Maximum PC

Hello everybody,
I am currently trying to decide if I should buy the ATI 9800pro (256) for 268 on newegg. I currently have a Fx5200 (128) but I'm just not happy with the power of the card. My question is: should I buy this card right now or wait a few more weeks (months?) for the price to drop (or will it?) with the release of the x800s and nvidia 6800s? OR, should I go ahead and shell out the extra few dollars and grab a 6800NU?

The link for the 6800 is here: http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDe ... 193&depa=0

The link for the 9800 is here:
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDe ... 361&depa=0

I know that with the reviews out there, the 6800 kinda trumps the 9800xt in everything except in a few games with ALL features maxed (AA, etc.).

here is one of the reviews: http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/ ... 04_53.html

Thanks for your time and help.

the ati radeon 9800pro is a great card but i would suggest you stick to the ati 800 series or the geforce 6800 series. both cards are great and either one will play todays games with good fps. if it were me, i would go with the nvidia 6800 GT. check out www.pricegrabber.com and see how much is it. the GT is a great card and can be easily overclocked to the ultra specs.

Thanks for your reply. I was thinking about saving up for the 6800GT. But what manufacturer should I get? There are so many, like Chaintech, Leadtek, eVGA, etc? Which one is the best? I would like to overclock in the future so I guess I should look at which one provides better cooling?

Thanks.

The 6800nu would whoop the 9800pro. If you want to get a 9800pro, get the 128mb version.

3rd party manufacturers on the nVidia side doesnt really matter because they dont have crap companies like Powercolor. All of the manufacturers are decent, and you should only judge on Aethstetics, Bundle, and Price.

IMO, either the 6800 or the 6800gt are great and are reasonably priced. Dont forget that the 6800nu's are capable of being softmodded, but this should NOT be one of the selling points because it's a risky chance.

Thanks for your reply. What is softmod?

a softmod is when you modify something through software or a program and it can always be reversed. It's the opposite of a hardmod whhere you modify something through tools and hardware and the changes cant usually be reversed.

The softmod we're talking about is unlocking hidden or locked pipes in the 6800nu, which has 12 pipelines compared to the 6800gt's/ultra's 16 pipes.

if you get the 6800nu and succesfully do the softmod would they be able to oc to the gt or ultra speeds?

Thanks for your replies. About softmodding the 6800, read this:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/ ... -oc_5.html

Apparently, it can't be done with the 6800NU.

Read this also

Apparently, it can.

thats cool. but the thing is, you get artifacts, and you can't just flash the original bios to return the card to normal. oh well, its still cool.

which companies do you think allow better overclocking - BFG, leadtek, or others?

you use rivatuner to do it. it works, i have a 6800nu that i enabled all 16 pipes on.does work, but i do get artifacts, so it may be of dubious success, it works but introduces artifacts.

Thanks for your reply. Can you tell me where I can get this rivatuner program? With your OCed 6800NU, do you get 6800GT numbers? And if you wanted to go back to 12 pipelines without the artifacts, can you do it with this rivatuner?

i got artifacts and im back at 12 pipelines now. www.guru3d.com and you cant get gt numbers because you cant get the memory to run fast enough, if you got the memory to 1000mhz and the core to 350 it would perform close, but the 256mb still gives the gt an advantage.

thanks for your reply. so are the artifacts gone now that you are back to 12? everything is just like it was before?

if you are able to overclock the chip and mem to GT speeds, I wonder if that would help "reach" GT numbers?

perhaps maybe in the future, these boards will have to have "functional" 16 pipes that have been disabled. what do you think?

The reason for this, in case you didn't know, is because while it shares the core of its big brothers, all cards are made the same and some have bad pipes, its a regretable happenence but common none the less.
Luckily for them they can sell those cards with only 12 working pipes enabled such as the card you bought. Of course if they don't have enough "stunted" cards they just sell the higher end ones as yours to be snatched up by enthusiasts and unlocked. Hence the crapshoot, you aren't guaranteed that you will get a card with 16 working pipelines.

1. The artifacts go away once you revert back to stock drivers.

2. Theoretically, yes.

Hey I just thought I'd offer a second opinion. I'm sure the 6800 is a great card, but between the two I went with the ATI Radeon 9800PRO 256bit 256MB. I saw it on newegg for $268 and decided that this was the card for my new machine. (I just built a new gaming rig) I know its not the best of the best or anything, but for me, the price was right.