How Good is Saphire in YOUR opinion?

SeraphicSorcerer · Feb 26, 2004, 08:32 AM

Yes, I know I should not have BOUGHT the card before making this poll but come on for 212$ for a 9800 PRO I had to! haha, Anyhow, How would you guys Say Saphire Performs With their Graphics cards?

Anyone ever experienced major problems things I may need to look out for, or are they stable?

Al_Vampyre · Feb 26, 2004, 08:44 AM

Sapphire's cards are practically identical to the ATI reference design so they should perform exactly to spec...I know mine does (9700Pro)

SeraphicSorcerer · Feb 26, 2004, 08:53 AM

Thanks for the quick reply, ever had any problems at all? associated with them or have you overclocked it to push it to the limits? if so how did it perform?

swimtech · Feb 26, 2004, 08:57 AM

Mine's been fine for quite a while now. What can you say about something that works exactly as you expect it to all the time (knowing that, for the most part, others - ATI's own included of course, do too)? I'd call it outstanding.

SeraphicSorcerer · Feb 26, 2004, 09:03 AM

Yea and at the fabulous price of 212$ I couldn't complain, sure it's only 128 meg, but come on what games seriously are gonna hinder this card by using 256 Textures, maybe doom 3, but I dunno, I think uits gonna be a few before 256 Textured Games overload my card, so That's how I got it on the cheaper end.....

Thanks for your input..... if anyone's interested, it's like 212$ On new egg right now.... Free Shipping!

Chaos · Feb 26, 2004, 09:18 AM

My last card was a Sapphire 9500NP and it was a hella sweet card dude

Al_Vampyre · Feb 26, 2004, 09:20 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by SeraphicSorcerer
Thanks for the quick reply, ever had any problems at all? associated with them or have you overclocked it to push it to the limits? if so how did it perform?

No probs at all m8, and it does overclock but I can't remember by how much because I run it at stock speed anyway

Zebra · Feb 26, 2004, 09:52 AM

The only issue I had was on my son's 9800SE, the heatsink they use was flat, so it did not contact the gpu properly. I discovered this when I installed a Zalman cooler on it. This solved my problem with artifacts I was getting with the stock cooler. Other than that, the card works great.

SeraphicSorcerer · Feb 26, 2004, 12:17 PM

How's the cooler on the 9800 Pro? Anyone, Do it's job fine? or should i put artic silver on it and replace it?

thewall · Feb 26, 2004, 06:12 PM

I have the Sapphire 9800XT. Had it for two weeks now. Very happy with performance. No problems at all. Pretty decent bundle and good price. Overclocks decent with stock cooling.

Logla · Feb 26, 2004, 06:19 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Al_Vampyre
Sapphire's cards are practically identical to the ATI reference design so they should perform exactly to spec...I know mine does (9700Pro)

I read somewhere that sapphire actually made some boards for ATi - when ATi couldn't keep up with demand so there will be some cards out there badged as BBATi and be using Sapphire boards.

I don't know how reliable that info is though,

Chaos · Feb 26, 2004, 06:44 PM

I am thinking about grabbing a 9800 SE with the hopes of a successful mod to XT

SeraphicSorcerer · Feb 26, 2004, 08:44 PM

Wouldn't it be easier To go and get a Non pro and make that a XT then it would be to do the SE? I thought the SE had been crippled....

Zebra · Feb 26, 2004, 09:40 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Chaos
I am thinking about grabbing a 9800 SE with the hopes of a successful mod to XT

The softmod of the 9800SE is a 50/50 proposition. I had 2 Sapphire 128M 128-bit cards, one modded fine, the other would only boot to a blank screen after the first test from reboot. Still, on its own, it is not a bad card. See if you can get the 256-bit memory version though, otherwise, it's more like a 9500pro. With the Sapphire 9800PRO 128M cards going for as low as $212 on newegg, that sounds like the way to go.

tica · Feb 26, 2004, 10:18 PM

i have it

i love it

CrapolaJola · Feb 26, 2004, 11:53 PM

sapphire=pwn sauce

I picked up a a sapphire 9500np for like $140 or$150 over the summer when i got my new comp and It softmodded and ive got it clocked at 378/295 (infineon 3.3ns=no goo for ocing..im gonan try the 9700 np or pro bios as some ppl get better mem clocks with them

Bart1987 · Feb 27, 2004, 05:06 AM

I have a sapphire radeon 9700np and it works great, i can oc it to about 340/297 higher mem clocks will cause artefacts ansd I haven't tried to get the core higher. But normaly I run it at stock. And it works great. haven't had any problems so far.