Radeon 9800 Pro 256 MB Vs. Radeon 9800 Pro 128 MB
Overview of the new Radeon 9800 Pro 256 MB.
With respect to 3D features, there are no changes compared to the Radeon 9800 Pro with 128 MB , which we reviewed in detail recently. The external appearance of the new card, however, is considerably different from the 128 MB variant. The board, which ATI has kept in its typical red color, is longer, and on each of the 16 Samsung K4N26323AE-GC22 memory components in BGA packaging, there's a silver cooling unit. And this is urgently needed, too, because the DDR II memory develops an enormous amount of heat. In operation, the coolers become so hot that you can barely touch them. The GPU cooler is the same as on the 128 MB card. Otherwise, there are no other noteworthy external differences to report.
The backside of the card.
The fan did not change. It sits a bit loose on the GPU. The card gets very hot while in use.