Radeon 9800SE vs GeForceFX 5900SE

[BenSkywalker]

R9800SE for $165

FX5900SE for $188

Which one is better, factoring price or whatever other basis you want to use. Obviously there are much better deals for at least one of the boards, but I'm asking this question as a comparison between the 'SE' models in particular and how the name is used. This is not a joke, if you had to pick one, and they were the only two parts you could chose from, which one would it be.

 

[Blastman]

They?re not even in the same ballpark. That 9800SE, if it is a 128bit memory bus model, which I assume it is from that price, is about on par with a regular 9600.

I feel a little rant coming on ? and I hope ATI is reading this ? ?

I can?t believe how badly ATI screwed up their 9800SE?s (and 9600SE?s). This is complete marketing crap over any substantive performance. I sometimes wonder whether the people at ATI tested the 9800SE on anything other than 3Dmark 2001 (which the 9800SE scores really well on but tanks comparatively on game benches.). The 9800SE should have been a full 8 pipeline GPU (not a 4 pipe) and clocked ~ 300MHz with cheap TSOP memory clocked ~ 250MHz DDR. Then They would have had a nice card for around $200. As it is these cards are complete junk. People who unknowingly buy these cards are going to be disappointed in ATI in the sense that they would put junk like this on the market in the price ranges where these cards are trying to be sold. I mean I priced a 9800SE (256bit) at $240. A 9600 pro is just as fast and can be had for $145. The 128bit 9800SE?s cost $50-60 more than the a 9600 who?s performance it is on par with.

It will be interesting to see if NV can sell ?SE? labeled cards in any great number because ATI is sure giving SE a bad name with their current cards.

 

[Cerb]

I have not seen (and it is not on their aite) any ATi Se card other than the 9200 SE.
The 9600SE and 9800SE appear to be entirely up to the manufacturer (this also explains the 128-bit and 256-bit memory and varied GPU and memory clock speeds among them), and ATi doesn't look like one of them.
If you want to chance that the other 4 pipes work, it's not a bad option. If they do, it will beat the 9600XT w/ AA and AF up. OTOH, you can get an XT for $155 now, and the 9800SEs sold at decent clock speeds at around $175 mnimum.
The 9600SEs on the other hand, just plain suck.

 

[Rigomortis]

With the reviews I read on the FX5900 SE it appears that this is not a stripped down model. It ships with the 256bit memory path and 2.8 memory vs. 2.2. They did decrease the memory latency so for the most part at stock is matches up with the regular FX5900. 3 reviews I checked out also said the card clocked up to 5900U speeds if you want to OC it.

To me its work the extra $20 to get all (though questionable) features of the model namesake.

They also fit into Shuttles and for me that is really important.

 

[The Green Bean]

9800SE is no competition to 5900SE

 

[McArra]

Is quite clear that 5900SE is the winner here, unless of course, you're VERY lucky and can softmod a 256bit 9800SE.

 

[nick1985]

who the EF voted for the 9800se? gotta be a die-hard ati fanatic

 

[Richdog]

Originally posted by: McArra
Is quite clear that 5900SE is the winner here, unless of course, you're VERY lucky and can softmod a 256bit 9800SE.

:beer:

 

[Blastman]

Originally posted by: nick1985
who the EF voted for the 9800se? gotta be a die-hard ati fanatic

Some die hard ATI fanatics have been known to softmod their 9800SE?s to a 9800pro.:beer:

A 9800SE 128bit would mod to a 9500pro.

 

[nick1985]

Originally posted by: Blastman

Originally posted by: nick1985


A 9800SE 128bit would mod to a 9500pro.

which still loses to the 5900se

 

[Richdog]

Originally posted by: nick1985

Originally posted by: Blastman

Originally posted by: nick1985


A 9800SE 128bit would mod to a 9500pro.

which still loses to the 5900se

I didn't think the 128-bit cards could be modded at all...

Anyways, you can buy the 256-bit 9800SE cards as guaranteed soft-moddable from some online retailers, mainly in Europe. If you are lucky enough to find such a card, then you can forget the 5900SE's exist. If no soft-modding is on the cards, the 5900SE is the clear winner.

Thank God I was one of the lucky ones...:beer:

 

[Corporate Thug]

5900 se, but some 9800 SE mod to a 9800

 

[Rogodin2]

5900SE

rogo

 

[BFG10K]

The 5900SE still has a 256 bit memory path doesn't it? If it does then it'll blow away the 128 bit 9800SE and there is absolutely no contest here.

 

[sandorski]

The 2 probably shouldn't even be compared. IIRC, ATI started the "SE" model, they basically used "SE" to name a severely crippled gpu. NVidia also used "SE", but theirs is not nearly as crippled. So though they used similar letters, they didn't have the same intent.

 

[rbV5]

This is not a joke, if you had to pick one, and they were the only two parts you could chose from, which one would it be

LOL, How about FX 5600XT vs 9600XT.....actually, I am joking the 9800se is no match for the 5900se.

 

[Amused]

My Gainward "Powerpack 1100" 5900se came clocked at 400/700. It OCs to 480/980 quite nicely.

 

[Matthias99]

The 9800SE should have been a full 8 pipeline GPU (not a 4 pipe) and clocked ~ 300MHz with cheap TSOP memory clocked ~ 250MHz DDR. Then They would have had a nice card for around $200. As it is these cards are complete junk.

While I don't like this kind of marketing either (although NVIDIA isn't innocent here either -- the "GeForce4" MX was really a GeForce2MX core with slight improvements), these cards are at least a legitimate way for ATI to sell 9800 cards with one or more damaged pipelines. I don't think they should be selling them for $200, though, when they perform roughly like a $150 9600Pro. At least the 9800 cores overclock really well, which lets it step up to about the performnace of a 9600XT, or possibly a bit better if the memory will overclock some as well.

But 5900SE all the way here. It'll blow away the 9800SE.

 

[Rankor]

The 5900SE or XT as it was recently renamed does have a 256-bit memory interface.

The 9800SE is very similar to an overclocked 9500 Pro.