Who makes the best 9800XT?

[brett1]

It's Friday, I'm on my 5th beer and I was about to do an impulse buy....

I then realized I should ask which 9800XT you all recommend? I'm not looking at Asus because their website is very rarely updated for the north american market. I have two other asus cards and I hate having to connect to the Europe or Asian FTP to get my drivers. I have seen the gigabyte card and I like it's bundle but I'm not sure about its drivers/support/speed.

Sapphire seems to be on the cheap side and their warranty seems non-existant. Is this true? Same goes for powercolor? Does ATI honor the Sapphire or Powercolor warranty?

One last question....does the Half-Life 2 bundle include the voucher for only the single player version, or the full retail game? Tom's hardware was saying something about it being a single player only version but I could never research it enough to find facts.

Thanks and happy Friday.

 

[Corporate Thug]

there all i same

i believe the vocher is for the full game

 

[VIAN]

Sapphire has been with ATi since nearly the begining.

 

[Schadenfroh]

if money was no object i would get the hercules cause it looks cooler, otherwise i would go with ATI, Sapphire, ASUS, just to ensure quality

 

[Lonyo]

All will be pretty good quality. Omega drivers, or official ones of ATi's website will be fine for the card, no nee to get mfr specific drivers.
Go for the best price/bundle you find. Some might come with more thna just HL2. My Sapphire came with all the necessary cables for using the TV out, and a DVI -> VGA adapter neither of which my Creative Labs nVidia card came with).
Look for what they offer beyond the card, and how much it is. All of them are basically equal except for bundle.

 

[dejacky]

ATI.

why? because they include the best dvi output quality signal on their cards while other manufacturers that are cheaper tend to SUCK.

 

[Pete]

I think Sapphire and Powercolor warranties are honored by the store that sells the card to you, so it's best to buy them from a reputable store. I may be thinking of OEM versions, though--retail cards by those companies may be warranted by the company itself, but I don't think so. ATi cards are obviously supported by ATi, and I think Asus cards are supported by Asus.

I don't know about the cost or support, but check out if HIS has a 9800XT for sale in the US. Their IceQ cooler seems to be the best and the quietest, and if you're willing to dip into the rarified air of ~$500 video cards, I'd say paying a little extra for a known quiet and effective cooling solution would be worth it.

Edit: Another 9800XT thread, may be useful.

 

[Ronin]

Sapphire has my vote.

 

[kylebisme]

Originally posted by: dejacky
ATI.

why? because they include the best dvi output quality signal on their cards while other manufacturers that are cheaper tend to SUCK.

lol saphire makes the ati cards. best i can tell they also make other 9800xts aside from the asus one.

 

[jim1976]

I have the Gigabyte 9800pro and I'm completely satisfied with my purchase so far.
High quality standards,great cooler,highly o/cable,and no probs whatsoever.
As for Gigabyte drivers I can't help you, I always use the Omegas or officials.

 

[kylebisme]

gigabyte just gives you the ati drivers, cat3.8s came on the cd with my 9800xt.

 

[jim1976]

Originally posted by: TheSnowman
gigabyte just gives you the ati drivers, cat3.8s came on the cd with my 9800xt.

WTF?? I'm loosing it , he's right they give the ATI drivers along with DirectX on the installation cd.

 

[SneakyStuff]

Buy the ATI or Sapphire versions.

 

[edmundoab]

built by ATi recommended