Radeon Choices.....

[DarkRose]

Building a new system with a Lanparty NFII Ultra mobo, XP 3000+ CPU, and 1 GB dual channel PC3200, what I'm trying to decide is which video card, I've narrowed it down to three choices....
Radeon 9800 Pro
Radeon 9700 Pro
Radeon 9600XT
Which would be the best option, since I can get them all between $200-$300 USD?

:confused:

[Ricky1810]

I think you already know witch one is better.

If you can buy it, go with 9800 pro all the way....

[minibubba]

if you can afford to get any one of those, the 9800 Pro is certainly the best.

[DarkRose]

Ok, I'd be going with a 128 mb 9800 Pro, I guess the next question would be, which one? there's so many choices out there, FIC, Sapphire, Powercolor, ATI, which one of these would be a good choice?
I had been leaning towards the 9600XT or 9700 Pro until I saw some prices on the 9800 Pro 128mb and realized I could probably afford it....

[weta]

DarkRose: Hercule's 3D Prophet 9800 Pro is a great card.

[benny_mankin]

or the HIS excalibur IceQ... that'll OC more, good for a long run

[The__tweaker]

9800P you've made a good choice between them cards.

As for brand get a Hercules Prophet as Weta mentioned.

[DarkRose]

Hmmm.... The Hercules Prophet cards I'm finding are around $400, I'm trying to keep price down right around $300 or so, Is the Sapphire Atlantis still good? If I had to go this route, would I be better off with a 9600 XT or 9700 Pro (best bang for my buck between the two?) If I planned on spending 400, I'd just got the extra 100 and get the 9800 XT, but like I said, trying to stay right around 300 or under....

[Mike2010]

If you can't find a good 9800 Non-Pro with Samsung memory, I recommend getting a 9700 Pro as that has better performance than both the 5700 Ultra and the 9600 XT. Here is a good one from ZipZoomFly for $254:

ATI 9700 Pro

[benny_mankin]

Sapphire Atlantis are good, despite the fact they're built on 9700 PCB. But some prefer to get sapphire 9800NP instead (save another 50) and flash it to 9800pro. If ur going to OC the atlantis would be a better choice since it has better memory (samsung 2.8 as opposed to 3.3 on 9800np).
BUT, if ur going to seriously OC, then save some more and get those suggested above (I'd say HIS excalibur are the best, out of the box u can OC the core to 450-470--hercules can't beat that :) )

[weta]

DarkRose:

[Soulburner]

Sapphire Atlantis are good, despite the fact they're built on 9700 PCB. But some prefer to get sapphire 9800NP instead (save another 50) and flash it to 9800pro. If ur going to OC the atlantis would be a better choice since it has better memory (samsung 2.8 as opposed to 3.3 on 9800np).
BUT, if ur going to seriously OC, then save some more and get those suggested above (I'd say HIS excalibur are the best, out of the box u can OC the core to 450-470--hercules can't beat that :) )

The Atlantis is a full fledged 9800 Pro. The one that uses the 9700 PCB is the 9800 "Pro Lite" that sells for $50 less.

[benny_mankin]

Huh? Oh yea I mean that :p
I thought Atlantis are the ones built on the black PCB :laugh:

carry on.. carry on... :)

[DarkRose]

Think I've narrowed it down to 4 chouices, all 128 mb Radeon 9800 Pros,
Gigabyte 9800 Pro
GigeCube 9800 Pro
Sapphire 9800 Pro
Powercolor 9800 Pro

This card probably won't be overclocked that heavy, I've just not had the time to research which uses what memory, etc.... all of these fall in the $300-$325 range at... Game VE I believe...

[Sovereignty]

All 9800 pro's use samsung 2.86ns mem as far as I know.