I know it's old but...

[Hermskii]

I have an old EPoX 8K3A+ Mobo that has the Via KT333 chipset on it as is only AGP 4X compliant. I currently run a G-Force 4 t14200 128mb DDR video card in it and all I play is UT and UT2004. My card does very well with both but I have simply always wanted a ATI 9700 Pro and they are cheap now. Real cheap. In looking at these, I have discovered several flavors and upgrades. Now I'm looking at the ATI 9800 Pro both 128mb and the 256mb version and then there are these XT versions as well.

Strange thing is that when I look on pricewatch at these cards, the Pro version is usually cheaper than their standard counterpart version so that is my first question:

Why would the Pro actually be cheaper?

I've read reviews that indicate the 128MB being faster than the 256mb version in cases too.

Why is that?

I can't seem to locate a XT version on pricewatch so I'm stuck with the standard versions of the ATI 9800 and their Pro counterparts. Both come in either 128mb or 256mb options. So the final questions are:

What would you get the Standard 9800 or the PRO? Then which memeory version would you get? 128 or 256? Please explain thoroughly. Thank you in advance.

Last chance for you Nvidia diehards to sway me. Keeping cost in mind, can you name a single Nvidia card around $100 that absolutely outperforms the ATI 9800 Pro XT 256mb? Thanks!

 

[schneiderguy]

Originally posted by: Hermskii

Last chance for you Nvidia diehards to sway me. Keeping cost in mind, can you name a single Nvidia card around $100 that absolutely outperforms the ATI 9800 Pro XT 256mb? Thanks!

its a little more expensive but will outperform the 9800pro

7600gs AGP

 

[Kromis]

If you don't mind HDR (SM3.0), you can get the Sapphire X800GTO at newegg for around 130. It sometimes comes unlocked with 16 pipes and if it doesn't, you can unlock'em.

 

[Captante]

At the moment there are several 6800GT's available on FS/FT for approx $130 that will destroy a 9800 Pro/XT.... a new 7600GS is also faster then any 9800, but quite a bit slower then the GT, which performs very close to a 7600GT in most benchmarks.

 

[OhioState]

ill say this, i got in on the newegg deal on the 7600gs for 58$ and ive been very very happy with it
my gfs computer is very similar to mine and her comp got 4500 on 3dmark2003 my comp with the 7600gs for 10k

im happy for 58$

 

[hmorphone]

"The Radeon 9800 (Non-Pro) is essentially a Radeon 9800 Pro (R350) with lower clock speeds and may come with slower memory chips. As for the Radeon 9800 Pro, there are now three versions. When Radeon 9800 Pro was still the king of the hill, there were only two kinds of Radeon 9800 Pro - each with a different PCB layout. The early Radeon 9800 Pro (R350) came with either 128MB of DDR memory or 256MB of DDR II memory. As a result, they used different PCB designs. The 256MB DDR II memory has a higher latency compared to the old DDR memory. Therefore, a slight memory clock speed bump was implemented to eliminate any loss of performance due to the increased DDR II latency. Soon after the R360 was released, ATI stopped producing the R350 GPU. Therefore, later Radeon 9800 Pro cards came with the R360, instead of the R350. These cards also have a slightly modified PCB, which is the same one used on the Radeon 9800XT. There are some budget-level Radeon 9800 Pro cards that only come with a 128-bits memory bus. The Radeon 9800XT is actually same card as the new Radeon 9800 Pro. In fact, it is possible to mod a Radeon 9800 Pro into a Radeon 9800 XT. The 256MB Radeon 9800 Pro's BIOS restricts the card to its official clock speeds of 380MHz core and 350MHz memory. It also disables the OVERDRIVE and thermal diode features of the 9800XT. But if you reflash the 256MB Radeon 9800 Pro with a Radeon 9800XT's BIOS, you unlock its hidden features and the card automatically runs at 412MHz core and 365MHz! Just like any other Radeon 9800XT."
Courtesy Tech ARP

 

[Hermskii]

Just for closure I wanted to wrap up this thread with what happened but first I want to thank everyone for their input especially hmorphone's. That was great info but I went with the Saphire ATI X800 GTO. It came with all 16 pipes unlocked already and apparently these too can come with a slower core with 12-16 pipes already unlocked. Then there is a faster version core that comes usually with the pipes locked but they are unlockable and the faster core clocks up big time.

Mine didn't overclock at all hardly but the 16 pipes being wide open make this card run great and it smokes lots of other cards to say the least.

Again, thanks for the input. I went with a suggestion from here and am very happy with it.

 

[hmorphone]

You're welcome. Sounds like you made a good choice. That card sounds like it's the model that's an X800 XL at heart for a better price than what the X800 XL's used to go for. It's a great performer with the 16 pipes but not much for overclocking.