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Buying a used video card

B

b18turbo

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 14, 2005
Messages
247
I have a ATI 7500 card with a new A64 3200 processor and it is obviously my bottleneck. I don't have much money left over after my new build. My brother will sell me his 9800 pro for $100 or a guy I work with has a 9800 regular for $50. My question is: Is the PRO version worth twice the money? From ATI's comparison it looks like the clock speeds are the only difference between the two cards which could possibly be ov'cd a little bit to make it up.
 
128bit or 256bit memory?

also if i recall u can flash a pro to XT.....if it has the r360 core....either way i LOVED my 9800pro. commin from a gf4ti4200 it was a sweetupgrade, then i got my x800pro and im lovin it! :)
 
I believe all the 9800 cards have 256 bit memory.

I am wanting to know if the regular 9800 card would play Battlefield 2 with decent settings?
 
the 9800 pro compared to the 9700 pro is only a 10% performance jump, i imagine the 9800 compared to the pro is like 7%
 
I had a 9800np and could clock the core well past Pro speeds. The memory on mine wasn't the good Samsung stuff, so my RAM clocks only made ~325-330MHz. With that in mind, I would take the 9800np for $50, and treat as a temporary upgrade. Get an even better card after you've had a chance to recoup from the current upgrade.
 
b18turbo said:
I believe all the 9800 cards have 256 bit memory.

I am wanting to know if the regular 9800 card would play Battlefield 2 with decent settings?
Click to expand...


You believe wrong my friend, I thought that too and I ripped myself off.

Refer to this page: Click here!

Now compare that page to the 9800NP your friend has, if it has a L shaped RAM Formation then it's 256-Bit if not it's 128-Bit.
 
b18turbo said:
So would a 9800 np play battlefield 2?
Click to expand...

Would it play it? Yes, cause I can but I don't recommend it. Just dish out the extra 20$ and get a NP or even a 6600GT.
 
Are the other ATI companies as good as the real ATI cards? Like Sapphire, how can they be so much cheaper?
 
b18turbo said:
Are the other ATI companies as good as the real ATI cards? Like Sapphire, how can they be so much cheaper?
Click to expand...

I read somewhere that Sapphire actually builds ATI's cards. Most manufacturers follow the reference pcb design so you should see little if any difference between manufacturers for the same card.

Edit: One word of caution Sapphire actually departed from ATI's design on the 9800pro using a 128mbit memory controller instead of the 256mbit memory controller, and sold these as 9800pro's. So make sure you read the specs if you get a 9800pro.
 
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