Introduction
CRUCIAL RADEON 9800 PRO
Crucial's turn
ATi' Radeon 9800 Pro has carried on the good work first laid down by the 9700 Pro, and it's safe to say that ATi's newest card was more of a spring makeover than anything else. A touch more speed for both the core and memory, a snazzy F-buffer to ensure that the card can take advantage of super-long shader programs, and an upgraded stencil buffer marked it out as ATi's pure performance card. Now we see ATI match NVIDIA with a 256MB model, powered by the new-fangled DDR-II memory.
The standard 128MB 9800 Pro has been steadily dropping in price, much to the delight of potential buyers. A number of partners have come forward, with their cards now widely available through a number of e-tailers. Crucial Technologies, perhaps more famous for its on-line memory shop, branched out into graphics card distributing some time ago. Its Radeon 9700 Pro sold well, on the basis of the high regard that the company was held in. Price, too, was competitive.
You won't be surprised to learn that Crucial now market a Radeon 9800 Pro. It was the next logical step after the success of the 9700 Pro. We'll be expecting a cheap, reference-like card with exemplary customer support. Let's find out if these expectations hold true.
