Is The ATI Radeon 9800 All In Wonder Pro Still A Good Buy?

[justin david smith]

I need to buy a second video card with dvi that supports 1680x1050 and
was curious about the 9800 since it's going for around $100 on ebay.
I'm not a gamer and use the computer mostly for Photoshop, Flash, and
web browsing and watching an occasional video. I need good 2D
performance, something as good as a Matrox card (P650) which I'm using
now. Will this card fill the bill, or is there another ATI card that
will do the job for me?

 

[First of One]

A "plain" 9800 Pro will fit the bill better. Stay away from the AIW cards if
you can.

 

[theonethatplaysbass]

What's wrong with the AIW cards...? I have one and it's fine, tho I am
planning to relegate it to a child's computer fairly shortly and
upgrade... Not arguing, just curious.

Mick

 

[Tom Lake]

What's wrong with the AIW cards...? I have one and it's fine, tho I am
planning to relegate it to a child's computer fairly shortly and
upgrade... Not arguing, just curious.

I have an AIW X800XT AGP and I love it! One disadvantage, though, is having to scrap
the whole thing just to upgrade the video portion, usually at a significant price
increase over having a separate TV card and just upgrading the video card. Some AIW
cards have poorer video performance than their non-AIW counterparts.

Tom Lake

 

[First of One]

If you use the card solely for 3D applications, then there's no drawback.
However, as can be seen by the high volume of complaints in this group
alone, the AIW software bundle doesn't receive as much development testing
as the core Catalyst drivers.

For a while I was considering the AIW X800XT, because it was the only
reasonably priced X800XT AGP card available in decent quantities...

 

[R.Oberto]

I need good 2D performance, something as good as a Matrox card (P650) which I'm using
now.

Good luck, but in my opinion nothing come even close. But ATI is the
second best choice. Nvidia is faaaar behind.

 

[theonethatplaysbass]

I picked up the AIW X800XT last week... it's great. Even MMC isn't too
bad.