Impulse Buy: MSI Radeon 9800 Pro $195 @Newegg

[t0mmyb0y]

Is this a good price, and should I jump? I need a quick decision as the one day sale only lasts about 2 more hours. I play some 1st person shooters (cstrike), Star Wars KOTOR, Warcraft III. I'll almost certainly buy HL2 and DOOM3 soon after they come out.

Link

-edit: added link

 

[Pete]

-edit: added link ;P

 

[Corporate Thug]

pretty nice package

 

[mitchafi]

It would definitely be a nice upgrade for the price. It will last you for quite a while unless you absolutely must have full detail at a high resolution. If that's the case...nothing less than an X800 or 6800 variant will suit you.

 

[Killrose]

Looks like a lot of people are reporting that it overclocks to XT speeds, and is being reported as an XT by lots of different applications. MSI could actually be using R360 (XT Cores?) on these.

 

[Triggerhappy007]

I bought this Monday night and it should be here on Fri. It's a couple dollars more expensive than gameve, but I didn't like their service. Hopefully I'll get an R360 core and can overclock to XT+ speeds.

 

[t0mmyb0y]

I pulled the trigger on it just under the deadline. I just couldn't pass up the chance for an 9800XT and the free Morrowind game. Wish me luck! And if anyone wants to send a poor grad student some money, PM me!

 

[Atomicus]

Originally posted by: t0mmyb0y
I pulled the trigger on it just under the deadline. I just couldn't pass up the chance for an 9800XT and the free Morrowind game. Wish me luck! And if anyone wants to send a poor grad student some money, PM me!

you just saved $2, the price shows as $197 for me as of now

 

[t0mmyb0y]

Well, that's real nice one-day-sale... :-/ I'm still excited about the card though!

Hey, shipping was free yesterday, and now its 2.95. So I really save $5! Ha!

 

[neop]

Yea I was going to say the same thing. $2 sale, good job new egg I think I'm going to jump on this card too since the cheapest I could find the 9800pro was $179 with BestBuy MIR. $18 for that type of increase in great. Considering to replace a stock cooler your going to pay a little less plus the time it takes to put it on. Nice find.

 

[Triggerhappy007]

I received mine today. I only have 3Dmark2001 and Got 15353 on default speed, 378/675 and 15635 at 432/702 using the newest Omegas. It's detected as a Radeon 9800XT using the omega drivers. Not sure about the ATI ones. I can't believe that I only gained 300 points from overclocking, maybe it'll work better with 3Dmark03. I'll try later with my A64 3200+.

 

[Cabana]

I have this card and it shows as a 9800 XT in Futuremark with the ATI drivers.

 

[peacemaker1ps]

I am very tempted to get it.
I am current using g4 mx440 and can't even run doom3 well.

 

[piesang]

I pulled of the heatsink and it is a R360. Some ATI utility also reported it as R360, thats why the ATI drivers see it as a 9800XT. The MSI driver sees it as a 9800pro extreme I think.

BTW does your cards run through Aquamark and 3dmark03 without a hitch?

 

[t0mmyb0y]

Mine shows up as 9800 XT as well in Futuremark. It runs 2003 without a hitch. I have not run Aquamark. I also have not overclocked, as it runs KOTOR just fine at stock speeds at very high settings. When I decide to get DOOM3 I probably will overclock, however...

 

[imported_TheRipper]

There are no bios flashes that work with the card to bring it to an XT. There is one median bios that ups the core a bit, but it isn't worth the flash. The core is a 360 and the stock cooler on this thing is made for some OC so I was using radlinker to boot it at 412 and 730.
I had tried quite a few bios's on the card and was using a PCI card to bring it back to life after each foul up. I ended up just modding the stock bios with radedit and I have it running at the above speeds with no problems at all.
I only hope I don't fry anything but I can hit 450 and 770 with no artifacts so I would think this is a safe mod. If not I'll suffer the consequences I guess. The only problem with this "XT" is no temperature sensor is built in so that is where it gets a little sticky. Great card for the money though. If you mod your bios make double sure you back up the old one just in case. Your warranty isn't worth a cent if you RMA with a different bios.

 

[imported_TheRipper]

1 thing I did forget. The card will run doom 3 with these settings with cat 4.7's. No sparkles.

 

[Dman877]

I have this card and it's pretty solid. The wierd thing is my last 9800 Pro was also an R360 but it wasn't reported anywhere as a 9800XT. The MSI card is reported in 3dmark and the drivers as a 9800XT though. Anyway, mines running fine at XT speeds (Doom3 stable too ). ATITool rated the core up to 42X and the memory close to 400.

 

[imported_TheRipper]

Yeah, it is pretty impressive for the price. I really didn't "HAVE" to mod the bios, but with everything showing it as an XT and running it at XT speeds for over a month I figured I could get a little something from the mod. I get 6250 3dmark03 on this setting. Maxxed at 450 and 770 with a fresh defrag and end task on everything but the essentials I did hit 6740. Not bad for a "cheap" card.

 

[Navid]

I have been looking at this card for a long time. The only reason I have not got it yet is no report of successful flash to XT.

If that works, you get performance even at same clock frequencies. This is because there is hardware on 360 that only the XT bios can take advantage of. So, some graphics are rendered faster using different techniques that only the XT bios can do.
You can of course overclock too. But, that is a different story. I also want to get the free performance boost at the same clock rates.

 

[minus1972]

so how is this card in Doom 3? What kind of settings can you run?

 

[imported_TheRipper]

It works, all you have to do is save the original bios with flashrom, then use radedit to set the default clocks and then save the bios to desktop using a different name. I named my mod a simple "my.bin". Then you put it on the same floppy as the one you used to save the bios and flash it. The result is XT speeds without radlinker and a few free 3dmark03 points over what you get with radlinker. I wouldn't look at the card too long. Once the stock is sold the card will be gone from newegg. You will still be able to find it, but not at that price.
I am a newbie here, but I would NEVER give anybody bad advice. Like I said, save your original bios just in case you would ever have to rma the card. You get 3 years of warranty with the card, and I bought an extra year from newegg. Also, before you flash the card use radlinker for a few and run it as an XT. Put it through its paces. My card will do MUCH more than I have it modded to do but I wanted a safe mod, not a cooker mod.

 

[imported_TheRipper]

Originally posted by: minus1972
so how is this card in Doom 3? What kind of settings can you run?

It runs the game well at 412/730 on cat 4.7's with no artifacts. Pretty smooth.
I haven't tried the game at any higher settings, so???????

 

[SneakyStuff]

Dag yo, that's a nice software bundle, and a nice price, PLUS, it looks like the large fan/HSF will be good for a "no-modding" overclock. I might get one myself!

 

[minus1972]

Originally posted by: TheRipper

Originally posted by: minus1972
so how is this card in Doom 3? What kind of settings can you run?

It runs the game well at 412/730 on cat 4.7's with no artifacts. Pretty smooth.
I haven't tried the game at any higher settings, so???????

what resolution and detail settings though?