Graphics 9800 pro worth it?

curently im stuck with the disgrace of a gforce 4 MX 440
however now is the time to upgrade since its the only thing holding back my loverly modded 2800+ barton, nforce 2 ultra system

9800 pro is my dream and within a budget
cheapest ive found is the powercolor for £130 (128mb)
now i could get the 9800 SE and risk softmodding it, is it worth the risk? will i get better performance from a real 9800
or is the pro worth it
because apart from clock speeds is there any differences between 9800 and 9800 pro, if there isnt, then hello overclocking! :>

im in no rush so will there be abig decrease in prices of these older cards wen the X800 and 6800 and pci express come into swing or should i just buy now and have the glory of the settings in far cry saying "highest" instead of "lowest"

 

Its worth it for sure, the difference will be amazing, firstly the IQ is a lot lot better, then the huge fps increase, and finally much higher res's AND AA and AF Cant really see that cards dropping a massive amount more in price though....

 

IMO...
Dont get a 9800SE , it has only 4 pixel pipelines and did not review well
Get a 9800 Pro in 128 or 256mb , the reviews I've seen said that the difference in perf. of the 256 version over the 128 was not as great as the price difference.
( Sapphire Tech 9800 Pro 128 , ATI Tool OC'd to 9800XT speed - 418 core & 738 memory )(9800XT is 412 core & 730 memory)
DB

 

If ya got the cash grab a "real" 9800 pro - then OCit even further. The SE will perform worse than a 9600xt most of the time so if ya get one that wont flash your stuck with a mid range card at best - dont risk it.

 

kewl thx a lot guys, 9800 pro it is, cant wait
is it possible to flash any of them to a 9800 XT or am i wishing to much lol
of course thats assuming i got one with the R420 core (i think thats the one i 4get the numbers lol)
i dnt mind upgradin the cooling a bit

and no one seems to talk about the REAL 9800
is it any different from the pro except for clock speeds, not theres much price difference but any money i can save i will
can i flash a real 9800 to a 9800 pro?

 

uhh, the only diff between 9800 and pro iirc is clock speeds but it MIGHT be memory interface as well (128bit vs 256bit) but im not sure.

Go for the full pro - they are more than fast enough. Dont bother with flashing it just oc it if you need teh extra fps.

 

I would actually recommend trying to get a 2nd hand 9800 PRO rather than a new one.

The new PROs are all now using the R360 Core (which is the XT core).
Most ppl think - W00T - a 9800XT in disguise , but they are fooling themselves...
The reason is that the 9800PRO cores are running at 0.1V LOWER than the same core on a proper XT. This results in GREATLY decreased OCing ability.

I have a 9800XT Core on my 9800PRO and it barely reaches XT Speeds at default voltage and only 435 watercooled and voltmodded. A 'PROPER' 9800 core (R350) will do around 480MHZ with sufficient cooling and 500+ voltmodded and watercooled.


Flymo

 

yes it is possible to flash a pro to an XT, if its got the same amount of memory, i.e. you would need a 256 meg version.

a bit off topic, how can one find out what core type they have?

 

Taking the heatsink off is the ONLY way.

Some ppl are saying that atitool rivatuner etc will do the job, but they will NOT. ALL software that IDs the hardware as R300, R350, R360 etc simply read the BIOS ID which then identifies the card as a 9700, 9800, 9800XT etc.

for example, if you flashed a R350 core (9800 Pro or non-pro) to a 9800XT BIOS, all these utils will identify the card as an R360.


Flymo

 

ok so nevermind the flashing of the 9800 pro to XT it was a simple question i got quite a large response lol if all the games are playable i could care less wen UT2005 or far cry 2 or hl 2 comes out and it needs abit of o/c then maybe ill care lol but by then on my dear santa list ..... X800
i wish lol anyway
if i was to buy it 2nd hand would anybody have any recomended sites/places, i live in notts, UK so anywhere around there or at least wud post 2 tht area wud be appreciated thx

by the way for all ur techys out there, im only 13 and fitting in with all the techies tlkin bout 9800 pros, dont i feel kewl

 

It may not even be necessary to upgrade yet. After all, even a GeForce 2 MX400 seems to be plenty for all but the most demanding CAD work (indeed, the only person who complained was a very sensitive girl who is also into very advanced 3D rendering (rendering houses)). A Radeon 9000 Pro (which is what I use) will handle CAD very well. Anything higher is meant for professionals (I actually know a small group of people who can push a Radeon 9700 to the limits, but they're all professionals).
So start AutoCAD 2004 (or whatever 3D application you use), and just try loading the most complex figure you are working on. If it rotates/animates smoothly in real-time, the video card is more than enough.
But if you just want to upgrade, by all means do. That will future-proof your workstation and make sure you always get your work done (yeah I know, there are actually some people who like slow video cards because then they will have an excuse for not getting their work done).
BTW, when you buy a laptop, make sure it has a very good video card because you can't upgrade a laptop video card! (Well, there may be a laptop or 2 out there where you can, but the upgrade cards are not standard.)
Also, Fear Factor (a video card benchmark) is a good way of judging if your video card is good enough for CAD.
P.S. I'm currently drawing a computer in AutoCAD.

 

When I used ATIflash to flash my 9600XT (long story...) it reported the hardware ID... which should match BIOS id to see what sort of card you have. Also, see this screenshot from my 9600XT with pro BIOS (same long story):



AND you should be able to identify your card by looking at its RAM and serial number/product number.

 

I'm after a 9800Pro!

I'm after one.
It seems the best ones are Sapphire, HIS, or Built By Ati...

Can't afford a new one

Gotta buy second hand but there are none around and ebay is crap.

 

Well, i just ordered one from Newegg.
God I love them.
Ill see how it turns out-
BTW, i got the one with 256 mb ddr ram, so it was like 220$
I really wanna see how it works in linux, since i've heard they have problems with that stuff.
I'm already nervous

 

ATI arent really renowned for linux drivers although they do have some now iirc, couldnt tell you how good they are though.

 

Flymo, have you got a hercules card?

 

I have a Sapphire card.

@ Linux_user

you will be glad to hear that the 256MB 9800PROs are REALLY XTs in diguise.

Have a look on www.ocfaq.com to find out how to turn it into a 9800XT complete with thermal readout for the GPU.

Flymo

 

You can get some good deals if you are willing to wait and look for them. I picked up a 9800 (these are exactly the same as the pro but with slower clock and memmory speeds) for 80 quid, and it doing 410 core and 345 memmory. Those are well above pro speeds. Not bad for 80 quid.

 

Is a 9800np likely to be comparable performance/clocking to a 9700pro?

 

HL2 runs fine on mine 9800pro@434/680 and it runs at a super cool 43C