ATI Radeon 9800 pro

[stalker0]

I was wandering about this card, Does the card fairwell in the game world today? and what would you say the minimum amount of ram I should have on my computer to use this card?
Im trying to play FF11 and my current card makes the game look bad. So Ive decided its time to get a new card.


Thank you for your time.

[pop-tart]

This card is fairly popular among people and is a good card right now, not the best card, but is still a good card and it's tenure is far from over.

For ram, 512k is ok on current games, although most people are suggesting that you upgrade to 1 gig of ram.

[WhatsThisBoxFor?]

I think pop-tart means 512mb.

[ja83]

If you want an awesome card, but not top of the line then get the 9800 Pro 128MB. It's probably the best bang for your buck right now. Make sure you get the 256-bit chip(not 256 MB but bit). I think the 9800 Pro will last for 1-2 years more before you have to upgrade again. I suggest 1GB of RAM if your a heavy gamer, but 512 MB will do fine for a while.

[pop-tart]

yes yes 512 megabytes

[TwoRails]

Yes, it's a good card. And remember, it was just "yesterday" that it was top of the hill

[Staren]

It is what I have seen called low high-end. It is what you use for gaming with a realistic price. Not a bad card at all. The Saphire brand of the 9800 Pro is what I have, and I'm happy with it. If you have the moeny and want to max out your settiings then the Radion 9800 XT or Geforce 5950 Ultra are what you want, but you don't need one of those unless you have to have THE best (and want to spend three times the cash.

[sheeepy the noob]

can i ask whats wrong with the 9800 pro 256 mb? i heard it was bugged... is this true?

i have the 128, and it runs like a dream... but my friend got the 256, and his benchmarks are lower than mine...

[Staren]

I have not heard that before. The main reason most peope don't go with the 256 mb is because you really don't need that extra 128 megs of video memory right now. Most games just don't need to use it. Where it becomes useful is for video, and major picture editing where every bit of space helps. So for a game rig, the extra ram is kind of a waste of money at this point.

There could be a bug in the 256 ver., but I think something else could explain the lower benchmarks as well. Are your processors the game, RAM, RAM speed? Could have also gotten the card from a manufatuer who used an older chipset (the Saphire brand uses the XTs chip in their Pro cards), or it could be something else along those lines. Just because he has more texture RAM doesn't mean he has a better card.

[Hi Ho]

There's nothing wrong with the 9800 Pro 256MB. It's just not worth it to pay for the extra video memory that won't be used.

[ZeratulsAvenger]

Originally posted by stalker0 Im trying to play FF11 and my current card makes the game look bad. So Ive decided its time to get a new card.

No offense, but I don't believe FFXI is supposed to look all that great. If you are upgrading purely to make the game look better and not for future games like Halflife 2, Doom 3, or whatever else is coming up then you may want to back off the 9800 and look to something slightly lower end... if you are also upgrading for the future games then yes, the 9800 is a nice card from what I know.

EDIT: Listing your system specs may also be wise, as a 9800 on a 1GHz system is not what most would be shooting for.

[kram 2.0]

I also have the Radeon 9800 Pro 128 VPU and it was one of the sweetest purchase I've made so far. It's a sweat spot card and works very well with games. It is very comparable to the Radeon 9800 XT and is probably off the X800 XT/Pro by a sizeable margin. Regardless, you can probably use the 9800 Pro 128 for at least the next several years - going to last a while before it's obselete / incompatible.



Hope that helps,
kram

[glc]

A couple observations:

Doesn't the 256mb ram model have slower memory than the 128mb model?

I have a friend playing FFXI very nicely on an Athlon 1.4 system with a GF4 Ti4200 card - so a 9800 of any type should be plenty.

What is your current card, and what processor and how much ram?

[stalker0]

current card is Radeon 9600se 128mb I have 256mb of ram. (going to buy more now or early next month depending on what card I get.) and I have an AMD Athlon xp 2200+.
Im wanting a card that would make my games look better becuase right now FF11 looks like its at its lowest settings but I have them set for better. Also I have to play BF vietnam ats it lowest settings. If there is another card that I could buy or if the card I was thinking of would work please tell me. I can buy a card with this pay check thats about $350 for the card itself and just buy more ram on next paycheck.

[kram 2.0]

Yeah - the Radeon 9600 SE is a 64-bit card - not very good for gaming. I would think that the Radeon 9800 Pro 128 (256 bit) should be good - best bang for the buck. However, it seems that you're running on some budget issues - what I would do, if you're lacking money, is to go with the Radeon 9600 XT at 150 USD - still should play those games very well, but not as well as the 9800 Pro as it is 128-bit. But there will be evident performance boosts from the 9600SE.

Hope that helps,
kram

[stalker0]

I just have enough money for a ATI Radeon 9800pro 128mb and stick of 256mb of ram. So with both I should be fine right?

[kram 2.0]

Yep - try to make the RAM as similar to the original stick as possible - you might be able to enable dual channeling if the motherboard supports it and if they are identical. If you can get the 9800 Pro 128, that is probably the best card you can get for the money right now. Those two components, the stick of RAM and the GPU, should best improve your system.

Hope that helps,
kram

[stalker0]

Thanks kram for all your help.

[nocturnx]

Hes using an AMD so i dont think he will be able to use the dual-channel ram, thats with Intel, but a similar stick of ram is still recommended.

[Hi Ho]

You can use dual channel with AMD processors.

[glc]

Dual channel works with dual channel enabled motherboards - the fact that it's an AMD or Intel has nothing to do with it, there are dual channel boards available for both processors.

Agreed - keeping your ram as identical as possible is best, and just about mandatory for stable dual channel operation.