what is the best overclocking 9800 NP?

[Corporate Thug]

from what i got on the poll, i decided to put a 9800 NP in the system that i am building for my friend. however, i do want to get it to 9800 pro speeds. which card can do this? ATi, sapphire, FIC, powercolor?

 

[Regs]

From what I read and my own experience, I advise you to go no where near Best Buys Built by ATI's.

Sapphires on newegg.com have come up with samsungs 3.3ns and 3.0 ns memory.

 

[Corporate Thug]

what is 3.3 ns rated to?
what is 3.0 ns rated to?

thanx

 

[modedepe]

3.3ns = 303mhz
3.0ns = 333mhz

 

[stardust]

u kno my saphire is handling 400/333 but i had it stable at 420/350 with retail heatsinks

card is a: Saphire 9800 w/ 3.3ns Samsung

 

[Megatomic]

If only Infineon BGAs weren't such crap. My 3.0nsec Infineon chips won't run above 320MHz on my card.

 

[ethebubbeth]

Although 3.3ns ram is in no way supposed to hit 9800 pro speeds, many are having amazing success with the 9800np from newegg with 3.3ns ram. After a quick flash to the 9800 pro bios most card work fine and become indistinguishable form a 9800 pro

 

[hclarkjr]

regs, i am thinking seriously of getting a radeon 9800 at best buy. i am not planning on overclocking, anything else i need to worry about?

 

[Corporate Thug]

Originally posted by: hclarkjr
regs, i am thinking seriously of getting a radeon 9800 at best buy. i am not planning on overclocking, anything else i need to worry about?

overclocking is the only low point to the Best Buy NP's, but you can find them for much cheaper online

 

[hclarkjr]

i checked pricewatch and only seen that there is about $40 or so difference after shipping and handling. to me that is worth buying it local unless you have some link for cheaper than $250 plus shipping?

 

[Dza]

I just bought my 9800 np from newegg.com for $260 including shipping. It was brand new Saphire OEM card with 2 year warranty. I don't suggest buying from big retailers such as bestbuy because first of all they charge taxes, and unlike OEM card you gotta pay for all unneeded extras such as nice box, games and manuals that inluded in retail price.

 

[Corporate Thug]

Originally posted by: hclarkjr
i checked pricewatch and only seen that there is about $40 or so difference after shipping and handling. to me that is worth buying it local unless you have some link for cheaper than $250 plus shipping?

allstarshop has the sapphire for under $250, free shipping
same applies for gameVE

 

[patrickj]

Originally posted by: shady06

Originally posted by: hclarkjr
regs, i am thinking seriously of getting a radeon 9800 at best buy. i am not planning on overclocking, anything else i need to worry about?

overclocking is the only low point to the Best Buy NP's, but you can find them for much cheaper online

I don't see how this is true. The ability to overclock is controlled by the hardware. I just bought a 9800NP with a 10% off coupon and got a card with GC-2A memory(350Mhz DDR RAM). I haven't done any overclocking yet, but based on what I have read, I should be able to flash this card to a 9800 Pro very easily and overclock the snot out of it.

I wouldn't bash Best Buy just because they are retail. Another benefit of making my purchase at Best Buy is I can easily return my card within 14 days for about any reason. If I flash the card to the 9800 Pro and something goes wrong, I can return the card and play dumb. They just swap the card or let me return it. You cannot do that with some online vendors.