DEAD - Radeon 9800NPs back @ NewEgg - $243!

[waxking1]

Someone at Rage 3D tried flashing the BIOS and got bad results. Before flashing he got 350 core and 320 ram w/o artifacts. He didn't back up original BIOS and
is looking for a copy to get it back. I may be sending mine back also.

 

[Blooz1]

The card I got today looks exactly like the pic of the Sapphire 9800 Pro from NewEgg.

I've got the 9600 Pro discussed in the review, and it's a nice card. For the little gaming I do (BF1942,IL-2), it has run everything fine using Omega drivers. I haven't fooled with overclocking it much.

I picked up the 9800 NP as sort of a "knee-jerk" decision. I'll probably keep it and sell the 9600 Pro, or use it in my other system, which is getting a MB upgrade to another 8RDA+. Right now it's got an 8500LE that's clocked at 250/183! (Yeah, really! Long story...)

I'll be installing and testing mine tomorrow, will post results.

 

[modedepe]

Er..people are returning without even trying to overclock their cards? WTH? For all you know that ram could go higher than samsung. Jeez I'd at least try the stuff before I passed judgment on it being a "bad batch" of cards.

 

[waxking1]

I won't return mine before Monday. I'm sure people will be trying different things this weekend and I'll see what happens before I return. The 9800 Pro Sapphire at New Egg
looks the same except for the memory looks like it has different writing to me. How do you know which BIOS to try flashing? There are threads at Rage3D but they are like 60
page threads and I don't really want to read all that. I won't try flashing until a few others have success but I already read about one unhappy person. I will try sticking it in
where the 9500pro is now and see what it will do with the NP BIOS.

 

[fustercluck]

Originally posted by: modedepe
Er..people are returning without even trying to overclock their cards? WTH? For all you know that ram could go higher than samsung. Jeez I'd at least try the stuff before I passed judgment on it being a "bad batch" of cards.

As soon as you fully open the package, a restocking fee comes in. Or you'd be lucky to even return it then at all. So i'll just see what other people are doing. It's doubtful that it's better than the samsung though.

 

[modedepe]

Originally posted by: jacktackle

Originally posted by: modedepe
Er..people are returning without even trying to overclock their cards? WTH? For all you know that ram could go higher than samsung. Jeez I'd at least try the stuff before I passed judgment on it being a "bad batch" of cards.

As soon as you fully open the package, a restocking fee comes in. Or you'd be lucky to even return it then at all. So i'll just see what other people are doing. It's doubtful that it's better than the samsung though.

Yes I know there's a restocking fee, but I can't imagine people returning their cards without researching that ram a little or at least waiting to see what others can do with it. Yes it's doubtful it'll be as good as the samsung, but it still might be plenty fast--at least enough to get you to pro levels. Besides, it's looking like it's going to be near impossible to get a 9800np with samsung on it anymore. I think people are going to have to either accept non samsung or buy a pro outright.

 

[fustercluck]

Yeah i suppose. Well I think i'm going to have to keep this card, since shipping it back and paying a 15% restocking fee would kill the deal no matter what, so i get screwed on hardware again, just like i always do . Though Newegg will have to do without my buisness from now on.

I was hoping just to be able to do the flash bios thing, but i guess i'll have to try and OC it, which i don't wanna do. Like i said, i have bad heat probs as it is. So even if i do get to pro speeds, it'll probably put a lot of stress on the card, which i don't wanna do either.

 

[volant]

I did a search on the net a found this review http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/radeon/sapphire-4.html
my card is not here yet. I am wondering if the card from newegg is the 9800pro lite.

 

[nero2]

For those who are going to keep it: Try overclocking it first without flashing to see how far it will go. If it makes it to at least 330 on the memory (it's almost a gaurantee that it will do 380core), then try and flash it. If everything is good, continue overclocking till you find the upper limits of the card.

<rant>
I'm actually dissapointed in those who are going to return their cards, not because they won't test them (restocking fees = bad), but because they spent $243 on a 9800, thinking that that this was going to be some sort of no-brainer, then they find out that it involves a bit of research and time taken out on their part. It's not like flicking a switch, but then again, overclocking doesn't get much easier than this. Please, if you decide to keep the card, don't cheat yourself and not push the card to it's limits. It's not going to die, it's not going "overheat", even with bad case ventilation nothing bad will happen, you just wont be able to overclock as far. Seriously, those who are keeping the card, do yourselves a favor and overclock the heck out of these, you'll be glad you did.
</rant>

 

[RADON]

Here is a quick and dirty test:

Default Clock 324/290

Original Bios:
Overclock to 360 core / 320 memory. Artifacting was heavy over 320.

9800 Pro Bios:
Artifacting on post screen and windows boot screen. I immediately rebooting and flashed original bios back.

 

[fustercluck]

I could of done all the research possible ( which i pretty much did ) and still would of recieved the wrong item. It's an error on Newegg's part. They've admitted that. Otherwise they would'nt be giving refunds to everybody on a "Non-refundable item".

There are no guarantees that a video card won't die when overclocking, plenty of people have fried theirs.

 

[salsa086]

I just installed my card using the Omega driver ver. 2.4.9.6b... the OS recognizes the card as a 9800 Pro....
these are the stock speeds it is currently set to:
GPU: 324 Memory: 290

I'll post some benchmarking results shortly

 

[salsa086]

Jacktackle... not sure what you mean by "fried"... typically if a card is no longer responding one can still reflash to the old bios... video card hardware is pretty resistant to all but the most severe overclocking attempts... and by sever I'm not referring to your typical joe-overclocker and his software frequency modifier

 

[Blackroot]

They sold out, damn, i was going to order one too, hopefully they will come in, is there a chance that will get a new load of them, or was that the last of 9800np's?

 

[waxking1]

I have been playing around overclocking this card and am up to 389/342. I played Dungeon Siege for about 20 minutes without seeing any anomalies. I was up to 391 and 350 but was getting some artifacts. I'm not brave enough to flash the BIOS. I am also running stock voltages. I am running the card on a MAX3 MB. I'm new to OC video cards but I am running a 2.4C at 3.2. The Radeon seems very stable at these speeds on this game. I'm sure there are more strenuous tests I could run the card through but as long as it works well for how I use it. Maybe it is my imagination but it seems like the games graphics look better than they did with my Radeon 9500.

 

[Lanyap]

Originally posted by: Blackroot
They sold out, damn, i was going to order one too, hopefully they will come in, is there a chance that will get a new load of them, or was that the last of 9800np's?

No one knows if they will get any new ones in but it sounds like they will have a lot of them in their refurb section soon.

 

[etech]

The way I see it, Newegg pulled a bait and switch. The card they sent is not what I ordered. There is no way in hell I'm going to eat a 15% restocking fee if I decide to send it back.

I went through the buy.com fiasco. They don't want to start down that road.

 

[Blackroot]

Was the card an 8 pipeline 128mb 9800np, or did it have 4 pipelines or some crap like that?

 

[salsa086]

before you guys start getting your panties all knotted up here are my benchmarking results:
Of particular interest should be the performance of the card in a directx9.0 benchmark, but I've included 3dmark2001 as well...
I should add, my system has been absolutely rock stable with the video card configured @ 371/330.. I'll update if this situation changes

My system:
Asus a7n8x deluxe rev 2.0, Barton 2500+, 512mb Crucial
I did NOT flash the bios on the video card:

3DMark 2001SE:
test 1 @ 2500+ 13071 stock
test 2 @ 2800+ 13754 stock (core 324 memory 290)
test 3 @ 2800+ 14388 core 381.38 memory 340.88 no artifacts

Aquamark 3:
test 1 @ 2800+ 33,488 Stock
test 2 @ 2800+ 36,112 36.11fps core 381.38 memory 340.88 minor artifacts


With Fast write Disabled:

3DMark 2001SE:
test 1 @ 2800+ 13819 Stock Speed
test 2 @ 2800+ 14309 core 391 memory 330 minor artifacting
test 3 @ 3000+ 14135 stock speed
test 4 @ 3000+ 14858 core 371 memory 330 no artifacts

Aquamark 3:
test 1 @ 2800+ 33,698 Stock Speed
test 2 @ 2800+ Failed core 391 memory 330 (stopped because of severe artifacting)
test 3 @ 2800+ 36,132 core 378 memory 330 minor artifacts
test 4 @ 2800+ 35,952 core 371 memory 330 no artifacts
test 5 @ 3000+ 36,949 core 371 memory 330 no artifacts


For comparison (my other system):
2100+ @ 2700+ with a softmodded 9500 (not overclocked)
3dmark2001se: 14316
Aquamark: 32,531

 

[etech]

salsa086

The performance of the card is important but the principle of the thing is even more important to me, I ordered a specific product from Newegg. They shipped something else.

The Ati card will have a higher resale value than the Sapphire card. Right from the start I have lost value on this deal.

 

[fustercluck]

Hm, what's the 9800 Pro Stock speed again?

Thanks for posting your test results. So you do have the Entrontech ram, right, salsa086?

 

[Lanyap]

Just curious, how do you justifiy bait and switch? The card you received is an "ATI OEM SAPPHIRE RADEON 9800 128MB Non Pro DVI/TV 8X AGP BULK", right? It matches their description. The only difference are the pics and they have that covered with the following statement:

Please note: due to manufacturer version updates, pictures may vary from the actual item. Newer versions of this item may be shipped before the picture shown is updated.

Originally posted by: etech
The way I see it, Newegg pulled a bait and switch. The card they sent is not what I ordered. There is no way in hell I'm going to eat a 15% restocking fee if I decide to send it back.

I went through the buy.com fiasco. They don't want to start down that road.

Originally posted by: etech
salsa086

The performance of the card is important but the principle of the thing is even more important to me, I ordered a specific product from Newegg. They shipped something else.

The Ati card will have a higher resale value than the Sapphire card. Right from the start I have lost value on this deal.

 

[etech]

I ordered an ATI Sapphire card 9800np. That is not what they sent.

Yes, the disclaimer says newer versions may ship, not a different version.

Look at these two differnt cards and tell what, besides the price is different.

ATI SAPPHIRE RADEON 9800 PRO 128MB DVI/TV 8X AGP RETAIL

SAPPHIRE OEM RADEON 9800 PRO 128MB DVI/TV 8X AGP Video Card

Now please get over it, they are different cards.


I'll see on Tuesday what sort of store Newegg is based on how they handle this mistake of theirs.

 

[flashbacck]

Originally posted by: etech
I ordered an ATI Sapphire card 9800np. That is not what they sent.

Yes, the disclaimer says newer versions may ship, not a different version.

Look at these two differnt cards and tell what, besides the price is different.

ATI SAPPHIRE RADEON 9800 PRO 128MB DVI/TV 8X AGP RETAIL

SAPPHIRE OEM RADEON 9800 PRO 128MB DVI/TV 8X AGP Video Card

Now please get over it, they are different cards.


I'll see on Tuesday what sort of store Newegg is based on how they handle this mistake of theirs.

one is OEM and one isn't? And stop being such a dick.

 

[etech]

Originally posted by: flashbacck

Originally posted by: etech
I ordered an ATI Sapphire card 9800np. That is not what they sent.

Yes, the disclaimer says newer versions may ship, not a different version.

Look at these two differnt cards and tell what, besides the price is different.

ATI SAPPHIRE RADEON 9800 PRO 128MB DVI/TV 8X AGP RETAIL

SAPPHIRE OEM RADEON 9800 PRO 128MB DVI/TV 8X AGP Video Card

Now please get over it, they are different cards.


I'll see on Tuesday what sort of store Newegg is based on how they handle this mistake of theirs.

one is OEM and one isn't? And stop being such a dick.

At least I'm not a blind idiot that can't see the difference in the cards and what Newegg shipped is not what was ordered. Now stop being an idiot yourself and stay out of this thread if you didn't buy one jackass.