9800 pro or 6600GT

somecallmeTim

somecallmeTim

[H]F Junkie
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May 28, 2001
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Alrighty vid card guru's... I have a dilema here. A friend of mine on a tighter budget than myself is doing a vid card upgrade. Currently has a GF4600 128mb (that is about ready to die) and we've narrowed his "upgrade" to either a 9800pro (256mb/256 bit) or a 6600GT (128mb) - both are AGP and fall right at the budget spot he can afford.

I'm honestly stuck on which one to reccomend at this point - either card is a good one and I would personally get either one, but since they are right about the same $ (few bucks different) - he won't be upgrading for a while so we need to go with what "should" last a few years.

His system specs are:
AXP 2600+
1 GB PC3200
nForce2 Mobo (MSI I think)

He games, but not heavily, and doesn't neccesarrily need to have everything on "high" or 300 FPS. Please don't suggest spending more on a different card, as we've narrowed it down to these two cards and this is where I'm stuck.

Thanks in advance.

Peace,
Tim
 
lt.murda said:
6600gt all the way..Wouldnt think twice
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Yup. I switched from a Radeon 9800 Pro, and it's an eye-opening experience. The ForceWare driver *just works*, whereas with the Catalysts... just the amount of RAM alone that the Control Panel takes when you start it up... the numerous bugs/glitches, crashes, BSOD's... :( I'll save you the trouble and and highly recommend the GeForce 6600GT. These are the main differences:

nVidia GeForce 6600GT
- S.M. 3.0/FP 32 support
- OpenEXR HDR support
- 128-bit internal color precision
- 12-bit subcolor precision

ATI Radeon 9800 Pro
- S.M. 2.0/FP 24 support
- no OpenEXR HDR support
- 96-bit internal color precision
- 4-bit subcolor precision

Plus loads of other things I'm probably forgetting. The fact that in most games the GeForce 6600GT 0wns the Radeon 9800 Pro by 10-25% really makes it a no-brainer to choose the GeForce 6600GT over the Radeon 9800 Pro any day. :)
 
Hardly comparable. The 6600GT blows away the 9800 Pro, but it's also a good year and a bit newer.

I don't know about 1c3d0g, but I have _never_ had any problems with the catalyst drivers, whereas the nvidia ones have managed to destory my system more than once.

Either way, get the 6600GT. You can most likely find it cheaper, and it's a significantly better card.

edit: I think 1c3d0g was mixing up the normal control panel, and the catalyst control panel (the .net one) which formerly was so horrid they started releasing the drivers without it. In the 5.6 and newer driver sets the catalyst control panel has been completely rebuilt and is MUCH more useful.
 
I'd say 6600 GT, unless you can find the 9800 pro for a ridiculously low price...Oh and would you guys consider me ripping someone off for selling a 9800 pro to them for $100?
 
6600gt no ? at all the 9800Pro is the same price? wow wtf is up w/ that?



like I would know with my $600 BFG7800GTX cough sweetness cough. lol
 
Siciliano said:
I'd say 6600 GT, unless you can find the 9800 pro for a ridiculously low price...Oh and would you guys consider me ripping someone off for selling a 9800 pro to them for $100?
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No, that's a great deal. I would still pay $150 for one of those cards if I needed one.
 
Yeah, this guy at my dad's work has a 5200 in his system, and I feel if I am getting a new card anyway, he should atleast benefit coming off that ridiculously low card. He has such a NICE system, and a 5200...
 
How about a X800 non-pro 128mb?? they seem to OC well and can be had for 163 after rebate new forom the egg.... my guess is that they will kick both a 9800pro and a 600GT's ass for just a pinch more....the 6800 Vanilla is always a favorite too because they unlock and OC like mad...
 
homerjr43 said:
How about a X800 non-pro 128mb?? they seem to OC well and can be had for 163 after rebate new forom the egg.... my guess is that they will kick both a 9800pro and a 600GT's ass for just a pinch more....the 6800 Vanilla is always a favorite too because they unlock and OC like mad...
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Your not guarenteed to unlock a 6800 and like he stated in the OP, he wants either a 6600gt or a 9800 pro, not opinions about x800's. He also may or may not like to deal with rebates...
 
Neither, both suck ass compared to a 6800nu. Even it it doesnt unlock its still a good 30% faster than a 6600GT, and if it doesn unlock add another 15% to it plus higher resolutions and more details. They can ge had for around $150~$160 and I'd highly suggest raising the budget just a little to get a much better card. No doubt about it.

You said not to suggest another, but I personally think by not be open to other peoples recommendations that have made the move is rather stupid and narrow minded. When I was looking at an update on my LAN rigs card that had a 9700 Pro, it came down to a few things. I could have spent $150 and get a 6600GT, sure it would have been faster, but the increase is certainly not worth $150, so instead I looked around and raised my budget a simply bit to $170, I found a 6800nu. The 6800nu gave me around a 60 to 70% performance increase and most importanly allowed me to raise my resolution higher than a 6600GT would be able to do. Then I unlocked the card and was able to OC it past 6800GT speeds for the core and I was able to reach 790Mhz on the memory, this brings my cards performance surprisingly close to that of a 6800GT. I'd say it was a very well spent $170, and then you must consider prices have come down even slight more for the 6800nu.

Overall, I think the 6600GT is a stupid buy. A 128MB 256bit 9800 Pro can be had for $100 refurbed from Newegg, this is just as good as a new one. The extra memory does not help the card at all and wasting your money on it is pointless and a waste. So, I'd suggest either getting the $100 9800 Pro, or spending the slight, and I mean very slight, extra for a 6800nu and get much better performance than that of a wasteful 6600GT.
 
Of those 2.... get the 6600 GT.

Its faster has better features which should last longer.

However, since the 6800nu's have come down in price so much, I'd probably get one of those and hopefully the pipes unlock successfully, and you'll have a 6800GT (with slightly slower memory than a normal GT)

P.S. Mine unlocked successfully and runs 380/800 no problem.
 
The 6600GT is a newer card, newer technologys and such, so that would be the recommended card of the two.

I think some of you guys are missing that the 9800Pro in question, is infact the 256mb/256bit version, which if Im not mistaken if flashed, and overclocked a little, to a 9800XT this should out perform the 6600GT??
 
I vote 6600gt also just b/c they are about the same price.. unless the 9800pro is like 90 bucks and the 6600gt is like 130..the 9800pro would be better..but this is same price.. so 6600gt rules!!
 
Yet another vote for the 6600gt as well. 9800 Pro is a good card, but newer technology should last a little longer.
Zero
 
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