Best time to get 9800

3D Mark03 Score = 6100
3D Mark2001 Score = 16400

I bought this PowerColor 9800 pro online for less than $200.
I remembered the price for this card was over $300 three months ago!
Now it is the best time to get it! Forget about nVidia. This year, Radeon family killed Geforce series!
9800 Pro is my best choice because it’s fast, stable and smooth on games.
XT series are still a bit of over-priced!
Now, the fair deals are the 9800 and 9600s.
I choose PowerColor, because it overclocks easy! 5~10% performance increase is cake.!
save over $100, best time to get it!
Highly recommended

Welcome to the forums.

And yes, I agree with you. The time to buy older generation cards is now considering the prices are dropping fast. While Powercolor might be a good brand in your eyes, I haven't tested it first hand, so my only recommendation for ATI cards would be ATI themselves.

God, I love my PowerColor!
Hi! I am a fan of C&C Zero hours.
There is something I have to say about Geforce card from Nvidia.
I am very sorry to tell those Geforce lovers, that Radeon are better, at least on this game.
In fact, I was with Nvidia since TNT2.
Until my new PowerColor Radeon 9800 Pro, I have tried a series of Geforce 2, 3, 4, and FX.
Compared with Radeon, Geforce cards (not sure about the newest 6800s), trade graphic details for frames per second. I see this “low life” strategy, cheating.

Also, ATI releases its graphic driver more often than nvidia, letting Radeon users enjoy the improvement more frequently!

If you have not yet tried a Radeon, find a friend who owns a 9800/9600 pro, and see how pretty the graphic details compared to Geforce. At FSAA 4X to 8X, My powercolor runs like a dream, smokes both geforce 5900 and 4600.

Yeah!
Bash nvidia, rule for Radeo

You're correct. The Radeon 9800 series is 'faster' than the FX series because of its pipelines. The Radeon has an 8x1 type of pipeline, while the FX has a 4x2. Most game don't utilize enough multitexuring to give the FX a speed boost. And, many times the FX needs to render a scene twice while the Radeon only once.

Be VERY careful if you buy a Sapphire 9800 Pro. They have fake 9800 Pro and real 9800 Pro. The fake ones will be 128bit and lower core and memory. They are more like 9800SE than a 9800 Pro.

Looks like they are trying to mislead the consumer who doesn't know the difference between 128bit and 256bit memory bus and only know they want a 9800 Pro from research or what others have said. That's just downright dishonest to mislead like that. I know I'll be sending them a nasty little letter.

So, be warned. Know what you are buying. The 128bit lower clocked one is no better than a 9800SE.

Here is the link to the fake misleading crippled 9800 Pro http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-102-369&depa=0

Here is the link to a real 9800 Pro http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-102-281&depa=0

I found this reported on HardOCP and a discussion of it Here http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=763369&page=1&pp=20

hell yeah, it is a great time to get a 9800, with the X800 showing up all over the place, its no wonder. ATI is certainly the way to go.
but Phydeaux is right, not all 9800 pros are created equally.