What's the Difference Between A Radeon 9800 Pro 128 and a 256?

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mc582

Junior Member
Sep 2, 2004
3
0
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I just bought an ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128 MB on sale after the mail in rebate, etc for $250 CDN from $350 at Best Buy.

The best price I can find on a 9800 Pro 256 MB is $440 and the best I can find is $240 for the 256 MB 9600XT.

Should I wait for the 256 MB cards to come down in price instead of buying the 128 MB 9800? Is there going to be a big difference in the future perfomance wise between these three cards: 9800 Pro 128/256 and the 9600XT 256?

Thanks.
 
Fern

Fern

Elite Member
Sep 30, 2003
26,907
174
106
Welcome to the forums!

I got the 9800pro 128MB. The performance increase with a 256MB seemed pretty negligiable while it was considerably more $'s.

I haven't heard much to change that point of view.

The 9800 pro whether 128 or 256 is much better than 9600pro with 256MB. 256MB is a waste on a 9600pro IMHO.

As far a future performance difference, hard to predict if future games will be able get a bunch of performance out of the extra 128MB of vid ram on the 9800pro. My guess is that it won't be much.

256MB seems MUCH more useful when you get to the 6800 GT level card.

I think you bought wisely.

My .02 worth.

Fern
 
D

Delorian

Senior member
Mar 10, 2004
590
0
0
The 9800 pro (and earlier boards) really doesn't have the potential to use the 256mb efficiently. I strongly recommend getting the 128mb version of these boards while the price difference is so high. For the price, I'd easily buy a 128mb 6800 for ~300 rather than a 256mb 9800 pro for ~250. (USD) Also be very wary of the 128-bit versions of the 9800 pro, this card has laughable performance for being called a pro. The lack of 256-bit memory bus really cripples this card. The 9600XT w/256 is also a waste.


To make it short with price/performance ratio this is how I'd buy


9800Pro 128-bit any ram<9600XT<9800Pro 256-bit 256mb<9800Pro 256-bit 128mb<GeForce 6800 128mb
 
F

Feep

Senior member
Aug 30, 2004
224
0
0
you can get the 256 for a way better price that that, newegg has it for around 260. Anyway, Fern is basically right in saying that the difference is negligible. The only differences are that it can be flashed into a true 9800 xt and you start to notice a performace differnce at high resolutions. If you plan to flash you will need to replace the stocl cooler or the card will fry, so theres another $15+. Also, the card will be better equipped to handle the large textures that will be going in next gen games, but by that time the card will likley be replaced anyway. Anyway, for the price you paid i would definatley have gone for the 256, but you could have gotten the 128 easily for around 200, probably for a better version than the actual ati brand one.
 
apoppin

apoppin

Lifer
Mar 9, 2000
34,890
1
0
alienbabeltech.com
there is almost zero practical difference between a 256MB 9800p and a 128MB pro.

The ONLY time there is an advantage is when you FLASH the 256MB pro into an 'XT' with about a 10% performance increase. (the 256MB Radeon 9800p IS an XT with a different BIOS and cheaper HS)

IF you are interested in this (free/safe/simple) procedure, STUDY this:

The Radeon 9800 Pro To Radeon...T Mod Guide Rev. 5.0!

In most last gen cards, there is little difference betwen 128 &amp; 256MB video ram . . . the 9800XT is an exception - the newest cards DO benefit by having 256MB over 128 (i.e - nVidia 6800). ;)
 
BFG10K

BFG10K

Lifer
Aug 14, 2000
22,709
3,000
126
Apart from the RAM the 356 MB version is also slightly higher clocked.
 
Jeff7181

Jeff7181

Lifer
Aug 21, 2002
18,368
11
81
If I saw it right... there's a store near me that has an AIW 9800 Pro 256MB for $199... I'm going back today to double check and make sure it wasn't a 9600 Pro.
 
F

Feep

Senior member
Aug 30, 2004
224
0
0
if thats real it sounds like a good deal to me, if you can live with only one monitor output, which i cant
 
T

tenoc

Golden Member
Jan 23, 2002
1,270
0
0
To all those who didn't fully read or understand the originator's message, he is talking about $250 in Canadian funds, which is less than $200 in Amerikanski terms.

Avoid recommending newegg for shipment to the Great White North as they can't be arssed about shipping here.
 
J

JBT

Lifer
Nov 28, 2001
12,094
1
81
The difference between the two is most likely 2-5% with the res bumped up. If you can get the 256MB card for cheap it would be a good deal but if its much more than 25 US I wouldn't worry about it. You can OC both cards just as well ussually so...
 
F

Feep

Senior member
Aug 30, 2004
224
0
0
Originally posted by: BFG10K
Apart from the RAM the 356 MB version is also slightly higher clocked.
Click to expand...

Nice job reading that before posting it.
 
M

mc582

Junior Member
Sep 2, 2004
3
0
0
Thanks a lot for the help guys.

I'm going to keep the card and install it today, thanks to your help and I noticed an article on Tom's Hardware comparing the 128 to 256 and the only place where there was a 3-9 fps difference was in the Unreal Tournament Benchmarks at an outrageous 1600X1200 with AA and AF absolutely maxed. I always find that 1024X768 is good enough for me, but I am going to mess with the AA/AF settings.

My old GeForce MX440 64 MB had AA but if you turned it on the slightest bit, it was more like a slideshow than a game let's say.

So based on that, I take it that even in the long term future, the difference won't be too much in the 9800 Pro 128 vs 256 anyways. And BTW, the 6800 GT/Ultra right now that I only found at futureshop is $700/$900 I think and the X800 Pro is $600. Can find them cheaper, but not by much, and there's no way I'm going to spend that much on a graphics card so I'm finally decided that the 9800 is the best bet. If you haven't realized yet, I'm cheap/poor because I'm going into University.

One last thing if anybody can be bothered to answer: When is Half-Life 2 coming out? I bought this card for HL2 since Doom 3's gameplay thoroughly disappointed me. Is it going to take so long to come out that by the time it's out I can find a better deal than $250 CDN? I don't think so, but it's getting frustrating waiting for HL2.

PS: Yeah, I do live in the Great White North and it is a complete no-no reccommending me parts from newegg.com. With all the taxes/exchange rate/duty fee/shipping to get over the border, it might just be cheaper to fly to the US to pick the card up and fly back to this "Great White North" you speak of.
 
O

OMG1Penguin

Senior member
Jul 25, 2004
659
0
0
With my 6800, I can see a wall at 1024 and 1280 with 4/16, which looks like it is alleviated with 256mb of ram.

However, with a 9800, 128 was well enough for me.
 
A

Aries64

Golden Member
Jul 30, 2004
1,030
0
0
mc582,

By Yahoo's currency converter at 4.02PM PST, $250 CDN equals about $192.35 US. That is slightly below the $199.00 going rate at Best Buy and Fry's Electronics right now. I know that you are in Canada, so it is probably not worth your time to do it but you can usually find REAL (not knock-off) factory sealed, retail video card REALLY CHEAP at computer shows.

Several months ago I saw an ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 256MB for $145.00 (US dollars)! If I needed one I would have bought it on the spot! Prices have probably dropped even more by now.

Anyway, Fern pretty much nailed his response. The 256MB version really is ONLY SLIGHTLY faster than the 128MB version, and the 9800 Pro 128MB will still blow-away the 9600 XT.

Also, Delorian is correct in pointing out that the 128MB version only has a 128-bit memory bus, which probably "hurts" the 128MB version's performance for bandwith reasons.

Having both the (ATI) 9800 Pro 256MB and the 9800 Pro 128MB cards I can attest to this fact. Don't buy
the 256MB version unless you can get it REALLY CHEAP ($200.00 US or less).



 
T

The Green Bean

Diamond Member
Jul 27, 2003
6,506
7
81
"What's the Difference Between A Radeon 9800 Pro 128 and a 256?"

One has 128MB memomry DDR, and the other has double of that. 256MB to be exact. That is the only differnce.
 
SonicIce

SonicIce

Diamond Member
Apr 12, 2004
4,771
0
76
The 9800PRO 256 is a complete waste of money over the 128mb version! (If you're going to make an XT out of the 256, then thats a differant story.)
 
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