ATI 9700 Pro to 9800 Pro?

[@drian]

Has anyone sold their 9700 Pro to upgrade to a 9800 Pro? I was
considering upgrading to a 9800 Pro so I don't have to upgrade early
next year. Only problem is, from the articles I read, the performance
doesn't seem that much of an improvement over the 9700 Pro card.
Second hand, I'd probably get $150 for it, then having to pay $350+
for a 9800 Pro with slightly better performance doesn't seem to make
sense.

@drian.

 

[John Hall]

It doesn't make sense. Bang for the buck is definitely not there since the
9800 pro is simply a refined 9700 pro. What I do is wait and skip a
generation of cards before upgrading. For example, my last card was a GF 3
classic. I now have a 9800 non pro which gave my a nice increase in eye
candy and a modest increase in frame rate.

JK

 

[John Boy]

Why not use the Omega 2.4.74 drivers then set the 9700 core to 378MHz and
the 9700 memory to 337.5MHz (9800 Pro defaults).

John

 

[Wayne Youngman]

"@drian" wrote

Has anyone sold their 9700 Pro to upgrade to a 9800 Pro? I was
considering upgrading to a 9800 Pro so I don't have to upgrade early
next year. Only problem is, from the articles I read, the performance
doesn't seem that much of an improvement over the 9700 Pro card.
Second hand, I'd probably get $150 for it, then having to pay $350+
for a 9800 Pro with slightly better performance doesn't seem to make
sense.

Hi,
even though I am a Radeon nOOb I have been reading, reading. and reading
some more write-ups/reviews of newer Radeon cards, with the onus being on
FPS performance, fillrate, memory bandwidth, overclocking potential etc.

The 9700Pro at stock speeds appears to be a *TINY* fraction faster than a
stock 9800np, the 9800Pro at stock speed is clearly faster than a 9800Pro

FiringSquad - ATI RADEON 9800 Review
http://firingsquad.gamers.com/hardware/ati_radeon_9800_review/default.asp

Having said all this it may be the case that when it comes to overclocking
the 9800np really lets rip. I believe the GPU core on the 9800np is the
same as the Pro, but I'm sure the Pro has faster memory (2.8ns, 3ns vs. the
3.3ns on 9800np) but the results I have been seeing at Rage3D forums with
people taking the 9800np to Pro speeds and then some!

Rage3D - 9800np-Pro... post your O-C
www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?s=83a100d649384bb0b52bbb9d566a70d1&threa
did=33701955&perpage=20&pagenumber=1

I'm not sure that you should even consider upgrading your 9700Pro, but if
you can flog it you could surely afford a 9800np. . .

Wayne ][

 

[@ndrew]

It doesn't make sense. Bang for the buck is definitely not there since the
9800 pro is simply a refined 9700 pro.

Umm no ... different setup from the 9700 altogether ... do some research ..
the 9800 Pro and the 9600 are related but not the 9700.
regards
@ndrew

 

[Kirby Crosby]

actually you are incorrect.........
the 9600 pro is not related to the 9800 at all. 9600 is RV350 and the 9800
is R350. That is all they share in common.
And for the most part a 9800 is a "refined" 9700 , the made a few changes
but the basic architecture is the same.
In my opinion if you already have a 9700, switching to a 9800 is a bit of a
waste of cash as the differences are only 10-15%. Besides what games do you
have that you cant play on the 9700 pro?

 

[@drian]

It doesn't make sense. Bang for the buck is definitely not there
since the

9800 pro is simply a refined 9700 pro. What I do is wait and skip a
generation of cards before upgrading. For example, my last card was a GF 3
classic. I now have a 9800 non pro which gave my a nice increase in eye
candy and a modest increase in frame rate.

OK, so you would wait for the 9900 Pro? Seems a better idea. Saves
constantly upgrading all the time to keep up-to-date...

@drian.

 

[@drian]

waste of cash as the differences are only 10-15%. Besides what games
do you

have that you cant play on the 9700 pro?

I was thinking of Half-Life 2 and the DOOM III when it comes out? I
assume a 9700 Pro will handle those? I'm just not sure. I considered
it a safe bet by going with a 9800 Pro.

@drian.

 

[@drian]

even though I am a Radeon nOOb I have been reading, reading. and
reading

some more write-ups/reviews of newer Radeon cards, with the onus

being on

Yes, me too.

The 9700Pro at stock speeds appears to be a *TINY* fraction faster than a
stock 9800np, the 9800Pro at stock speed is clearly faster than a

9800Pro

You mean 9700 Pro? I have been reading the same thing. The 9800
Non-Pro and 9700 Pro are about even, with the 9700 Pro gaining some
ground in some benchmarks. The 9800 Pro is about 5% to 10% faster.

Having said all this it may be the case that when it comes to overclocking
the 9800np really lets rip.

I don't overclock anything on my system.

I'm not sure that you should even consider upgrading your 9700Pro, but if
you can flog it you could surely afford a 9800np. . .

That's the problem, I doubt I'd even get $200 for my card, with it
being second hand.

@drian.

 

[John Hall]

The 9800 pro is just too close to the 9700 pro. If the 9700 won't do Doom
III, then the 9800 sure as heck won't. Yeah, I'd wait for the 9900 pro, or
whatever the next generation of card is. As for me, I bought a 9800 non
pro, discovered that I could overclock it easily to a 9800 pro, and then
flashed the bios to make it a 9800 pro. Pretty slick I think. But I plan
to buy my next card in late 2005.

JK

 

[@drian]

The 9800 pro is just too close to the 9700 pro. If the 9700 won't do Doom
III, then the 9800 sure as heck won't. Yeah, I'd wait for the 9900 pro, or
whatever the next generation of card is.

Sounds like a good idea. That's just it, the 9700 Pro is too close to
justify spending $360. It's too minor an upgrade to spend that amount of
money.

As for me, I bought a 9800 non
pro, discovered that I could overclock it easily to a 9800 pro, and then
flashed the bios to make it a 9800 pro. Pretty slick I think. But I plan
to buy my next card in late 2005.

Wow, nice one! I personally don't overclock, but if you could get a 9800
Pro out of the Non-Pro - good on you!

@drian.

 

[[D.A]!@#Bourne]

how did u flash the bios and which company is ur card made from . GIVE ME
EVERY DETAIL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! lol . i cant wait to get a new video card and
now u tell me that a 9800 can be o/c to a 9800 pro and flashing the bios
will get the extra pipelines working . ur my hero . tell me quick how u did
that.

 

[John Hall]

Just go here and you will have all of the information you need:
http://www.rage3d.com/board/showthread.php?s=89bf38a8f00b2cf1865f547d493ba0f3&threadid=33695811

Make sure that on the disk on which you are putting the 9800 pro bios, you
include not only the flashrom.exe file, but also the flashrom.rom file and
the dos4gw.exe file.

I bought a Sapphire 9800 non pro. Apparently there are two kinds of 9800
non pro's, my kind and the SE model. Avoid the SE model since it either has
only 4 pixel pipelines, or the memory bandwidth has been limited to 128,
depending on which one you buy. The regular 9800 non pro card is exactly
the same as the pro version, except that its bios is set to run the card's
core and memory at a slower speed, and MAY have slower ram.

When I got my Sapphire 9800 non pro card, I downloaded the ATI omega
drivers, which are the same as the regular ATI drivers, only hacked to
permit you to overclock your card. I then gradually increased the clock
speed of the card and then tested it using the artifact tester that comes
with the Omega drivers. I found that I could easily overclock the card to
the same speed as a 9800 pro with absolutely no problems. After a week of
running the card at the overclocked speed without any problems whatsoever, I
decided to flash the bios of the card and make it a 9800 pro. There's
always a risk involved in doing this, but on the basis of the accounts of
success that I read, I decided to go for it. I did it, and now I have a
card that is recognized by XP as a 9800 pro and runs at pro clock speeds.
In fact, I think I could overclock the card from its pro speeds, but I'm not
going to, being thankful for what I have.

JK

how did u flash the bios and which company is ur card made from . GIVE ME
EVERY DETAIL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! lol . i cant wait to get a new video card and
now u tell me that a 9800 can be o/c to a 9800 pro and flashing the bios
will get the extra pipelines working . ur my hero . tell me quick how u did
that.
--
[D.A.]!@#Bourne

"To kill or not to kill ....... that is the question"

pro,
or

Sounds like a good idea. That's just it, the 9700 Pro is too close to
justify spending $360. It's too minor an upgrade to spend that amount of
money.


Wow, nice one! I personally don't overclock, but if you could get a 9800
Pro out of the Non-Pro - good on you!

@drian.