9800 Np?

Hello there,

I was browsing Ebuyer.co.uk, not actually looking for anything to purchase in particular, when i came across this beauty -

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...duct_uid=50951

£217!

Sounds like a steal to me! Since i have £200 burning a whole in my pocket. But i've never actually heard of a 9800 NP, and havent been able to locate a review anywhere.
How does this little card compare to a 9700 pro?
Will my current specs give it anything to work with?

AMD Athlon 1.4 GHZ DDR (last in the thunderbird range)
512 DDR RAM
Geforce 2 mx 400 (upgrading)
ASUS AGP 4X
19 Inch FLAT screen and 5.1 Surround

The main concern is the AGP 4X, but i hear 8X is just a gimmick...also, does this card install the same as a 9700 Pro?
Also, anyone know the benchmarks, or compared to a 9800 Pro?

Any help would be appreciated :D

Its not as good as a 9700pro which can be had for £200

i got one tis good am pleased with it get about 10k on 3dmark 2001 but my system aint that celver tbh :P

runs all my games good atm

good card just not a bargain at hthat price

you think i should get a 9700 pro instead m8ty?

:D Specs for the respective cards (from my notes):

9800PRO (0.15) 380/340 256bitDDR 8pipes 21.8GB/s 3.2Gp/s
9800 . . . (0.15) 325/310 256bitDDR 8pipes 19.8GB/s 2.6Gp/s
9700PRO (0.15) 325/310 256bitDDR 8pipes 19.8GB/s 2.6Gp/s
9700 . . . (0.15) 275/270 256bitDDR 8pipes 17.6GB/s 2.2Gp/s

:cool: The technology is virtually ideantical except the 9800 series has a number of optimisations. Most vital is the T-buffer which should be VERY important when DX9 games hit the shelves. Other than that the optimisations are pretty minor but most notable is enhanced AA+AF which IIRC takes half the hit of the already fabulous ATI AA+AF. If the info above is correct the 9800 is definitely better BUT with Ebuyer being Ebuyer (well dodgy IMHO) I'd watch out you aren't getting the 9800SE cards which should be arriving soon ... there is 2 types one with 128bitDDR which should be just above the 9600PRO (ie 9500PRO speed) and another with 256bit DDR which will fit in just behind the 9800, basicly where the 9700 (non PRO) sat. The 9800SE will only have 4 pipes instead of the 9800 std 8, but they should be based on the 0.13mu process meaning much higher clocks. HTH!

Cheers for that sound advice austin, you know of any other sites i can purcahse a 9800 np?

Sapphire 9800 NP
£216 inc. VAT Tekheads
£218 inc. VAT Overclock

Unknown brand at Aria £217 inc. VAT

Cheers m8, now all i gotta do is explain about this card to my family. This is the hardest part....:(

personally i think a 9800np makes more sense than a 9700pro

simply because the 9800np has similar performance but better optimisations and newer technology (more room for improvement)

if your lucky you can flash the card with a pro bios and have something which performs almost as good as a 9800pro... can a 9700pro do that? no

as long as it aint locked u dont need to flash to clock it, i dont know about later cards but sapphire were making there 9700np's factory unlocked which is a very good thing :D (i have one)

get a 9800 simply because not many have heard theres a non pro so they think u got better :D

also im sure the 9800np would perform better esp when clocked cos of optimisations

yes 8x agp is a gimmic, i doubt any cards will acctually take advantage of it becuase pci-x will be out soon, cards will use an adaptor of some kind when pci-x mobos arrive, later on the cards will support pci-x when they need the b/w

lol a 9800np isnt that unheard of

its not locked no, but flashed with a pro bios gives better performance, for one people have been able to o/c more

ehm the difference between agp4x and 8x isnt noticeable at all... other factors are limiting...

pci-express wont be viable for a few years anyway - what on earth is going to need it within 2yrs?