getting good stuff when i got this 9800pro... what is the difference?


also, if i have a 9800pro 128mb my memory is 128bit not 256bit? how do i tell?
Click to expand...

A standard 9800 Pro has a 256 bit memory interface, with either 128MB of 256MB of memory. Sapphire, in order to cut costs/swindle people, cut the memory interface in half, to 128 bits. Like closing half the lanes on a major high way. These 128bit 9800 Pros usually retail for around 100 to 150 and give pretty crumby performance.
 
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Delorian

Senior member
Mar 10, 2004
590
0
0
Check the arrangement of memory chips on your card. If they are all in a straight line, you have 128-bit. If they are in an 'L' shaped (two on one row, two on another) then you have 256-bit. Or if it's easier programs like SiSoft's Sandra or maybe CPU-Z can tell you.
 
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Rio Rebel

Administrator Emeritus<br>Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
5,194
0
0
I had narrowed it down to either a 9800pro, a 9700pro, or a 6800 this week (I ended up scoring one of the $179 AIW 9800pro's from Outpost, so that did it for me.)

If the 6800 drops to $250 again, that's a good deal. I didn't want it for $300 when you can get a 9800pro for a little over half that.

And the refurb 9700pro from Crucial ($129) is a good bet, too.

Of course, the games bundle can always make a difference, if it's a game you care about.
 
Elcs

Elcs

Diamond Member
Apr 27, 2002
6,278
6
81
Originally posted by: Delorian
Check the arrangement of memory chips on your card. If they are all in a straight line, you have 128-bit. If they are in an 'L' shaped (two on one row, two on another) then you have 256-bit. Or if it's easier programs like SiSoft's Sandra or maybe CPU-Z can tell you.
Click to expand...

AIDA32 or Everest can tell you? I hope so ^^. I cant be bothered to rip open my case to make sure. Kind of happy the way it is now.
 
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effee

Golden Member
Sep 4, 2004
1,797
0
0
Hi, I have d/led the software but have no idea how to tell. This is what I get, how do I see if i have 128 or 256?




SiSoftware Sandra

Device Information
Device Type : VGA Video Adapter
Device ID : bus 1, device 0, function 0
Windows Device Name : RADEON 9800 PRO (Omega 2.5.67)
OEM Device Name : ATI Technologies Radeon 9800 Pro (R350)
OEM Hardware ID : FUN_0, VEN_1002, DEV_4E48, REV_00
Device Name : ATI Technologies Radeon 9800 Pro (R350)
Product ID : VEN_1002, DEV_0002
Revision : A / 1 (0)

AGP Capabilities
Version : 3.00
Command Queue Length : 256
Fast-Writes Support : Yes
Over 4GB Addressing Support : No
Isochronous Mode Support : No
Addressing Support : 32-bit
Data Transfer Modes Support : 4x 8x

Power Management Features
Version : 2.00
Supports Clock Slow-down : Yes
Supports D1 PM State : Yes
Supports D2 PM State : Yes
Supports PME# : No
Supports PME Clock : No

Device Capabilities
Line Cache Size : 64 bytes
Latency Timer : 255 clk
I/O port resources : Yes
Memory resources : Yes
Bus Master Capable : Yes
Special Cycle Recognition : No
Memory Write &amp; Invalidate : No
VGA Palette Snoop : No
Parity Error Response : No
Address/Data Stepping : Yes
System Error Line : Yes
Fast back-to-back Transactions : No
Detects Parity Errors : No
Supports System Error Line : No
Supports Parity Line : No
User Defined Format : No
66MHz Bus Support : Yes
New Capability List : Yes
Device Select Timing : Medium
Multi-Function Device : Yes
Header : 00
Interface : 00

Hardware Resources
Memory Range : E0000000
I/O Range : 0000A000
Memory Range : FD600000
Irq. No. : 16
INT Pin : A#
Expansion ROM : FD500000
Dynamic Management : Yes




 
ZL1

ZL1

Diamond Member
Oct 4, 2003
5,383
0
76
effee, download aida32 (everest) it will show clearly
after you install and start go to display then to gpu then scroll down and it will say memory bus properties > bus width = 128 or 256


D
 
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effee

Golden Member
Sep 4, 2004
1,797
0
0
Thanks for you help, btw how did you know it was an R350 core? =p its a pity it isnt R360..
 
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