Sapphire Atlantis 9800 Pro and 9600 Pro Ultimate Editions

Company: Sapphire
Product: 9800 Pro and 9600 Pro Ultimate Editions
Street Price: Unknown
Date Reviewed: July 25, 2003
Reviewed By: Joey Chao

Conclusions and Final Thoughts:

The Sapphire Atlantis 9800 Pro Ultimate video card is an excellent addition to any gaming system. The card possesses one of the most feature rich bundles we have ever encountered. It encompasses almost every facet that we look for when reviewing high end video cards. The 9800 Pro is a blazingly fast card that will support the next generation video games such as Doom III and Half Life 2.

What better to compliment a great card than a plethora of top selling *current* gaming titles? It is shocking that end-users can purchase a card that bundles three full version games, a DVD viewing program, and an overclocking utility. Sapphire has done a great job catering to the enthusiast community with this package. The one feature that would have topped it all off would have been adding a TV-in function. Other than that, there is nothing negative that we can say about the card. It's totally silent, has a spectacular bundle, and is extremely fast.

Though the 9600 Pro is not as fast as its bigger brother, it is still an excellent mainstream video card. The bundles are almost identical except for the absence of Return to Castle Wolfenstein. This card represents a cheaper but still a good performing alternative to the 9800 Pro. The 9600 Pro supports direct meaning that it will play the next generation gaming titles, albeit not as well as the top end cards. You might not be able to play Doom III at 1600x1200, 4x Antialiasing, and 8x Anisotropic Filtering - but it should be able to play it in the lower eye-candy settings.

Sapphire has continuously upped the ante when it comes to producing a bundle of useful bundle of hardware and software. No other manufacturer has managed to achieve the level of success with package deals that Sapphire has insisted on providing. There are probably some who disagree, but being completely objective, one will not be able to find a card currently produced that offers so much. Kudos to Sapphire on their Ultimate series video card packages.

Overall: 9.5/10