which of these 3 9800 pro's to buy? [planning to buy by monday]

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10-13-2003, 01:29 AM
eon

which of these 3 9800 pro's to buy? [planning to buy by monday]

im stuck between 3 9800 pros
-the sapphire is $60 cheaper [im on a tighter budget than originally thought-that extra $ can be thrown in for better ram/cpu cooling]

-then i like the extra goodies of the AIW

-then i like the pure power of the Hercules

my question is, will the sapphire show significant performance/oc potential inferiority and if so, should i get the AIW or Hercules?

thanks you very much

SAPPHIRE OEM RADEON 9800 PRO 128MB DVI/TV 8X AGP BULK $298
Specifications:
Chipset: ATI RADEON 9800 PRO
Memory: 128MB DDR
Bus: AGP 8X
New SMARTSHADER™ 2.1 technology allows users to experience complex, movie-quality effects in next-generation 3D games and applications
First to fully support DirectX® 9.0 and the latest OpenGL® functionality
Industry's only 8-pipeline graphics solution in its 2nd generation, providing twice the rendering power of any currently competing product.
Ports:VGA + DVI + S-Video Out
OEM Bundle (See pictures for details) Model#: RADEON 9800PRO 128M -OEM

Guillemot Hercules ATI Radeon 9800 PRO 128MB DDR DVI/TV-out 8X AGP- RETAIL $365
Specifications:
Chipset:9800 PRO
Memory: 128MB DDR memory to boost the latest games with tons of textures
Bus: AGP 8X / 4X / 2X support for maximum performance with the latest motherboards
8 pixel-pipeline architecture for increased rendering power
High-quality onboard 256-bit DDR RAM interface: no bottlenecks, faster frame rates.HyperZ™III+: intelligent memory bandwidth optimization technology
Full DirectX® 9 & OpenGL® hardware accelerator
SMARTSHADER™ 2.1: Programmable Pixel Shaders 2.0 & Vertex Shaders 2.0
Dual display on VGA, DVI or TV-Out (HYDRAVISION™)
High-quality TV display on CRT and flat panel monitors
Ports: DVI + VGA + S-Video (See pics) More... Model#: 4780296 Special Free

ATI All-In-Wonder RADEON 9800 PRO 128MB DDR 8X AGP Bulk $361
Grab the remote and surf an unprecedented set of TV, DVD, audio and video features.
Specifications:
Chipset:RADEON 9800 PRO Visual Processing Unit (VPU)
Memory: 128MB of double data rate SDRAM
Bus: AGP 8X
Max 3D Resolution: 2048x1536 at 85h 16.7M colors
New SMARTSHADER 2.1 technology
Supports DirectX® 9.0 and the latest OpenGL® functionality
256-bit memory interface removes hardware performance bottleneck and provides end users with faster 3D graphics
Ports: DVI + S-video In/Out + CATV in (See pics for more info)
Features: TV-ON-DEMAND, Gemstar GUIDE Plus+, THRUVIEW, EAZYLOOK, MulTView.
OEM Pack (See pictures for details) Model#: A-I-W RADEON 9800PRO -OEM
10-13-2003, 01:34 AM
PinchyCM

sapphire.
10-13-2003, 01:44 AM
eon

thanks but would you mind explaining why?

estimates on max OC ability on stock cooling for the sapphire vs the other 2 would really help out what my choice would be
10-13-2003, 01:52 AM
ComputerManiacs

Quote:

Originally posted by PinchyCM
sapphire.

Sapphire 9800 np should be the best for the performance/overclocking ability/$...

I just got my 9800XT out of it. :)

450/400 3.3ns samsung ram. :)

Computer Manaic :)
10-13-2003, 02:01 AM
speedstream5621

Well, I'm looking at all three cards right now on Newegg and the ATI card definitely has the best cooling on the core. BTW, the core is where ATI cards(at least the 9000 series of cards) get most of their performance increase when overclocking.:) I would guess that card has lower quality RAM though and in general, the AIW cards usually overclock worse. This was especially true for the 8500.

If you don't have a problem with hacking up an old P1 heatsink and epoxying on some RAMsinks, I'd say we can elimate the Herc. from the choices.

Aren't a lot of Sapphire's fans going dead? Or is that just the 9600? That has the second best cooling on the heatsink from what I can tell.

If it were me, I would bag the AIW and get the regular Pro and then add some homemade RAMsinks.:)

Also, take into consideration the external power connector that is used. The ATI is the only one that uses a four-pin/prong female molex, the rest use a standard floppy connector.

For everyone else to look at:
ATI AIW
Sapphire
Hercules
10-13-2003, 02:06 AM
eon

Quote:

Originally posted by ComputerManiacs
Sapphire 9800 np should be the best for the performance/overclocking ability/$...

I just got my 9800XT out of it. :)

450/400 3.3ns samsung ram. :)

Computer Manaic :)

would you happen to know [or estimate] the max safe OC of the sapphire np vs pro?
10-13-2003, 02:09 AM
ComputerManiacs

9800 np and pro basically the same card except the np has the slower ns ram which is 3.3 instead of the pro's 2.8ns... :)

and I know if you got a good np, you can overclock the same or better than the pro... :)

I think the average of pro or np is 450/380...If I am not mistaken...

Computer Maniac ;)
10-13-2003, 02:15 AM
eon

thanks again... on newegg they dont have a "sapphire 9800np" [or any other "np" cards to my knowledge]
-they list them as "SE"

is saphhire radeon 9800 SE the same as non pro?

btw, my choice has already narrowed down between sapphire 9800 pro vs np
10-13-2003, 03:33 AM
talldude

SE is not the same as a non-pro. The SE has 4 of its pipelines disabled a'la radeon 9600 (IIRC). Get the 9800 pro if you got the $$$ :).
10-13-2003, 11:12 AM
speedstream5621

Stay away from the SE models and just get a non-pro.:)
10-13-2003, 11:26 AM
eon

any truth behind this statement?: [said on a different forum]

Quote:

Be careful with the Sapphire for $298.

There are TWO versions of the Sapphire 9800 PRO OEM.
One has red PCB and costs around $350.
One has dark brown pcb and costs $300.

The brown PCB works fine at stock speed, but is a p*ss-poor overclocker.

A little search on differetn forums will yield more info on this card.

I ordered a Sapphire 9800Pro online from a company who showed the red PCB on their website. When I got the card, it was the brown PCB.

Result: max O/C out of the box: 400/360 without artifacts.

The $298 brown Sapphire is already being dubbed 9800PRO-lite...
10-13-2003, 11:39 AM
Farmer_BOB

Go with AIW, 'cause once you go with an AIW product, you'll get hooked. Don't expect any OCing though, 'cause the card packed with all its features gets hot enough. Don't worry though, 'cause at stock it's as fast as the gaming 9800.
10-13-2003, 11:40 AM
Un4given

Here is some feedback on that Saphire card, as I was considering it myself.

Quote:

Ok i just got the card and here are the results.

stock 3dmark03 = 5650 marks
overclocked to 417/351= 6100 marks

pretty damm nice!.

http://www.amdforums.com/showthread....1&pagenumber=2
10-13-2003, 11:45 AM
Farmer_BOB

Quote:

Originally posted by Un4given
Here is some feedback on that Saphire card, as I was considering it myself.

http://www.amdforums.com/showthread....1&pagenumber=2

You're finally buying a new card! It's a long time coming.
10-13-2003, 12:06 PM
eon

ouch....it looks like this $298 sapphire is on a black pcb which according to several means that it is a poorer OC'er

does any of these cards from priceline here look like of higher quality?

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