CC: 9800 NP for $199 NO MIR! Now with Picture of the Ad!

[SpicyMcHaggis0427]

I need a recommendation from any Radeon owners out there. I just bought a 9800 Pro from BB while the $299 deal was still going. It came with a HL2 prinout, so I figured it was a pretty good deal. But now the 9800 np is at CC for $199. My question is; is the Pro worth the extra $100, $50 if you count the HL2 coupon? I feel like yes, but I haven't owned either card, so I wanted some opinions of owners.

Also, my current card came with my Dell, I think it's the Geforce4 MX420. Whenever I play BF1942, if I put it at a resolution of over 800x600, the game starts to stutter pretty badly. My comp has a 2.53 GHz, with 1GB of Kingston RAM. Is this definitely my video card that's causing the problem, or does anyone think it could be the RAM? Thanks in advance for both questions.

Spicy

 

[Bleeder]

-delete-

 

[shiziest]

serial number 180324040198-01

got the infineon 3.0 ram :/

 

[Tpware]

I laid down the snaggage on this deal. The RAMDAC must be alot better on this than the GF cards I've had before. I had some funky slight static/ghosting on my Samsung LCD on some game's menus. Its ALL gone with this card. Bonus!

I'm not going to miss HL2 until it comes out.. That should defer any regret for MONTHS

 

[TrentSteel]

Originally posted by: SpicyMcHaggis0427
I need a recommendation from any Radeon owners out there. I just bought a 9800 Pro from BB while the $299 deal was still going. It came with a HL2 prinout, so I figured it was a pretty good deal. But now the 9800 np is at CC for $199. My question is; is the Pro worth the extra $100, $50 if you count the HL2 coupon? I feel like yes, but I haven't owned either card, so I wanted some opinions of owners.

Also, my current card came with my Dell, I think it's the Geforce4 MX420. Whenever I play BF1942, if I put it at a resolution of over 800x600, the game starts to stutter pretty badly. My comp has a 2.53 GHz, with 1GB of Kingston RAM. Is this definitely my video card that's causing the problem, or does anyone think it could be the RAM? Thanks in advance for both questions.

Spicy

I can't answer the first question confidently, but I would have to say your problems with BF1942 are caused by your video card. nVidia took several leaps backwards when designing the Geforce4 MX series. Sometimes I wonder how they can charge actual money for them and still be able to sleep at night.

 

[Budarow]

Thanks shiziest, that's the S/N on my unopened box (plus 1 to make 199-01 at the end....I wonder if our cards were made right next to each other since they off by only 1 digit?). Did you by chance purchase your card at the Westland, MI CC?

There was one box with another S/N (smaller than ours). I wonder if the S/N makes any difference? Makes sense that a "lot" of cards with a different S/N "could" be slightly different. I think the 1st 6 digits makes up a "lot". Not sure though.

Anyone with a different S/N than 180324 (1st 6 digits) and Samsung RAM?

I have until Jan. 31, 2004 to return my card IF the box remains unopened (according to the manager at CC). I can't open the card until X-mas...so maybe I'll get a chance to pick up a 2.8 NS RAM card before then for the same money or less

 

[1ucid]

Went to CC today. They were out of stock but I talked to one of the workers and got one special ordered for the same price.

 

[Bleeder]

-delete-

 

[FunkMan]

I got in on this deal and returned my 9600 Pro with the HL2 coupon to BB. It was one of those PRO's in an SE box.

Anyway, 1942 never played so nice at 1600x1200 4x/8x. Mine came with the Infineon 3.0 memory and I was able to OC it to 426/322 stable. What is the speed on a 9800 PRO?

No HL2 coupon for me.

-Funk

 

[shiziest]

Wow 1 number off.

I bought mine at the Circuit City in San Jose, California. I tried 2 other Circuit Cities before that one and they were out of stock.

 

[BlueWeasel]

Picked up the same card yesterday at CC with the Infineon 3.0ns RAM. Most of the 9800NP mods are with the Samsung memory, but the link below goes through the steps of modding the 9800NP. It also provides a modified BIOS for those of us with the Infineon chips that raises the core up to 9800Pro speeds (380 core), and raises the memory up to 325 (slighly less than the 9800Pro speed of 340).

The mod also provides a little bit more voltage to the memory and some have been able to push the Infineon RAM even higher than 325 as the result of the extra voltage.

9800NP to Pro Instructions

Now someone go do it, and post back with results...

 

[whatnow]

My serial # is 160322904185-01, Samsung chips, marked GC2a. Looks like I got a good one for oc'ing.

 

[Budarow]

Well I'll be!

I believe that was the first 6 digits of the "other" S/N (i.e., 160322) I saw at my local CC.

After hearing about the error in packaging of the 9600SE (being a 9600 Pro IF the S/N was 180339)...I had an urge to buy 2 9800 NPs (1 with the 180 S/N and 1 with the 160 S/N). I didn't buy 2 cards because I thought I'd have a better chance of getting "higher quality" chips (graphics chip and RAM) if the card was manufactured at a later date verses an earlier date (i.e., if the S/N was lower, I assumed the card would be "older").

Seems like in general...as time goes by, "technology" gets better and cheaper so products manufactured later get the benefit of better and cheaper components. I know it's not always the case because the price of components swings up and down from month to month, etc.

It was kinda funny...a few weeks ago when I first heard about the 9600SE/Pro S/N deal I called up Best Buy and asked the PC dept. guy if they had any 9600SEs with "the" S/N in question and he said "you mean the ones miss packaged with the 9600 Pro cards inside...No...Best Buy pulled them from the shelves as soon as we found out about the error"

We ALL KNOW how it goes...we LOVE upgrading our rigs but we are PAINFULLY aware that the upgrade we just spent our hard earned money for WILL BE cheaper next month, and still cheap the month after that.

 

[pxc]

Originally posted by: whatnow
My serial # is 160322904185-01, Samsung chips, marked GC2a. Looks like I got a good one for oc'ing.

mine is 180326xxxxxx-01 with Infineon 3.0ns memory. But I get a HL2 (key) via mail.

 

[taltos1]

How much better is the 9800NP then the 9600XT? They are like the same price now(with this deal), but the 9600XT comes w/ HL2.

 

[BlueWeasel]

Originally posted by: pxc

Originally posted by: whatnow
My serial # is 160322904185-01, Samsung chips, marked GC2a. Looks like I got a good one for oc'ing.

mine is 180326xxxxxx-01 with Infineon 3.0ns memory. But I get a HL2 (key) via mail.

How are you able to get HL2 by mail? There was nothing in my box that I got at CC about HL2. Do tell!

 

[nero2]

taltos1: Get the 9800NP. Period. Even @ stock is wipes the floor with a 9600XT.

BlueWeasel: Those with Infineon memory should really avoid flashing, especially if they don't quite know what they're doing and/or haven't read up enough. Since most of the people who have gotten in on this deal fall into this category (no offense), it's just not worth having people flash, then freak out cause their card is artifacting in 2-D, or even worse, stop working, and then having to go through the process of either underclocking, or re-flashing back. And lord help those who didn't backup their 9800NP BIOS. It's *rarely* successful with Infineon memory.

Also, flashing to a 9800Pro DOES NOT RAISE ANY VOLTAGES. Sorry to get mad, but this is a common misconception. The BIOS has no control whatsoever over the voltages of the card. Flashing a NP>Pro loosens the memory's timings, allowing (in theory) memory to overclock further (and hopefully offset the performance loss sustained on a clock-by-clock basis by the slower/looser timings).

Bottom line: If you've got Infineon chips, read up as much as you can on the whole process, and know what you're getting yourself into if you fail. You also should check out the several "modified" BIOSes floating around out there. Otherwise, be EXTREMELY happy you just got yourself a $200 9800

 

[taltos1]

Got the last one at my local CC. I will update later as to what RAM i got. No HL2 sticker sadly... Anyone know if we can still get it..

 

[aka1nas]

Woot! Got the last one at Santa Clarita. Mine had hynix chips and only had 4 of them instead of the 8 that had places silkscreened on. How are the hynix cards vs the samsung and infineon equipped ones? This is replacing my 9700np that newegg just credited me $240(died 3 weeks ago). How much faster is a 9800 compared to my old card?

 

[spwango]

Most of the benchmarks I've seen put the performance of the 9800NP as almost identical to the 9700Pro (very slightly slower)

 

[BuddyHolly]

Got mine last night. Very nice card for the money. Installed it, cranked the core up to 360 and the memory to 425 with no problems. I figured this to be about 95% the speed of the 9800pro for 66% of the price. Good catch whoever found this one first. Oh, mine has the Infineon ram.

 

[Budarow]

If possible, please post your Serial Numbers (S/N) from your boxes along with which brand of RAM and the speed rating.

Based on the article at Firing Squad...the older the 9800 NP card (i.e., the "lower" number S/N I believe), the more likely the card will have 2.8 NS RAM chips. It seems ATI used to put the same RAM chips on both 9800 NP and 9800 Pro, but now they put slower chips on the 9800 NP (3.0 NS and 3.3 NS) and fast chips on 9800 Pro (2.8 NS RAM).

Maybe ATI read to many posts of people overclocking their 9800 NP and getting Pro performance without giving up the bones to ATI Can't blaim ATI for wanting to make more money I guess, but I hope my 9800 NP has fast RAM.

 

[BlueWeasel]

Originally posted by: BuddyHolly
Got mine last night. Very nice card for the money. Installed it, cranked the core up to 360 and the memory to 425 with no problems. I figured this to be about 95% the speed of the 9800pro for 66% of the price. Good catch whoever found this one first. Oh, mine has the Infineon ram.

You bumped your Infineon RAM to 425? You might want to go back and check that. Most of us with Infineon RAM can't make to 325, much less 425. My 9800NP that I got at CC with the Infineon chips starts getting artifacts at around 330 memory. My core will reach the Pro core speed of 380 with no problems.

I think you might have the core and memory values backwards. Even then, a 360 memory OC with the Infineon chips has to be the highest I've seen yet.

Sheesh...with memory at 425, you've past the 9800pro speed and are looking at a 9800XL!

 

[aka1nas]

Not hot... That card I got with the hynix RAM was actually a 9800SE that said it was a 9800np on the package and the label on the card. It was the last one and now the 5900s @newegg are out of stock already.

 

[SpicyMcHaggis0427]

Thanks for the info to everyone that responded. Also a note to anyone else who picked up on that $299 9800 Pro at BB. When I bought mine they printed out the HL2 rebate form and $50 off. When I later looked closer, both only ran from 10/26-11/01, so it looks like no HL2 after all, at least for anyone that bought the card after 11/01. Let me know if anyone has found a way around this. Thanks again.

Oh, and new coupons were released for Dec.5-7th for 10%off, so if the 9800 Pros are still $299 on Friday I'm going in and trying to use it.