firebreathing 9800 pro vs average joe 9600 pro.......

[firelance]

hi ppl,
well,i got a system with the belowmentioned stats in my possession.....

P4 1.6 ghz
256mb DDR 333(however the mobo bus speed is only 200mhz so thats the max speed at which the ddr will run......
32mb onboard graphics S3 prosavage
mobo ECS make,VIA chipset,120 GB maxtor.....

rite,so i got them 2 cards in sight and am wondering if the 9800 pro will be a bottle neck for my system.......
i got a 9600 pro powercolor and it said on the pack... 400/400 memory/core speeds......well and i tried doing the 3d mark test and it returned the system specifications as ati R9600 series 200/400 mem/core......can anyone throw lite on this.....i'm uninitiated in this field but why this discrepancy...

now am wondering if i got swindled...is there any way i cud chk tht this is R9600 PRO.......and i cud definitely go for the 9800 pro dragon but will tht bottle neck my system.......makes no sense puttin a high end card into a low end system ,aye?

if i cud get a reply asap i wud be more than grateful......

thnx

 

[Mirob]

Thay must have gave you the wrong clocks, stores can be wrong, it's best to look at manufacturer's web sites for specs. 400mhz is way too high for a 9600's memory, 200 is just right. 400 core clock real is good. My 9600 All in Wonder is 200 mem/350 core, but I OC it with RivaTurner to 250 mem/380 core. Overclocking helps the 3d mark scores. Even with a 3.8ghz P4 I can only score around 2000 points in 3dmark05.

 

[firelance]

exactly..!

well, thts wht i thot but this is some EZ edition and it has a special 400/400 clock.....i figured tht maybe its ddr speed they were talkin abt and tht why they doubled 200 to 400......either tht or they ripped me off.....
thnx for the timely reply but wud the 9800 pro be a better card for my computer than the 9600 pro?
thnx

 

[Mirob]

I bet you see better performance with a 9800 pro. Eight pipes are better than four. You may be right about it being DDR speed.

 

[firelance]

cpu and gpu to go hand in hand

rite,
so are u sayin tht the 9800 wudnt be a bottle neck on my system....coz makes no sense puttin an overperforming gpu in an underperforming cpu....it will only be as fast as the slowest link......
i tried out doom3 with 9600 pro...the hero does not have a head i dunno why..theres just this black block on his shoulders and a coupla ppl also dont have it......weird aint it...
bye

 

[Mirob]

You cpu may be a bottle neck, but I think 9800 will perform better. If your 3Dmork05 is over 1000 with the 9600, I'm sure it will.

No head? Funny. Did you use the new Catlyst?

 

[jettwo]

Here's the prob, 1.6 ghz P4 and 256mb DDR333. You need to at least upgrade your memory to 1024mb, that would help overcome some of the small processor issues. As far as video cards, go with the 9800 Pro. You will not have a bottle neck in your machine for having a large GPU - there would be much more of an issue if you had a large processor and crappy video. But either way you go, there isn't a chance in hades that Doom 3 is going to run the way it should with 256mb of memory.

 

[iss]

so are u sayin tht the 9800 wudnt be a bottle neck on my system....coz makes no sense puttin an overperforming gpu in an underperforming cpu....it will only be as fast as the slowest link......

the 9800 pro is not the bottleneck your cpu and ram are the bottlenecks.

 

[firelance]

point taken

thnx for the help guys.......
actually i figured tht doom wudnt work with 256mb ram so i had borrowed another 256 mb stick.......
well as long as my cpu and ram wudnt bottleneck the R9800 i dont have any issues shelling out cash......but i dont know xactly how it works.....i'm wondering....
if the game and graphics is handled almost entirely by the gpu engine(and the cpu and ram has a small part to play) then will my system (with 512 mb ram) along with 9800pro be as good as maybe an amd 2500+ fitted with the same graphics card...or maybe almost as good......
if the answer is yea,i'm all game for 9800 and if the answer is no i'll havta rethink.......
cud anyone shed light on this.......i mean if i end up buyin 9800 pro and i try playin doom3 and the game frames coz my cpu and mobo bus speed sucks,then i mite just shoot myself.........
thnx again guys....

 

[Arcanum]

No, it wont perform as an AMD Athlon 2500+ with the same 9800Pro and 512MB of RAM, however, Doom 3 should still play smoothly.

However, get the 9800Pro in any way you can, 9800Pro aint so great anymore to start with, and you're considering a 9600?! That 9600 will chug with Doom 3, however, that 9800Pro with 512MB should enable you to have a smooth experience (no ultra settings though, and you'll have to do some .cfg tweaking ) in Doom3.
That 9800Pro aint a high-end card, perhaps even not in midrange any more, however, the rest of your system will be a bottleneck for it (but it will still kick *** in comparison to 9600) - if you can, get yourself another 256MB (512MB total) and a 9800Pro, Doom 3 should run fine with that, just dont overdo the settings!

 

[Mirob]

Doom 3 is more GPU than CPU. The P4 1.6 is a looser realy, not as good as a Athlon 1500.
My Doom 3 box says:
P4 1.5 or Athlon 1500
384 mb

Radeon 8500 or better
or
GeForce 3 or better

Minimums.

My 9600 plays it smooth, and so does my 9200.

 

[firelance]

rite,
i'm sittin on the horns of a dilemna now.....i'm gettin the ati R9800 pro 256 mb and not the R9800 pro 128 mb...is it worth goin for the former coz i dont think any games use tht xtra memory..and gpu's with larger memory are usually slower clocked thn their lower memory counterparts...
wht do u guys think? :knock:

 

[jettwo]

That is absolutely incorrect....there are MANY games that require the 256mb onboard. You are already buying an out-dated card in the world of gaming, at least get the card with the higher memory. You may also think about what you are going to do in the future, if you are planning an upgrade to a new motherboard and processor soon, or a new game in the near future, it may be worth the time to wait until you can afford something with a more up-to-date GPU. In the Quake 3 benchmark( at 1280x1024 resolution), the Geforce 6800 GT ran 388 FPS, the card you are going to purchase ran 155 FPS, certainly behind the times for todays standards. You mentioned that the GPU's with higher memory are usually clocked slower than the higher memory ones, That's untrue also. You must be looking at different versions of the cards, for example, a Geforce 6800gt and a Geforce 6800 ultra are clocked differently.

 

[Kev_Boy]

Games do use the extra memory, but whether a 9800 Pro would really benefit much from it.. I dunno. I'd go for the 128MB version because the memory might be faster like you said.

 

[Arcanum]

9800 pro 128MB and 9800pro with 256MB are clocked the same both on GPU and mem, no difference there.

Personally I would go for the 256MB version, if you're already buying an almost outdated card for the newest today's games, at least buy the stronger version.

Games today use the 256MB, some even benefit from 512MB, so even though you wont be able to run at max details/effects, you will still be able to use decent textures, as opposed to the 128MB version.

So, if you have the money, go for the 256MB 9800Pro.

 

[ink]

i have a 9700 pro and i dont have probs playing any games, no i cant set all of them to high settings but i try to get as close as i can. i am not far from high settings on most games i play. i am planning on getting a new card in a month or 2, but for now im not having issues. i play doom3, unreal, half life 2, f.e.a.r, and alot of other games.

my benchies
3dmark01=20135
3dmark03=5839
3dmark05=2608
aquamark3=46284

but i have a 64bit amd crankin out 2.7ghz and 1gig of mem on a dfi nf3 250gb

 

[MetalX]

I have a Radeon 9800PRO based on the RV360 GPU (i.e. 9800XT) and it runs most games fine. I was surprised that most games like Guild Wars and battlefront 2 had exactly the same fps on 6X AA and 16X AF as without them. (Around 70fps in guild wars and 55fps in Battlefront 2).. so as long as your not gonna be playing really high powered games like Doom 3, this is still about a mid range card.

P.S. The only reason i havent flashed it to a 9800XT is because its an AIW 9800PRO. . .

 

[ink]

my dads 9600

my dad has a 9600 256mb and he plays doom3 and other games like it also, hes a big unreal fan, and again he cant get the highest settings for quality but it still looks pretty good. all in all if you are not a major high end gamer a 9800 pro will play these games just fine, it just depends on how picky u r with the quality. but on the other hand u can get a better card such as these (x800's) for neer the same price as a 9800pro and they are more up to date and better, check them out at www.newegg.com