Best Radeon 9800Pro? Need some advice

[Martijno2000]

Hi there, I see you guys with high scores using some of the best vid cards of the world...but wich of them is the best...I need some advice cause I need a vid card in my new rig:

Intel P4c 2.4ghz
ABit IC7
2x 256Mb Corsair PC3500 Platinum Edition
Creative Audigy
Enermax EG465P- VE (FC) 460watt
WD 120Gb

So I was wondering...how about an ATI 9800Pro?
Wich brand do you use and wich ones OC te best?
Maybe some of you guys have some interesting 9700Pro cards as well? Tell me about it....

[retrospooty]

They are all pretty close from what I can tell. I got the actual ATI one, and its great. But so are they all.

[Blord]

Well at stock speed they are all very close. Overclocking is a different matter. All videocard manufacturers buy their GPU at ATI, so you can't say which brand has better GPU than others. PCB quality does also matter for overall overclock.

I have chosen Hercules 9800pro because they have copper heatsinks at ram. The memery becomes pretty hot when overclocking. My videocard max out at 459core/385mem, no artifacts, with watercooling.

[Johnny Knoxvill]

The powercolor with the faster memory is the best one, also the hercules are pretty damn good. But they're all around equal.

[ALT-F13]

Try to find that Powercolor with 2ns mem.
As for me, Sapphire is good enough. But i selected my (470 core on stock, 492 watercooled, no v/mods, 387 mem) from 3 cards. First was only 446/360, second - 465/370... OC varies from card to card a lot.

[water_cooler 20]

or u could do what i did and get the R9800 w/ 256 Vram:p:

[Martijno2000]

Hmm so the Powercolor is recommended here...let's see If they sell these cards here in The Netherlands...hopefully with the 2ns memory...

[GVCryan]

Actually, I have heard over on Rage3d that they are all made by Sapphire, except the Hercules and Tyan (not out yet) and maybe the powercolour.


The Visiontek is the best one I have tried so far, The PC came second and the ATI 3rd.

[AnAtOmEE]

I reccommend the Sapphire and FIC, both the reviews I have read OC higher than a Hercules, stock.

[KennethChong]

I had a very good time with my Sapphire, better oc'er than my true ati 9800.

[sandman]

Doesn't Tyan build in temp sensors?

[Tom Holck]

Originally posted by Martijno2000
Hmm so the Powercolor is recommended here...let's see If they sell these cards here in The Netherlands...hopefully with the 2ns memory...

The hynix 2.2 ns on Powercolor is a "limited" production. Because hynix can't delever. The massproduktion Powercolor card is the same 2.86 ns as the rest.

:rolleyes:

[ctgilles]

Get a Hercules. I have had 5 and I'm really happy with them :)

[edesignuk]

I just got the Hercules, I am very happy with it, and it looks great to!

[Martijno2000]

PLz post some results of the Sapphire and Hercules....Core/memory (stock) and OC...

[mascot]

I have been thinking to buy R9800Pro too and my choice will be Sapphire or Hercules. I think I will buy Sapphire because it´s cheaper than Hercules. I don´t know for sure yet....we´ll see.

[Jupiler]

I can bench at 452/392 with my Hercules 9800 PRO. Any higher and I get a lockup (core won't go any higher). With some more mem voltage, 400Mhz was possible too.
But it's way to hot here to bench anyway.:D

[Lunatic]

Sapphire seems to clock really good aswell as Hercules so i would go with any of those

[Amperage]

I ordered a sapphire from newegg. was tough choosing between it and the herc.. the $50 diff between the two finally won out.. plus the fact that the ramsinks on the herc while obviously better than nothing.. may be difficult to remove when I do volt mod the card. I'm gonna be water cooling the gpu and mem so eventually I'll definately be removing whatever ramsinks the card had originally

[ALT-F13]

Question is not about the brand, but the actual card. It's just a matter of luck:) Herc's radeons are definetely the best on stock (due to copper ramsinks and nice looking copper cooler with LEDs on GPU, blue PCB... cool for casemodders). But as you are here on XtremeSystems you will remove that small copper crap from it:) So if ya think that stock ramsinks and blue PCB worth $50 - then buy Herc. All other cards are absolutely identical to reference board, just try to get more than 1 card to test and select best - helps a lot:)

[SupaMan]

I would get a Sapphire and then spend a little money on better cooling. Could come up cheaper and better than the hercules that way. The 9800 selection is disappointing, even Tyan didnt do anything cool with thiers...

[water_cooler 20]

My Sapphire R9800SE gets 421/360 at stock cooling w/ that I get 6k w/ 3dmark 03

[Lunatic]

Originally posted by water_cooler 20
My Sapphire R9800SE gets 421/360 at stock cooling w/ that I get 6k w/ 3dmark 03 that sux :(
All you need is a good card it doesnt matter what brand, you just need luck.
but the hercules often oc really good.

[water_cooler 20]

yeah the clock sucks but DDR2 makes up for it and soon its going to WC the core but u should get a normal R9800 and use the extra money for cooling.i always get Sapphire cards since they usally OC well or u can try your luck for a R9800 powercolor w/ good Vram

[Amperage]

have had a few hours to play with my 9800
460/375 stock.. just cleaned up the poor excuse for thermal compound sapphire used and applied some as3 before that it was 430mhz core.

I'd have to say I'm pleased so far.. my 9700pro with all the vmods and sinks made it to 430/380. I imagine once I use the same torture techniques.. Umm I mean tender loving care on my 9800 it should be prime for ~500 core and ~400 mem

it's had the easy life today. tomorrow comes the mods.. time to let the card know who's boss :)

[Ace-a-Rue]

I have the Hercules and I'm very happy with it. I looked over the PC. I decided I wanted copper heat sinks on all the memory and even the backside of the core chipset that paying an extra $60 was worth it, especially when I didn't want to do it myself.:)

Here is my Hercules at 235 fsb. The VC is not o/c'd.

[Lunatic]

nice score!
Now OC your vid card ! we want to see some results

[BrainStorm]

Originally posted by Lunatic
nice score!
Now OC your vid card ! we want to see some results

Yeah. let us know how it oc's. That's what matters! ;)

[Ace-a-Rue]

Originally posted by BrainStorm
Yeah. let us know how it oc's. That's what matters! ;)

Just so happen I have an o/c pic for the VC at 446 core and 371 memory. I am using the standard cooling solution. This is the best I could do at 235 fsb on my Asus P4P800 with a 3G@3.525:

[Lunatic]

Originally posted by Ace-a-Rue
Just so happen I have an o/c pic for the VC at 446 core and 371 memory. I am using the standard cooling solution. This is the best I could do at 235 fsb on my Asus P4P800 with a 3G@3.525: great work :toast:

[BrainStorm]

Yeah, nice job...I guess I'm gonna have to do something about my video soon....this GF4 Ti 4200 just ain't cutting it anymore! :(

[kevdogg]

yeah, i don't think my geforce 2 gts is cuttin it half as much as that ti4200:D

[Amperage]

after vmem mod and some custom ramsink manufacturing I managed to squeeze 460 core/405 mem artifact free. Time to work on vgpu mod

3dmark 2001 = 23036 (http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=6676036)

3dmark 2003 = 7154 (http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k3=954788)

[Firelord-OCHW]

Well for people living in the UK OCS (http://www.theoverclockingstore.co.uk) has dropped the price of its connect 3D 9800 Pro by £60 in the last 3-3.5 weeks :eek: :smileysex :banana: it's now £282 all in inc VAT and Del!!!

Best deal i've seen (apart from dabs Gigabyte 9800 Pro for £275 or crucials £289)

[Ace-a-Rue]

Originally posted by Lunatic
great work :toast:

Thanks! Would of liked it to crack 21K but I will accept it:).....