9500 pro or 9600 pro

[J5im8yo]

I know 9500 pro is on its way out but doesn't make it an inferior card to the upcoming 9600. It is stil a good card to get right? Or should I wait until the 9600 comes out and get that.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

The 9500 Pro is here today, it's been available for quite some time. Right now we do not know exactly what to expect from the 9600 Pro, although it seems rather unlikely that it will be able to outperform the 9500 Pro. I'd recommend that if you need a $200 board today, the 9500 Pro is no doubt the best card in that range. The 9600 Pro may come close but I doubt it will beat the 9500 Pro, get the 9500 Pro while you still can before they are phased out.

 

[Keysplayr]

Get the 9500 pro if you can. the 9600 is supposed to only have 4 pixel piplines instead of the 9500 pro's 8.
Keys

 

[J5im8yo]

The card that I'm looking at now is Xtasy 9500 Pro. I've never bought product from this company and cannot find any reviews on their 9500 Pro. I know its cheaper than others because it doesn't bundle games or any other extras but how about performance? I usually go to Fry's and I cannot find any 9500 Pro in stock and they've been out for almost 1 month! So my only choice is the Extasy or 9700 Pro. They were also on sale the 9700 Pro for 299 in brand new retail box. But I was having a dilemma and missed it. I'd rather save 180 bucks and buy a 9500 Pro good idea?

 

[bunnyfubbles]

You can get a 9500 Pro for $119? BY ALL MEANS GO FOR IT! Otherwise all 9700 Pros should pretty much now be available for around $299... it isn't a sale, the MSRP is changing due to the arival of the 9800 Pro which will replace the 9700 Pro as ATI's $399 board.

 

[J5im8yo]

After reading some review I've decided to try my luck on modding the 9500 non pro 128m version of the Sapphire card. Any idea where these cards are sold other than internet because I don't feet like paying the restocking fee if it fails. In my opinion I will just keep returning until I get one that works. I know Fry's doesn't charge restocking fee but they don't have 9500.

 

[selfbuilt]

Frankly, I suspect you will have difficulty finding a "mod-able" 9500 nonpro these days, given all the interest on the subject. Also, most attempts at modding do not seem to have been successful. Reviews of the subject on message boards with large numbers of participants indicate an overall success rate of about 30-40% AT BEST! And most of those are probably false positives, since people didn't test their cards long enough to detect the artifacting that is commonly produced (in other words, many people did the mod and immediately reported success without testing it). And that's if you get a mod-able card to start with (it's unknown how many, if any, are still available!).

Frankly, the 9500 Pro is still the best price/performer of the lot, and is likely to remain so even when the 9600 comes out.

 

[J5im8yo]

Like all you suggested, I bought a Radeon 9500 Pro 200 dollars right out the door + 20 rebate = 180 dollars. Not bad. I got the Xtasy one since I can't find Sapphire or the original ATI Radeon 9500. I don't think it really matters. The thing that I was wondering was why is that there is no review of the Visiontek Xtasy Radeon line of product at all?? I can't find anything on it.

 

[FearoftheNight]

Visiontek just resentl resurrected.

 

[MrPabulum]

I've got a R8500 at the moment, and am thinking about upgrading. The 9500 Pro looks awfully compelling; I'd finally get to play most games at 1280 X1024 with 8X Aniso. Can't do it with my R8500 . Anyone heard anything about the Visiontek model?

 

[J5im8yo]

The retail comes in lifetime warranty. I just got the card and the ram is DDR SGRAM Infineon 3.0. I haven't install it but I doubt there will be any performance difference from the other card such as powercolor and sapphire. Their line of radeon card looks pretty attractive and the fact their cards are still in stock was because they came out late. I just figure all these out

 

[bupkus]

J5im8yo,
I just got my Sapphire 9500np and I got checkers all over, not from attempting an overclock, but just trying to convert to whatever was next. I've RMA'd it and will not try again. Next attempt will be a non-oc.