9600 Pro vs. 9600 XT

[Michael Sabadish]

Greetings,

I'm in the market for one of the above. I've yet to read any
comparisons of the specs or realworld performance of these two cards.
Furthermore, I'm not clear on the benefit of the 256mb versus the
128mb versions of each.
I'm planning the upgrade mostly to enjoy Halflife 2, which seems
to be almost indefinately postponed. The fact that the game ( or as
I've read, the single player mode only ) comes bundled with the XT
makes it seem like it would be the reasonable choice it the card will
retail for < $40 more then the Pro version.
Finally, I don't know if this posting would be better suited to
one of the comp.graphics groups.

Many thanks in advance,

Michael

 

[John and Pat Ochenduszko]

Greetings,

I'm in the market for one of the above. I've yet to read any
comparisons of the specs or realworld performance of these two cards.
Furthermore, I'm not clear on the benefit of the 256mb versus the
128mb versions of each.
I'm planning the upgrade mostly to enjoy Halflife 2, which seems
to be almost indefinately postponed. The fact that the game ( or as
I've read, the single player mode only ) comes bundled with the XT
makes it seem like it would be the reasonable choice it the card will
retail for < $40 more then the Pro version.
Finally, I don't know if this posting would be better suited to
one of the comp.graphics groups.

Many thanks in advance,

Michael

From what I have been reading the XT would outperform the 9600 Pro. The XT
actually is a slight bit better than the 9700. I am not sure if HL2 is going
to be bundled with the cards now after the Valve fiasco. I suspect that ATI
may include either a coupon or will supply the game at a later date. The
information on this seems to be rather vague right now. As for the ATI card,
I have a Dell which came with an NVidia free 5200 FX upgrade. The cards
works nicely for a lower end card but I will be upgrading to a 9600XT after
they come out. I had a system with the 9700 Pro and it was absolutely
terrific. Oh and I would buy the 128 MB version. The extra RAM will mean an
increased price and you really will not see a difference on any current or
close to release games. Just one man's opinion....

Regards,
John O.