How does 9800 Pro compare with modern cards?

[Bobby]

You can pick up a 9800 Pro for £85 ($140) just now and I was wondering how
this card compares (on an AGP system) with more modern cards?

Do X700/800 or nVidia 6600/6800 blow it away? Can it play modern games? And
will be able to play new games that come out in the next 12 months? And,
finally, will I notice an improvement over my 9600 Pro?

I have Windows XP Pro, 1.25Gb RAM, 250Gb (SATA) HD, AMD64 3000+ CPU.

Cheers.

Bobby

 

[Julian Richards]

You can pick up a 9800 Pro for £85 ($140) just now and I was wondering how
this card compares (on an AGP system) with more modern cards?

Do X700/800 or nVidia 6600/6800 blow it away? Can it play modern games? And
will be able to play new games that come out in the next 12 months? And,
finally, will I notice an improvement over my 9600 Pro?

I have Windows XP Pro, 1.25Gb RAM, 250Gb (SATA) HD, AMD64 3000+ CPU.

Might you want to consider a MB swap to go the PCI-E route? It seems
that the PCI-E X700 trades punches with a 9800 and at a later date you
could upgrade to an evil card which by that point will be at pocket
money prices. eBaying your old MB would help cut the costs of this
option if you do it before AGP is completely consigned to history.

That is what I would like to do should I find a large sum of money in
the street but until then, I must admit, my AGP 9800 puts in a
reasonable performance for the moment.
--

Julian Richards
computer "at" richardsuk.f9.co.uk

www.richardsuk.f9.co.uk
Website of "Robot Wars" middleweight "Broadsword IV"

 

[Bobby]

Cheers Julian.

I've just (3 months ago) bought a new mobo to take an AMD64 3000+ CPU so I
can't afford to ditch this and go PCI.

I'm hoping that my current system (see spec in thread) with good gfx card
(such as 9800 Pro) will do me for a couple of years (by which time the
current crop of mobos and gfx cards will be out of date).

Bobby

 

[Dirk Gross]

You're best bet by far is a 6600GT or 6800 std in the under $200 price range
(whatever that comes out to in pounds!). They can double the frame rates of
a 9800 Pro, especially in the higher resolutions.

Dirk

 

[Augustus]

You can pick up a 9800 Pro for £85 ($140) just now and I was wondering how
this card compares (on an AGP system) with more modern cards?

At 800x600, 1024x768 the 9800 Pro performs at the same level as the 6600 and
x700 cards, even with options on. When you start pushing to 1152x864 and
1280x1024 with options the newer cards significantly outperform the 9800
Pro. The 9800 Pro is a fully "modern" card.

 

[ofn01]

You can pick up a 9800 Pro for £85 ($140) just now and I was wondering how
this card compares (on an AGP system) with more modern cards?

Do X700/800 or nVidia 6600/6800 blow it away? Can it play modern games? And
will be able to play new games that come out in the next 12 months? And,
finally, will I notice an improvement over my 9600 Pro?

I have Windows XP Pro, 1.25Gb RAM, 250Gb (SATA) HD, AMD64 3000+ CPU.

Cheers.

Bobby

As far as I can tell, a plain vanilla X700 is about on-par with a 9800
Pro, but thats just looking at the specs. An X700 Pro and faster, an
X800 Pro and faster, a 6600 and a 6800 are all more powerful than a 9800
Pro, particularly at 1280x1024 and above.

I had a 9600XT and went to a 9800 Pro because I didn't want to upgrade
my PSU which I worked out I would probably need to do if I wanted a
6600GT or an X800 Pro. I have noticed a good improvement in many areas
because a 9800 Pro is about 40% faster than a 9600XT/9600 Pro.

Half Life 2, Doom 3, Far Cry, Chronicles of Riddick, Call of Duty can
all be played at 1024x768 on high detail, with 8xAF in most cases and
4xAA in the case of Half Life 2 (Call of Duty would be able to do it as
well if I could figure out how to enable it)

It also plays the battlefield 2 demo that just came out quite well.

It is still a good card, but none-the-less is soon to be two generations
old (when the new cards are released at the end of the month).

If your PSU is up to it and your budget can afford it I would probably
suggest a 6600GT is a better bet

 

[BigJim]

for a few pounds more you can get into a nvidia 6600gt which will be good
for a few years/

 

[Dan]

I had a 9600XT and went to a 9800 Pro because I didn't want to upgrade
my PSU which I worked out I would probably need to do if I wanted a
6600GT or an X800 Pro. I have noticed a good improvement in many areas
because a 9800 Pro is about 40% faster than a 9600XT/9600 Pro.

A Geforce 6600GT consumes much less power than the 9800Pro. The 9800Pro and
9800XT drank juice.

My reccomendation would be to buy a Geforce 6600GT AGP card.



Dan

 

[NightSky 421]

You can pick up a 9800 Pro for £85 ($140) just now and I was wondering how
this card compares (on an AGP system) with more modern cards?

Do X700/800 or nVidia 6600/6800 blow it away? Can it play modern games?
And will be able to play new games that come out in the next 12 months?
And, finally, will I notice an improvement over my 9600 Pro?

I have Windows XP Pro, 1.25Gb RAM, 250Gb (SATA) HD, AMD64 3000+ CPU.

The 9800 Pro is a decent lower mid-range card IMHO. Mine will be two years
old next month. Even with newer games, it's good up to 1024x768. The only
except is The Battle For Middle-Earth, which I found kinda chugs on my
system when battles start picking up. Beyond that, you usually need to
start hacking down some of the graphics details. I'm quite happy with the
performance I get from mine. AA and AF were never important to me and so
I'm confident that I can get three years in total out of this card. I'm
going to have to build a whole new system from the ground up next year
anyway since a LOT has changed on the PC since my last build in 2003. My
current CPU is a 2.8GHz P4 Northwood C and I have 1GB of PC3200 RAM (dual
channel mode). No overclocking. Not now, not ever.

 

[NightSky 421]

Beyond that, you usually need to start hacking down some of the graphics
details.

I meant to say that if you go above 1024x768, it's usually necessary to hack
down some of the graphics details in many newer games with the 9800 Pro.

 

[Julian Richards]

Cheers Julian.

I've just (3 months ago) bought a new mobo to take an AMD64 3000+ CPU so I
can't afford to ditch this and go PCI.

I'm hoping that my current system (see spec in thread) with good gfx card
(such as 9800 Pro) will do me for a couple of years (by which time the
current crop of mobos and gfx cards will be out of date).

The 9800 pro is good then. Mine is an SE with the extra pipes
unlocked. An Arctic cooler allows a little overclock (it should have
been the cooler fitted as standard).

For many games a lot of processing is not done by the card but by the
processor. Your Athlon 64 is in its element there. If the next Unreal
engine has a 64 bit version as rumoured then you are laughing.
--

Julian Richards
computer "at" richardsuk.f9.co.uk

www.richardsuk.f9.co.uk
Website of "Robot Wars" middleweight "Broadsword IV"

 

[johns]

I have several high-end game and CAD machines running
the 9800 Pro. I have benched all of them on AMD 64s
and P4 / 2800 using 3DMark2001, and gotten numbers
from high 18,000 to low 19,000. The ONLY modern
games out there are Far Cry and HL2, ... and
the gaming industry has taken a nose dive back to pure
and total crap like Bro in Arms, Battlefield 2, and the
latest joke in the MOH series. None of which require
anything above an old Matrox G450 and a PIII. As far
as I can tell, the X-series cards may be better, but they
have nothing better to run. There is not a single game
out there requiring them. Not one. Right now is a really
good time to build up a nice game box around the AGP
mobos and the 9800. You will have all you need for
any game on the market for the next several years.
By the time the X-series ( if ever ) cards are worth
paying for, the standards will change to get better
resolution on the wide-screen LCD monitors. In other
words, cards that double the line density in the horizontal
direction.

johns

 

[ofn01]

I had a 9600XT and went to a 9800 Pro because I didn't want to upgrade
my PSU which I worked out I would probably need to do if I wanted a
6600GT or an X800 Pro. I have noticed a good improvement in many areas
because a 9800 Pro is about 40% faster than a 9600XT/9600 Pro.

A Geforce 6600GT consumes much less power than the 9800Pro. The 9800Pro and
9800XT drank juice.

My reccomendation would be to buy a Geforce 6600GT AGP card.

I think the 6600GT (AGP version) consumes more on the 12v rail though.
The 9800 Pro loads up the 3.3 and 5v rails - the 9800XT loads up the 12v
rail. I am pretty sure that the 6600GT also loads up the 12v rail and as
such needs a PSU with a better 12v rail than a 9800 Pro does.

 

[Bobby]

for a few pounds more you can get into a nvidia 6600gt which will be good

for a few years/

What do you mean by "a few pounds more"? I can get hold of a 9800 Pro for
£84 but the cheapest GT6600 (for AGP - which appears to be more expensive
than PCI-E) is £140. That almost 70% more expensive.

 

[Dirk Gross]

I don't know what UK sites sell hardware, but in the US Newegg has the
cheapest 9800 Pro for $120, and the cheapest 6600GT at $146 (after rebate)
or $156 for one without rebate. Check out this performance test and decide
for yourself if the extra power is worth it:
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,1780524,00.asp

Also, be careful about what 9800 Pro you're looking at. They may not be all
the same. I think there are limited versions out there but I'm not sure.
You may save some money buying a used 9800 Pro that might make the
performance/cost ratio work better for it. I recently auctioned a 9700 Pro
on EBay for $76.

Dirk

 

[Andrew MacPherson]

I can get hold of a 9800 Pro for £84

My advice is buy it (make sure it's not an SE though). I
upgraded from a 9700Pro to an X800Pro and the "only" real
advantage is being able to run x4fsaa, x8aniso at resolutions
over 1024x768. The 256Mb onboard probably helps smooth games out
as well.

Andrew McP

PS. Of course if you plan to buy, or already have a 1280x1024
LCD, then a faster card might be worth investing in. I don't
like non-native gaming on LCD screens.

 

[Andrew MacPherson]

By the time the X-series ( if ever ) cards are worth
paying for

For general gaming I agree with you. But for specialist interest
stuff like flight sims, 1600x1200 with x4fsaa on a good monitor
can be absolutely stunning. I doubt I'll ever invest the money
for a bleeding edge card again, but there are moments when it's
worth it.

Those are very expensive moments though!

Andrew McP

 

[johns]

What flight simm? Is there a good one out now? That
use to be my only reason for gaming, but I have not
found a good one in a long time.

johns

 

[Andrew MacPherson]

What flight sim

The genre's fairly dead, but IMO the most visually impressive sim around
is LOMAC. The 1.1 demo is buried in the files/download section of...

http://www.lockon.ru/index.php?end_pos=9&scr=list&lang=en

It's a challenging sim in terms of mastering the weapons systems and
survival, and the gameplay is a little hardcore (ie not much fun). But
for just flying around admiring the scenery and getting a rush from a
low level sense of speed it's very hard to beat. Taxes both vid card and
CPU to the limit though.

FWIW I have a movie up of some very talented Russians flying a live
internet airshow routine. It doesn't really show off the scenery very
well though.

http://www.andrew.mcp.dsl.pipex.com/lomac.htm

Andrew McP

 

[higgy]

You can pick up a 9800 Pro for £85 ($140) just now and I was wondering
how this card compares (on an AGP system) with more modern cards?

Do X700/800 or nVidia 6600/6800 blow it away? Can it play modern
games? And will be able to play new games that come out in the next 12
months? And, finally, will I notice an improvement over my 9600 Pro?

I have Windows XP Pro, 1.25Gb RAM, 250Gb (SATA) HD, AMD64 3000+ CPU.

Stop worrying and buy it. I suspect any game that doesn't support the 9800
Pro in the next 12 months will not sell enough copies to pay for it's own
development.


higgy.