ATI Radeon 9800 Pro or X1300?

[Sam Carleton]

Folks,

I am always one that is slow to upgrade video cards. Currently I am
running with a NVidia 5200. I know that a few years back the Radeon
9800 Pro was the top of the line card and I am seeing it listed for
about $100~$130 w/ 256MB. I am also seeing a new generation of card,
the ATI Radeon X1300 in the same price range. I am looking for AGP,
which card would be a better buy?

Sam

 

[Paul_in_NC]

<IMHO>
Sam,
I used to own a 9800 Pro and I also was looking for an inexpensive AGP
replacement for it. If you are going to spend in the range of $100-$130 on
an ATI chipset based AGP card, I would suggest this one instead of a 9800
Pro or X1300:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102606
ATI Radeon X850PRO: 8X AGP, 256MB GDDR3 RAM with a 256-bit memory bus

I bought that exact card and have had zero problems with it. As an upgrade,
it was a fairly significant leap in performance for the price.
In my humble opinion, you will get a lot more "bang for your buck" with that
card. Of course, I would expect the regulars within the a.c.p.v.a community
here to chime in with their recomendations as well. Listen to what others
here have to say on your situation.

I hope that I have been of some assistance.
Paul

</IMHO>

 

[Kent_Diego]

I am always one that is slow to upgrade video cards. Currently I am
running with a NVidia 5200. I know that a few years back the Radeon
9800 Pro was the top of the line card and I am seeing it listed for
about $100~$130 w/ 256MB. I am also seeing a new generation of card,
the ATI Radeon X1300 in the same price range. I am looking for AGP,
which card would be a better buy?

Sam

This is a great card at a great price:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102606
3 or 4 times faster than a 9800Pro or X1300

 

[Fidelis K]

I second the X850 Pro. I got it NIB for $130 on Ebay and it replaced a 9600
AIW. The 850 blew out the 9600.

 

[Greg Campbell]

Folks,

I am always one that is slow to upgrade video cards. Currently I am
running with a NVidia 5200. I know that a few years back the Radeon
9800 Pro was the top of the line card and I am seeing it listed for
about $100~$130 w/ 256MB. I am also seeing a new generation of card,
the ATI Radeon X1300 in the same price range. I am looking for AGP,
which card would be a better buy?

Sam

Totally agree with the others. Any X800 (except the 8 pipe SE or GT
gimmick cards) is vastly superior. The fastest 1300 is not much/any
better than a 9800 Pro.

For once, Tom's actually has something useful!
http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics.html
Compare the 1300 to just about anything else. (I think he's got a typo
in here, listing an x1600 of some sort as an overachieving "1300 XT OC CF")

Here's a rundown of raw fillrate and memory bandwidth.
http://www.rojakpot.com/showarticle.aspx?artno=88&pgno=0
Those parameters aren't everything, but do give an idea of raw power.

The remaining X800 and X850 cards being sold off are a great deal for
peeps upgrading older AGP systems.

(Does anyone know if ATI has stopped prodution of that family of chips?)

-Greg

 

[cheap]

For once, Tom's actually has something useful!
http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics.html
Compare the 1300 to just about anything else. (I think he's got a typo
in here, listing an x1600 of some sort as an overachieving "1300 XT OC CF")

The 1300xt (not the 1300pro) is a "new" model that is just last
year's slowest X1600 card renamed to x1300xt. More bullshit from
overpaid marketing types.

I picked up a plain x1300 for $52 for a secondary system. About $15
more than the worst video cards. No fan and works well for old
games at say 1024x768. Avivo etc.

Wouldn't suggest it for the latest generation of corporate sponsored
games for expensive video cards.

 

[Frodo]

In general the 9800 Pro is going to be faster then the X1300.
Check out the X800XL, they are cheap on EBay.