View Full Version : Difference between 9800 non pro and 9800SE?
Gorxon
November 28th, 2003, 00:17
I had a 9800 PRO which I sent in for repairs...due to stock limitation it seems like I will never get a new one of that, so I am thinking of demanding a refund and buy a 9800SE. But is this card any good at all? I am fully aware it isnt a 9800 PRO, but if we compare it to, say a 9700 PRO? Expected 3dmark2001 scores? (got 15000 with my 9800pro)
Also I am wondering what the difference between 9800 non pro and 9800SE are really.
Thanks
-edit-
thought i should mention that the 9800SE is much cheaper here, so I was thinking of getting a 120gig HD with that. Would still have about $50 left from the refund. Still, I dont want a crappy 3dcard (which is the reason i bought the 9800pro in the first place). Just thought I should mention that I didnt believe they were same price..or whatever..I'm just babbling aren't I... :ermm:
Remote
November 28th, 2003, 01:08
I'm just babbling aren't I...
Yeah.. :P Can't tell how much worse it will perform but obviously you are trading down... Not sure but I somewhat recall of soft mods for Radeon's which turns SE cards into pro.. Search and se what you can find, if you can softmod your SE card into a PRO and get a new HD then that's a good deal... :D
EDIT:
The difference without checking between a SE and a PRO card is probaly less pipelines, 4 instead of 8 or something like that, low fillrate... lower clocked memory and core. Quality of memory is probaly a lot worse then on the PRO...
A lot of babbling :P
Hexidecimal
November 28th, 2003, 01:20
If you get a PowerColor 9800SE you can softmod it to a 9800 Pro, if you get a Sapphire 9800SE, you can softmod it to the 9500 Pro with a slightly beter quality core. The main difference is the render pipes. the SE by default has 4, but the soft mod rivers open all 8, the Pro has 8 by default.
Gorxon
November 28th, 2003, 16:18
Thanks for your answers.
As their support phone is not open in weekends I decided to call them today and make them change my order to a PowerColor 9800SE 128MB, with a Western Digital 120GB 7200rpm HD. Still I should get a $30-40 refund in addition to that. Just hope I get a good card so that I can softmod it to 9800 non pro, and perhaps even a very good card so I can overclock it to 9800 PRO clock speed (I wish :P ). Anyways, I guess a 9800 PRO was kinda overkill for me as I dont play nearly as much games as I did before...
-edit-
fixing spellies as usual...perhaps I should start reading over the post to fix spelling mistakes before I press "post" ;)
Allnatural
November 28th, 2003, 19:35
A friend of mine recently purchased a 9600SE not knowing the difference(s) from the non-pro part. The most significant change was a more narrow memory bus, by about half if I remember correctly. I don't know if that is also the case with the 9800SE though.
james.miller
November 29th, 2003, 14:38
yes it is. Its the same situation as we had with the 9500np's - some have a 128bit memory layout, some have a 256bit layout.
Hexidecimal is correct, you'll either get a suped up 9500pro (8pipeline, 128bit memory) or a fully functional 9800np (8pipeline, 256bit memory)
Gorxon
November 29th, 2003, 20:04
yes it is. Its the same situation as we had with the 9500np's - some have a 128bit memory layout, some have a 256bit layout.
Hexidecimal is correct, you'll either get a suped up 9500pro (8pipeline, 128bit memory) or a fully functional 9800np (8pipeline, 256bit memory)
Yeah, unfortunately PowerColor has stopped production of the 256 bit one, so they are pretty scarce now. The one I am gonna get is a 128 bit one (product number: XR98SE-C3L, instead of R98SE-C3L which is the 256 bit), but I think I'll live anyways... :teehee:
Oh, and if you get your hands on a PowerColor 256 bit card it will actually go to 9800 PRO as it has pro clock speeds by default...or so I read at least.
Thanks for your answers
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