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5900xt or 9800pro

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bsfalcon

Registered
Joined
Jan 2, 2004
Location
yelm, wa
i just got $200 for my birthday, and am planning on spending it to upgrade from my old fx5200 pos. at newegg i can get a bfg 5900xt, 256 bit, 128mb, 8x agp for $196. i can also get an msi 9800 pro with the r360 (xt) core, 256 bit, 128mb, 8x agp for the same price. im leaning towards getting the 9800 pro because it supports open gl 2.0 rather than just 1.4 like the 5900xt. in addition, it has the xt core, so the overclock should be pretty good. here's the question, which card will a) give me the best performance, and b) last the longest, in terms of playing future games?
 
i am wondering the same thing myself.... cant decide which card to get.... how can u tell if a 9800 pro has a R360 core?
 
I'd go with the 9800 Pro. I think the FSAA and AF quality are better. I would say it also has more overclocking room. The 5900 XT is probably just an overclocked ultra so it wouldn't have much overclocking room.
 
The XT is actually lower than an Ultra model speed wise. The only reason I would get the 5900XT over the 9800pro is if you were primarily going to play doom 3 which appears to be optimized for NV cards. The 9800pro will crush it in all DX 9 games.
 
skidooosl said:
i am wondering the same thing myself.... cant decide which card to get.... how can u tell if a 9800 pro has a R360 core?


The only way you'd get a r350 core at this point is if you are unlucky enough to get one that's been sitting on the shelf for some time. Once you get your card just pull of the heatsink, wipe away the thermal gum and look at the core..... If you get a r360 core on a xt pcb.... you can flash it to a "real" 9800xt 128 or 256mb card...... sweet deal for under $200 at newegg.
 
If you were to get a 5900xt, I'll get the Gainward Golden sample. Clocks a bit better than the BFG.

The Gainward 5900xt RAMs heatsink is much beefer.
 
9800pro!!! but if you get a fx5900(prob refurb section since they stoped producing regulars), DO NOT get an xt/se they are underclocked pos's. the gfx5900 can be flashed to 5950. but the r9800 can be flashed to 9800xt :)... so go r9800pro!
 
Don't even bother with the fx5900xt. The 9800 pro will dominate in nearly everything, and for around $195 at newegg, its a good deal. Then once you have the 9800p flash it to a 9800xt and you'll be rockin'.
 
Tack on another vote for the 9800 Pro, but don't have your heart set on getting the R360 core. I just got a 9800 Pro 256 from Newegg two weekends ago and it has the R350 core. Even so, I'd still recommend the 9800 over the 5900xt :)

Btw, ATITool will display which core you have if you're lazy and don't want/need to remove the stock heatsink ;)
 
9800 pro, can be made into 9800 XT, then use drivers like the OMEGAs and get killer performance. Plus, compared with the 5900XT, you get a lot better performance in the long run and, a card like that should last you a good few years without ever upgrading.
 
i'd get another 9700pro before i went to anything FX, let alone a 9800pro with a good shot at flashing.
 
i just ordered the MSI 9800PRO sunday, and upgraded from FX5200 PoS myself. I had the same decision, and I decided to go 9800PRO b/c of overclocking. Should be here today, where I'll tell you more about it. You know the MSI has an r360 core because if you look around for reviews, people will either mention it or they wont. on newegg commenters, they were tons of people that said it did have that, as did a new zealand overclockers review.
 
get the 9800pro. those cards are legendary perfomers. the 5900 series of fx cards are just to sketchy in terms of drivers and stuff. get the 9800 pro and softmod it to an xt and your laughin. good luck.
 
Get the MSI 9800 pro. If you look for it on new egg and read the reviews, people say Win XP thinks it's a 9800 XT and it overclocks like crazy! It's under the $200 too.
 
the 9800 pro performs better. Ive seen benchmarks test between the two cards and the 9800 pro gets better fps in almost all the tests.
 
well on the nvidia scale...XT < Non ultra < Ultra....so yes a 9800pro will out preform a 5900XT...but a 5900Nu will match a 9800pro UNTILL u turn on AF and AA in which case the 9800pro takes the lead. both cards have hteir advantages....a 9800pro is flashable to a 9800xt...and a 5900 is flashable to a 5950u...it really comes down to personal choice and which one you can get for the cheapest...either way you wont be dissapointed.

heres a nice review on them with benchmarks..http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/fx5900-r9800_10.html
 
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