Buy or Wait? 9800 pro

[Mak Wilson]

Hi, I'm a gamer looking for some advice on a graphics card upgrade. Here's
my current system:

A7N8X Dx w/Barton XP 2500 (1.83 Ghz) --- supports up to Barton 3200 (2.2Ghz)
400fsb
Geforce3 Ti200 (no laughing)
Mem: 512 (supports 3 Gig Max)

I'm interested in the Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB (about $210 USD) and I
might even try some moderate overclocking on it. Can anyone suggest a
better maker than Sapphire (for the price and performance)? I know the next
generation ATIs should be out pretty soon. Any guess on how long it will
take the 9800 XT to get in the $200 range, and would it be worth waiting
for?

My primary question is, is this the time to upgrade or should I wait? Part
of my consideration has to do with my mother board. Even when the next
generation of graphics card comes out, I won't be able to afford it until it
gets around the $200 range (at most) so it could be a little while. By that
time, will my current mobo be able to adequately support the GPU?

If the only reason to wait is saving another $50 off the 9800 pro (as
opposed to waiting for a better card) then I think I'll treat myself and buy
now.

Being a gamer, part of my concern is being ready for the much delayed
Half-Life 2 and Doom 3, but it's difficult to really know what system
requirements will be needed for solid high quality game play. For those of
you who are familiar with these titles, how do you think the Sapphire 9800
pro will handle HL2 and Doom3 when they are finally released?

Thanks. Your help is really appreciated.

 

[Martin]

Hi, I'm a gamer looking for some advice on a graphics card upgrade. Here's
my current system:

A7N8X Dx w/Barton XP 2500 (1.83 Ghz) --- supports up to Barton 3200 (2.2Ghz)
400fsb
Geforce3 Ti200 (no laughing)
Mem: 512 (supports 3 Gig Max)

I'm interested in the Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB (about $210 USD) and I
might even try some moderate overclocking on it. Can anyone suggest a
better maker than Sapphire (for the price and performance)?

Take a look at the HIS Excaliber IceQ Radeon 9800 pro. It has a special
cooler which allows trivial overclocking beyond XT speeds and is quieter
than normal 9800 pros.

Martin

 

[Steve Bell]

I've just bought one of the Excaliber IceQ Radeon 9800 pro cards last week
having sent back a duff 5600 Ultra that gave me no end of problems.

Apart from the 9800Pro bracket needing some reshaping to fit my case, the
card is excellent. Rock stable, sharper text, great playing with X-Plane
7.30 and pretty quiet even with the fan speed set to full.

Recommended although it takes up a PCI slot as well as the AGP.

steve b

Durham UK

 

[Mak Wilson]

I'm interested in the Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB (about $210 USD) and

I

Take a look at the HIS Excaliber IceQ Radeon 9800 pro. It has a special
cooler which allows trivial overclocking beyond XT speeds and is quieter
than normal 9800 pros.

Martin

Thanks, I'll check it out. One reason I liked the Sapphire is because
Anandtech.com suggested it for OCing. And Anandtech.com is far from
radical OC site:

Sapphire also makes one of the better 9800 Pro video cards out there.
Speed and features for the price are excellent ($210), and
overclocking performance with the stock cooling is impressive. The
best combination of core and memory clock speed that we were able to
reach was 415MHz core clock and 780MHz memory clock speeds with just
the stock cooling. For the few hours that we tested the 9800 Pro with
Prime 95 and SPECviewperf 7.1.1, we were unable to see any IQ issues
and didn't discover any instability. Overall, a fantastic performer
for the money.

 

[JLC]

Hi, I'm a gamer looking for some advice on a graphics card upgrade. Here's
my current system:

A7N8X Dx w/Barton XP 2500 (1.83 Ghz) --- supports up to Barton 3200 (2.2Ghz)
400fsb
Geforce3 Ti200 (no laughing)
Mem: 512 (supports 3 Gig Max)

Mark I suggest going with the Sapphire. It's a great card (I have one) and
you can't beat the price. Sapphire is the largest maker of ATI cards and
even makes cards for ATI. So you're getting a well built card. You will be
very happy right off, when you boot up and see how much better your desktop
looks. The ATI cards just beat the crap out of Nvidia when it comes to 2D.
As far as OC'ing. Don't worry about it, really. I was a big video OC'er
until I got my 9800Pro. This card is so fast and runs your games so great
you'll forget all about clocking the thing. The best part is for the first
time you'll be able to enjoy at lest 4x AA and 4x Aniso with out slowing
your games down. This is my first ATI card having always been a Nvidia guy
and now that I've seen what my games are supposed to look like I'll never go
back to Nvidia.
You should go to ATI's site and DL the Chimp demo and Pipe Dreams. The Ark
is a cool one also. Once you see those demos running with AA you'll be
hooked! Happy gaming. JLC

 

[OverKlocker]

Thanks, I'll check it out. One reason I liked the Sapphire is because
Anandtech.com suggested it for OCing. And Anandtech.com is far from
radical OC site:

Sapphire also makes one of the better 9800 Pro video cards out there.
Speed and features for the price are excellent ($210), and
overclocking performance with the stock cooling is impressive. The
best combination of core and memory clock speed that we were able to
reach was 415MHz core clock and 780MHz memory clock speeds with just
the stock cooling. For the few hours that we tested the 9800 Pro with
Prime 95 and SPECviewperf 7.1.1, we were unable to see any IQ issues
and didn't discover any instability. Overall, a fantastic performer
for the money.

you can also install the exact same cooler on the Sapphire card for
about $20

http://www.svc.com/svcompucycle/vgasilencer-rev2.html

 

[Brad]

Being a gamer, part of my concern is being ready for the much delayed
Half-Life 2 and Doom 3, but it's difficult to really know what system
requirements will be needed for solid high quality game play. For those of
you who are familiar with these titles, how do you think the Sapphire 9800
pro will handle HL2 and Doom3 when they are finally released?

Thanks. Your help is really appreciated.

HL 2 is supposedto be delayed up to october now.. If thats the case, you may
want to wait until then to buy the card...
That is what im doing. My current card is holding out fine but i want a 256
meg card to take full advantage of half life 2's graphics