So im running two comps and its time to throw my ti4200 in my 2nd and buy a spankin new ferrari red Radeon 9700pro! 128mb's of ddr loveliness 325Mhz core.....yummy!

So i look locally and end up hitting Best Buy(yes..i know there morons,i hate them too)cause they matched www.pricewatch.com's price of $256.00 so i head over and pick it up, there it was in its oh so nifty looking retail box. I throw the girl my credit card, she swipes it...Approved! yes!

After going through a full body cavity search at the exit doors from there Barney Fife look alike who seemingly thinks everyone who walks through the front doors is there to snag there own personal copy of Harry Potter2 then b-line it for the parking lot without paying for it, all the while he makes $5.35 an hr and takes great pride in his job..
As i walk bull legged to my car i realize im the proud new owner of one bad *** vid card, im cool again! woopee!

I get it home, already uninstalled my ti4200.
I opened the box oh so carefully(ok i tore the f'r open)and there it was..its pretty, its furry, its soft! its oh so..uh hum, excuse me.

I throw it in, boot up, install newest cats(3.2 at the time)and all is well(to be honest the install took like 4 reboots and was a pain in the arse compared to nvidia's)so far.

I run 3dm01 and get a 13860 a much improved mark over my ti4200 which was 10700.
I run a few games and and i get a stuttering, its wierd to explain..like a hiccup every other second..im running all newest drivers that i can think of, red faction for instance runs like poop, it hiccups so bad that i wont play it.

I get tearing in EQ along with vertical graphic lines everywhere...UG..this cant be man!
Im playing swg beta and get anomalies and poly tearing every now and again here also.

Im starting to regret my purchase and begin to miss Nvidia's solid drivers, ive always used nvidia after my old voodoo2 SLI became extinct.
I dont want to take this monster card back even though im beginning to hate it for its lack of compatibility with games, i got a great deal on it and will have to pay MORE to go with a slower(more stable)ti4600.

So im living with it trying to configure this and that and pray the next set of Cat drivers fixes this bullshat.

A few weeks later i fire up AVP2 expansion pack this morn and get these WAY f'ed up vertical lines through the picture again only worse, i close it out and ***! there still on my desktop!

Reboot...omg there still there, remove display drivers, shutdown, reseat card, reboot.....geezus there still there!

Im thinkin...bad card.

I pack the f'r up and go back to Best Buy..go to the cutsomer service counter, tell the guy "its bad man" he stares back at me with that "im a clueless dumbass" look that all these ppl who work here seem to give you when you try to communicate with them.

He then informs me that its past the 14day return policy...
I then inform him that i bought a defective piece of hardware from his store not 30days ago and now had to drive my fat arse back to his store just to get another card that hopefully was not a "return and shrinkwrap and its brand new again" video card.

He then tries to refuse my return and i inform him that i would heave my *** over his counter and go apeshit on his dome if he said another word...he then tells me to go pick any card id like out and he would gladly exchange it.

I hate violence...anyhoo i go over to the shelf where the 9700's sit and to my glee there is...gasp! a Radeon 9800 Pro! just in! $399.00..geezus!

F'it i wont eat for a day, i buy it!
Get home, take it out of the box...hmm looks like my 9700pro did..
Put it in, fire it up, run dxdiag..it shows up as a...9700 pro?
Must be the drivers...or something, uninstall drivers, reboot, reinstall, same thing run 3dmark, shows up as a 9700 pro.

I then hit Sharky's site cause i saw a side by side pic of both cards..the 9800 has heat sinks on some of its modules,along with a smaller HS on its GPU its a tad longer too with more transisters..i look at my card, bingo it looks JUST like the 9700 in the pic.

I look on the back of my card and there is the little white factory sticker stating its a 9800 pro 128mb.

I begin to cry, yknow whats its like to see a 310 pound man cry? its ugly folks..

Anyhoo i come to the conclusion that this f'r is a 9700pro that was misstamped and sent out as a 9800, pretty smart aint i?

Conclusion: Ati bites
Best Buy bites
Nvidia's driver program rulez all.
Ill be returning this for a REAL 9800pro.
Im a Chump.

Best Buy is completely sold out of 9700's and 9800's in my area, ill be waiting until this Tues for there shipment and picking up my NEW 9800 Pro...cough, wish my unlucky arse luck.