Old 9800 vs. new 9600

[@ndrew]

Fat-fingered part of that message, by "full support", I meant "full
Dx9 support").

Out of that bunch the 9800 Pro by far.

regards

@ndrew

 

[jm]

I'm looking for a card that offers full support for around $150. I see
that I can buy an older 9800 series:
Radeon 9800/128MB RAM,
9800SE with 128MB

Or I can buy a newer 9600 series:
9600XT with 256MB RAM.

Oh, and just for the sake of argument, pricewatch.com lists 9700's with
128MB in that range as well.

So for the money, which of those cards offers the best performance?

 

[jm]

Fat-fingered part of that message, by "full support", I meant "full Dx9
support").

 

[Sham B]

You are unlikely to need a 256Mb card, and when the time for that kind of memory comes by, we'll be
a couple of GPU families up, and something like a 9600 just wont cut it... for the here and now,
256Mb cards tend to have slower memory than the 128Mb, so cross 256Mb cards off the list.

Out of the 128Mb cards, the 9800 pro is the fastest, and from my experience of it, it is a very good
card. With an after sales heatsink, it becomes very overclockable, and the latest cards have the
R360 GPU (next one up from the one advertised as fitted).

May not be the top dog, but still very much the gamers choice, and well as being recommended in a
number of sites and mags as the best general gaming card, when considering price vs performance.

S

 

[Augustus]

I'm looking for a card that offers full support for around $150. I see
that I can buy an older 9800 series:
Radeon 9800/128MB RAM,
9800SE with 128MB

Or I can buy a newer 9600 series:
9600XT with 256MB RAM.

Oh, and just for the sake of argument, pricewatch.com lists 9700's with
128MB in that range as well.

So for the money, which of those cards offers the best performance?

The 9800 Pro 128Mb outperforms all the others by a substantial margin. Best
value for the money on your list. The 9700 Pro is the next best choice. It's
within about 5% of the 9800 Pro performance wise.

 

[patrickp]

The 9800 Pro 128Mb outperforms all the others by a substantial margin. Best
value for the money on your list. The 9700 Pro is the next best choice. It's
within about 5% of the 9800 Pro performance wise.

Agreed. In particular, don't go for SE versions.

patrickp

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

 

[jm]

Thanks for all of the replies, I appreciate the advice. Given what
everyone has said, I think I'll up the ante from $150 range to the $190 -
$200 range and get a 9800 Pro card. Seems like the best bang for the buck.

Regards.

Jeremy