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Need help choosing a 9800 pro

T

toekneedahtiger

n00b
Joined
Aug 15, 2004
Messages
9
Hi, I'm new to the whole ATI thing after using a 64MB Geforce2 for so long. Recently I've been thinking of picking up a 128MB 9800 pro but I can't decide which brand to go with. The choices are Sapphire (OEM $189.99) or MSI (RETAIL $209). I've noticed the heatsink difference on the MSI and I was just wondering if that is enough to justify the $20 difference. I don't plan on doing much overclocking, since I'm afraid of throwing a $200 investment down the drain. So in your opinion, which is the better card for the money out of the box (or packaging)? I'm not exactly sure what cores they are running, but is it something I should factor into my decision making?

Also, will this be enough to run HL2 and CS:S smoothly? And by smoothly I mean will the fps stay high and constant? Thanks in advance.

My specs are:
ASUS A7V8X-MX
AMD Athlon XP 2800+
1 Gig of DDR-400 RAM (Yes, I know I only need 333)
Enermax 350W PSU
 
Either one should serve you fine, first thing I would note is that the Sapphire is an OEM and the MSI is Retail.

So right off the bat, the Sapphire is not going to have all the fancy software like the MSI does. For the most part Sapphire is purely based on the reference design of Ati, while MSI has made a few modifications, the card alone does not justify the 20 dollar price difference.

So really its up to you if the extras with the MSI card outweigh the 20 dollar price difference.

And yes IMO I think HL2 will run great on a 9800 Pro
 
The MSI is $196 right now on NewEgg. I'd grab that one. People report the card having the r360 core so its really an XT and should overclock well if you want to.
 
Indeed this card has a R360 core and is flashable to XT to unlock the optimized shaders. Although if you're afraid to OC then you'll definitely be afraid to flash.
 
If I flash the bios to 9800XT specs, will I have to add additional cooling? Or should the stock cooling be adequate? Keep in mind, just the temperature of my CPU can reach up to 133F and about 56C in my case :eek: .
 
Three D. Marks said:
The MSI is $196 right now on NewEgg. I'd grab that one. People report the card having the r360 core so its really an XT and should overclock well if you want to.
Click to expand...

That's the way to go...damn nice card, even without the flash :)
 
IMO, if you flash to 9800XT you SHOULD get additional cooling. If your system wasn't already so hot you _might_ be able to get by with stock cooling but I wouldn't recommend it even then.

Notice I said, "IMO".
 
Just an update:

Today I picked up the MSI RX9800 from the computer shop I frequent for $209. I know it's higher than newegg's price but I'm very impatient so $10 isn't gonna kill me that bad. I'm very satisfied with my card, and it's a lot better than the Sapphire piece of crap I picked up from a different computer shop. It turns out they sold me a crappy "9800 Atlantis" with 128-bit memory and a slower clock. Luckily I got out of paying the restocking fee because I told them they sold me a different item than what was on the invoice. All in all, risking it with the Sapphire made the 9800 pro a headache, but after getting the MSI, all the the troubles seemed to disappear as now I can run my computer games effortlessly. Thanks for the help, guys.
 
toekneedahtiger said:
Just an update:

Today I picked up the MSI RX9800 from the computer shop I frequent for $209. I know it's higher than newegg's price but I'm very impatient so $10 isn't gonna kill me that bad. I'm very satisfied with my card, and it's a lot better than the Sapphire piece of crap I picked up from a different computer shop. It turns out they sold me a crappy "9800 Atlantis" with 128-bit memory and a slower clock. Luckily I got out of paying the restocking fee because I told them they sold me a different item than what was on the invoice. All in all, risking it with the Sapphire made the 9800 pro a headache, but after getting the MSI, all the the troubles seemed to disappear as now I can run my computer games effortlessly. Thanks for the help, guys.
Click to expand...

that card is nasty, it shouldnt even be called a 9800
 
Awesome. Glad you're happy with it. I've been nothing but pleased with my VisionTek 9800Pro since April 2003. Still waiting for a x800xtpe but the Pro will do for now.
 
toekneedahtiger said:
Just an update:

Today I picked up the MSI RX9800 from the computer shop I frequent for $209. I know it's higher than newegg's price but I'm very impatient so $10 isn't gonna kill me that bad. I'm very satisfied with my card, and it's a lot better than the Sapphire piece of crap I picked up from a different computer shop. It turns out they sold me a crappy "9800 Atlantis" with 128-bit memory and a slower clock. Luckily I got out of paying the restocking fee because I told them they sold me a different item than what was on the invoice. All in all, risking it with the Sapphire made the 9800 pro a headache, but after getting the MSI, all the the troubles seemed to disappear as now I can run my computer games effortlessly. Thanks for the help, guys.
Click to expand...

Just got this card from NewEgg yesterday, paid $198 with shipping. It is NASTY. Previously, I had an FX 5900 Ultra 256 flashed to 5950 Ultra 256. This thing is just plain faster. Out of the box, with no overclocking, it was faster in everything I tried it in. 3DMark 01 scores went up a few hundred points. Overclocked the GPU to 425 and RAM to 340 with no artifacting at all. 3DMark went up another 500.

FX-51 at 2.2 GHZ (Stock Clock!) and O/C'd 9800 yielded 20,655 points, already faster than the 5950 was with the FX at 2.42 Ghz. Haven't flashed it yet, either.

Amazing card, well worth the money.

FYI, this is my first "real" ATI card, as I've been using Nvidia cards since 3DFX went the way of the dodo. I'm pretty impressed. I've had a few integrated cards (7500 Mobility in my T40, couple of Rage's etc...), and I've had pretty good luck with them all. Personally, this whole Nvidia vs. ATi thing means jack shit to me. It's just like the AMD vs. Intel deal. I'm going to buy my hardware from whoever gives me the best performance for the dollar. Although, I have to admit, I am pretty partial to AMD. They've been good to me.

Matt.
 
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