Graphics Card Dilemma

[Howard]

Right I'm gonna buy myself a new graphics card I think. It's the only thing left in my PC to be updated

I've narrowed it down pretty much to either the:

Asus Radeon 9600XT 128MB
Or the
Ridiculously cheap Sapphire 9800Pro 128MB Lite Retail

Now my questioning is as follows...

I've been hearing a bit recently about the build quality and reliability of Sapphire cards. My mate has bought two Sapphires (A 9600Pro and a 9600XT), both of which the fan has become knackered and started making a whining noise. This also started happening when he put a Crystal Orb to replace the first one. Maybe it's just bad luck, but it's made me VERY hesitant to buy a Sapphire, a company which I used to think made excellent graphics cards.

So do I buy the cheaper, yet a lot more powerful* Sapphire card and hope that luck is on my side and the fan doesn't die after 3 months. OR do I buy a card that isn't quite as powerful, slightly more expensive, but made by a manufacturer which I think very highly of, and hear no complaints about?

That's the dilemma kids, help me out here!!


* - That's another thing... Why is this particular Sapphire so cheap? Is it a glorified OEM version of the 9800Pro? "Lite-Retail" doesn't impair the power of this card does it?


Thanks in advance!

[Russ]

get the 9800pro, saphire cards are fantastic, and _IF_ the fan dies, perfect excuse to get a VGA cooler

[Zak33]

I'm with Russ......(as normal,its becoming a bit of a trend...he must be getting as clever as me )

9800 Pro....LE means no rubbish bundled....and I am sure that Sapphire made everybody's ATI cards once....Im sure they used tomake ATI's card for them.

Just a thought.....but Im fairly sure they were an official factory....so quality should be ok...

[Howard]

But my mate is firmly against me getting it cos of the fans.. Two of his started whining horrendously..

Otherwise I agree Sapphire are good, but it's the fans

If the fan does die, how long will the card be able to run without the fan working, before the card frys? :

[Russ]

but the extra power is worth the risk, and like i said, you can pick up a VGA Cooler for like 15 squid. and the it'll clock to the high hevens no problem

[Howard]

To hell with it. 9800 Pro it is. I'll order it sometime in the next week or two. Thing is I will need to write my parents a cheque or something cos of DAMN KOMPLETT not accepting Solo

[Russ]

or draw the money out and pay it them in cash

[Howard]

That's an awful lot more effort

[Lord Kordir]

Reckon it's worth my upgrading to this 9800 from my Gainward GS GF4 Ti4400?

[Howard]

Absolutely. DirectX 9 and a whole lot more power

[Lord Kordir]

Not sure whether to wait a generation......Kinda want 256Mb of DDR2

[Howard]

If you keep waiting you'll never get anywhere. That's my analagy

[Lord Kordir]

True, but I just want a card that will run HL2 with AA enabled and everything on at 1600x1200 with a good number of fps

[blockers]

I think its probably best to wait - as my ti4200 (303/621) runs everything fine. May as well wait until either the new GPU's come out, or until proper DX9 games start coming out HL2/D3 stuff....

Will

[unrealrocks]

Yeah - I'd hang around, as the GF4Tis still run everything around well. Just you don't have DX9 ... I think I'll wait for the DX9.1 cards to turn up ... and drop in price

[Applecrusher]

and dont forget upgrading now is pretty useless as the PCIX is coming!!
DAMN... why did i have to upgrade?