Sapphire 9800Pro vs. ATI x700 vs. ??

[SublimeZ31]

I’m looking to upgrade my video card, unfortunately I kinda stuck
myself w/ AGP instead of pci-e. (ironically, i did this originally so
i wouldnt have to buy a new vid card bc i had an 8500 sitting aroudn
haha). I’m thinking either a Sapphire 9800Pro (maybe ultimate but i
heard they dont stay cool enough w/out having a fan) or an ATI x700.
I would love to look into a Sapphire x700 but as far as i know they
are only making a pci-e version. Cost is somewhat of an issue so I
wont be going all out, but i want a good bang/buck ratio. The
Sapphire 9800Pros are around 130 and I remember seeing an x700 for
around 160 online. What do you guys think?

System specs:
Gigabyte GA-K8NS Ultra-939 BIOS version F7
Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego
OCZ DDR400 1Gb ram (single stick, slot 1)
ATI Radeon 8500
Western Digital Caviar 80GB ATA, IDE Channel 0, master
MSI CD-RW, IDE Channel 1, master
Phillips CD-RW, IDE Channel 2, slave
Antec TruePower 330 power supply
Others:
Gigabyte wireless ethernet (PCI adapter) (802.11g)
Modem

 

[Augustus]

I'm looking to upgrade my video card, unfortunately I kinda stuck
myself w/ AGP instead of pci-e. (ironically, i did this originally so
i wouldnt have to buy a new vid card bc i had an 8500 sitting aroudn
haha). I'm thinking either a Sapphire 9800Pro (maybe ultimate but i
heard they dont stay cool enough w/out having a fan) or an ATI x700.

GeCube makes one. Sapphire does not. As you can see from the tests below,
it's a poor choice. The 9800 Pro outperforms it on almost every game bench
at higher resolutions. It's 3DMark05 test is identical to the 9800 Pro and
it's '03 bench is the only one where it pulls ahead (6400 vs 7800) Read the
review
http://www.digital-daily.com/video/gecube-rx700-pro/index03.htm

 

[TonyC]

I'm looking to upgrade my video card, unfortunately I kinda stuck
myself w/ AGP instead of pci-e. (ironically, i did this originally so
i wouldnt have to buy a new vid card bc i had an 8500 sitting aroudn
haha). I'm thinking either a Sapphire 9800Pro (maybe ultimate but i
heard they dont stay cool enough w/out having a fan) or an ATI x700.
I would love to look into a Sapphire x700 but as far as i know they
are only making a pci-e version. Cost is somewhat of an issue so I
wont be going all out, but i want a good bang/buck ratio. The
Sapphire 9800Pros are around 130 and I remember seeing an x700 for
around 160 online. What do you guys think?

System specs:
Gigabyte GA-K8NS Ultra-939 BIOS version F7
Athlon 64 3700+ San Diego
OCZ DDR400 1Gb ram (single stick, slot 1)
ATI Radeon 8500
Western Digital Caviar 80GB ATA, IDE Channel 0, master
MSI CD-RW, IDE Channel 1, master
Phillips CD-RW, IDE Channel 2, slave
Antec TruePower 330 power supply
Others:
Gigabyte wireless ethernet (PCI adapter) (802.11g)
Modem

Best bang per buck right now is nVidia 6600GT, whips a 9800Pro.

 

[DDC]

GeCube makes one. Sapphire does not. As you can see from the tests below,
it's a poor choice. The 9800 Pro outperforms it on almost every game bench
at higher resolutions. It's 3DMark05 test is identical to the 9800 Pro and
it's '03 bench is the only one where it pulls ahead (6400 vs 7800) Read the
review
http://www.digital-daily.com/video/gecube-rx700-pro/index03.htm

I personally own a x700pro build by ati and it's a vivo card. The
256mb one. I had a 9800pro before, And imo it has more stability with
the same frame rate maybe more. Again i've switch to this card for
it's vivo feature and it's little improvement.

The spec are good it has
Gddr3 128bit
256mb
In/out svido
an rv410 core 425mghz
the mem is at 432mhz
and pixel shader 2.b
And it has high definition tv

The 9800pro is an equivalent in fps in low resolution but...

Any way an other card from nvdia that posses all that is the gigabyte
6600gt there is one with video in. That one will out perform any card
mentioned here.

Make your choice...

 

[SublimeZ31]

message


Best bang per buck right now is nVidia 6600GT, whips a
9800Pro.

6600 hmm ... I’m not very familiar w/ the nVidia cards, do you have
any recommendations for which builder to get it from (AOpen, BFG,
PNY)?

 

[Tom]

Best bang per buck right now is nVidia 6600GT, whips a 9800Pro.

Best Buy has the X800XL's on for 250 or something.

Certainly a little more expensive but in a whole other league than the
9800's and 6600 gts.

Tom

 

[TonyC]

6600 hmm ... I'm not very familiar w/ the nVidia cards, do you have

any recommendations for which builder to get it from (AOpen, BFG,
PNY)?

6600GT.

Pretty much any will do unless you want to overclock it.

 

[Bobby]

You can get an excellent 9800 for £80 if you shop around. This is easily the
best bang/buck ratio around right now. I bought this one which comes with a
free Artic cooler:

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=55198

Superb card which runs everything perfectly on my 19" TFT.

Bobby