Sapphire Atlantis Radeon 9800 Pro

Company: Sapphire
Product: Atlantis 9800 Pro
Street Price: ~$405
Date Reviewed: June 19, 2003
Reviewed By: Joey Chao

Conclusions and Final Thoughts:

Price and Features: 9.5
The card is definitely aimed at the enthusiast market and we do not usually take off points for a card being expensive because it is the best. Nothing changes with this review. Top end users are going to pay the top dollar for the best video card. The Sapphire Atlantis 9800 Pro is a very fast card and will be able to handle all games that are out now and might be the bets candidate for Doom III. The games that come with the bundle are very popular and are full version. Many people will enjoy playing Soldier of Fortune 2 and Return to Castle Wolfenstein on their super fast 9800 Pro.

Performance: 9
At the moment we do not have any other 9800's to compare the Sapphire card. However, the results seem to show the card scoring right where it is supposed to. It is the fastest card out and when AA or AF is enabled, the card really stands out from the rest of the crowd. Later on, perhaps when we have a FX5900 Ultra, we can draw a better comparison between the top cards from ATi and NVIDIA but for now all we ca say is that this card is very fast and a top performer.

Stability: 10
Throughout the course of the review, we never once encountered an issue with the card. There were no problems with any of the benchmarks we used at any resolutions. The 3.4 drivers worked great with the card and the quality games looked superb. Not much to say except it was 100% stable.

Support: 10
Support for this video card is very good. Users can go to Sapphire's site and download the latest drivers and/or find out more information on a certain product. There is a contacts page with the e-mail address to departments all over the world for further information that cannot be found on the site. The last really good support option with Sapphire is their online forums. There many users can come and post questions or help our other solve their problems.

Overclocking: 9
Overclocking with this video card was a breeze. Reaching the max speeds at 465/378 is something to be impressed about. These cards based on the R350 core and the Samsung memory chips are good overclockers and should satisfy the enthusiasts out there looking to get every last bit of performance possible.

Overall: 9.5
The Sapphire Atlantis 9800 Pro is a card that we would recommend to a high performance users such as the gamers and other enthusiasts. Its very fast, does some good overclocking, and has an attractive bundle worthy of any user. If you already have a card like the 9700 Pro then you might want to hold out on a new card. If you have a much slower card or just have to have the fastest available, then go out and pick up a 9800 Pro.