ATI breakdown 9x00 Generation cards that I have

[Chip_Thickhung]

I have the following cards (or have used them) from ATI. And for some reason I can't exactly agree with the way ATI has brokendown the scheme.

Newest to Oldest

9800 Pro EZ, 128-bit, 128MB, 8 pipelines, 380/300 clocks.
9600 Pro 128-bit, 4 pipes, 128MB, 400/250 ? clocks.
9500 Pro softmodded to 9700 Pro, 128-bit, 8 pipes, 310/240 clocks
9200SE 128MB, 128-bit?, 4 pipes, sucks not even worth telling you about it.

I have had these geForce cards too:

G2 MX400 32MB PCI, decent
g4 mx440 64MB AGP, pretty good
ti4200 OTES 64MB, ok

Here is how they have performed:

9800 Pro - 55-60 FPS on Doom 3. I know it's a 128-bit but for the love of God....
9500 Pro softmodded - performs the best of all of them, 65-70 FPS solid on Doom 3 timedemo
9600 Pro - Ran better than the 9800 Pro EZ...IT doesn't make sense at all there
9200SE - What? THis was supposed to be a video card? OMG
ti4200 - it's ok, but sounds like a jet plane taking off
G4 MX 440

On HL2 and CS: Source here is what happens:
9800 Pro does good 90-110FPS
9500 Pro 70-80 FPS online in a pub
9200SE 30-40...don't bother
9600 Pro - Did ok, not stellar
ti4200 128MB - about equal to the 9500 Pro

So what gives, why does the performance fluctuate with the 9800 Pro.

This is what I was thinking:
the 9800 Pro has more detailed instructions than the 9500 Pro. Where when I play Doom 3, I get better performance out of the 9500 Pro. The 9800 Pro rocks HL2 prolly due to some favoritism on Valve's behalf. I believe that HL2 can utilize the faster memory and BIOS on the 9800 Pro. I am really confused here, though. WHy does the 9500 outperform the 9800 Pro on Doom3. They both have 128-bit memory buses. They both have 8 pipes. They both are 128MB. The 9800 Pro is faster in the clocks and faster memory, so why the lack in performance?

I have noticed this on these cards; the 9800 Pro has I-shaped memory on the top of the PBC, but only 2 chips with heatsinks. The 9500 Pro has I shaped memory on the top of the PBC, but it has 4 chips. Is this significant?

I really want a 9700 Pro, and I will trade the 9800 Pro, 9500 Pro, and 9200SE cards for that one delicious 9700 Pro. Those cards collectively cost $340. Whereas I want the $150 9700 Pro. Please check this thread if you are interested. Da' Thread

 

[senorpyro]

first off, the '9800 pro' in question isn't really a 9800 pro - it's an el-cheapo card which are known to suck. to be a true 9800 pro it's got to have 8 pipes, a 256 bit memory bus, and be clocked at atleast 380 core, 340 mem (ddr = 680).

ati didn't sanction the bastard of a card known as the 9800 ez. that was created by a third party vendor, so any comparisons using it will be skewed, as it was never supposed to exist - and doesnt fit properly into ati's actual product line.

there's no way somebody is going to want to buy all three of those cards from you - just sell them individaully on ebay, and then take the money you've earned, and head to newegg and pick up a REAL 9800 pro for $198 shipped. and that'll be then end of it - you'll have a real card that's not h4><0r3d - it'll just work.

 

[Chip_Thickhung]

Yeah...well...someone is buying 2 of the cards, I was shocked to hear that he was going to do it.

Yes I know Powercolor broke my 9800 Pro and sold it to me as a gimp, understood that. It does have 8 pipes, which was a bit of a mislead. 8 pipes will do shit if the memory bus is 128 and the core speed is 380/300 (which is 40 off the real pro). i am not trying to sell these here anyway, anandtech is doing a good job of that right now.

 

[EquaLiZr]

when you say you are getting 50-70fps, are you telling us your playing with no FSAA and at 640x480 right? when i had my 9700pro 256bit card i couldnt get that fps unless i had no FSAA on and at 1024x768 med quality (and i wouldnt even get it then)

with the setup i have now i get around 55fps with 1280x1024, 4xFSAA, high detail and everything on.

i just realized i may be rambling, maybe not