Sapphire vs. Built by ATI

[Kevin Wagner]

I've always stayed away from third party ATI cards because of the problem a
couple years ago where OEM cards were being sold with a slower clock speed
without any indication.... But lately i've been hearing alot of good things
about Sapphire. I have read that they are just as good as BB ATI cards at a
lower price. I just wanted to ask this group for their opinion on Sapphire
cards vs BB ATI cards. I'm in teh market for a 9800pro card... Just not
sure whether to go with ATI or Sapphire or whether or not to go for the
128MB or the 256MB version....

All opinions welcome, thanks

Kevin

 

[Stephen Webber]

But lately i've been
hearing alot of good things about Sapphire. I have read that they
are just as good as BB ATI cards at a lower price.

Who do you think builds ATi's cards? AFAIK, Sapphire are the main
manufacturer for the built by ATi cards - only the box it comes in is
different.

 

[Oscar T Grouch]

On Tue, 04 May 2004 00:44:23 GMT, "Stephen Webber"

:>Kevin Wagner wrote:
:>> But lately i've been
:>> hearing alot of good things about Sapphire. I have read that they
:>> are just as good as BB ATI cards at a lower price.
:>
:>Who do you think builds ATi's cards? AFAIK, Sapphire are the main
:>manufacturer for the built by ATi cards - only the box it comes in is
:>different.

And sometimes the sticker on the GPU fan says Sapphire and sometimes
it says ATI. My Sapphire 9700 Pro had an ATI sticker on the fan (and
a Sapphire CD in the plain white box it came in) and when it failed
after about a year and a half the part number showed up as a Built By
ATI card and ATI replaced it under warranty.

OTG

 

[Cuzman]

" Just not sure whether to go with ATI or Sapphire or whether or not to go
for the 128MB or the 256MB version.... "


Given that the Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB is now under $200, I would opt
for that. An unnecessary 256MB version is only going to cost you an extra
$100.

 

[Kevin Wagner]

Ok, thanks for the input guys, i think i'll get myself a Sapphire 9800pro
128MB.

Kevin