ATI Radeon 9800 XT 256 MB review

ATI Radeon 9800 XT 256 MB

You should be able to find this card for less then $500 most places, and it is a very fast graphics card. However, there are some faster cards on the market now. It’s still a good deal though, if you’re a little price conscious. And the cost should come down, since the newer cards are faster.

Take a look at the elaborate fan design and graphics, cause once you install it, that’s the last you’ll see of it. Once this card is installed in most towers, the fan will point downwards and even if you have an acrylic case, it won’t be visible.

You might ask yourself, do I need 256MB? Well, if you plan to do high-resolution (1600x1200) 3D gaming, yes. The 128MB cards will run out of memory at that high of a resolution.

You do get SVGA, S-Video, and DVI connectors on the back, and switching output is very easy to do.

All-in-all, there are not a lot of problems with installation of this card. Both installation and operation are pretty straight forward. I don’t like the lack of an ATI supplied forum on their website, but there are 3rd party forums out there that give helpful information.

Some of the ATI cards are known for getting pretty hot, and this one is no exception. Make sure you have a good power supply (greater than 350Watt, 400 would be better) and that the fan is operating properly, and is not obstructed by any nearby cards.

You can find some top cards with low pricing here

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