ack...decisions...9800 or 5900?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jason Gallas
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Jason Gallas

Which would you choose if you really didn't want to spend more than
$200 on a new video card? An Nvidia 5900 series or a ATI 9800 series?
System is a Athlon XP 3200+ with a Gig of Ram (PC3200) and 2 SATA hd's
striped.
 
I think they're similar.

Playing Doom 3 isn't the only reason for buying a fast 3D card, but see
here:

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,1634115,00.asp

The article probably doesn't list exactly the model you are considering, but
a GF 5900XT may not be much slower than a 5900 Ultra. (If the 5900XT is like
other nVidia cards, it can easily be overclocked up to near the stock
performance level of the faster card.)

One warning: if you get a 9800, make sure that you get one with the full 256
bit memory interface. Some 9800 Pro models have the 128 bit interface (don't
confuse this with the amount of onboard memory, in megabytes: this is the
width of the memory bus). The 128 bit models are still fast graphics cards,
but their performance suffers, particularly at higher pixel counts.

(I believe that there may also have been a 128 bit version of the 5900, but
they may have all carried the SE suffix. Give them a miss as well.)

The least expensive choice would be a used card, if you can live without a
warranty. The Radeon 9700Pro isn't much inferior to a 9800, for example.
Finding a new one at a reasonable price may be difficult, but there must be
thousands out there that have been replaced by Geforce 6800 or Radeon XT800
cards.

Have fun.

Address is scrambled. Replace nkbob with bobkn.
 
Which would you choose if you really didn't want to spend more than
$200 on a new video card? An Nvidia 5900 series or a ATI 9800 series?
System is a Athlon XP 3200+ with a Gig of Ram (PC3200) and 2 SATA hd's
striped.
Click to expand...

According to specs, the 5900XT beats out the 9800 PRO, especially if you
get the ones with DDR3. But they're very close in price, so there must
be some reason, something I'm missing. I've heard the 9800 PRO are more
stable especially after hours of use, and I've also seen a lot of user
ratings for the 5900XTs saying they had to replace the stock fan because
it was too loud. As for that, I guess it depends on the manufacturer
since they all use slightly different fan/HS strategies.
 
Jason Gallas:
Which would you choose if you really didn't want to spend more than
$200 on a new video card? An Nvidia 5900 series or a ATI 9800 series?
System is a Athlon XP 3200+ with a Gig of Ram (PC3200) and 2 SATA hd's
striped.
Click to expand...

Given those choices, the 9800Pro is faster. I bought a used 5900XT because
it was more bang for the buck.
 
David Besack:
According to specs, the 5900XT beats out the 9800 PRO, especially if
you get the ones with DDR3. But they're very close in price, so
there must be some reason, something I'm missing.
Click to expand...

The performance difference is marginal except for a few games (i.e.
FarCry) where the 9800 dominates.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/graphics-cards-2004.html

There are a lot of used 5900XTs floating around and good deals can be had.
 
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