Video Card Selection

[Smoke]

Must get a new video card... but I've been out of the "technology loop for a year or two"

my guide lines:
ABIT IC7 Max3 MB so it's got to be 8x AGP
must have ATI, I hate my nvidia
I'm a hard core gamer
Stand alone graphics card (no TV tuner or other add ons)
GPU SPEED!!!!!! I'm at 266mhz now, errr!

[SAMSAMHA]

hey, have some price range, that will help people recommend what card to buy. If you are a die hard gamer and want ati's card, then you can spend like 300~400 for ati x800 lines. However, if you don't want to spend that much, the ati 9800pro would serve most of the gaming experience of today.

[fstroupe]

Definitely the 9800 Pro over the x600, if you are thinking around the 200 buck range.

[Smoke]

after looking at a few comparisons and the test results the 9800 pro is a shoe in for the price....

now.... what is the difference between the 9800pro 128 and the 9800 "atlantis" 128 by saphire?

I was looking on price watch and there are a few "off brands" like: powercolor - colortech ... are these the same card??? I was thinking of sticking with Saphire.

do I need a 256??? I haven't seen much of a performace difference so far...

is this really a Radeon 9800 Pro?
http://www.greatpcsonline.com/product_view.aspx?product_ID=1041


if not were can I get this card for a good price without getting scammed???

[Caj Darkmoon]

Newegg's usually a good bet. I actually ended up getting my 9500Pro from best buy, because for whatever cracked out reason they had the best price on it at the time (1.75 years ago)

[undergroundtech]

I would stick with the 128mb models, the 256 really doesn't give much of a performace increase, just a higher price.

[deadly-app]

if you get the 256 version you can softmod it to a 9800xt and unlock the temp monitor, etc.

[fstroupe]

I did a bunch of surfing, hoping to give you an intelligent answer, but it is too damn confusing, the confusion stemming from the fact that there are both 128-bit and 256-bit 9800Pros.

It appears to me that Sapphire has created the "Atlantis" models to distinguish between the newer and older versions of the 9800 and 9600 chipsets...the newer 9800 Pro is 256-bit, the older ones are 128-bit. That is the only difference I see between the Atlantis and non-Atlantis 9800 Pro.

Go to NewEgg, and browse the Radeons...look at ATI, Sapphire, and PowerColor...it is confusing as hell trying to figure out the difference between the cards...at least naming the latest version like Sapphire has helps to distinguish between them a little.

The particular card you linked to is a 128-bit version of the 9800Pro...I would say that the price has been dropped to move them faster...Its a helluva price.

PowerColor is the #1 manufacturer of Radeon cards, they only use ATI chipsets...I was assured that I wasn't making a mistake when I purchased my PowerColor 9600 Pro earlier this year.

Thanks for this thread...I will probably end up buying a 9800 Pro for my next build, and the research I have done this morning will affect my decision. :lol:

[undergroundtech]

if you get the 256 version you can softmod it to a 9800xt and unlock the temp monitor, etc.

You can flash the newer 128's also, I'm not sure about the PowerColor, or the Sapphire flavors, but you can with the cards made by ATi.