Radeon 9800 worth it?

[MontysNotebook]

My Dad told me yesterday that he'd buy any video card I'd like for Christmas.

I immediately thought of the Radeon 9800, but I said let me research it.

But is it worth it? A few ppl have told me that the 9600 XT can run as fast if not faster b/c it doesn't have all those output ports on the back. I really wouldn't know.

Is it worth it? And, if so, what should I get exactly? (ex. Pro, All-in-Wonder, etc.)

Thanks.

 

[Lonyo]

Radeon 9800 will be significantly faster than a 9600XT.

WTF are you talking baout with the outputs on the back? They don't affect speed, just features.

If you can get a 9800 then that's good, but a 9800SE is not good, and will be about as fast as a 9600. A fully fledged 9800 (or 9800Pro) will be quite a lot faster though.

 

[Rankor]

And a question; what are your computer specs? And at what gaming resolution do you intend to play at?

From that we can see if your system can scale well with the card.

 

[modedepe]

Whoever told you a 9600xt can be as fast or faster than a 9800 because it doesn't have "ports in the back" is nuts. A 9800 is considerably faster.

The 9800np is probably the best bang for the buck, with them now selling for $200. Getting an aiw simply depends on what you want to do with your pc. And remember, you can always buy a tv tuner card later if you decide you want or need one.

 

[JH68]

The 9800 will be alot better card than the 9600xt. The 9800 has 8 pipelines where the 9600xt has only 4 pipelines. Which means the 9800 sends more data.
The 9800 would be the best and would last you longer than the 9600xt. As to the thing about the outputs i dont think they know what they are talking about. If you are can spend 299 go to best buy and get the 9800 pro. I think it is a great card and i have read other peoples post and i think they would agree.

----------------------
Rig

 

[austin316]

what about 9800 (non-pro) vs. 5900 (non-ultra)?

 

[MontysNotebook]

I'm sold

what version should I get?

 

[MontysNotebook]

Oops, forgot to mention the resolution.

Probably I'll run at 1280 x 1024 res.

I really would like frame rates as high as 90 hz or so.

Specs on my machine:
17" Flat CRT screen monitor
AMD Athlon 2600+
DVD-ROM/CD-RW combo drive
80GB serial ATA HDD
512MB RAM (can't remember which kind)
Asus A7N8X MB
(Currently) nVidia GeForce FX 5200 128MB

Thanks for all help.

 

[Bateluer]

If he's going to buy you any vidcard, with concern of price, then the answer is simple. Get the Asus 9800XT.

 

[nick1985]

Originally posted by: Bateluer
If he's going to buy you any vidcard, with concern of price, then the answer is simple. Get the Asus 9800XT.

 

[dguy6789]

any card? get the 9800 xt as said above, twice

 

[EarthwormJim]

For the same price as a 9800xt you could get a 9800non pro at Circuit City for $200 and a new 19 inch Viewsonic G90f for close to $250 for a total of under $450.

 

[xSkyDrAx]

Exactly. Would it really be worth...$250? more for a few mhz in speed? Some people could o/c their 9800 pro to xt speeds with some aftermarket cooling from Zalman or something and that would cost $250. Imagine, you could even get a water cooling system for your comp for that much..or a new mobo, ram, hd, basically almost anything with that extra $250. And the 5900 NU's are pretty sweet now too.

 

[edmundoab]

i would go 9800XT for about $470 bucks right now if I got money to flush

 

[Corporate Thug]

guys, why would he waste his dads money for no reason?

9800 np is the best price/performance card
9800 pro would be ok because you are really wasting money per se
the XT gives you very little performance gain over the pro and costs a LOT more

 

[nRollo]

Don't screw your Dad over. The 9800XT is barely faster than the 9800Pro, and costs over $100 more. If you have your Dad get you a 9800Pro, you won't be able to notice the difference in performance, and your dad might spend the money you saved him on something else for you. Don't get a 9800Non Pro as others have told you, because you would notice the difference between that and a 9800Pro, it's significantly slower and may or may not be OCable.

The 9800XT is for guys who have lots of disposable income and are willing to pay a lot for the best, even though it will only be the best for another 3-4 months.


Almost forgot- tell your friends to put down the crack pipe.
A. 9600XTs are pathetic compared to 9800 NP/P/XT. 9600 anything suxorz.
B. The outputs have nothing to do with speed

The guys that told you this stuff are really stupid, or not really your friends.

 

[clicknext]

If your dad is not concerened about price and you're not either, then 9800XT or 9800 AIW if you want the features. If price is an issue, 9800Pro would be nice for like $300. Even lower than that is the GF5900 for around $200 and the 9800NP if you can find it.

Personaly, I'd rather get something like a 9800 and upgrade something else in your computer with the money left over if possible, such as a new LCD monitor.

 

[jim1976]

Go for the 9800pro/non pro as the gus told u boy.
9800xt=complete waste of money
I would recommend 5950 too but compared to 9800pro in price/perf it's a lost case.

 

[ponyo]

I vote for big nice new monitor.

 

[rbV5]

Unless you need dual monitors, I'd go for the AIW 9800 pro. Its only a few bucks more than the pro, and has a "much" better feature set.

 

[Rogodin2]

I've gotten my 9800nonpro to 450/412 with stock cooling and only a bios flash-you might get lucky and you might not with a nonpro, but since you don't seem to be the computer ultra nerd type then I'd suggest a 9800PRO.

rogo

 

[Regs]

But is it worth it? A few ppl have told me that the 9600 XT can run as fast if not faster b/c it doesn't have all those output ports on the back. I really wouldn't know.

Heh, welcome to anandtech. Hopefully in a few weeks you'll learn what a foolish concept that is.

Put the 9800 on your Christmas list. Just make sure dad knows the differences between the SE(slow), XT(overpriced), non-pro(bargain deal with excellent performance), and the Pro(Faster memory that puts out a marginally performance increase over the stock non-pro).

 

[edmundoab]

hehe, actually a 9700 pro performs excellent ,
good for the price definately

 

[l33t]

I have a g2 mx and I bought the 9800 at CC yesterday. What's the name of that driver cleaning utility that cleans ur registry of all the previous nvidia/ati entries? Also, what's the best driver for that 9800? Not going to OC btw.

 

[IndyJaws]

Driver Cleaner