Your vote for best 9800 XT

[Donny John]

Which is the best?

[Zak33]

get a 9800 Pro matey......without a doubt....the best value for money ever....SAVE the extra for summit else to make you go faster

My £0.02

[luke313]

I'd say get a pro aswell, but to answer your question the Hercules is the best one IMO. Either the Herc or the Asus as the others just follow the ATi reference design (Heatsinks, Ramsinks etc), but you end up paying the extra for it so it may not be such a good deal. If you're in the market for a high end graphics card ATM I would wait until the new graphics cards come out (March I think was the last date I heard about) or get a nice midrange card as a stop-gap as you are going to lose less money on reselling it.

[marc_ellis]

This is quite a hard question as all 9800 XTs are the same, guess it all comes down to the software package.

[Insomniak]

Just go for the one with the best warranty.
I'd go for Hercules (3 Year warranty)

[Stringent]

I said Sapphire, cos I can

[floppybootstomp]

I like Hercules. Usually comes with good software package and has a good quiet cooling system, their own design. Price is reasonable too.

On line backup is quite OK as well, it may take them 24 hours or so, but they do answer.

As for Sapphire, maybe I'm biased, but ever since one of their cards was DOA and took out a motherboard, sound card & NIC, I wouldn't touch 'em with a barge pole. Imo, you only get what you pay for, and Sapphire are cheaper than most.

[Spud1]

i would say herc aswell - tho im gonna get a herc 9800pro not XT as i dont think that the extra £100 is worth it, esp since i doubt that i'll ever play at 1600x1200 which is the only res where theres a big diff between the cards. £100 is a lot to pay for 10fps

[floppybootstomp]

Originally posted by Spud1
i would say herc aswell - tho im gonna get a herc 9800pro not XT as i dont think that the extra £100 is worth it, esp since i doubt that i'll ever play at 1600x1200 which is the only res where theres a big diff between the cards. £100 is a lot to pay for 10fps

tell ya what spud, you've actually made me pause for thought

I was saving up me pennies and hope to sell a few things soon, just to buy a Herc 9800XT for around £350.00.

But really, an extra £100.00? This has made me think.

And you just know that in six to nine months time the 9800XT will only cost around half as much (maybe).

atm I'm using an ATI 8500 128Mb, I play most games at 1064 x 768. Only game I've had a slight prob with is Halo, gets a little choppy during intense battle scenes.

As long as a 9800 Pro can handle Doom3; HL2 et al, I'd be happy.

The 9800 Pro suddenly just became attractive

[Spud1]

glad that i helped save your £££

[SilentDeath]

first, id say sapphire, firstly because they fololow reference desinges - MUCH EASYER WHEN YOU WANT TO VMOD IT, which you will when it starts to get a liitle old.

secondly because they are a good manuf that make most of the othr brands at there factorys (ati, think some others do too...).

whats the price difference for 9800pro->xt? the only difference will be cooler and the ram chips used, also maybe stock voltage may be raised for the xt. i expect the same core is used...

artic cooling make what is suppost to be the best air cooler for the r9x00 series, costs about £15-20.. so if you can justifty spending £x0 more just for ram rated half a nanosecond quicker, then get the xt

i regrt not spending £20 more for the 9700 pro (i have non pro) as the mem on all of the pros was samsung - clocks nicely and was rated higher at stock. i have crappy infinion whihc cant clock more than 15mhz over the rated without vmods.. which i cba to do as i doubt ill get much + my mem is hot already

[knock_knock]

All 9800xt cards are made in the same place and are reference design, apart from the ASUS with the added VIVO and elaborate cooling system. Bundles obviously vary tho