9800 Pro Pricing

[Tim]

The price of the 9800 Pro is now hovering around the $200 mark. Any
predictions when it might drop below $150?

 

[maggot]

The price of the 9800 Pro is now hovering around the $200 mark. Any
predictions when it might drop below $150?

Xmas.

 

[JD]

It'll be less than $150 exactly when a better card becomes $200 that you
want but decide to wait till its $150. Just buy a $150 card today if you
want an upgrade and that's what you can afford... there will *always* be
something bigger and better.

 

[Tim]

It'll be less than $150 exactly when a better card becomes $200 that you
want but decide to wait till its $150.

LOL That's hardly the situation in this case. The 9800 Pro is quickly
becoming the standard with which new games run decently, and that is why I'm
asking. I think some of the latest games are unusually demanding on the
hardware (like Thief 3). It used to be that a moderately priced card was all
one needed. Not lately though. I'm presently using a 9100, which until
recently would run any game just fine. I planned to hang onto it until
games I actually wanted to play required more horsepower. The only problem
is that they require a *lot* more horsepower.

 

[Augustus]

I think some of the latest games are unusually demanding on the

hardware (like Thief 3). It used to be that a moderately priced card was all
one needed. Not lately though. I'm presently using a 9100, which until
recently would run any game just fine. I planned to hang onto it until
games I actually wanted to play required more horsepower. The only problem
is that they require a *lot* more horsepower.

Thief 3 caused me to upgrade from my overclocked 8500 128Mb to a 9800 Pro.
(I run a Barton 3200/ 1gig dual channel system) Even running at minimized
visual settings and 800x600 it was bloody awful. Thief3, although I love the
game, is just sloppy unoptimized programming and code. It's a modified
Unreal engine. It should run just fine on an 8500 or Ti4200. UT2004 with my
8500 was a great performer at high settings, 1024x768. Compare how Doom3
runs on an 8500 or Ti4200, then look at how Thief3 runs on it. Case closed.

 

[Tim]

Thief 3 caused me to upgrade from my overclocked 8500 128Mb to a 9800 Pro.
(I run a Barton 3200/ 1gig dual channel system) Even running at minimized
visual settings and 800x600 it was bloody awful.

That seems a bit unexpected. I ran Thief 3 on a system with a 9600 Pro, a
gig of PC3200 and a 3GHz P4. At 800x600 I was getting around 25-45 fps. I
would think that a 9800 Pro would have twice horsepower of a 9600 Pro. One
thing I noticed however, is that the "multisampling" slider seems to be
possessed in that game, sliding *itself* to the right sometimes. Of course
that halves the frame rate on a 9600 Pro. Maybe it was doing the same to
your 9800 Pro.

I wonder what hardware they developed the game with, especially if they
started it a few years ago.

 

[Augustus]

I ran Thief 3 on a system with a 9600 Pro, a

gig of PC3200 and a 3GHz P4. At 800x600 I was getting around 25-45 fps. I
would think that a 9800 Pro would have twice horsepower of a 9600 Pro.

I phrased this badly. I meant to say that on my 8500, Thief3 was a slug.
Upgraded to a 9800 Pro and now no problems.

 

[NightSky 421]

The price of the 9800 Pro is now hovering around the $200 mark. Any
predictions when it might drop below $150?

The trouble is that the longer you wait, the less useful life the card will
have left in it. The 9800 Pro has been out for over a year already.

 

[Tim]

The trouble is that the longer you wait, the less useful life the card will
have left in it. The 9800 Pro has been out for over a year already.

You're absolutely right, but there's also a certain sweet spot for video
cards on the price/performance curve, and the 9800 Pro I'm hoping will get
sweeter. It's more than enough card for most any game out right now, and
while it won't run every upcoming game with every option maxxed out, at $150
you'd certainly get your money's worth.

An X800 is twice as powerful but it's just not worth the current price,
IMHO. Right now you only need one if you want to run the latest games at
maximum res with every feature enabled. By the time you actually need it to
run a game at all it will be a fraction of the cost, consume less power, and
on its fiftth board revision. There's certainly no shortage of $600 gaming
cards right now, but that's mostly because someone out there will buy them.
If history is any indication, I'm betting that virtually no game will need
them until they're a third of that price.

With ATI unveiling its X series I'm sensing another price drop, but if not
the 9800 Pro is still a pretty good buy. I just think with Moore's law you
have to pace your upgrades.

 

[Inglo]

You're absolutely right, but there's also a certain sweet spot for video
cards on the price/performance curve, and the 9800 Pro I'm hoping will get
sweeter. It's more than enough card for most any game out right now, and
while it won't run every upcoming game with every option maxxed out, at $150
you'd certainly get your money's worth.

An X800 is twice as powerful but it's just not worth the current price,
IMHO. Right now you only need one if you want to run the latest games at
maximum res with every feature enabled. By the time you actually need it to
run a game at all it will be a fraction of the cost, consume less power, and
on its fiftth board revision. There's certainly no shortage of $600 gaming
cards right now, but that's mostly because someone out there will buy them.
If history is any indication, I'm betting that virtually no game will need
them until they're a third of that price.

With ATI unveiling its X series I'm sensing another price drop, but if not
the 9800 Pro is still a pretty good buy. I just think with Moore's law you
have to pace your upgrades.

I bought my 9800 Pro 3 months ago for $200, that was about as ripe as I
was wiling to let it get. If I would have waited until right now I'd be
buying a GeForce 6800 (non GT/Ultra) for $300, that's the best bang for
your buck right now.
I'm happy with the 9800 Pro but there's no way I'd recommend waiting
around to save $50.

 

[Tim]

... GeForce 6800 (non GT/Ultra) for $300, that's the best bang for
your buck right now.

Why? Its vertex and pixel rates are only 25% better than a 9800 Pro and its
memory bandwidth is almost identical.

http://www.neeyik.info/3dspecs/

I'm happy with the 9800 Pro but there's no way I'd recommend waiting
around to save $50.

Not for too long, at least.

 

[Inglo]

Why? Its vertex and pixel rates are only 25% better than a 9800 Pro and its
memory bandwidth is almost identical.

http://www.neeyik.info/3dspecs/

Supposedly the 6800 will be able to be soft-modded to 16 pipelines using
RivaTuner by the end of the month, if that turns out to work the 6800
becomes very attractive.
6800 1024x768 benches Doom 3 at 70 fps compared to the 9800 XT at 45 fps.

Plus I have a friend who just got a 6800 for $290, he's got nothing but
great things to say about it, and I'm jealous. I'm also getting a
little tired of driver hassles with the Catalysts, though the 4.8s are
fairly excellent.

What you should really try to do is find a used 9800 Pro for $150 right now.

 

[Tim]

On 8/18/2004 4:41 PM Tim brightened our day with:

Supposedly the 6800 will be able to be soft-modded to 16 pipelines using
RivaTuner by the end of the month, if that turns out to work the 6800
becomes very attractive.
6800 1024x768 benches Doom 3 at 70 fps compared to the 9800 XT at 45 fps.

Soft modded or unmodded, and who did the benchmarking?

What you should really try to do is find a used 9800 Pro for $150 right
now.

I'll probably get an OEM version if the price doesn't drop by Fall.

 

[Inglo]

<>
Soft modded or unmodded, and who did the benchmarking?

un-modded and Tom's Hardware, http://tinyurl.com/57svh.
Hmmm, yesterday when I looked at that, I don't think the ATI X800 was at
the top of that list?

hardocp has the 6800 "playing" Doom 3 at 57 fps (remember in-game Doom 3
maxes at 60 fps) average at 1280x1024 and the 9800 Pro at 47 fps average
at 1024x768 (which I can attest to by my own experience).
Right now if my choice was to spend $200 on a 9800 Pro and $300 on a
6800, that difference would be worth the extra $100. When I bought my
9800 Pro, my impression was that to really go to the next level I would
have to spend well over $400. When my friend told me he got a 6800 for
less than $300, I was disappointed I hadn't waited a bit.

Hell, it's impossible to purchase any kind of computer hardware and not
experience a bit of buyer's remorse. Anyway, Doom3 is perfectly
enjoyable at 1024x768, High Settings, 16xAF/2xAA; FarCry runs like
butter at 1024x768, Very High Settings, 16xAF/2xAA; UT2K4 is hitchless
at 1280x960, Highest Settings, 8xAF/2xAA. Those three are about the
tops in taxing your hardware right now, and will undoubtedly set the
standard for game engines for the next couple of years, so I feel fine
and will be holding onto my 9800 Pro for a good while yet.
I have an [email protected] GHz, my next upgrade will definitely be to a 64
bit CPU before I get another video card.

 

[Tim]

Hell, it's impossible to purchase any kind of computer hardware and not
experience a bit of buyer's remorse.

So true. Although there's an occasional exception. I just got a mobile
Barton which I clocked as a 3200+ for less than half the price. Being a
mobile I only had to notch up the core voltage to 1.475 volts, which is
still almost .2 volts less than a standard 3200+

 

[wired and confused]

You can find some on newegg.com . Some retailers on ebay as well and there
are a few times u might find a 150 dollar one.