Budget cards! 5500 or 9600SE?

[Asestar]

I'm looking for a new gfx card to replace dying 8500LE.
I use this pc mostly for watching movies, downloading and surfing. Very
light gaming only roleplay games like Neverwinter, morrowind, UFO A.M and
such, with a few racing sims like GP4. I don't really need DVI port as well.
I always use 1024x768 or 800x600 res, no higher.

Also noise should not be very much, the quieter the better.

My budget allows these 3 cards:

- Sapphire Radeon 9600SE Atlantis 128M DDR AGP,DVI-I,TV-Out
- PowerColor Radeon 9600SE 128MB DDR AGP, DVI-I, TV-Out
- Gainward GeForce FX5500 128MB DDR AGP, "Pro/665 TV-DVI", TV-OUT

- Sapphire Radeon 9200 Atlantis 128MB DDR AGP,DVI-I,TV-Out (CHEAPER)


Now the first 3 are almost same price, within my budget. 9200 is somewhat
cheaper than bunch. I know 9200 is not good as it is dx8 and slow.
How does FX5500 stack up against 9600SE? I can't find anything about that
card anywhere!
Which one of 9600se is better, PowerColor or Sapphire?

Please help! All suggestions are welcome.

 

[Shadow Lord]

SE = Sucky Edition.

Sell a kidney and get a 9600 pro.

 

[Asestar]

I need my kindney more than the gfx card!
This is a secondary pc, not for gaming mainly. I game on a P4 3.0GHz HT
laptop with mobility radeon 9600pro, so please don't tell me to spend more
money on good cards when i don't need them.
I could do with a used 9500pro off qxl or ebay, but i prefer 2-year waranti
of new board.
I WILL BUY A BUDGET CARD!

All i ask about is
1- Is Fx5500 Fast/Slow than 9600SE
2- Is Sapphire card better/worse than PowerColor

 

[Asestar]

SE = Sucky Edition.

Sell a kidney and get a 9600 pro.

I know exactly what it is. 64-bit memory interface, same as in 5200 and
9200SE! Effectively killing the gpu.

 

[Augustus]

Now the first 3 are almost same price, within my budget. 9200 is somewhat

cheaper than bunch. I know 9200 is not good as it is dx8 and slow.
How does FX5500 stack up against 9600SE? I can't find anything about that
card anywhere!
Which one of 9600se is better, PowerColor or Sapphire?

Please help! All suggestions are welcome.

Do yourself a favor and get none of the above. If you absolutely must have
inexpensive DX9 capability, get a straight nonSE 9600....fanless, cheap and
silent. It'll perform somewhat better than your 8500LE. Any 9000/9200/9600SE
will astound you with it's lack of performance compared to your 8500. Don't
know much about the FX5500's

 

[Asestar]

Well you see, i live in Norway.
Here regular 9600 is not easy to find. Only option is 9600pro/xt or se.
9600pro costs much more (1300-1400NOK that's 185-200 USD) while
9600SE/Fx5500 costs (800NOK - 115USD). If I do ever find a regular 9600, it
costs no less than (1000NOK) 150USD. So that's above my budget, for this pc.
Oh and 9600XT costs around 230USD. There is also an "Ultimate Edition"
9600XT from sapphire for 320USD.

All of 9800 (including SE) are above 300USD here..

I think I might try that fx5500, looks like it's 128mb 128bit ddr mem,
running at 330/210 and price is also about 5-10$ less than 9600se.

 

[patrickp]

Well you see, i live in Norway.
Here regular 9600 is not easy to find. Only option is 9600pro/xt or se.
9600pro costs much more (1300-1400NOK that's 185-200 USD) while
9600SE/Fx5500 costs (800NOK - 115USD). If I do ever find a regular 9600, it
costs no less than (1000NOK) 150USD. So that's above my budget, for this pc.
Oh and 9600XT costs around 230USD. There is also an "Ultimate Edition"
9600XT from sapphire for 320USD.

All of 9800 (including SE) are above 300USD here..

I think I might try that fx5500, looks like it's 128mb 128bit ddr mem,
running at 330/210 and price is also about 5-10$ less than 9600se.

Have you tried UK or German suppliers, Augustus? I would have thought
it likely that some of them, at least, would ship to Norway: I've
noticed that several German suppliers, in particular, ship all over
Europe. Prices might well be cheaper that way, as well.

And I'd recommend Sapphire over Powercolor. I have a Sapphire card
myself, and it seems generally accepted that Sapphire are the most
similar to Built by Ati cards.



patrickp

(e-mail address removed) - take five to email me

 

[Asestar]

Have you tried UK or German suppliers, Augustus? I would have thought

it likely that some of them, at least, would ship to Norway: I've
noticed that several German suppliers, in particular, ship all over
Europe. Prices might well be cheaper that way, as well.

And I'd recommend Sapphire over Powercolor. I have a Sapphire card
myself, and it seems generally accepted that Sapphire are the most
similar to Built by Ati cards.

Pretty much what I wanted to hear. But you know I do want a local retailer
that I can easily complain to in case of failure (which is likely , given my
history of burning 2 cards within last 5 months .
I can't see why Fx5500 would be worse than 9600SE (64bit mem and all), so i
might go for FX this time.

 

[gene1477]

The 9000 Pro runs at the same clock rates as a nonSE 8500. It appears to be
virtually the same card except for more advanced shading and smoothing, and
is at least as fast, and also has DVI and S-video. It still has DX8.1.
NewEgg had one for $58. they also have the 9600/128 for under 100USD.
Personally I'd prefer the 9600 for its passive cooling.