9800 Pro or 9800XT?

[Robet Maloney]

all right. i'm going to get one of these cards, but i've recently read on one of
the threads here that you may be able to "mod" the pro to an xt?

is it worth getting an xt or pro? if i get a pro, can i update it to an xp?

 

[w1dge]

I would say it all depends on how much memory each has and how much they
cost.

It is true to say that some 9800 Pros can be modded to the XT, but it all
depends on the graphic core. Early Pros used the R350 core while the XT uses
a R360 core. Many of the later Pros do seem to use the R360 core, but it
really is pot luck Im afraid.

I managed to get a 9800Pro a while back with the R360 core which I managed
to mod to an XT, but to be honest you would only get a couple of frames more
perfomance over the stock 9800 Pro anyway.

The other thing to consider is that genuine XT's come with 256Mb RAM, whilst
most Pros only have 128Mb, so even if it does mod to an XT you still wont
have a true full XT

In my opinion save your money and but the Pro, unless of course you want the
256Mb Ram and the extra few frames in the latest games!

Hope this helps

W1dge

 

[Inglo]

I would say it all depends on how much memory each has and how much they
cost.

It is true to say that some 9800 Pros can be modded to the XT, but it all
depends on the graphic core. Early Pros used the R350 core while the XT uses
a R360 core. Many of the later Pros do seem to use the R360 core, but it
really is pot luck Im afraid.

I managed to get a 9800Pro a while back with the R360 core which I managed
to mod to an XT, but to be honest you would only get a couple of frames more
perfomance over the stock 9800 Pro anyway.

The other thing to consider is that genuine XT's come with 256Mb RAM, whilst
most Pros only have 128Mb, so even if it does mod to an XT you still wont
have a true full XT

In my opinion save your money and but the Pro, unless of course you want the
256Mb Ram and the extra few frames in the latest games!

Hope this helps

W1dge

Just looking at the results in Doom 3 at [H]ard_OCP, with a little
tweaking I get better results with my 9800 Pro than they get with a 9800
XT. Obviously if I had tweaked an XT it would be higher but we're
talking about 3-4 fps.

If you're going to spend 9800 XT money get a GeForce 6800, they're
cheaper and faster (the non-GT or non-ultra 6800s only have 128 Mb or RAM.)
Radeon 9800 XT 256 Mb ~ $320
Radeon 9800 Pro 256 Mb ~ $290
GeForce 6800 128 Mb ~ $280 *best bang for buck*
Radeon 9800 Pro 128 Mb ~ $200

 

[Robet Maloney]

It sounds good but I have a friend who told me that with my 2.6Ghz P4 that my
system would be a bottleneck to the 6800 non-ultra even. He told me to go with
a Radeon 9800. That's why I brough it up.

Is a 2.6ghz with 1gb of ram a bottleneck for a 6800?

All I know is that the whole thing is making me dizzy. One person told me an
X800 Pro, then someone else told me that the X800 Pro was too much and to go
with a 9800 Pro or XT, and now something else.

 

[JD]

*Something* has to be the bottleneck in the system, but the faster your
video card the better the performance no matter what your other components
are. Of course if you are running a 9700 Pro on a celeron 1ghz you would be
much better off with a CPU upgrade over getting a 9800 pro though heh.

I don't see how a P4 2.6ghz could really be called a bottleneck at this
point, that is a darn fast CPU.

It sounds good but I have a friend who told me that with my 2.6Ghz P4 that my
system would be a bottleneck to the 6800 non-ultra even. He told me to go with
a Radeon 9800. That's why I brough it up.

Is a 2.6ghz with 1gb of ram a bottleneck for a 6800?

All I know is that the whole thing is making me dizzy. One person told me an
X800 Pro, then someone else told me that the X800 Pro was too much and to go
with a 9800 Pro or XT, and now something else.

Just looking at the results in Doom 3 at [H]ard_OCP, with a little
tweaking I get better results with my 9800 Pro than they get with a 9800
XT. Obviously if I had tweaked an XT it would be higher but we're
talking about 3-4 fps.

If you're going to spend 9800 XT money get a GeForce 6800, they're
cheaper and faster (the non-GT or non-ultra 6800s only have 128 Mb or RAM.)
Radeon 9800 XT 256 Mb ~ $320
Radeon 9800 Pro 256 Mb ~ $290
GeForce 6800 128 Mb ~ $280 *best bang for buck*
Radeon 9800 Pro 128 Mb ~ $200

 

[Inglo]

*Something* has to be the bottleneck in the system, but the faster your
video card the better the performance no matter what your other components
are. Of course if you are running a 9700 Pro on a celeron 1ghz you would be
much better off with a CPU upgrade over getting a 9800 pro though heh.

I don't see how a P4 2.6ghz could really be called a bottleneck at this
point, that is a darn fast CPU.

A friend of mine just put a non-ultra 6800 in his old Athlon XP 2400
Thoroughbred, and it's running rings around my 9800 Pro matched with an
XP 3200+ Barton.

The CPU may be a bottleneck but that's relatively insignificant, the way
you can usually tell is if you get the same benchmark results regardless
of resolution. So your CPU has become the limiting factor, that does
not negate the performance gain of a faster card. So when you benchmark
Doom 3 with a 6800 you get 70 fps at 1280x1024, at 80x600 you're still
getting 70 fps, with a much faster processor Doom 3 benches at 75+ fps
at 1280x1024 but now at 800x600 you're getting 110 fps. That's not all
there is to it, but for the most part you get a reviewer who runs a few
tests notices the above situation and reports that the 6800 will be
limited by what CPU you have, it's true but...
well here, Guru3D has a pretty good article comparing a P4 2.8 GHz with
an Athlon 64 3800+
http://tinyurl.com/4smnb
So a new $700 processor and motherboard will get you 5-14 more fps at
1280x1024 depending on the card (though the 2.8s speed is eminently
playable).
And if you look around Guru3D some more there's word that the regular
6800 GTs can be soft-modded from 12 pipelines to 16. Making them an
even better bargain.

My last two cards have been Radeons, I don't consider myself a fanboy of
either company, but right now I can't help but recommend people give the
6800s a shot. You can't go wrong right now spending $200 or less on a
128 Mb 9800 Pro either, that's an excellent value and all the current
games are playable at high settings, albeit at 1024x768 resolution.

 

[Inglo]

And if you look around Guru3D some more there's word that the regular
6800 GTs can be soft-modded from 12 pipelines to 16. Making them an
even better bargain.

That should read, "the regular 6800, non-GTs, can be soft-modded..."

 

[Bill Crocker]

Unless you can find a really good deal on the 9800 XT, save your money, and
get the 9800 PRO.

Bill Crocker

 

[Wayne Youngman]

Hi,

I say buy the 9800Pro, install it and enjoy it. Once you are happy that the
card is performing well, then download and install *ATITool* which is a
really easy to use overclocking program that will *Automatically* boost your
9800Pro's speeds until it has maxed.

I have the Sapphire 9800 (paid £216.00 this time last year), which is the
same card as the 9800Pro except it is clocked abit slower, anyway I flashed
the 9800 using a 9800Pro, added a ARCTIC VGA Silencer and now my 9800 is
clocked faster then both a 9800Pro and a 9800XT. The price now is about
£140-00 UK Pounds (was £300-00 this time last year!).

The nVidia 6800 and ATI X800 are very nice cards but they are *Cutting Edge*
and therefore are damn expensive.

the only thing useful I am missing using my overclocked 9800 compared to a
9800XT is the onboard GPU temp sensor.

 

[Robet Maloney]

If I were to get say the 9800Pro, is there a big difference between the 128 and
256MB of RAM in it?

I run most of my games at 1024x768

 

[Inglo]

If I were to get say the 9800Pro, is there a big difference between the 128 and
256MB of RAM in it?

I run most of my games at 1024x768

For one, the 256s are more likely XT mod capable. But real performance,
it might make a difference if you're trying to run Doom 3 on Ultra
settings, everything else not so much. Strangely enough if you look at
this group of benchmarks from Tom's Hardware: http://tinyurl.com/56xzr,
the 128 Mb 9800 Pro is .3 fps faster than the 256 Mb model.
That's for gaming, some other graphics applications will take advantage
of the increased memory.

 

[Inglo]

If I were to get say the 9800Pro, is there a big difference between the 128 and
256MB of RAM in it?

I run most of my games at 1024x768

Is your name actually "Robet"?

 

[Robert Maloney]

"Inglo":

Is your name actually "Robet"?

Haha, no. Robert. I was just too lazy to change it.

Regarding the 256... it sounds like the way to go for me. When it comes to
modding to the XT though, I don't have any experience with doing that yet. It's
not very difficult, is it? I guess I could look it up when I get the card.

 

[Shawk]

all right. i'm going to get one of these cards, but i've recently read on one of
the threads here that you may be able to "mod" the pro to an xt?

is it worth getting an xt or pro? if i get a pro, can i update it to an xp?

Everyone keeps talking about how Doom3 runs. While it is enjoyable and the
lighting/graphics are great, remember that there are other games out there.
Perhaps this benchmark will also help - or confuse you further

http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/half-life2_vst/

Shaun

 

[Falkentyne]

I would say it all depends on how much memory each has and how much they
cost.

It is true to say that some 9800 Pros can be modded to the XT, but it all
depends on the graphic core. Early Pros used the R350 core while the XT uses
a R360 core. Many of the later Pros do seem to use the R360 core, but it
really is pot luck Im afraid.

I managed to get a 9800Pro a while back with the R360 core which I managed
to mod to an XT, but to be honest you would only get a couple of frames more
perfomance over the stock 9800 Pro anyway.

The other thing to consider is that genuine XT's come with 256Mb RAM, whilst
most Pros only have 128Mb, so even if it does mod to an XT you still wont
have a true full XT

In my opinion save your money and but the Pro, unless of course you want the
256Mb Ram and the extra few frames in the latest games!

Hope this helps

W1dge

Just looking at the results in Doom 3 at [H]ard_OCP, with a little
tweaking I get better results with my 9800 Pro than they get with a 9800
XT. Obviously if I had tweaked an XT it would be higher but we're
talking about 3-4 fps.

If you're going to spend 9800 XT money get a GeForce 6800, they're
cheaper and faster (the non-GT or non-ultra 6800s only have 128 Mb or RAM.)
Radeon 9800 XT 256 Mb ~ $320
Radeon 9800 Pro 256 Mb ~ $290
GeForce 6800 128 Mb ~ $280 *best bang for buck*
Radeon 9800 Pro 128 Mb ~ $200

You can get the 9800 Pro 128 MB for far lower than $200 now, if you
shop around. More like 150'ish.

And the 256 MB 9800 cards are still very overpriced.

 

[Falkentyne]

It sounds good but I have a friend who told me that with my 2.6Ghz P4 that my
system would be a bottleneck to the 6800 non-ultra even. He told me to go with
a Radeon 9800. That's why I brough it up.

Is a 2.6ghz with 1gb of ram a bottleneck for a 6800?

All I know is that the whole thing is making me dizzy. One person told me an
X800 Pro, then someone else told me that the X800 Pro was too much and to go
with a 9800 Pro or XT, and now something else.

There is always a rule of thumb, here.

It's a bottleneck if the game is CPU limited, but otherwise, no.
The easy way to test this is to underclock your CPU and see if your
framerates go down correspondly.

Doom 3 is very GPU limited except at the lowest settings, AND it needs
fast CPU, too. So either way, you will see a major performance boost.

Far Cry is more CPU limited, even with last generation (5900, 9800)
cards. Even on a pentium 4 3.7 ghz, at 1024x768@32, no AA or AF, Far
Cry is hitting a major CPU bottleneck. Going from 1024x768 to 800x600
gave no FPS improvement at all. (assuming Water quality was on " very
high ", instead of " Ultra high", all other settings= Very High.)

When you get a fast video card, you can rest assured you can crank up
the IQ and AA and AF without losing very many frames, even if the CPU
is not really up to snuff.

 

[Mike P]

I'd say save the cash with a 128mb card. Put it toward the next upgrade, or
pay the extra over the 256mb card for the newer generation.
mike