Issues with your account? Bug us in the Discord!

Video Card Help

Space GhostSpace Ghost Elite Ranger
in Zocalo v2.0
Wow, it's been a while since I last posted but I'm back! ...ok so no one cares. :( ;)

Anyway, I'm building a pc (with a lot of help) and I'm trying to pick out a video card. I'm on a bit of a budget so the ATI X800 or GeForce 6800 are out of the question. Here's my dilemma: both the Radeon 9600 pro 256mb and Radeon 9800 128mb are the same price on pricewatch.com. Is it worth getting the 9800 even though I'm cutting the memory in half? Or would it be better to go with the 9600 despite the fact that it's older?

If anyone has any other card suggestions I would appreciate them as well.

Thanks.

Comments

  • JackNJackN <font color=#99FF99>Lightwave Alien</font>
    I don't know the differences between them, but I would lean towards the extra memory...

    That's just my opinion though... :)
  • shadow boxershadow boxer The Finger Painter & Master Ranter
    Mine is a Powercolor 9800 Pro with 128mb and its glassy smooth at every res on twin 19". I think you'll be safe with 128mb. No diss 2 you Jack, I'm not exactly the resident PC head. I'd PM A2957 if I woz you.
  • RubberEagleRubberEagle What's a rubber eagle used for, anyway?
    Well, the 9600 isn't really older than the 9800, the 9600 is just the "midrange" chip, while the 9800 is the high-end chip.

    What graphics card to choose depends highly on the system you have and the games you want to play.

    With more video ram, you can boost up the texture-sizes in games (though technically i don't think that currenty games don't really use up the 128 MB.... i had 128 on my 9700 Pro, and i don't think that games like Far Cry used that up... might change with HL2 or Doom 3 though..)

    Also, you should check what version the graphicscards are.
    if it's 9600 XT vs. 9800 Pro, or both XTs, or the otherway round.

    Also, there are Sapphire 9800's out there, that have a reduced memory bandwidth (they were only supposed for OEM sale, but some shops started to sell them regularly)

    As you see, there's lots to consider, it's (unfortunately) not as simple as wich has the better chip anymore...
  • C_MonC_Mon A Genuine Sucker
    Well, maybe this will help you. [URL=http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20031229/index.html]Tom's Hardware VGA charts 3[/URL]

    They have benchmarked and compared alot of video cards.
  • E.TE.T Quote-o-matic
    256MB in 9600 is overkill.
    9800 has 256 bit memory bus instead of 128 bit and amount of rendering pipelines is double.

    So just make sure that 9800 isn't with crippled memory bus.
  • A2597A2597 Fanboy
    The 9800 Pro 128 will be faster (It IS the 9800 Pro, right? NOT se?)

    however the 9600 Pro 256 will be able to cache more data, giving the advantage of fewer "hiccups" in ram heavy games.

    myself, I'd go with the 9800 Pro 128, and just buy a little more ram. (How much Ram are you putting in this system anywaY? At 768 MB I never really get a stutter except in some HUGE UT2k4 maps. even Farcry is smooth).
  • E.TE.T Quote-o-matic
    Only difference between 9800 and Pro is clock speeds.
    9800 has still all pipelines which doubles its "power" compared to 9600 Pro. (9600 would have to have double clock speed for same "power")

    And 9600 Pro has also crippled memory bus (128 bit instead of 256, again this halves speed) and that extra memory can't substitute it... when there even isn't need for 256MB if you aren't "hardcore gamer" and don't have too much money.

    [code] core mem bus pipes
    Radeon 9800 Pro ATI R350 DX 9 380 680 256-bit 8x1
    Radeon 9800 ATI R350 DX 9 325 580 256-bit 8x1
    Radeon 9600 Pro ATI RV350 DX 9 400 600 128-bit 4x1


    Radeon 9800 SE ATI R350 DX 9 380 675 128-bit 4x1
    [/code]

    [url]http://www20.graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20031229/index.html[/url]

    As you can see there's clear speed difference between 9600 Pro and 9800.
    Especially with FSAA and anisotropic filtering difference grows big.
    [url]http://www20.graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20031229/vga-charts-13.html[/url]

    And remember that all SE's are very badly crippled!
    (which can be determined from buswidth and pipelines)
  • Space GhostSpace Ghost Elite Ranger
    Thanks for all of the help guys. I might have to bight the bullet, stop being such a cheap bastard, ;) and spen a little more money on the 9800 pro. The 9800 in my first post was in fact an SE version, so I guess that one is out. Pricewatch has the 9800 pro 128 for $193 and I guess that's not too bad.

    Thanks again!
  • JackNJackN <font color=#99FF99>Lightwave Alien</font>
    OK, so I look like an idiot this time around...

    :rolleyes: :p :D
  • Space GhostSpace Ghost Elite Ranger
    Heh, it's ok, you know more than me... of course that's not saying much. Anyway, I decided to go with [URL=http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?CategoryID=cat01151&id=1051384719568&skuId=5379798&type=product&ref=10&loc=01] this one.[/URL] I'd welcome any comments or suggestions.
  • E.TE.T Quote-o-matic
    That's one of the cards with best "bang for the buck".
    And should be well good enough until real next gen cards will come out. (R420 and NV40 are advanced models of predecessors)

    Far Cry runs well with maximum details (almost) with my R9700 Pro.
    Considering that processor is only P4 Nortwood 1,8@2,07 and is certainly bottle-neck that's pretty good.

    And 9800 Pro is at least about 10-15% faster.
  • C_MonC_Mon A Genuine Sucker
    Yeah, Radeon 9800 pro sounds like a good choise.
  • MTMT Ranger
    [QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Space Ghost [/i]
    [B]I'd welcome any comments or suggestions. [/B][/QUOTE]

    Update your BIOS. For the love of all that is holy, update it now. Not having problems with your computer and you plan on putting an ATI product into your machine? Update your BIOS. Did you recently update your BIOS? Check for another one tonight.

    And update everything else that can be updated. Do it now.
Sign In or Register to comment.