5900xt or ati 9800 pro

7

72montecarlo

New Member
Im torn between spending 200$ on a 5900xt. or about 250$ for a 9800 pro. The nvidia has 128mb onboard and the ati card has 256mb which doesnt bother me its not going to be making the difference in performance. They are both 256bit. The core on the ati is 380 and the nvidia is 390. the memory bus on the ati is 700 and is also 700 on the nvidia card. Not just this but ive read many good reviews and from the cooling already available on the nvidia card it can be overclocked to somewhere in the range of a 5900 ultra to a 5950ultra.

5900ultra:450/850
5950ultra:475/950

With overclocking on one website it achieved 474/870.
Overclock Numbers
on newegg some people had even higher scores at 1000mhz memory bus surpassing the 5950 ultra on a 200$ card.

My main question is the ati has ddrII and the nvidia card has ddrI. How big of a difference would it make having ddrII over ddrI since there both 256bit anyway. im thinking go with the nvidia for the best bang for the buck but what do you think?
 
Praetor

Praetor

Administrator
Staff member
Depends on the price difference. If the 5900XT is at least $30 less than thats the card i'd pick .. even still i'd prolly grab the 9800Pro ... its the better card :)
 
B

Bobo

banned
The 9800 is better, but I would choose the 5900, just bc I would. I like nvidia better than ati.
 
7

72montecarlo

New Member
So you would choose the 9800 just cause you like it better for whatever reason not specifically cause its ddrII over the 5900 xt's ddrI. one way or the other would you think in a game like doom 3 for example would that alone make much difference?
 
Cromewell

Cromewell

Administrator
Staff member
a 9800pro will run doom3 just fine, it is much more powerful than the 5900xt and even the nvidia opengl boost can't overcome the difference. The 9800pro 128meg has better fps than a 5900ultra
4403.png
 
Praetor

Praetor

Administrator
Staff member
So you would choose the 9800 just cause you like it better for whatever reason not specifically cause its ddrII over the 5900 xt's ddrI.
Click to expand...
The type of memory isnt that big of a deal (not to mention the problems with GDDR2 ... which was why they fixed it with GDDR3 :p). The real reason is that the 9800 is a DX9 card and the 5900 tries to be a DX9 card

The 9800pro 128meg has better fps than a 5900ultra
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For some manufacturers, the 128MB has a higher clock ... dunno cant remember which.

overclockable hynix RAM chips, great stock cooling, core also very fast and flexible for overclocking.
Click to expand...
No amount of OCing will save the 5900 from the DX9 codepath (and for that price too) :)
 
4

4W4K3

VIP Member
Praetor said:
No amount of OCing will save the 5900 from the DX9 codepath (and for that price too) :)
Click to expand...

Card is pretty popular (one i linked), it couldn't have been that bad if it was one of the best out of the 5900XT series (or so i've read/been told).
 
Praetor

Praetor

Administrator
Staff member
Card is pretty popular (one I linked), it couldn't have been that bad if it was one of the best out of the 5900XT series (or so i've read/been told).
Click to expand...
No doubt its one of the best of the 59 series but i was referring to the entire series ... about the way it was one of the more popular cards:
- My "people vote" argument :p
- The big reason thr 5900XT was successful was because nothing else worth getting was in the $150-$200 category. Now there is the 6600/6600GT
- I have no problem with the 5900s as a DirectX8 card but running the DX9 codepath (which is what future games will be based on), no amount of OC wil overcome the poor design of the chip (which is what me and Cromwell are getting at)
Especially since the 6600 is cheap(er) ... the 5900's role of low-midrange (budgetwise) card gets kinda shafted.
 
4

4W4K3

VIP Member
Praetor said:
No doubt its one of the best of the 59 series but i was referring to the entire series ... about the way it was one of the more popular cards:
- My "people vote" argument :p
- The big reason thr 5900XT was successful was because nothing else worth getting was in the $150-$200 category. Now there is the 6600/6600GT
- I have no problem with the 5900s as a DirectX8 card but running the DX9 codepath (which is what future games will be based on), no amount of OC wil overcome the poor design of the chip (which is what me and Cromwell are getting at)
Especially since the 6600 is cheap(er) ... the 5900's role of low-midrange (budgetwise) card gets kinda shafted.
Click to expand...

oh ok i understand. i thought they had games out now built on DX9? and i am also looking at 6600GT, but the PCI-E versions. AGP8X versions i could get now, but i'm planning on a new rig in the next year and want to try some new stuff.
 
4

4W4K3

VIP Member
Praetor said:
They do and the 59xx gets pwnd every time, right along with the rest of the GeForceFX line
Click to expand...

oh i thought u said "when they start making...", lol im a bad reader:) I played Thief 3 on my friends 5900XT card (it overheated loads...but i put an 80mm on it and it ran for hours)...i iddn't notice any lag or sprites, no overclocking or anything. I think thats the most graphically intense game i have.
 
7

72montecarlo

New Member
So then would going with a 6600 be a better idea since it better supports dx9? I cant seem to find any 256 bit versions of the 6600 however. just 128bit with gddr3. How bad could the 5900 really be with the 256bit interface. Its capable of being overclocked to about a 5950 ultra.

How would you compare it to a card like this
6600GT

Or even a budget 235$ 6800LE?
 
Last edited:
Praetor

Praetor

Administrator
Staff member
So then would going with a 6600 be a better idea since it better supports dx9?
Click to expand...
Between the 9800Pro and the 6600, the 9800Pro is the better card for most purposes (even 300/550

9800Pro
Clock: 380/680 GDDR2
Memory Interface: 256Bit
Pipe Configuration: 8/2

6600
Clock: 300/550 DDR
Memory Interface: 128
Pipe Configuration: 8/3

i cant seem to find any 256 bit versions of the 6600 however. just 128bit with gddr3.
Click to expand...
Thats because they dont exist. 6600s are all 128bit.

How bad could the 5900 really be with the 256bit interface. Its capable of being overclocked to about a 5950 ultra.
Click to expand...
As ive said a bunch of times, no amount of clocking will save the FX from the DX9 codepath
 
4

4W4K3

VIP Member
Since the 6600GT is faster, uses GDDR3, and is clocked 500/1000,(pci-e version),it performs bettter than the 9800PRO correct?
 
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