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Sapphire 9800pro 128mb 256 bit

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infinity_4_you

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Sep 29, 2004
I have been recently thinking about buying a sapphire 9800pro 128 or 256mb 256 bit. I am kind of a noob at this but i just wanted to know if im getting a good card. I also wanted to know how i can figure out if it will come with the R350 or R360 core since the R360 seems to be better or if it will make a big difference if i softmod it to an xt using the 350 or 360 core. Thanx for the help i appreciate it

Marco
 
ye i have that exact card and it has an r360 core, im not guarenteein it will be r360 core but it is most likely to be. I flashed mine to XT then overclocked to 450 core 380 mem which far exceeds the XT stock speeds ( 412 core and 362 mem if i remem rightly)

flashing to XT gives and extra 300 points or so in 3dmark 03, as it enables better pixel shaders or somin.

I would advise you get a arctic vga cooler rev 1 or 3 to fit the 9800pro to o/c to XT (i have rev 1 - cheap and basically same performance as rev 3).

Even if it is r350 core (99% sure it wont be) it will o/c better than r360 core so doesnt matter about not being able to flash it to XT properly
 
It's really, really likely that you will get an R360 core with your card - all recently manufactured 9800 Pro cards come with an R360 core, and often an XT PCB (either that or a non-reference PCB, like MSI's) as well, which means a fully useable temperature sensor.

Sapphire cards are looked at as a pretty solid choice, although you can't really go wrong with any 9800 Pro.

If I were you, I would shop around a little bit, and get the manufacturer's card which comes with the best software bundle (free games).

When you do get your card, you can check which core it has by removing the heatsink, and taking a look - the core will have either R350 or R360 lettered on it. This will void your warranty however, so you might want to just flash it, and then check to see if the R360 'exclusive' ('exclusive' in that R350s don't 'have it') shader works or not afterwards. If you have an R360 core, you won't see texture artifacting in the 3DMark03 Troll Jump test after a flash to an XT BIOS, if you have an R50 core you will see texture artifacting in the Troll Jump test after a flash to an XT BIOS.
 
Ok then i think im gonna go ahead and buy it. Do you guys know any good sites i can buy this card from? I know newegg.com has it but im not sure if they ship to canada, if anyone knows plz tell me. Do you guys know any other reliable site?

Oh and one more thing... if i remove the heatsink how will they know that i did remove it and thus voiding the warranty?
 
newegg doesn't ship to Canada unfortunately.

www.zipzoomfly.com does ship to Canada, and they have a pretty good selection of 9800 Pros, including the Sapphire cards.

But again, I would look at a few of the different options they have, and get the card which comes with the best software - as you're getting the same video card regardless.

RMA departments probably can't *actually* tell if you've done something as small as remove the heatsink - it's more of an ethical thing :).
 
Well i ordered the Sapphire 9800pro 128mb 256bit for $271 canadian from NCIX.com. I just wanted to know when it comes i plan to see what core chip it has, will it just say right on the chip R350 or R360 after i take off the heat sink? Or is there some other way i have to find out what the core is?
 
Yes, the GPU will clearly say R360 or R350. Make sure to clean the generic thermal paste off first.........lol....It's smaller print, but it's there. ;)
 
do you guys think you have a better chance getting the saphire or the powercolor to flash to an xt? Does it make a difference if its has 128 or 256 ram
 
Probably Sapphire if those are the only two options your considering. If the card is a 9800 Pro 256meg, then the chances of you being able to flash to a "true" XT is pretty darn good. I picked up a BBA 9800 Pro 256 that easily flashed to an XT & is OC'ed more then stable past XT speeds.

There are plenty of XT bios's for 128meg versions of the 9800 Pro. I have been able to flash every card I've had (3-5) to a XT bios (r350 & r360 GPU). My current card is the only one that has had 256 video memory.

There are not a ton of pros from flashing to an XT bios from a 9800 Pro with 128 of video memory. You might be able to enable the temp sensor if you have a R360 core. And supposedly it enables certain features that a 9800 Pro does not have that only a XT does. Pixel shaders, or somethin like mentioned above, lol. You will probably see gains in benchmarks cause the card will run faster............Especially if you can hit XT speeds stable.
 
Thank obsolite, Ive been reading other stuff on this but it seems by time I read it, the info is old and many things have changed
 
ok i just got the card today and i tried taking off the heat sink and its a ***** to take off... i have tried using pliers to squeeze the clips on the back of the video card but its doesnt wanna come off and i dont wanna force it and brake the thing. Tips anyone?
 
dang... i finally got the heat sink off to find that i got the r350 chip :bang head oh well lucked out this time.
 
it seems there are still a good number of older version 9800pro cards out there being sold..... that's why i don't tell people they'll get a newer version card if they buy one new..... no worries though... you can still overclock the snot out of it and if you want to you can still flash it to xt.... just make sure you get the right bios for your card if you decide to flash it.
 
Strange... I got my saphire 9800 pro from there about 3 weeks ago and I got the r360 core... I guess their latest lot has the R350 core.

Same thing happened with the MSI version a while back. They were the R360 core and everyone found out and ordered. They went on back order and then the next lot they got had the R350 and a lot of people were upset.
 
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