Sapphire or ATI?

[Mr.B]

Which is better, the Ati Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB priced at $550 Canadian or the Sapphire Atlantis Radeon 9800 Pro w/ TV-Out, DVI priced at $520? core speed and memory clocks are the same and everything, but there has to be a reason as to why the ATI card is more money.

 

[downthesun]

Well, if it bothers you that much. Why not just get a card from the people who made it!? ATi!

 

[Mr.B]

because if the sapphire card is just as good, it saves me $30.

 

[dawdler]

Originally posted by Mr.B
because if the sapphire card is just as good, it saves me $30.

You said it there
Sapphire is cheaper, slightly faster (not by much though, but its proven to be), and just as high quality as Made By ATI cards. I have a Sapphire 9700 Pro, works like a charm...

 

[Dr. Freeman]

is the Sapphire Atlantis 9800 not an ATI card?

im confused..
i haven't been keeping up over the past 1 and half on the brands so im clueless as to why theres this Sapphire Atlantis and also the ATI 9800..


im going to be purchasing video card in the near future so having this cleared up would be much appreciated..

 

[ExE]

I have sapphire and it has worked very good. I also had ATI version of 8500 in my old comp and I haven't noticed any difference ( except 9500pro is faster ).
Softwares were quite similar and both were easy to install.

 

[Dr. Freeman]

Originally posted by ExE
I have sapphire and it has worked very good. I also had ATI version of 8500 in my old comp and I haven't noticed any difference ( except 9500pro is faster ).
Softwares were quite similar and both were easy to install.

yes.. i understand that both cards are similar in performance.. but what i want to know is.. are both cards by ATI? if so, why is one of them named Sapphire Atlantis?

 

[dawdler]

Originally posted by Dr. Freeman
yes.. i understand that both cards are similar in performance.. but what i want to know is.. are both cards by ATI? if so, why is one of them named Sapphire Atlantis?

They are just made in different companies. The Made By ATI (aka ATI cards) are the originals... ATI didnt spread it out like Nvidia did, but now they are doing it (since the others are cheaper, its better economically to stop selling the true ATI cards, everybody buys the rest). Sapphire is one of them, just like Leadtek made Geforce, ASUS, Hercules and all the other companies. There is very little difference, its usually just the PCB that migh differ from the reference, or the cooling system. Speedwise they are within +-2%. Sapphire is just cheaper

 

[TheRook]

Originally posted by Dr. Freeman
yes.. i understand that both cards are similar in performance.. but what i want to know is.. are both cards by ATI? if so, why is one of them named Sapphire Atlantis?

both cards are made using the ATi 9800pro gpu

so they are both essentially ati cards at heart, but the ATi card is constructed by them. And the sapphire one is constructed by sapphire... they are both roughly the same but ive heard the sapphire creeps into the lead slightly on oc'in and performance... (sapphire have been producing ATi based cards for a LOOOOOOONG time!)

TheRook
:afro:

 

[SidewinderX]

Shappire cards a generally better overclockers. And i perosnally like shappire's tech support

 

[Steven Q Urkle]

the sapphire is cheaper, and equal or even better than the ATI one.
go for it for sure.
a plus is that it comes with Wolfenstien and Soldier of fortune 2

 

[SidewinderX]

he might have been looking at the OEM box....

 

[Steven Q Urkle]

520 canadian is not an oem price
the average OEM price for a sapphire 9800pro is 499

 

[Steven Q Urkle]

although you can get a retail box for 499 if you look hard enough.

http://www.infonec.com/vc.htm
Radeon 9800 Pro 128M DDR (box) !!!New!!! 525.00
Atlantis Radeon 9800 Pro 128M DDR (box) !!!New!!! 499.00

http://www.canadacomputers.com/products/opening/opening.html on sale ATI one for $499

 

[ductonius]

Originally posted by Steven Q Urkle
520 canadian is not an oem price
the average OEM price for a sapphire 9800pro is 499

And I know where you can get a ATI 9800pro 128 for $450 Canadian WITH cables and game CD's.

I'll tell you where when I get mine some time next week.

 

[TheRook]

why dont you just say now?

rather than make him work a week!

therook
:afro:

 

[ductonius]

Originally posted by TheRook
why dont you just say now?

rather than make him work a week!

therook
:afro:

Because this way its more evil.

 

[Dr. Freeman]

thank u for clearing up the Sapphires and ATI cards confusion for me guys


i'll probably be looking for a Sapphire version of the 9900 Pro when its released since thats probably around the time im gonna be doing a full upgrade