Radeon 9800 Pro Warning

SpinnerSpinner Birmingham, UK
edited June 2004 in Science & Tech
Guru3D reports some interesting info about a cheap version of the Radeon 9800 Pro ATI graphics card that is apparently doing the rounds at the moment. Check it out.
I was just checking our forums and noticed that people are able to buy a Radeon 9800 Pro in the 170-180 USD range, and they have no clue why the card was so cheap. Fantastic price, yet a way too low price. It's a Radeon 9800 pro alright, yet equipped with 128-bit memory where it should be 256-bit. Basically frame buffer bandwidth is cut in half and despite full eight pipes it's placing itself in the mid-range segment as core and memory clocks are lowered also. This will have a serious effect on overall performance. Take a Suzuki Hayabusa motor cycle which can do like 300 KPH yet it is forced to drive on a small road where it will never exceed 100 KPH. Look at the Suzuki as the Radeon 9800 Pro and the road the memory bandwidth.
Source: Guru3D

Comments

  • entropyentropy Yah-Der-Hey (Wisconsin)
    edited June 2004
    oh god ... is there a way to verfiy you have 256 bit memory? i bought my 9800 pro from buyxtremegear (NO ONE EVERY BUY THERE, IT'S CRAP) but mine said ATi, and it has a silver heatsink ... so is there a test or some program that can tell you?
  • entropyentropy Yah-Der-Hey (Wisconsin)
    edited June 2004
    Dzhedaj
    Member Guru

    Registered: Apr 2002
    Posts: 67
    The 128bit version uses different memory (called BGA I think)
    The memory is not square but the size ratio is rather 1x2. I think that's the only visual difference...Some of them use different heatsinks, but that depends on the company selling the card....

    i saw this posted on the guru3d site's comments on this article ... can anyone verify this?
  • Mt_GoatMt_Goat Head Cheezy Knob Pflugerville (north of Austin) Icrontian
    edited June 2004
    The 128 bit version is being sold everywhere, including Newegg. They have a Saphire 128 bit but if you read all of the print you will see it.
  • hoojhooj Bournemouth, UK
    edited June 2004
    This was taken from www.scan.co.uk
    You can tell if a 9800 has 128bit interface by the memory chip configuration on the PCD. If they are in a straight line (looks like a 9500 Pro) its 128bit. If its a 256bit card, the memory has an 'L' shape configuration, 2 along the side & 2 along the back.
  • kanezfankanezfan sunny south florida Icrontian
    edited June 2004
    a lot of the 9500 pros had L shape configuration too
  • entropyentropy Yah-Der-Hey (Wisconsin)
    edited June 2004
    yep, mine are square shaped memory blocks, and they are in L configuration .. whew ... i thought i was getting screwed for a minute there lol
  • EyesOnlyEyesOnly Sweden New
    edited June 2004
    My 9800 pro is a 128 mb but i know that. If i would have gotten the 256 version it would have costed as much as a x800. BTW mine's a saphire so i know it's good. What's so wrong with the 128 mb version.
  • TheBaronTheBaron Austin, TX
    edited June 2004
    no no no they aren't talking about the 128 MB vs 256 MB versions, they're talking about the 128-bit vs the 256-bit versions.

    for example, if i bought a 128-bit 128mb 9800 pro it would be about half as fast as a 256-bit 128mb 9800 pro, because the memory bandwidth has been cut in half
  • Omega65Omega65 Philadelphia, Pa
    edited June 2004
    Basically it's an updated 9500Pro card. As the original 9500Pro was a 128bit version of the 9700Pro.
Sign In or Register to comment.