Which is better? Radeon 9800 Pro or Radeon X700

[DukeFNukem]

Im going to upgrade my videocard soon and I want to know which is the better
card to buy. I know that the Radeon 9800 Pro has a 256-bit memory interface
giving it incredible bandwidth and that the Radeon X700 only has 128-bit
memory interface. Can someone please list some of the pros and cons of these
two cards so I can know which one to buy. Thanks.

 

[Cuzman]

" Can someone please list some of the pros and cons of these two cards so I
can know which one to buy. "


http://www.beyond3d.com/reviews/ati/rv410/

 

[First of One]

The 9800Pro is AGP-only, the X700 is PCIe-only. Unless you are getting a new
mobo at the same time, you don't really have a choice.

Depending on what prices you find on the ATi cards, the nVidia 6600GT is a
much faster card for about the same price.

 

[DukeFNukem]

Yeah, thats a good point about X700 being PCI-E only but "is it faster than
GeForce 66600GT?" Thats the real question. If it is maybe I will upgrade my
motherboard.

I've been thinking about getting the GeForce 6600 GT as well. Almost every
review of the videocard on newegg.com is positive. How can a videocard with
a 128-bit memory bus be faster then a videocard with a 256-bit memory bus?
Anyway, who cares. Im just about tired of trying to figure it out. I think
Ill get the GeForce 6600GT. Its a generation newer than the Radeon 9800 Pro
and I can get the AGP version.

 

[Dan]

Yeah, thats a good point about X700 being PCI-E only but "is it faster than
GeForce 66600GT?" Thats the real question. If it is maybe I will upgrade my
motherboard.

I've been thinking about getting the GeForce 6600 GT as well. Almost every
review of the videocard on newegg.com is positive. How can a videocard with
a 128-bit memory bus be faster then a videocard with a 256-bit memory bus?
Anyway, who cares. Im just about tired of trying to figure it out. I think
Ill get the GeForce 6600GT. Its a generation newer than the Radeon 9800 Pro
and I can get the AGP version.

Because the performance of a video card doesn't solely depend on the memory
bandwidth. If you gave a rage128 pro 512mb 1024bit of super fast gddr8000
memory at 6 million mhz it still would not be a very capable video card. The
newer generation of cards such as the 6600GT have higher clocks than the
256bit 9800's and new memory bandwidth saving algorithms which partially
compensates for the overall reduced memory bandwidth aswell has a totally
different more effiecient design.

Dan

 

[Dan]

Because the performance of a video card doesn't solely depend on the memory
bandwidth. If you gave a rage128 pro 512mb 1024bit of super fast gddr8000
memory at 6 million mhz it still would not be a very capable video card. The
newer generation of cards such as the 6600GT have higher clocks than the
256bit 9800's and new memory bandwidth saving algorithms which partially
compensates for the overall reduced memory bandwidth aswell has a totally
different more effiecient design.

Dan

 

[First of One]

The X700Pro is slower than the 6600GT:

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2297&p=2

 

[DukeFNukem]

Thanks for the info. It looks like the best choice for me right now is the
GeForce 6600GT. I have been wanting to buy a Radeon 9800 Pro ever since they
came out. I've been waiting for the price to get to $199 but it looks like
ATI just took too long. Why is that old piece of technology still selling
for $249? I don't play favorites with videocards either. I just think ATI is
not very smart in keeping the price so high for so long. Unless it actually
costs them more money to make those older videocards. Or maybe they just
want to keep them high to sell more of the newer cards.