What practical advantages of an 9800 over a 9600?

[Woolen Horde]

Alright, I'm thinking of doing an upgrade, but I'm torn between price/performance.

Basically, the major difference between the 9600 and the 9800 is that the 9600 has 4 rendering pipelines, and the 9800 has 8. Right?

So, are there any games (both currently released and on the drawing board for the near future; ie Doom 3, Half-Life 2) that will benefit more from having more pipelines? Will the 9600's 4 pipelines be an impediment in those games?

And for longevity purposes, the 9800 probably has a better lifespan, because it has twice the pipes, so it won't get outclassed as soon as the 9600? Or is that irrelevant, because DX10 boards will be out by then, and you'll want to upgrade in any case.

[John Reynolds]

The 9800 also has a 256-bit memory interface compared to the 9600's 128-bit. You're correct on the # of pipes.

If you're going to upgrade soon, I'd wait if you can for the XT boards to drive current board prices down a bit.

[nijimeijer]

I've got a 9600 Pro and I like it, but if I'd had the cash, I would've gone faster. Of course, this is upgrading from SLI Voodoo2s, so to me, the 9600 was like a gift from the heavens.

As for practical? Well, in tests, the 9800 is about twice the speed in synthetic tests, and is significantly faster (if not quite as much) in real world performance, especially when you raise the settings.

But yes, I would wait for the Fall releases to drive down the prices of the Spring/Summer cards.

[algahar]

at least i think 9800 is more stable when playing neverwinter nights... :roll:

[awdougherty]

NWN and Radeons are a major disappointment. I have a 9500Pro and have never been happy. Do the 9800's offer at least decent performance with the shadows turned on? Just upgraded to the 3.8 cats, also disappointed. When I play Freelancer or the rolling X2 demo, their seems to be clipping problems with engine lights.