Thinking about Radeon 9800

[Dynatnt1]

I am thinking about purchasing an ATI Radeon 9800 Pro with 256 MB memory, the problem is the only ones I can find are made by a different manufacturer such as Powercolor or Sapphire. They use the ATI Radeon chip but are by these other companies. How reliable are these guys and should I just buy from them or what until ATI has their product available for purchase?

Thanks,
Dynatnt1

 

[Schadenfroh]

256mb is waste of money. no performance increase over 9800 pro. get a 9700np for $200.
see for yourself, even in doom3 it does not matter

 

[DaveSimmons]

Sapphire makes good boards and I believe they are one of the companies that does ATI's own manufacturing. Like Schadenfroh says, 256MB is a waste of money -- close to 0 performance gains and by the time 256 makes a real difference in games you will need a faster video card anyway.

Newegg.com has good prices on the 9800 pro 128 MB from both Sapphire and ATI itself. Or the 9800 non-pro if you want to save another $100.

 

[kylebisme]

don't they mention that they are only useing the cat 3.2 drivers that dont even reconginze more than 128mb of memory anyway though?

 

[Alkaline5]

Originally posted by: TheSnowman
don't they mention that they are only useing the cat 3.2 drivers that dont even reconginze more than 128mb of memory anyway though?

That's true, Snowman, but it doesn't make a noticeable difference. Just a few tenths of a frame usually.

 

[squidman]

Actually, none at all. Neither r350, nor upcoming r400 chips can even make use of 256mb. If there were textures THAT big - r350 would simply suffocate, giving out a measly slide show. It cannot process those kind of textures. 256mb of memory are as useful as AGP 8x (sarcasm). That being said - 9700 non pro is THE best money/performance option, 9700Pro tips the scales to the MONEY side, while having the PERFORMANCE on about the same level as nonpro. 9800?! Heh, ati just made a board so nobody thinks its "asleep". 9800 a tweaked/overclocked 9700. lol

 

[squidman]

and whassup with everybody praising doom 3? I can still play it on my PIII/GF2 Pc (on lowest graphic settings, tho, 1024x768x16) quite well.

 

[rbV5]

Actually, none at all. Neither r350, nor upcoming r400 chips can even make use of 256mb. If there were textures THAT big - r350 would simply suffocate, giving out a measly slide show.

It would be a slide show if it had to swap, what keeps it from using 256 MB...the memory controller? Something tells me that that your talking application level support, not hardware level support. I'm going to be pissed if I can't manipulate my textured models because the chips can't "make use" of 256 MB that my card has onboard, maybe you could elaborate?

 

[jm9843]

I just RMA'd my Radeon 9800 Pro 256 and pre-ordered the AIW instead. $50.00 cheaper, great extra features, and equal 3D performance. The only real negative is no dual-head monitor.

 

[everman]

I just ordered the 9800 non pro. From what I'm reading, it's very overclockable to pro speed easily.

 

[keitaro]

The thread is starting to digress... but I'll ask a similar question anyway... Considering a 9800 card tho just window shopping right now. Anyway, I see the bunch of 3rd party brands and what I wish to know is any performance difference from one card to the next. So far I've yet to know if anyone has done a comparison of Radeon cards from different manufacturers. Is there any difference? Has anyone done such a comparisons? And if not, will anyone take up such a task to see if there is any performance difference between an ATi original and a 3rd party brand?