which video card is recomended... ordering tonight

[redass1876]

Im pretty sure im getting the 9800 pro, but i just wanted to make sure it is still the best one in the ~200-220 range. Also, should i go retail or OEM, and what brand (ATI, Saphire, or powercolor)


i would like to order tonight so i can have by friday, thanks guys

 

[xes]

Why not read the answers in the thread you started yesterday?
thread

 

[Abos]

Check this out...

 

[kd2777]

Originally posted by: xes
Why not read the answers in the thread you started yesterday?
<a class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=27&threadid=1270010" target=blank>thread</A>

:beer:

 

[redass1876]

yesterday i was asking which was the best 9800, today im asking if 9800 is the best for the money, different questions, also, no one ever answered which 9800pro was the best, all they kept saying is that there in no HL2 coupon, and retail has a better warranty

 

[JBT]

Get the Sapphire OEM if u plan to mod OC at all or the SapphireRetail if you want the Tomb Raider games and want a longer warrenty.

Either way I would not get a PowerColor.

 

[redass1876]

the sapphire Retail would mod or OC the same as the OEM though right?

also, it would run optimally with my system right?

system:
3.0 E
AB60N Shuttle
2 x 512 MB CAS 2 Dual Channel DDR400
Audigy
160 and 80 GB IDE HD
400W PSU

 

[JBT]

Yes it would OC the same but you would also be voiding your warrenty.

I guess it is mostly about Ethics.

If you feel returning a OCed card is fine then sure. though I guess they don't really care about OCing much any more since they factory OC the XT's and Sapphire also sends there own Ocing tool on thier driver CD atleast they did with my 9500 Pro.

So no it doesn't matter.


Also u have a AN35N Shuttle mother board paired with a 3.0E I think u mean an Intel chip?

If so no that won't work.... AMD mobo and intel CPU will not work AT ALL.

 

[jdogg707]

It will run fine, but if you are modding it your warranty is shot anyway, and Tomb Raider AOD blows some serious a$$, so save the money and grab the OEM version.

 

[redass1876]

damn, meant AB60N, my bad

 

[icywindow]

If you can find a 9600XT, it's one heck of a card that is based on the same architecture as the 9800. They might even be a few bucks cheaper.

 

[Nebor]

Originally posted by: icywindow
If you can find a 9600XT, it's one heck of a card that is based on the same architecture as the 9800. They might even be a few bucks cheaper.

Er... the 9600XT is based off the 9600. A 9600xt is no comparison to a 9800.

 

[icywindow]

http://www.beyond3d.com/reviews/sapphire/ults/

As you may know the RV350 is the baby brother of the R350. They both share the same base architecture, derived from R300, however RV350 is tantamount to half an R350 with half the number of Vertex Shaders and pixel pipelines. The other main difference is that for the high end R350 chip ATI are still using the 150nm silicon process, while they have moved to 130nm for RV350.

This is what I was referring to, like the 9700 is the big brother to the 9500.