Radeon 9500 pro ?

[Graham]

I am about to upgrade my machine (new ASUS MB + Athalon etc), but I am stuck
in terms of graphics card. www.tomshardware.com and other sites seemed to
suggest that a Rad 9500 pro was a good comprimise (if I couldnt afford the
9700 or 9800. However, it seems that it has been superceeded by the 9600
which isnt as fast and is a bit cheaper. I cant seem to find a supplier for
the old 9500 card in the UK... If the 9500 Pro cards were so good, how come
I cant get hold of them anymore !

Thanks

 

[Graham]

So whats the alternative ? According to TomsHardware it seems as though the
Geforce 4 Ti4800 is faster and cheaper than the Radeon 9500 Pro. But the
Radeon has the FSAA etc...

 

[Strontium]

It's all in quality of the visuals. I'd say that being able to do FSAA,
VSync and AAX4 is a breadwinner. GF4 Ti's can't really touch that,
without a real cpu and memory. I am of the opinion that clock speed is
not all it's cracked up to be. When someone shows me a card that can do,
all that, regardless of CPU/memory...I tend to notice. nVidia got my
dollars, last year. ATI wins, this year.

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Graham stood up, at show-n-tell, and said: