Sapphire cards

PretzelB · Post by **PretzelB** » Wed Jan 28, 2004 5:54 am

I may upgrade to an ATI based card soon and I wanted to get a stock passive cooled card. Right now I'm looking at the 9600xt made by Sapphire but I'm a bit worried about the manufacturer.

I've read about some people having trouble with Sapphire and their HTPC setup. To be fair, many people have trouble with ATI made cards with their HTPC, myself included. I've also read that you need to use the drivers made by Sapphire and not the ones made by ATI, which troubles me a bit.

Should I be worried about this company? They do seem to be flooding the market lately so they must be doing something right.

lucienrau · Post by **lucienrau** » Wed Jan 28, 2004 5:59 am

You shouldn't be too worried about the Sapphire cards, or at least not any more than you would be by the ATI cards. Sapphire was the main OEM manufacturer for ATI before they made their own cards. I have a Sapphire 9500 (non pro) and I've never had any problems with it. Of course I've never really had any problems with an ATI card.

Post by **Ralf Hutter** » Wed Jan 28, 2004 6:17 am

I have a passive Sapphire 9600Pro in my gaming rig that's been working just fine. I'm using the ATI Cat 3.7's on it with zero issues.

MGP · Post by **MGP** » Wed Jan 28, 2004 7:45 am

And don't be pressured to get the 9600XT for the Half-Life 2 coupon...Anandtech had a link the other day about several ATI card manufacturers suddenly not shipping the coupons with their products without ATI's knowledge -- besides, it's not like Half-Life 2 will be coming out in any time in the near future (or if it ever makes it out

).

If you need a very reliable, cheap, and decent performing card, I'd suggest you look at the Sapphire Radeon 9200 (not "SE" edition or other variants). It runs games (Wolfenstein Enemy Territory, Sim City 4, NBA Live 2004, Madden 2004 NFL, etc.) fine.

Rook · Post by **Rook** » Wed Jan 28, 2004 3:53 pm

I'm getting a Sapphire 9600XT ultimate edition this evening - I'll try to post my experiences with it within a week or so.

I'm not too worried about Sapphire, as far as the company goes. You'll always hear a few negative reports about pretty much every product on the market. It's when you hear lots of negative reports that you should start to worry.