ATi Radeon 9800 XT (Review)

[DjmUK]

Can't see any other postings on this, so I thought I would - considering the review was released today.

Tom's Hardware Guide (Review)

Conclusion

ATI made the very good Radeon 9800 Pro even better. Regarding performance, the Radeon 9800 XT is only 5-10% faster than the previous top model, but thanks to better cooling, the ability for Video-In -- which also depends on the card maker -- and hardware monitoring, ATI has created a very attractive package. NVIDIA needs to take care that they don't miss the bus. In those DirectX 9 benchmarks, that are available at the moment, the GeForce FX 5900 Ultra is sometimes even beaten by ATI's mid-range cards. However, the results in DX8 titles - some of them part of NVIDIA's "The Way It's Meant To Be Played" program - uncover some surprising issues as well. NVIDIA followers have to hope for the new ForceWare drivers and the upcoming NV38 top model, which was already presented at Computex. But currently ATI cards seem the safer bet and buying a new XT card also means that you get the long awaited Half-Life 2 for free (if there weren't STEAM). Well, it might only be single player version and because of the delay in the game development likely in form of a voucher.

[lammmetak]

gimme gimme gimme ofg it looks nice

iam still happy with this 1 but i always want more:D

[DjmUK]

Here's a link to ATi's official pages relating to the 9600 XT & 9800 XT.

http://www.ati.com/products/gamer.html

[vincent]

kool

[Hypoxiaicon]

im still waiting for my 9800 pro 256mb to come back into stock :(

[DjmUK]

256MB - that's a big card. In the benchmarks the 256MB beats the 128MB by about 2 fps...I don't follow why people buy the 256. I'm not mocking you, just curious...what's the rest of the memory used for..? (larger textures..? similar difference to main memory differences..?)

Mind you, later this year when the 9800 XT is released, your 256MB will have dropped in price ;)

[ForeverUnknown]

nice. how much more is this going to be than the 9800pro 256?

[Hypoxiaicon]

the benchmarks are just that... maybe there is a slightly better textures or something? lol i dunno.. its the best card at the moment.. and my geforce4 mx 440-se is getting dead outdated.. the 256mb should give me a bit more of buffer against the 128mn version for the future i guess

[DjmUK]

Good point, my GeForce 2 Pro isn't up for EF2 - even on the lowest settings it's a little sluggish. But yeah, 9800 Pro will last us for many years to come, both the 128 & 256's alike.

ForeverUnknown, It's going to be a lot more expensive apparentally...but for a 5-10% (5-10 fps [ish]) difference, it's not really worth it in my opinion. Mind you the 256 will drop down in price, so I would recommend getting that card instead...unless of course you have the extra cash lying around.

[ForeverUnknown]

i was checking around ati's site and i saw it in their store for like $499.

oh is there a difference, other than the cooling, b/t the ati and the asus versions?

[DjmUK]

Probably just around a few fps's difference. I'm after the "Hercules 3D Prophet 128MB 9800 Pro" because according to benchmarks it's very nice - and the pictures of it are very nice.

Just search Toms Hardware Guide, and you'll find benchmarks of all their cards...go have a looksy.

[Hypoxiaicon]

Probably just around a few fps's difference. I'm after the "Hercules 3D Prophet 128MB 9800 Pro" because according to benchmarks it's very nice - and the pictures of it are very nice.

Just search Toms Hardware Guide, and you'll find benchmarks of all their cards...go have a looksy.

one of these? :woot:

Right at the bottom

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Onl...rcules_140.html

[nugg3t]

that card is way to expensive, 5 - 10 % increase??? bah thats not good enough

i jumped from ati 8500 to a ati 9800 pro 128 megs, which is, i think, the best.

the 9800 tx is good if u have beneath 9600 pro if u have a 9800 or 9700 its useless to buy this

btw theres not a big difference between the 9800 ver which has 128 megs, n 256 megs.

apparently the 256 meg version, which is ddr-2 overheats very easily.

saw all the benchmarks n its equal to the 128 megs version.

[unknown]

the radeon9800proXT is only a radeon 9800pro which is overclocked anyways. u can do this with ur radeon9800pro and overclock it and voila, u now have the best card in the world again. all over again. :happy:

[ForeverUnknown]

the radeon9800proXT is only a radeon 9800pro which is overclocked anyways. u can do this with ur radeon9800pro and overclock it and voila, u now have the best card in the world again. all over again. :happy:

you're right but the xt has better cooling for the ddr2 which runs hot. i dont know if it's worth the money though. if i had money i would probably buy the xt but freakin homecoming is breakin me :pinch:

[GenesisNZ]

Regarding the size of the RAM - 256MB ..

I remember when the first 128MB card come out, that was the same response - Why need 128MB card when all you get is a 1-2% increase inperformance, 10% if your luckk, BUT, having a card with a insanely huge amount of onboard video ram helps alot. Maybe its not needed now, but no doubt in the VERY near future those textures and going to get bigger and bigger and the fact is that 64MB/32MB video cards barely cut it now-a-days.

The more onboard ram you have, the more future proof you are.

My 2c

[ANova]

It doesn't have DDR2, just DDR. The advantages it has over the 9800 Pro is more ram, higher clock speeds, and better cooling. If you get the ASUS you also get TV in, and hardware monitoring (one of the best features).

[uber-pea]

i thought the ati 9800tx had hardware monitoring as well as the asus... :unsure:

[ClintEastman]

I fancy this fella myself!

http://www.ocprices.com/index.php?rev_id=1...&action=reviews

[DjmUK]

Electroglitter - that is precisely the card I'm looking at, it'll go nicely with my blue cathodes :)

[DjmUK]

I fancy this fella myself!

http://www.ocprices.com/index.php?rev_id=1...&action=reviews

The only problem is that it takes up 2 bays (AGP & PCI), because the cooling unit is so large. It reminds me of the forst GeForce FX card...that also takes up 2 bays and the cooling unit was too loud aswell.

[RaWShadow]

I want too see some 9600XT reviews. Only $200 and it has half life 2 with it.

[ClintEastman]

I fancy this fella myself!

http://www.ocprices.com/index.php?rev_id=1...&action=reviews

The only problem is that it takes up 2 bays (AGP & PCI), because the cooling unit is so large. It reminds me of the forst GeForce FX card...that also takes up 2 bays and the cooling unit was too loud aswell.

I never use PCI 1 slot (old habits die hard!!!).

And the reviews of this card say it quiter than the 'usual' 9800 cooling solutions!!

[Premgenius]

OMG...they are Givin HL2 with it how do they do that?

[DjmUK]

Via a voucher. Since the game isn't released for a while Valve & ATi are doing a voucher system. Mind you, the price isn't bad because from what I've read ATi are purchasing HL2 for $15 per copy...and, it will be the SINGLE player version only. So the multiplayer version will be $10 more.

So I'm hoping that Valve will release an add-on from Single to Multi player for a low charge (hopefully).