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Powercolor 4 pipe 9800 pro

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Dan0512

Member
Joined
Aug 27, 2004
Location
Switzerland
Hello, I'm on a budget, and I was looking for a card on the $140-$150 range. I was first going to go for the 9600xt, but then I found this card at newegg, it seems it only has 4 pipelines but the memory is 256 bit and everything operates at normal pro speeds. Reading further I saw that most of the people were able to succesfully open the other 4 pipelines, so here comes my question- Is it possible to kill the card easily If I open the other pipes, I have heard of a bunch of people with x800 pro's that have lost them due to this mod. Is the 9800 line more tolerant? anyway I'll probably go with this card, because even with the 4 pipelines it seems to outperform the 9600xt.

Thanks

Dan
 
no, you cant kill the card, at least not the 9800pro's by trying to open piplines. The whole cards dying after flashing thing seems to be a pattern only of the x800pro's
I bought the card your looking at for a friend, unlocked the pipelines, oc'd it past xt speeds, then flashed it to a xt w/ a silencer.
Very nice card for the $

-d94
 
Thank You! That's what I wanted to hear, guess I'll be buying it then, BTW what were the speeds you were able to get it to with the stock heatsink?

Dan
 
w/the stock HSF he didnt want to try going higher than stock XT speeds and it was indeed stable, but w/the silencer he got the core/mem to 430/760 at which point he was happy w/the performace and didnt want to try to go any further. on top of that the silencer lowered the case temp quite a bit and the cpu temp went down 10C
its deff worth getting one if you really want to try to push the card since you can get it for like $15 these days. Any yes, you could prob push the mem even higher if you bought mem sinks.

-d94
 
Actualy ramsinks usualy only give you peace of mind, and maybe 5mhz. Its rare that they do any more. Keep in mind that if the softmod doesnt work, you are stuck with a 4pipe card and you will be wishing you spent the extra cash on a full 9800. You can get used ones for under $160 if you look around.
 
Well I know I can get a full 9800 pro for $160, but the problem is I don't have that money, and from what I've heard, that card is a steal for $145, and most people are satisfied with it anyway, even if the other 4 pipes won't open, I'm just buying it because it's on my price range, and it gives me a chance to mod it to a full pro.

Dan
 
Dan0512 said:
Well I know I can get a full 9800 pro for $160, but the problem is I don't have that money, and from what I've heard, that card is a steal for $145, and most people are satisfied with it anyway, even if the other 4 pipes won't open, I'm just buying it because it's on my price range, and it gives me a chance to mod it to a full pro.

Dan

are you trying to say, you don't have the extra $15 to spend on the pro? You'd rather take the chance at softmod? Sorry to say, but go cut some lawns, or shovel some driveways(don't know the season) to make the extra $15 and go with the pro, you WILL NOT regret it my friend :p
 
Okay then, I guess I will sacrifice $15 more and go with something better. Though I haven't found a a 9800 pro for $160, but I did find a 9700 pro for that price (new), do you think it's a good choice?

Dan
 
yeah 9700 pro is a very strong card.For its age.I would go for it over the 9800se.I had the same 9800se you want and it was a piece of junk.It softmodded with no artifacts but for some reason it was the slowest card i have ever seen.IN 3dmark03 it couldnt touch 3500 and in AQUAMARK03 i got 2900 which everything OCed to the max.The card was at like 412/765 and my cpu was @3.7Man i hated that card.And it always showed artifacts even when it wasnt OCed or softmodded.I had a revs VGA silence and ram sinks on it to.
 
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Dan0512 said:
Okay then, I guess I will sacrifice $15 more and go with something better. Though I haven't found a a 9800 pro for $160, but I did find a 9700 pro for that price (new), do you think it's a good choice?

Dan

if you're a gambling man then this could be a good deal in the end... if the card you get looks like the one in the picture then you can try to softmod it... personally you'd do much better by saving up to get a true 9800pro which can then be softmodded to an xt...... you can expect to spend around 190-200 for a real pro. My best advice would be to stay away from cards which have been crippled unless you're really strapped for cash. I'd take the 9700pro any day of the week before I invest in a 4 pipeline card.
 
Man think about a FX5900 they are fast and can be flashed to the 5950 and you can find them for $150 or so.If you dont mind buing a used one try ebay or our traders section.Acouple of guys are selling some nice cards right now in your price range. here this guy wants 150 for a 5900XT flashed to a regularFX5900nu.But you could still flash it to a 5950 or mod the bios to up the clock settings.But this a good deal BFGFX5900XT OC for $under $150 or that 9800pro thats a great deal to.If i was in need of a new video card i would be all over one of these.

.
fx5900 under $150 now shipped
.http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=338522

and a 9800 pro $160 shipped
http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=337832
 
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huh the link for the fx5900 isn't working, but what's the minimum watt PSU for an fx5900? I currently have a 300 watt and I don't think it's powerful enough.

Dan
 
I just tried it and it works..lol But it take aleast 350watts if remember correctly.But im sure it would be fine on a 300watt psu if you dont have a lot of lights and fans and stuff
 
It says I don't have enough privileges to acess the page. I got 2 cd drives and not a bunch of fans, though I still wouldn't go for it.

Dan
 
Giga, he does not have enough posts to access classifieds.

I'm with:
Actualy ramsinks usualy only give you peace of mind, and maybe 5mhz. Its rare that they do any more. Keep in mind that if the softmod doesnt work, you are stuck with a 4pipe card and you will be wishing you spent the extra cash on a full 9800. You can get used ones for under $160 if you look around.

are you trying to say, you don't have the extra $15 to spend on the pro? You'd rather take the chance at softmod? Sorry to say, but go cut some lawns, or shovel some driveways(don't know the season) to make the extra $15 and go with the pro, you WILL NOT regret it my friend

if you're a gambling man then this could be a good deal in the end... if the card you get looks like the one in the picture then you can try to softmod it... personally you'd do much better by saving up to get a true 9800pro which can then be softmodded to an xt...... you can expect to spend around 190-200 for a real pro. My best advice would be to stay away from cards which have been crippled unless you're really strapped for cash. I'd take the 9700pro any day of the week before I invest in a 4 pipeline card.

I'd say the same thing.
 
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