Powered by ATI or Built by ATI?

[Nissim Trifonov]

I have a choice between two RADEON 9800PRO cards: one is made by Sapphire
and the other by ATI.
The price difference is about 36$. Which one should i pick?

Also, more in general - does a Built by version outpreform a Powered version
or is it just more expensive?

And a third thing: could anyone make lists of "good" makes and "bad" makes?

 

[GTX_SlotCar]

Since Sapphire makes most of the Built by ATI cards, they're probably the
same. Unless you can see ramsinks on the picture of the ATI card, I'd go for
the cheaper one.
Sapphire makes a nice card.

Gary

 

[Sjaool]

I have a choice between two RADEON 9800PRO cards: one is made by
Sapphire and the other by ATI.
The price difference is about 36$. Which one should i pick?

Also, more in general - does a Built by version outpreform a Powered
version or is it just more expensive?

And a third thing: could anyone make lists of "good" makes and "bad"
makes?

Just to quote JLC some trheads below:

,,I know the Asus makes good cards, but I've read a lot of bad things about
Powercolor using cheap parts. Never heard of Xpertvision. If you want the to
be sure of quality go with a Sapphire. They are the largest maker of ATI
cards and they even make cards for ATI. You can find the 9800Pro at Newegg
for less then $210 shipped. JLC''

 

[Courseyauto]

Gigabyte makes an execellant ATI card,their MB's are top notch.
DOUG

 

[Sham B]

Both ATI and Sapphire use the standard cooler which is IMO barely adequate for the 9800 pro. If you
have overclocking in mind with these cards you will have to buy and install a better cooler.

Having said that,

1. cards with custom coolers already on them are much more expensive
2. Theres no reason to overclock at the moment!

S

 

[Dark Avenger]

Both ATI and Sapphire use the standard cooler which is IMO barely adequate for the 9800 pro. If you
have overclocking in mind with these cards you will have to buy and install a better cooler.

Having said that,

1. cards with custom coolers already on them are much more expensive
2. Theres no reason to overclock at the moment!

S

I have a BBA 9800 Pro ... And the only way to solve the overheating
problem in MY case was to apply memory heatsinks and hook up a ****ing
big zalman heatsink with fan combination!

Yes that is 50 Euro TOTAL just to get the bitch cool enough to run for
longer as 45 minutes....

 

[Sham B]

My problem was that the 9800 was heating the case up so much that it crashed the CPU
Used an artic cooler to vent the heat from the 9800 out of the case, rather than adding loads of
case fans and ending up with something that sounds like a helicopter taking off every time I switch
on...

S

 

[Dark Avenger]

Yup, the 9800 Pro is cheap indeed for it's performance. But.. a better
cooling solution MIGHT be usefull...

And the Zalman heatsink plus fan is... ..well it's ****ing big. But it
cools...very very good!

 

[___]

Yup, the 9800 Pro is cheap indeed for it's performance. But.. a better
cooling solution MIGHT be usefull...

I've picked up a vantec fan card and it's not bad for one side. I put
heat sinks on the ram on the other side and let the 92mm cpu fan dust
them.

I could do without the LEDs, but it really hammers the working side of
the card with two fans. There's a speed slider pot on the outside of
the PCI slot cover so you can dial it down when you're not playing.

You need a modern motherboard that does away with PCI cards so you can
really get some space to work with I've got mine in the second PCI
slot.

It does get loud on high, but I wear headphones for games anyway.

Funny, I remember a ISA slot fan card for the old original IBM PC way
back around 84 or so. They used a real PCB instead of plastic.
Cheaper than a mold I guess

 

[Dark Avenger]

I've picked up a vantec fan card and it's not bad for one side. I put
heat sinks on the ram on the other side and let the 92mm cpu fan dust
them.

I could do without the LEDs, but it really hammers the working side of
the card with two fans. There's a speed slider pot on the outside of
the PCI slot cover so you can dial it down when you're not playing.

You need a modern motherboard that does away with PCI cards so you can
really get some space to work with I've got mine in the second PCI
slot.

It does get loud on high, but I wear headphones for games anyway.

Funny, I remember a ISA slot fan card for the old original IBM PC way
back around 84 or so. They used a real PCB instead of plastic.
Cheaper than a mold I guess

Ah yes, with modern cards you can't use the closeby pci slot
anyway.... if it's not a cooling solution that needs it then it's to
draw in cool air from below.

The first graphic card I had was... .some old monochrome one. And it
was extreemly simple build up. But then in that time computer designs
where kept simple and PCB's generally didn't go over 3 layers anyway!