9800pro 256mb review of an old card

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Ok so i needed to upgrade my old machine for a while before i fully upgraded to a pci-e system, so i go on newegg and get this card a agp 9800pro 256mb card, refurbished. To be honest i am totally blown away.

The specs of this card aren't all thatt great, but for some strange and bizarre reason it performs better than the 6800gt 256mb card i used to own. I can run Hitman blood with full specs aa and af on full and no slow down, oblivion on medium to high specs moves great. EQ2 on high (games goes to ultra, so high is like med) runs great NFS black full specs, BF2 with everything on except AA. all in 1048x768 mind you.

I just cant believe that a 4 yr old v/card can perform like this, i just had to say something, so for anyone needing a new agp card that doesn't want to upgrade, i would strongly recommend getting one of these.

oh and the best part it was only $82.99.

Now i'm seriously looking at ATI again
 
Welcome to the world of older cards. I upgraded from a 9800 PRO to an X800XL which is close to the 6800GT and was disappointed in the speed increase.

If you are playing openGL games the 6800GT should blow the 9800 PRO away. With DX9 based games the ATI cards perform comparably. You may also find the ATI graphics quality better. ATI has improved the 1800/1900 series openGL perfromance.

I'm dying to get my hands on an Nvidia 6800-7900 machine to see if the quality is as much better as people are telling me. I was looking at a 7800 or 7900 GT for my next card to improve the FPS but am hesitant based on people's claims about image quality.

What's your input on the video quality?

PS The raw speed memory bandwidth and pixel fill rate is twice as high on the 6800 GT as on the 9800 PRO. Something else may be choking your performace with the 6800 GT. The older Nvidia cards did not handle AA and AF as well as the older ATI did.
 
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Not sure if i notice any difference in quality per say, but i just notice how i can up the graphics all the way, on a card that looking at the specs, just shouldn't be able to do that, only thing i can think of is the 2gb of mem my pc has and the 256mb on the v/card.

Either way for $80 odd dollars its amazing. if a little old, but for now i no longer see a point to upgrading.
 
I was not very happy moving from my old 9700pro to my old 6800ultra OC or my x800xt AIW but c'est la vie.

Speed improvement didn't seem to be worth it and yes, it is a testament to probably the most solid core design in AGES.

The r300 set a standard that is a real tough act to follow.

The new cards are faster, yes, but that baby (and its derivatives) still rock.
 
I know, i really think i'm going to stay with ATI when i get a new card now. i'm just extremely impressed with this card.
 
I would think you'd notice quite a difference, the support for a 9800 with regard to shaders is quite a bit less than the current models isn't it? It's not a big surprise that per pixel programmability would hinder performance a bit over fixed function graphics as the card has to work harder and the application has per pixel control. The quality is where you should notice a difference. Have you compared these cards using new high end game titles?
 
yes, BF2, EQ2, NFSMW haven't tried HL2 yet, but will do sometime.

OK, the fan on the card is getting real noisy, can someone suggest a good replacement, bear in mind i'll probably only have this gpu another 6 months or less, so i don't need a crazy cooler.
 
I was not very happy moving from my old 9700pro to my old 6800ultra OC or my x800xt AIW but c'est la vie.

Speed improvement didn't seem to be worth it and yes, it is a testament to probably the most solid core design in AGES.

The r300 set a standard that is a real tough act to follow.

The new cards are faster, yes, but that baby (and its derivatives) still rock.

Couldnt agree with you more. Ran everquest 2 without a hitch on that baby. Ahh the good ol days.
 
ok still need to know about the fan, any suggestions guys.

Was looking at artic cooler are they anygood?
 
Nice assortment and a lot cheaper than the zalman which may be too big for a 9800 PRO.

http://www.svc.com/chipsetcoolers1.html

Iceberg 4 will be too noisy at 6000RPM.
Evercool may be ok. CFM seems high for 5000RPM even with 7 blade fan.

Nothing looks even close to the trapezoidal sink with 13 blade fan on the 9800 PRO.
 
well i settled on this all the reviews are good. i'll let you guys know how it went.

image-ccba4c.jpg


I also ordered a new sony DVD drive about time. plus the shipping was free on newegg.
 
Figures. I just found a stock ATI cooler in my junk box while looking for a cable modem.. Oh well this one will cool better.
 
well that just sucks, i'll return this one haha.
 

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