What's the difference between 9600XT and 9600XT Ultra?

[Ron]

Or are they the same card? I'm looking at the PowerColor 9600XT Ultra.

Ron

 

[Sleepy]

Ultra's generally have faster clock speeds (both Core and Memory) but dont
assume they're all the same between manufacturers. For a 9600XT I would
compare ATIs own and Hercules, Sapphire, Connect3D and Powercolor but I have
read of Powercolor cards having poor image quality.

 

[Ron]

Ultra's generally have faster clock speeds (both Core and Memory) but dont
assume they're all the same between manufacturers. For a 9600XT I would
compare ATIs own and Hercules, Sapphire, Connect3D and Powercolor but I have
read of Powercolor cards having poor image quality.

Thanks for the reply. By "compare", I'll assume you mean the specs of all
of those brands. Obviously, I won't be able to compare their image
qualities. However, I have read where the bad rap PowerColor gets was for
their older models and that usually "knocks" on certain manufacturers come
about from end-users who bought the more expensive brand and now secretly
wished they had gotten the cheaper one. As one poster put it, "just because
it's cheaper, doesn't necessarily make it junk". I've read just as many
complaints about Sapphire as I have about PowerColor. If PowerColor sells
100,000 units with a 10% failure rate, that's 10,000 complaints. If
Saphhire sells only 30,000 with a 20% failure rate, that's only 6000
complaints. Makes it look like Saphhire has a better product. If it fails,
I'll return it no matter who makes it. I try not to take too seriously,
posters recommendations about one brand vs. another. Unless they test all
the brands (and a good number of each at that), their "feelings" are just
that...subjective. What I'm more interested in, is the physical differences
between the 9600XT and the Ultra model of the same. If it is faster DDR, it
should be advertised as such(like 3.3ns vs. 4ns). I'll check out those
other brands you mentioned as well. Thanks again for the input.

Ron

 

[end user]

Hi Ron I have a ATI9600XT with 3.8 cat drivers no problem whatsover. I
have seen on this group tho people mention not to buy powercolor as it
wasn't dependable.

Locust

 

[Mavra Chang]

I don't think the ultra in PowerColor's case means anything like the ultra
in nVidia's case. I've had the PowerColor for a couple of months now and
have had absolutely no problems. I does come in at 680 for the memory out of
the box opposed to 600 for most of the rest of the 9600XTs out there so
maybe that's why they call it ultra. Oh and the image quality is there. I
tried ATIs' first but bought this one for the price. Quieter and same
performance/quality. No complaints.

mc
Live every day like it's your last...one day you'll be right!

 

[Ron]

I don't think the ultra in PowerColor's case means anything like the ultra
in nVidia's case. I've had the PowerColor for a couple of months now and
have had absolutely no problems. I does come in at 680 for the memory out of
the box opposed to 600 for most of the rest of the 9600XTs out there so
maybe that's why they call it ultra. Oh and the image quality is there. I
tried ATIs' first but bought this one for the price. Quieter and same
performance/quality. No complaints.

mc
Live every day like it's your last...one day you'll be right!

Mavra, do you know for certain that your's is an Ultra model (actually, I
think the vendor mis-typed the name, I've seen other sites show a model
called the 9600XT ULTIMATE which shows the memory coming in at 650MHz as
opposed to the "regular" 9600XT at 600MHz)? Where did you buy it? I saw this
one at MWAVE.com which has the 9600XT Ultra going for $159 however, they
don't provide specs on the model. NewEgg.com has a Saphhire 9600XT Ultimate
that sports a 650MHz memory speed, but that goes for $195. Quite a
difference for just a mfg's name if they're the same card.

Ron

 

[Mavra Chang]

Ron,
I got mine at futurepowerpc. They seem to advertise it as ultra
sometimes and just regular at others. It's listed now as $168.00 and
ZipZoomFly has it for a little more. They are both the R96AC3T. My box
didn't say ultra but it does come in at (500MHz/680MHz) as advertised. I
can't say if other Ultras are any better or not but this card is worth it.

mc
Live every day like it's your last...one day you'll be right!
http://www.futurepowerpc.com/scripts/details.asp?PRDCODE=VB_PCC_ATI_9600XT_128

 

[david]

lollllll all u guys just got punked lol theres no "big" difference
in the ultras(ultimates) vs reg 9600xt, lol u just got punk by some
good sale guys putting a catchy nice lil word on the end lol

c for Sapphire their is one difference that is worth notice
their 9600xt ULTRA is fan less, good if u want low noise, not that
great if u want to overclock but for speed sorry buddy but their is no
difference lol it is the same core chip and all, no diff cept better
cooling (hence no fan)

now for powercolor they say 9600xt ULTIMATE not ultra and thats just a
good lil word they liked to put on it, it still has a fan, and still
has same core chip and all that good stuff, if u notice they dn't make
any reg 9600xt because it is the same thing as their 9600xt ULTIMATE,
it was a very clever disguise for powercolor to add that word there
with proof that it fooled u guys

srry but unless u care about noise theres no difference guys

i mean really if u r selling the same product as tens of other
compinies u gota juice it up a little but it will only be the name or
cooling they dn't make the chips

-proud 9600xt owner who knows what hes talking about