Which brand Radeon 9600 is better?

[Jeff M. Ingram]

Hello,

I'm in the market for a new video card. I've currently got an ATI Radeon
8500 128 in my Dell Dimension 4500 (2.8Ghz 768mb of RAM w/o hyperthreading).
I've been led to believe that it's worth upgrading to a Radeon 9600 XT.

2 Questions.

I would imaging I would get better fps in my games but would there be a
little more eye candy as well? I play Unreal Tournament 2003, Unreal
Tournament 2004, Need for Speed Underground and some older games (Unreal
Tournamet and NFS: Porsche Unleashed) mostly.

Which brand Radeon 9600 is better? Or does it really matter?

Thanks for the info!

Jeff

 

[Tod]

Slowest to fastest

9600 SE 325mhz GPU (slow memory)
9600 325mhz GPU
9600 Pro 400mhz GPU
9600 XT 500mhz GPU (XT also has built-in overclocking, and better
compression)

The 9600, 9600 Pro, 9600 XT have 128 bit wide memory access
The 9600 SE has only 64 bit wide memory access.

 

[Jeff M. Ingram]

Thanks for the quick answer! Does the manufacturer make a difference? And
how about my question about the eye-candy? Would I see difference between
my 8500 128 and any of these 9600s?

Thanks again!

Jeff

 

[Augustus]

Thanks for the quick answer! Does the manufacturer make a difference? And
how about my question about the eye-candy? Would I see difference between
my 8500 128 and any of these 9600s?

The manufacturer does not make much of a difference, just the specs, so go
to the manufacturers website and check it out before buying. There are some
differences in memory speed and GPU's, especially in the standard 9600. The
8500 128Mb is an excellent fast card itself, it's only drawback is that
it's DX8, so don't expect a huge performance increase going to a 9600. Most
9600 Pro's give a 3D mark 2001 score of 13-14K and 8500's do 11-12K on a
high end system. For a big jump you need to be going to a 9800.

 

[Tod]

I've heard that Sapphire makes some cards for ATI.
As for eye candy, if the games you play come with higher detail settings, a
9600 might help for more detail.
But I've only been playing the same game (C & C Generals) for over a year.

I myself switched at Christmas from an Sapphire 9100 128MB
to a 9600 PRO AIW.
I believe the 9600 Pro's 2D is a little bit better then the 9100

 

[shazbatt]

Stay away from Sapphire. I have one and they don't have the temp
sensing thermistor and don't support overclocking properly..........

Tom B

 

[smelly]

If you're in the UK try 9800 pro www.overclockers.co.uk (£107.50) or
9700 pro from scan.co.uk (£102.50)

 

[ElfGuy]

For games you want a 9600Pro or better. The 9600SE won't make much of
a difference with your current one.

 

[Todd]

Yes, and the 9600xt attains performance that is equalled by an overclocked 9600 Pro, so
save you money and buy the latter.