Buying an ATI Radeon 9800XT

[lmponte]

Hi guys!

I live in Portugal and I'd like to buy an ATI Radeon 9800XT. The problem is that they are much more expensive here than in the rest of Europe.

Does anyone know of any European website that'll ship the card to Portugal, and that has a reasonabel price?

Thank you

[comphollic]

I wouldn't recommend you buying a 9800XT because they are so expensive
save your cash and buy 9800Pro...If you are going to spend that much money for the 9800xt, might as well wait for the next gen of video cards to come out

[TheFlightMan]

Before you dish out that much money for a video card, make sure you have the processor and MB to back it up. People think that the video card is the deciding factor when it comes to FPS, its not. The processor will make the difference then followed by the card and RAM.

I would not spend that kind of money on a video card, come April, a slew of new products will be coming out. You are talking about new cards and standards, I would hold off if you wish to get a higher end card or wait to see how much the new cards will go for and what they are offering.

TheFlightMan

[Bigshot]

Check this review. Comparing a 9700Pro to a 9800XT. The 9700Pro can be had for about $200 bucks. A real bang for the buck. If you can still find one. I've seen em' for sale around; but you gotta really look for em'. They're getting kinda scarce.

http://www.rage3d.com/content/reviews/video/asus9800xt/

[TheFlightMan]

BigShot,

I would not spend money on departing technology, yes, the 9700 Pro is a good card but you can't find one. You can get a 9800 for about $240, personally, I think this would be a better purchase.

TheFlightMan

[comphollic]

If you are lucky you might find a 9800 for $200...i wouldn't buy a 9800 if it cost $240 because for $298 you can get a Retail BBA9800 PRO off newegg...i belive the best bang for your buck would be nvidia's 5900XT which you can get for $190 who's performnce is between the Ati 9700 and 9700PRO

[Bigshot]

I wouldn't buy Nvidia cards. They're departing technology.

9800XT Top Dog. Number uno
9800Pro Second in line to the thrown
9700Pro Runner up (Pretty good since its over a year and a half old); but still very respectable)

[TheFlightMan]

Bigshot,

I agree in one thing, the shader performance for all NVidia cards is terrible and looking at the company overall does not give you a pretty picture. NVidia seems to be a company that wants to do a little bit of everything but not one thing good enough.

The 5900XT seems to give a lot better performance for the mid-range market, however, the shader issues also come with it. Looking at ATI and reading different articles throughout the web, you realize that driver issues are still problem for them under certain setups. Hence, the only worry I have about ATI cards in today's world. Just today, I read several posts on Rage3D about the 4.1 drivers and a ton of people were complaining previous issues showing up in the new release.

So to summarize my post, I have to agree with Bigshot that NVidia seems to be steering to nowhere nowadays. Leaves you thinking whether or not to invest in their products. As I have mentioned before in the past, I almost bought a 9600XT during Xmas and decided to cancel the order after reading about the 5900XT. Now I am researching the 9800 series since they have become more affordable, depending on how I see things, I might end up with a 9800 after all. It's a shame to see a company such as NVidia not have a road map of what it plans to do in the future. Are they going to stick with GPUs/VPUs or simply depart from the market and begin manufacturing MBs with integrated video cards.

I should also note that ATI has been following the same approach but not as much as NVidia. Only time will tell but it is not looking good so far.

TheFlightMan

[Bigshot]

I'm curious as to how you like that 5900XT? It sounds like a good buy for what you get. Surprised me that Nvidia would offer a card with those specs for so little money. Post some screenies.

As far as Nvidia goes, we'll have to wait and see if they can deliver on the NV40? I think that card will tell whether or not they plan on continuing to be a serious competitor in the high end video card arena. They've got great mid range cards. But ATI is coming on strong again with their near launch of the R420.

As far as radeon drivers go, I think they're rock solid. Then again, I did my research and bought an Intel Processor 2.53 and Motherboard 4xAGP D850EMV2 mid 2002. It was reported to be the slowest; but the most stable of the bunch. Speed really doesn't matter much in a motherboard as long as its 4x or 8x capable and you pay at least $100+ for it and stay away from the motherboards that don't get along with ATI cards. There's still a few of em' out there.