9800SE from PowerColor?

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Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 21, 2002
Messages
187
I have bought two 9500 from Sapphire with excellent results and I am looking to purchase a 9800SE. I found a company called PowerColor on newegg and was wondering if anyone has any problems or good reviews on them.

thanks

links:

PowerColor Radeon 9800SE
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-131-248&depa=1

PowerColor Radeon 9800SE
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-131-249&depa=1

I will be trying to softmod and overclock one of these cards. I hope I am buying the right type of Radeon 9800SE card. As of now I am leaning towards the 120 dollar card as opposed to the 150 dollar one. This card will be used in a budget gaming PC for a friend who basically plays a little bit of everything but not very "[H]ardcore"

Thanks for any and all info on this matter!
 
Isn't a 9600XT a faster card than a 9800SE? He would be better off getting a 9600XT as it's better in the benchmarks and might be just as cheap or cheaper.
 
Roberty said:
Isn't a 9600XT a faster card than a 9800SE? He would be better off getting a 9600XT as it's better in the benchmarks and might be just as cheap or cheaper.
Click to expand...
A 9600xt is probably about even with it at stock. If he put a vga silencer on it there is a chance it can be softmoded to a 9800pro and the extra 4 pipes opened. That is not gaurenteed, but if it's successfull the 9800pro >> 9600xt
 
9800se will equal the 9600xt and is much cheaper.... and might be softmodded to 9800 (8 pipes!!) and OCed well. Just make sure u get <2.6 ns ram modules...

~Adam
 
i have a powercolor 9600se. seems to work fine. mine got like, 5 or 6000 on the aquamark thing though..
 
if the softmod doesn't work, since he didn't void the warranty, he can always return it and try a different one and claim the product defective (which actually is the truth, if you look at it from a certain point of view)

PowerColor has been around for a while. read the reviews on the site, and trust in the history of both PowerColor and Newegg.

My suggestion, do a softmod, and run continual tests for 24 hours just to make sure...as always hang onto receipts and packaging and stuff, just in case you need to do an exchange.
 
mhenley said:
if the softmod doesn't work, since he didn't void the warranty, he can always return it and try a different one and claim the product defective (which actually is the truth, if you look at it from a certain point of view)
PowerColor has been around for a while. read the reviews on the site, and trust in the history of both PowerColor and Newegg.
My suggestion, do a softmod, and run continual tests for 24 hours just to make sure...as always hang onto receipts and packaging and stuff, just in case you need to do an exchange.
Click to expand...

no, if the card works perfectly from the factory, its RMA fraud to return just b/c it doesnt OC or flash into something else.

its not the truth, no matter how you look at it
 
paulmofyourhand said:
no, if the card works perfectly from the factory, its RMA fraud to return just b/c it doesnt OC or flash into something else.

its not the truth, no matter how you look at it
Click to expand...


It would be RMA fraud if I tried to return a product that did not come in the package, or if I fried the card and tried to send it back, or if I modified it and then put it back to the original state and tried to return it...but to exchange it for the exact same product 1: is perfectly ok at most retail and online stores (even if the product is open software), 2: doesn't usually require a reason, because you're only exchanging, and 3: is perfectly legal...as long as you haven't voided the warranty (which the softmod doesn't do)
 
oOo sam lee oOo said:
i have a powercolor 9600se. seems to work fine. mine got like, 5 or 6000 on the aquamark thing though..
Click to expand...

the 9600se is ... how you say... crap. Sorry =/

~Adam
 
yea STAY FAR FAR away from any thing ending in SE >.< i bought a 9600SE thinking it was going to be better then a 9000 WORST THING I EVER DID >.> i still cant get rid of it
$50 any one want it >.>
 
Elios said:
yea STAY FAR FAR away from any thing ending in SE >.< i bought a 9600SE thinking it was going to be better then a 9000 WORST THING I EVER DID >.> i still cant get rid of it
$50 any one want it >.>
Click to expand...


The 9600se and the 9800se are two totally different things, completely different in all ways. Just because you had a bad experience with one type of se doesn't mean anything about the other types.

~Adam
 
Almost all the ATI products labeled SE are awful. However, you can mod some 9800 SE cards into fully functional 9800 Pro's, so they CAN be a good value. But this doesn't always work, and then you are stuck with crap.
 
CleanSlate said:
9800se will equal the 9600xt and is much cheaper.... and might be softmodded to 9800 (8 pipes!!) and OCed well. Just make sure u get <2.6 ns ram modules...

~Adam
Click to expand...

In stock form it isn't. The prices are close to the same (9600XT is a few bucks cheaper) and the 9600XT beats the 9800SE in every benchmark. Plus there is no guarantee on the soft mod.

Video Card Roundup
 
Pretty much guarenteed the 9800se with or without the mod the 9800se will hit over 350 core and typically it should hit ~380, all you need to do is find a type 2 (256bit ram interface) version with some nice ram and even if you dont mod it successfully, it'll blow a 9600xt away.

You can find a cheap oem version, in fact mine was $121 when I bought it (much cheaper than the 9600xt at the time which was $160 at newegg), shipped bundled with a game from gameve.com. Now I bought cheap and I got cheap ram but spending another 20 or 30 for a powercolor with 2.6 ns ram modules ... it'd be worth it.

~Adam
 
Two comments, since I've actually bought a 9800se from newegg.
Don't bank on the softmod working. My experience is that it works 0% of the time. It will open the pipes, but they will cause artifacting. If you think checkerboard patterns are cool, you might give it a try.
Don't EVER RMA something that works to the advertised specs. Doing anything else is fraud and just plain dishonest any way you look at it. To all the folks that justify this to themselves, I say get a conscience before you wind up in jail or worse. I mean really, not illegal does not equal Right.
Call me selfrighteous if it makes you feel better.
 
mhenley said:
It would be RMA fraud if I tried to return a product that did not come in the package, or if I fried the card and tried to send it back, or if I modified it and then put it back to the original state and tried to return it...but to exchange it for the exact same product 1: is perfectly ok at most retail and online stores (even if the product is open software), 2: doesn't usually require a reason, because you're only exchanging, and 3: is perfectly legal...as long as you haven't voided the warranty (which the softmod doesn't do)
Click to expand...

can somebody pls fxxkin flash their 6800nu with 6800ultra bios with diff flash util post results! :)
 
hmm........I think you should just get a regular 9800. I saw one at monarchcomputer.com for less then the price of the powercolor 9800SE. only $140, which is a wicked deal
 
bountyhunter said:
hmm........I think you should just get a regular 9800. I saw one at monarchcomputer.com for less then the price of the powercolor 9800SE. only $140, which is a wicked deal
Click to expand...

If you do that, be sure to beware of the 128bit "atlantis" POS cards. The real 9800s have 256bit
 
I will definitely look for 256bit Radeon cards. RMA is not my style unless it is borked, just too much of a hassle for me. Hopefully, my friend can decide on a card after this information. I'm going to try to convince him to shell out the extra 50 bucks to get a 9800pro. Wish the 6600 were AGP ready right now.

Thanks again
 
A 9800SE power color is a great card for its price. I have one and it software moded fine. The power color 9800SE is a 256 bit mem bus and the core is 380 and mem is 340 like a 9800 pro ( most 9800SE from other companys are lower clocked on the core and have slower mem but not the power color). A freind of mine got a referb form newegg for $120 and did not software mod. It would overclock to core of 460 and mem at 365/730 on stock cooling with 3DMark03 of over 4500 with only 4 pipeslines. I would say a power color 9800SE is faster then a 9600XT.
 
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