Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro

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eli

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Apr 30, 2003
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Is the Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro a good reliable card? I am not looking to overclock it, I just want something that wont fail on me. They have it for $213 on www.newegg.com, and it looks like a sweet deal. What do you think...should I spend the extra cash on a BBA 9800 pro?

Later,
Eli
 
I bought one of those when they were a little more expensive a few weeks ago.

I love the card, it seems like it runs a little hot, but no lockups or artifacts at stock settings.

I would have to say from the different things I have heard about them, that it is a reliable card.
 
To avoid making a new thead, I've been looking into this purchase into, and wonder if there's a retail version with a HL2 voucher?
 
The pro versions of the cards don't have the HL2 coupon as far as I know (mine didn't, retail bba). I know the 9600XT and 9800XT cards have it, but I don't think any of the pro's do.
 
Whats the diff between a Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro & a ATi 9800 Pro retail?

there shouldn't be any differences, a 9800 pro is a 9800 pro...

right ?
 
Most of the time yes.. with Sapphire yes definitely. They are using the reference designs and boards.
 
I asked that question and it took forever to find an answer. I'm not sure if people don't know or just didn't say or what. The Built By ATI card (the one from comp usa or mwave @ $219) has a 3 year warranty, the Sapphire card (newegg) only has a 1 year warranty. That's the major difference. There is very little on the cards themselves that is any different.

I picked up two 9800pro's from comp usa today, and neither of them had vouchers for halfline 2, I also got one from best buy that did not have a voucher. As I said before, I do not believe the pro cards come with it, only the XT cards.
 
Originally posted by TSx
I asked that question and it took forever to find an answer. I'm not sure if people don't know or just didn't say or what. The Built By ATI card (the one from comp usa or mwave @ $219) has a 3 year warranty, the Sapphire card (newegg) only has a 1 year warranty. That's the major difference. There is very little on the cards themselves that is any different.

I picked up two 9800pro's from comp usa today, and neither of them had vouchers for halfline 2, I also got one from best buy that did not have a voucher. As I said before, I do not believe the pro cards come with it, only the XT cards.
Click to expand...
u seem to need a lot of 9800Pro's.....can i have one? :D
 
Originally posted by eli
Is the Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro a good reliable card? I am not looking to overclock it, I just want something that wont fail on me. They have it for $213 on www.newegg.com, and it looks like a sweet deal. What do you think...should I spend the extra cash on a BBA 9800 pro?

Later,
Eli
Click to expand...


I bought one ;)
Its running @ 423mhz Core now and 752mhz Memory :D
Im loving it!
 
I just got one as well from newegg. Got it to replace my 9500 PRO. It was a pretty sizable increase in performance. After some initial problems with it and my Shuttle AN50R, it is working great. Did some initial overclocking and it does 425/370 with no artifacting. Awesome buy for $215 or whatever they are going for today.
 
Originally posted by ST|FFY
u seem to need a lot of 9800Pro's.....can i have one? :D
Click to expand...

I dual box for gaming so I've got one in each, and had to pick one up for a friend in canada, it's cheaper for him to have me get it and mail to him than just buy one and ship it there.
 
Originally posted by NEVERLIFT
I bought one ;)
Its running @ 423mhz Core now and 752mhz Memory :D
Im loving it!
Click to expand...

what kind of memory did that card come with? how fast is the memory (ns wise)? I'm thinking of buying one from newegg too but that compusa card looks so nice too.
 
Originally posted by T07N
what kind of memory did that card come with? how fast is the memory (ns wise)? I'm thinking of buying one from newegg too but that compusa card looks so nice too.
Click to expand...


Its Samsung ram on my card and it was a stock 9800 Pro when I got it and stock speeds.

I used Rage3D tweak v3.9 and overclocked it 10mhz at a time on the core and memory and then testing it for artifacts.
To my great suprise it went all the way past the 9800XT in speeds. Final overclock being (423mhz core and 376mhz memory).

I'm using the stock heatsink and no ram sinks.... I'm curious if a better heatsink would let me o/c more and if ram sinks would help me on the memory.

My Athlon64 3000+ also o/c well and went 100mhz over stock on default volts and stable in Prime95 and Super Pi.
My Corsair value select memory is holding me back thou... and even at 2.9v wont do over 210mhz fsb with my timings @ 2-3-3-5
and @ 2-2-2-5 and 2-3-2-5 it wont even let my pc post :(

Well it does over 210mhz fsb but it wont pass Super Pi or Prime95 testing.
 
so...which card, the BBA 9800 pro, or the Sapphire 9800 pro, I am getting mixed answers here.

Later,
Eli
 
What the heck is BBA? I think that answers your question right there.;)

Just ordered a Sapphire Radeon 9800Pro 256MB for my new system (the cheapest of the 3 at newegg) and can't wait to get it! I almost bought retail, but didn't at the last second.
 
I think getting BBA or getting Sapphire won't really make any difference. I've read on several occasions (although this doesn't make it true) that Sapphire actually manufacture lots of BBA cards and if you look at the Sapphire XT, remove the sticker on the heatsink and you have a BBA card.

I have a Sapphire 9800PRO 128MB and have a poor overclock of 379.50 and 352.50 but there's no snow or artifacting even when 3D intensive games have been on for a while. If I go to around 382 on the core I get snow, and 359 on the memory and I get artifacts. Then again my Xp 2500 overclock is poor too (194 x 11) I think I got a bad batch on my motherboard but it's nothing serious.

Even with my poor overclock I can game great. I completed Max Payne 2 with everything on full settings with 8xAF and 4xAA with no drop in frams (you could probably do 16xAA and 6xAA fine). I played Mafia with everything set to the maximum settings with 8xAF and 4xAA there's was a noticable drop in frames sometimes but never anything major, I'm guessing it varied from around 40 and 70 but i never tested it with Fraps (as to the people who say you can't make out above 24fps, well you can!). Currently I'm playing Silent Hill 2 with everything to the max 1280*1024 with 16xAF (game doesn't support AA) and there's never any slowdown. The most graphically intensive game I've tried on it is Need For Speed: Underground. Once again everything is set to max and res is 1024*768 with 8xAF and 4xAA. If motion blur and light trails are turned off then there's no slowdown but if they're enabled then be sure to turn AA off, there's definitly a loss in performance but at all times the game is still at a very playable framerate.

Basically even with a poor overclock or at stock, it's a great card :D.
 
Get the retail Sapphire, cost you about $10 more, but it comes with Return to Castle Wolfenstien and SoF2. And either way the warrenty doesn't matter, you'll be voiding it anyway ;)
 
I don't think you get those games because when I looked at the pictures on new egg, I see Tomb Raider.:rolleyes:

I still bought it anyways. LOL

It's early in the morning right now and I'm just waiting for the FedEX guy/girl to come gimme my card and my T-Shirt!!:D
 
Originally posted by lil layzie
I don't think you get those games because when I looked at the pictures on new egg, I see Tomb Raider.:rolleyes:

I still bought it anyways. LOL

It's early in the morning right now and I'm just waiting for the FedEX guy/girl to come gimme my card and my T-Shirt!!:D
Click to expand...

I think you're right, I ordered my 9800 (I live in UK) and Sapphires website says you get SOFII and RTCW but instead I got Tomb Raider AOD which I've never installed; this was in October.
 
I thought there were two retail versions. A "lite" retail version (read more affordable) and a "full retail" version (read more expensive) which comes with all the games.
 
There is a lite which i think has no games and retail has games and powerdvd and redline (i think it came, i can't be bothered to find the box right now sorry).
 
I just received one from newegg. When I ordered the picture on their site showed rtcw and sof2. But when the package arrived, I got tombraider. Who plays tombraider? Not me, so I called them up and gave em the business over it. Ended up getting $30 back. So I basically got a Sapphire 9800 Pro Retail for $199. Not too shabby, not too shabby at all. But I did sit on hold for about two hours to talk to the supervisor - thank goodness for speaker phone!
 
I just got my card today from newegg and just go done installing and loaded the omega 4.2 drivers and damn this card is fast!!! Plays all my games smoothly. If you don't have one, go get one!

btw, is there a way to tell my card temp via software? anyone know?
 
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