PowerColor 9800 Pro EZ good card?

[hukuis]

Is the Powercolor 9800 Pro EZ a good card compared to other 9800 Pros?
I'm looking at a PowerColor and a Sapphire, but the PowerColor is
cheaper. I plan on using it in a new system with an Athlon 64 3000+,
a Chaintech VNF3-250, and 1GB of DDR400 (2x512). The 9800XT and the
X800 are both quite a lot more than I can afford, and I really like
ATI's drivers. I can also afford an AIW 9700 Pro, but I would rather
have the performance and I don't really need the features of an AIW
card.
Thanks in advance,
-Hukuis

 

[Khar00f]

try to avoid the powercolor brand as it's the bottom of the barrel, the
sapphire one on the other hand is up there, i suggest you go w/ the
sapphire, but it all comes down to your budget and if u're able to dish out
the extra $$$.

 

[hukuis]

try to avoid the powercolor brand as it's the bottom of the barrel, the
sapphire one on the other hand is up there, i suggest you go w/ the
sapphire

Is there any real difference in performance? Will overclocking be
enough to compensate for this difference if it exists? Should I
invest in a 256MB card right now, even if it means buying a slightly
older GPU? Is the 9800XT expected to significantly drop in price
within the next 5 months? Thanks for the help,
-Hukuis

 

[Sleepy]

"Khar00f" <[email protected]> wrote in message
Is there any real difference in performance? Will overclocking be
enough to compensate for this difference if it exists? Should I
invest in a 256MB card right now, even if it means buying a slightly
older GPU? Is the 9800XT expected to significantly drop in price
within the next 5 months? Thanks for the help,
-Hukuis

I know the Powercolor card is clocked a bit lower but I believe (and you
need to check this is true) that the memory bandwidth is reduced from 256bit
to 128bit and
THAT is important.