What is the best Brand for ATI?

[fenatic]

What´s the best brand for ATI graphic boards (9800 PRO 128 specially)?
Is Saphire good?
Is Powercolor bad?
Thks

 

[Vimp]

I'd also like to know this question. However I'd like to know who makes a better 9800 Pro between ATI and Saphire. Also which of the two has a better retail package?

 

[Spitfire_x86]

Built by ATI cards are the best

Sapphire is good

Powercolor is bad

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[michael11699]

I concur. For the 2 ATI cards I have owned (Radeon 32mb & 9700Pro), I went with the ATI built cards.

 

[HadesZA]

Hercules makes the best

 

[kostasthegreek]

In my opinion Asus makes also very quality video cards based on ati's vpus.But Asus cards are more expensive than the competition.That is a negative.As it seems from the Asus website(http://www.asus.com/products/vga/r9800pro/feature.htm) it also produces graphics card with ati's radeon 9800 pro.

 

[Vapor]

Read the Buyers Guide.

Maxtor disgraces the six letters that make Matrox.

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

I second that, but I would add ASUS as one to watch.

Herucles and BBA; and the features and apparent build quality (and repuation with nV boards) of ASUS make it a good contender once long term opinions can be developed.


- You need a licence to buy a gun, but they'll sell anyone a stamp <i>(or internet account)</i> ! - <font color=green>RED </font color=green> <font color=red> GREEN</font color=red> GA to SK

 

[HardWareBoss]

How about Abit?

 

[addiarmadar]

Hercules is awesome. ATI give the best warranty. HIS puts the best cooler on.

Barton 2500+ @ 2200mhz (10x220 vcore @ 1.8)
Asus A7N8X Dlx 440 FSB
1gb Geil GD pc3500 Dual Channel (2-3-3-6)
Segata 80gb SATA 8.5ms seek
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro(420/720)

 

[Vimp]

Both ATI and Asus have 3 year warrenties on all their video cards. I'm dissappointed though that Asus isnt making a Radeon 9800 pro 128mb card. If they did thats likly the card I'd buy. However they are the only company I know of that makes a Radeon 9800 Pro 256mb card that comes with Half Life 2, and also its normal game bundle.

 

[kostasthegreek]

From a small research that i did i found asus radeon 9800 pro 256 mb ram costs 399.99$.(http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-121-505&catalog=48&depa=1)very expensive i think so.For the other question that you've made i don't have informations.That's all folks!

 

[Vimp]

Lol. You think thats expensive?? Thats a hoot. I've yet to see a 9800 Pro with 256mb for less then $430. Most sell it for over $460. The 128mb version is the deal. Its $270 where I am. That Asus one he found is a the cheapest 256mb 9800 Pro card I've seen compared to all the ones sold where I am, and I can't even find an Asus one where I am.

Also the 9800 Pro 256mb is almost identical to a 9800XT 256mb with the XT only having a slight edge over it. So far the only motivating factor to get a XT instead of the Pro is because the XT comes with HL2. But considering that Asus' 9800 Pro also comes with HL2 but for cheaper price then the XT I would choose the Pro instead if I had the money. Mind you if I had lots of money then I wouldn't care about getting ripped off so I'd go with the XT for the very very minor performance boost.
<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Vimp on 01/24/04 03:42 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Vimp]

What makes you think theres is so special? As I said the price he mentioned he found is the cheapest I've ever seen any 9800 Pro 256mb card. That dosn't make their card paticularly special just cheaper then others. However it is special in that its the only 9800 Pro I know of to come with HL2.

 

[stackom]

I just bought Asus 9600XT and with bit overclocking (moderate, through Asus SmartDoctor) I got 4007 3Dmarks and 31.95 AquaMarks.
Also, Call of Duty runs at 1600*1200 better than ever before (my previous VC was softmoded Maya 9500).
Finally, image quality of Asus is obviously better than Maya had.

 

[pauldh]

"Also the 9800 Pro 256mb is almost identical to a 9800XT 256mb with the XT only having a slight edge over it."

What reviews are you reading? Look at toms vga charts III, the 256MB version can only barely edge out the 128MB version with FSAA/ANISO on, and was slower with them off. It isn't close to the XT.

<A HREF="http://www6.tomshardware.com/graphic/20031229/vga-charts-17.html" target="_new">http://www6.tomshardware.com/graphic/20031229/vga-charts-17.html</A>

Summary points (total of all fps)
9800XT = 962.5
9800 Pro 128MB = 938
9800 Pro 256MB = 936.1

with 4X/8X, XT = 214.4, 128MB Pro= 198.5, 256MB Pro=200.9.

The 256MB makes no sense to me. Extra $100 for ZERO performance boost. The 9800 Pro 128MB is a way better deal.


ABIT IS7, P4 2.6C, 512MB Corsair TwinX PC3200LL, Radeon 9500 Pro, Santa Cruz, Antec 1000AMG, TruePower 430watt

 

[Vimp]

I agree with you completly that the extra 128mb isn't worth the price difference. Yes the 9800 Pro 128mb is the much better card for the money. That wasn't my point. My point was that between the Asus 9800 Pro 256mb card and the 9800XT card from any company, your getting more for your money with the Asus 9800 pro 256mb card. What I didnt stress is that the 9800 Pro 128mb also performs just as well as the 256mb card. But the reason I didn't stress that was because it was besides the point. The point was that the Asus 9800 Pro 256mb is pretty much the same as a 9800XT from any company. Your own numbers support this. Based on the numbers you provided the 9800XT only performs 3-6% faster then the 9800 pro 256mb. And since both the 9800XT and the Asus 9800 Pro 256mb card both come with the same software bundles including HL2 then I think its worth it to get the Asus 9800 Pro 256mb card over the 9800XT to save a few bucks.

However the 9800 Pro 128mb beats both of them since it performs the same as the 256mb pro card and yet you save enough money to still buy HL2 and still have a fair bit of money extra.

 

[Vimp]

Wussy, I said it twice and I'll say it again. You keep saying that your paying more for ASUS but get nothing more out of it correct? Well I keep saying your not paying more. The Asus 9800 pro 256mb card that was listed was cheaper then any other 9800 Pro 256mb card from any other company that I've ever seen. So already the Asus one is cheaper. but on top of that the Asus one comes with HalfLife2 where as other brand 9800 pro cards do not so your getting a cheaper card from Asus and on top of it getting a great game bundle that no one else has with their version of that card.

 

[Vimp]

Let me summarize the 2 posts I just made. First off I'll concede that yes, wussy you have a point.
$400US for an Asus 9800 Pro 256mb is more expensive then other brands of the same card just like you said. I was partly wrong. however I was partly right because thats only in the US. Where I live paying $400US($519CN) for a 9800 Pro 256mb card is cheap since the cheapest 9800 Pro 256mb card where I live is $431US($560CN). So the Asus one is the cheapest one when compared to the same type of card where I live. However lets compare 4 cards in question.

<b><font color=blue>1.</font color=blue> 9800XT</b> brand ATI $463 newegg.com
Performance:
100%
Comes with HL2,
Good quality brand,
3 year warrenty

<b><font color=blue>2.</font color=blue> 9800 Pro 256mb</b> brand Asus $399.99 newegg.com
Performance:
95.5%
Comes with HL2,
Good quality brand,
3 year warrenty

<b><font color=blue>3.</font color=blue> 9800 Pro 256mb</b> brand Saphire $339 newegg.com
Performance:
95.5%
Does not come with HL2,
Semi-Good quality brand,
1 year warrenty

<b><font color=blue>4.</font color=blue>9800 Pro 128mb</b> brand ATI $298 newegg.com
Performance:
95%
Does not come with HL2,
Good quality brand,
3 year warrenty

Performance percentages are based off all the numbers in Pauldh's last post. As I see it #1 is the best card.
However getting the most outa your money I say #2 is better then #1.
#3 is better then #1.
#4 is better then #3, #2 and #1.<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Vimp on 01/25/04 03:12 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[endyen]

I'm with you. I always liked Abit's Saluro cards, and the oates cooling is great. Wonder when we will start to see them.

 

[kostasthegreek]

I agree with the last post that Vimp have made.See you guys around the forum!

 

[kostasthegreek]

Sorry "has made" i think is the correct one.

 

[HardWareBoss]

Powercolor = Piece of Crap

 

[HardWareBoss]

My little ole TI 4200 will beat your 9800SE.

 

[HolyShiznit]

<b>What´s the best brand for ATI graphic boards (9800 PRO 128 specially)?
Is Saphire good?
Is Powercolor bad?
Thks
</b>

My Sapphire 8500le has performed admirably for over a year now, no problems.

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