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Is the 9800 XT a worthwhile upgrade from a 8500 ?

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C

Calidan

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Joined
Aug 12, 2005
Greetings, i am thinking of picking up a 9800 XT 256mb for $130 for my sons computer, he currently has an old 8500 le 128mb.

would it really be worth upgrading to or just a waste of money ?

edit-Meant to also add that he plays BF2, dark age of camelot, UT 2004 and world of warcraft.
 
Last edited:
Yes, I believe it would be worth it. 9800XT is still a very decent card.

I just upgrading my sons video card from a Ti4800 to a 9600XT(#3). The results are very good. Only a few FPS more, but the detail is much higher than the Ti.
 
Calidan said:
Greetings, i am thinking of picking up a 9800 XT 256mb for $130 for my sons computer, he currently has an old 8500 le 128mb.

would it really be worth upgrading to or just a waste of money ?

edit-Meant to also add that he plays BF2, dark age of camelot, UT 2004 and world of warcraft.
Click to expand...


Any 9800xt will frag an 8500le, so he will notice a great difference. BF2 and those games should be no problem (as long as he doesn't get too excited and turn up AA and AF to max :p )

So IMO it'd be worth upgrading.

Dan
 
Thats a pretty good deal for a 9800xt definetly an uprgrade over the 8500.


You could also pick up a 6800le from newegg for $125 and probably flash it ot 12pipes/6vertex for cheap also
 
speed bump said:
Thats a pretty good deal for a 9800xt definetly an uprgrade over the 8500.


You could also pick up a 6800le from newegg for $125 and probably flash it ot 12pipes/6vertex for cheap also
Click to expand...


How would the 6800Le compare speedwise to the 9800 XT ?
With and without a successfull unlock of the extra pipes/shadesr ?

Also wanted to ask if going with a 256MB card over a 128mb card is actually worth it ? I keep seeing benchmarks where the 256mb cards are a lil slower then their 128mb cousins.
 
Well if the ram being used in a card is DDR1 then the 256mb versions will be alittle slower, but if the ram is GDDR3 like what is on the 6800GT then 256mb is just as good as the 128. The regular 6800 and 6800le come with 128mb of regular DDR1 ram and will perform very well. The 9800XT is a good card, but i belive that the 6800le and 6800 will beat the 9800XT, but if your son's computer doesnt have a good cpu (A64, maybe an oced barton) then getting the 6800 will be a bit of a waste since the cpu will be the bottle neck instead of the vid card like it is now.

Just my 2cents
 
Get a 6800LE, better card for same money.

DragoXT, the only reason that the 256mb versions of cards are sometimes slower is that the manufacturer wants to save money when they buy more expensive higher density ram, so they get ram that can't run as fast or with as tight timings.
 
either of the cards would be good. I'd go with the 6800LE as it is a superior card to the 9800xt no matter how you look at it. If you can unlock the extra pipes it's even better.
 
My sons setup is...

2600 mobile barton running at 12x200=2.2ghz it would go farther but i didnt want to have to keep a close eye on his computer for problems.

Asus a7n8x deluxe MB.

1 gb of generic pc3200 DDR.

Radeon 8500le 128mb.


I dont know if his CPU/MB would be a bottleneck or not....
 
so a 6800le is faster then the 9800xt even if you cannot unlock it at all ?
 
Yes. In the computer I am using right now, it is a 2.2Ghz barton with 1gb of pc3200 memory on a shuttle an35n ultra. We used to have an msi 9800xt but now have a leadtech 6800le.
 
hmm i may have to buy 2 of those 6800le's, im still using an old 9700 pro myself.
 
Seabee said:
Thats how computers work in my household. Works pretty good, no 'wasted' parts. :)
Click to expand...

Same here, all of these other systems are all stuff from my old comps. Its how i convince my parents to let me buy new stuff, lol!!

Well i have a sapphire 9800xt and a 2600 mobile at 2.5ghz all on a A7n8x-e deluxe. I am able to run BF2 at 1280@1024 with all medium settings. But these guys know what there talking about with the 6800le so go with it i guess. :)
 
Seabee said:
Thats how computers work in my household. Works pretty good, no 'wasted' parts. :)
Click to expand...

Works same for me too.

I would go for something like a 6800LE if he has the PSU for it. Then sell the 8500 or something and that should supliment like, what? 40 or 50 bucks of it?
 
I would personally stay away from the 9800XT due to heat issues. I went through two of them on a well cooled computer before I finally bought an X800Pro (which runs nice and cool). I would buy a 9800Pro before I bought another 9800XT unless I had a watercooled system.

I sold my 9800XT to a friend of mine about a year ago and guess what. It baked itself in his computer too. I believe he just got it back from ATI. Just my opinion and my experience but there are far better options out there. A normal pro, a 6800 or an X800.
 
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