Buy a 9800GT GFX card?

[spacemanc]

Im thinking of getting a new graphics card, as there seems to be a few good deals about. I mainly play PR on my PC, so its mainly to get higher res for a monitor Im going to buy. I was planning on getting an 8800GT after doing some research a few months ago, but looking around today, there seems to be some great deals on the 9800GT. The one Ive seen is this :

Scan Computers UK: 1GB Gainward 9800GT Bliss GS, PCI-E 2.0 (x16), 1900+MHz GDDR3, GPU 650+MHz, 112 Cores, 2xDLDVI/ HDTV

It seems a pretty good deal for £118 plus the 1Gb of DDR3 should be perfect for the higher res. What do you guys think? It seems almost suspiciously cheap compared with the 8800GT

[[R-CON]ZZEZ]

Go for it if this deal is real, I regret buying my 8800GT few months ago..should have waited

[spacemanc]

Originally Posted by [R-CON]ZZEZ

Go for it if this deal is real, I regret buying my 8800GT few months ago..should have waited

The 8800GT is still a great card - a few months ago it was defo the one to get cost/performance wise. Its just this seems very good value, and I dont fancy spending the whole day doing research, looking to see if theres a catch
Has anyone got one?

[[R-DEV]Undies]

The 9800gt and 8800gt are literally the same card except for the 55nm standard used on the 9800gt and hybrid power being added. The benchmarks are 1-2 fps difference, this is why they costs almost the same. The better option would be a 4850 which costs around the same and outperforms the 9800gt in almost ever benchmark.

Powercolor ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail that one is £120 all in and will be a faster card.

Have fun with whichever one you buy

[Bamboo]

Actually, the 9800GT is just a renumbered 8800GT. Lots of articles pissed off at Nvidia with the scam. People see the bigger # and think, oooooohhhhh wwwwoooowwww, it's a higher number so must be faster.

If you want to go for it that's fine, just don't get suckered in by the numbers. Also consider a 9800GTX which is the next step up, or a 4850 from ATI, which will outrun both of them in most tests.

Also be aware that Nvidia is supposed to be completly redoing their naming pretty soon. Just like their upper models are 260 and 280, they are going to rename all the like 8800 and 9800 to things like 160 and 180. At least that's what has been reported on a ton of tech news sites.

[spacemanc]

Originally Posted by [R-DEV]Undies

The 9800gt and 8800gt are literally the same card except for the 55nm standard used on the 9800gt and hybrid power being added. The benchmarks are 1-2 fps difference, this is why they costs almost the same. The better option would be a 4850 which costs around the same and outperforms the 9800gt in almost ever benchmark.

Powercolor ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail that one is £120 all in and will be a faster card.

Have fun with whichever one you buy

Arghhh - as usual when I do this Im now looking at every card out there!
What about this one :
Leadtek GeForce 9800 GT "Silent" 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail
It looks like the same card except it has 512mb of DDR - seems a bargain at £91

How much difference does the DDR make? I only really look into these things when Im buying new components, but I understand that the extra DDR will help with running higher resolutions. Would I notice much difference between 512mb and 1gb?
The main thing that puts me off the Atis is driver issues, though Ive noticed alot of people raving about the HD 48xx's

[[R-CON]ZZEZ]

Well that depends what resolution you'll be playing, but 512 is plentiful.

[spacemanc]

Im kind of leaning towards this now:

PowerColor HD 4850 PCS+ Edition 1GB GDDR3 OC Dual DVI HDTV Out PCI-E Graphics Card - Ebuyer

Its a HD 4850 with 1GbDDR and a great aftermarket cooler (It will be OC'd to the max ) Seems pretty good for £140 ( basically the one Undies recommended except with double the RAM for £20 extra )

One issue that worries me - I do alot of mapping and most of the developer tools are made by nvidia. Would using an Ati card cause any issues in this area?

[[R-DEV]Undies]

On sale this week only for £126, absolute bargain Powercolor ATI Radeon HD 4850 PCS Extreme 1024MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail

One issue that worries me - I do alot of mapping and most of the developer tools are made by nvidia. Would using an Ati card cause any issues in this area?

With some Nvidia apps you can gain performance improvements with Nvidia cards but they will still run on an ATI card with no problems. Its horses for courses m8, a 9800 for 90 quid is awesome. Personally i think i would try to get the cheapest 4850 i could lay my hands on though.
There is even a 512 version on Scan for 102 notes. Scan Computers UK: 512MB Palit HD4850, PCI-E 2.0(x16), 1986MHz GDDR3, GPU 625MHz, 800 Cores, 2x DL DVI-I/ HDTV, HDCP

Here are a few good benchmarks that may help too. http://www.guru3d.com/index.php?page=vga_charts

[spacemanc]

Im pretty much sold on the 4850 1gb performance/cost wise - but Im a bit worried about drivers and compatibility.
I take it youve got a 4850 Undies - Ive been quite busy today, so Ive not done much research, but apparently they run quite hot? The one Im looking at has a nice fan which brings the load temp down to about 60c, whats your experience ( if any ) of overclocking it? And how have the drivers been for it?