Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro (OEM) black vs. red PCB

[Tarkus2040]

Anyone know the difference between the two cards, besides the HSF and
power connector (4-pin floppy drive connector on black, Molex
connector on red) type? Any problems with either PCB that I should be
aware of, or which one has a higher overclock success rate? I'm sure
this question has probably been asked before, but I've done searches
via Google and Google Groups to no avail. Thanks in advance for any
input, guys. I just want to avoid making a $300.00+ mistake.


--Tarkus2040

 

[Tarkus2040]

Anyone know the difference between the two cards, besides the HSF and
power connector (4-pin floppy drive connector on black, Molex
connector on red) type? Any problems with either PCB that I should be
aware of, or which one has a higher overclock success rate? I'm sure
this question has probably been asked before, but I've done searches
via Google and Google Groups to no avail. Thanks in advance for any
input, guys. I just want to avoid making a $300.00+ mistake.


--Tarkus2040

Just finished reading the 'Sapphire Atlantis 9800 - Holy Sh*t its
good!' thread, and the Sapphire Radeon comparison article has cleared
up a few things for me. But what about overclocking performance? Does
the original 9800 Pro (red PCB) utilize the same Samsung 2.8ns memory?
I understand that Samsung's memory chips (especially the lower latency
2.8ns ones compared to the 3.0 and 3.3ns chips) are good overclockers,
is that correct? I just did a search on Google Groups, and someone
confirmed that all 9800 Pros utilize Samsung 2.8ns memory. Hope this
is true. I'm not an avid overclocker or anything, but if I can get
even a little more 'bang for my buck' out of the 'Lite' version, I'll
gladly pocket Newegg's $46.00 price difference between both Sapphire
cards. Thanks again.


--Tarkus2040

 

[Ben Pope]

Just finished reading the 'Sapphire Atlantis 9800 - Holy Sh*t its
good!' thread, and the Sapphire Radeon comparison article has cleared
up a few things for me. But what about overclocking performance? Does
the original 9800 Pro (red PCB) utilize the same Samsung 2.8ns memory?
I understand that Samsung's memory chips (especially the lower latency
2.8ns ones compared to the 3.0 and 3.3ns chips) are good overclockers,
is that correct? I just did a search on Google Groups, and someone
confirmed that all 9800 Pros utilize Samsung 2.8ns memory. Hope this
is true. I'm not an avid overclocker or anything, but if I can get
even a little more 'bang for my buck' out of the 'Lite' version, I'll
gladly pocket Newegg's $46.00 price difference between both Sapphire
cards. Thanks again.

2.86ns memory is rated to 350MHz
3.00ns memory is rated to 333MHz (Only Infineon, Samsung don't make it)
3.33ns memory is rated to 300MHz

If you have a Pro (337.5 is the default clock I think) without 2.86ns
memory, it's already overclocked.

My Crucial 9800 Pro can reach 360MHz without problems. At 366MHz it
artifacts.

So in deciding how far a card can be overclocked, look at the memory, not
the model number. AFAIK, all cores are the same, but their cooling is not.
I can reach 450MHz with a Zalman ZM80A-HP.

Ben

 

[Tarkus2040]

2.86ns memory is rated to 350MHz
3.00ns memory is rated to 333MHz (Only Infineon, Samsung don't make it)
3.33ns memory is rated to 300MHz

If you have a Pro (337.5 is the default clock I think) without 2.86ns
memory, it's already overclocked.

My Crucial 9800 Pro can reach 360MHz without problems. At 366MHz it
artifacts.

So in deciding how far a card can be overclocked, look at the memory, not
the model number. AFAIK, all cores are the same, but their cooling is not.
I can reach 450MHz with a Zalman ZM80A-HP.

Thanks for the info, Ben. After doing a little more research, I've
decided to go with one of the red PCB 9800 Pros. The fact that the
black PCB is actually that of a 9700 (Pro) doesn't sit too well with
me. I want a 9800 GPU that's built on the Radeon 9800 architecture,
the way the ATI developers intended. The PowerColor 9800 Pro is built
on the ATI reference board, and is the least expensive @ Newegg
($330.00). That's probably the one I'll purchase.


--Tarkus2040

 

[Ben Pope]

Thanks for the info, Ben. After doing a little more research, I've
decided to go with one of the red PCB 9800 Pros. The fact that the
black PCB is actually that of a 9700 (Pro) doesn't sit too well with

Practically the same card, anyway... but with a modified GPU.

Ben