Which card outperforms and why? 9600xt vs 9800xt

I have a friend that runs a 9600xt and I have a 9800xt. I've never messed around with a 9800xt so I was very suprised to hear that her card is clocked almost 100mhz higher than mine stock. Why does the 9800xt have a slower gpu than the 9600xt? Also why is the mem bandwidth lower on the 9800xt? I know the 9800xt has 8 pipelines instead of 6, but how does it really compare against the 9600xt? What makes the 9800xt the top card at the moment? (Not including the new ATI cards X800/X800xt)

Ok first off, the 9600XT has 4 pipes. so your GPU IS 2x as fast as a 9600XT clock for clock. what is bigger, 500X4, or 380X8? 380X8 is larger.

Your card also has 256 bit memory bandwith, while your friend's is 128 bit, your memory is 2X as fast at the same clocks as well. 730X256 vs 600X128, again yours is dramatically larger.

The 9800XT is about 2X as fast as a 9600XT.

thats becuase the 9600XT has has 4 pipelines and 128 "Bit" mem and the 9800XT has 8 pipelines and 256 "Bit" so overall the 9800XT GPU can do more things plus the extra Mem bandwidth makes it nearly twice the speed

also the 9600XT only has 9.6GB/sec compared to the 9800XT's 23.4GB/sec

Edit: damn dguy6789 you must of been typing the same time as me lol

Thankyou very much for the quick and informative replies guys...I feel a lot better now, rather than that feeling(you know the one when you think you've made a really bad descision for a split second?)

Also I'm just curious as to what normal temps are for the on board temp monitor? Mine runs at about 55C idle...and it's watercooled. Seems kind of weird to me. My proc runs at about 26C idle in line with the gpu. Thanks again!

9600 is on a whole new design that allows for higher clockspeeds as well. 9800 is the old way. the x800 line uses the same type of process as the 9600's, so expect to see amazing clocks out of those cards, but with 16 pipes (i think).

i personally think thats abit high for watercooling but ive never had watercooling but aslong as its not giving artifacts i would say your safe

maybe it has something to do with your cpu inline with the gpu so when the water has left the cpu its already at 20C+ thats my guess tho

55C idle sounds extreamly high, my 5900U bairly broke 60C under full load, was only around 40C idle with the stock heatsink on it and the 5900U's put out more heat that then 9800XT's do, water cooled it's only around 18C idle, i'd try remounting the water block to the card, or posibly do you have a block not machined to fit inside the spacer (9800XT's still have them right? I know the older ones did).

shiltz said:

55C idle sounds extreamly high, my 5900U bairly broke 60C under full load, was only around 40C idle with the stock heatsink on it and the 5900U's put out more heat that then 9800XT's do, water cooled it's only around 18C idle, i'd try remounting the water block to the card, or posibly do you have a block not machined to fit inside the spacer (9800XT's still have them right? I know the older ones did).

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I'm using a Dangerden maze4 gpu block, made for ati and nvidia cards. It mounts up perfectly. Now the nvidia cards have a full heat spreader(kinda like P4's, where as the Ati seem to just have the open core(like AMD). I also used to use a swifty gpu block and remember getting about the same temps. Is it possible that the onboard temp module is just fubarred? Also I only put thermal past on the center core, not on the square metal that is spaced about 1/2" back from the core. Any ideas?

Also as a side note....I've touched the copper block and the backside of the ati card(the spot where the core sits, except on the other side of the card) and they don't seem hot....could it be my block isn't making contact with the core? I seated it perfectly.....is that shim holding it away from the core?

where did you buy the block from cause there are actualy 2 diferent maze 4 GPU blocks if you go to dangerden's site, an ATI specific block and a Nvidia specific block, the ATI block is machined to fit inside the metal spacer around the core as the spacer is (or at least used to be) slightly thicker than the core so a block not machined to fit inside the opening would rest on the spacer before making a good contact with the core, there's still enough thermal material to make contact with the core and the block and transfer the the heat but it would do it poorly, that would be my guess since your GPU is almost twice the temp of your CPU and it shouldn't be that high, my GPU at idle is actualy cooler than my CPU and my GPU puts out more heat and i'm using the same block. it could be posible that the sensor is screwed up, if it's actualy is running at 55C idle you should be able to notice it easily just by touching the back of the card.

I'm pretty sure I got the ATI version...although they did mess up and send me my TDX with lucite instead of a brass top. Maybe they messed this up too and I just never caught it....I'll check their site right now, thanks for the heads up.

Okay well I just found the solution to the answer. When the overdrive tab says it's running at 58C it's really running at about 38C. The 9800XT's don't have an on die thermal monitor. It's somewhere else, and you have to use a 20 degree offset to determine your temps. Well that makes me feel better. So it runs at about 35C idle and 38C full load. And that is with the core oc'd by 70mhz and the mem oc'd to 400mhz