[Liberator]

I wouldn't spend $500 on a Video Card, even if it had star trek holoprojectors and did Pixar quality rendering real-time.

[Grey Wolf]

9800 Pro 128 is the best bet out there, at about $220 right now. 9800 Pro 256, however, is a bit useless, as it costs as much as the faster clocked 9800XT, IIRC.

[Turnsky]

Originally posted by Maeglamor
[color=66ff00]Dude isn't the 9800pro 128 or 256 a better buy at the moment, from what I've read the amount of extra welly you get out of an XT is pretty small given the price difference.

I've got a 9800pro 128 and it's a veritable monster, it was also notably cheaper than the XT.
[/color]

future-proofing my friend, i want that vidcard to last a while.

'sides, they're including a HL2 voucher in the box.

[Liberator]

So you're paying $500 for a card that is only minimally better than a $200 card because it has a voucher for a $50 video game?

Even if it is THE game of the century, you're overspending by $250.

If it was me, I'd wait until the middle of June to consider dropping that kind of dough on a video card, we're on the verge of release here.

[Grey Wolf]

Don't get the 9800XT. If you really feel the need to run at the speed, just overclock it or flash the BIOS. I have a friend who has a 9800 non-pro running at XT speeds. Why bother buying a more expensive card for no reason?

[Turnsky]

Originally posted by Liberator
So you're paying $500 for a card that is only minimally better than a $200 card because it has a voucher for a $50 video game?

Even if it is THE game of the century, you're overspending by $250.

If it was me, I'd wait until the middle of June to consider dropping that kind of dough on a video card, we're on the verge of release here.

the game would be worth close to $90 bucks here..

and i'm looking into the considerations.
that, and the XT has 128 extra meg of DDR..

this is a step-up from the radeon 9000 i already have, mind you.

AND, the fact that i DON'T overclock my system at all.. might actually mean something..

i don't have a lot of money lying about, so i can't just grab the step-down just 'cause it's cheaper.. so i need to invest in the one card, 'cause i'll prolly end up spending just as much on a replacement down the road when the old one starts to show its age.

[Grey Wolf]

The performance increase you'll get from the extra 256MB and the extra clockspeed is negligeble. Go check reviews. The only reason the 9800XT even exists is because the R420 was delayed. You'll be paying over 250 USD for HL2 and about a 4% performance increase? That won't lengthen the lifetime of the card at all for you. 20.8 FPS isn't much more playable than 20. You'd be better off putting the money aside for either your next upgrade or something else.