9500 ?

[icyredsol8181]

got a quick question bout the radeon 9500.... which 9500 can be overclocked to a 9700.. whats the truth about that card? i was thinking bout buying one but how much of a differance is the pro and non pro? thanx again guys

 

[IKeelU]

very few remaining 9500s (if any) can still be turned into 9700 np's. You would need to get one that has the memory in an L-shape around the GPU, but don't be fooled by screenshots given at the store's web site (i.e. ask them to make sure that the ones they carry actually have their memory configured that way). My advice, don't waste your time looking for one, cause ATI pulled the plug on that pretty quick. Get yourself a 9500 Pro if you can still find one, or if you've got a hankerin' for some overclocking, a 9600 Pro. Those are both excellent cards.

Edit: The new 5600 Ultra's are very decent also

 

[Corporate Thug]

yeah, the 9500 with the red pcb and L-shaped ram BUT very few soft mods have been working lately

 

[Lonyo]

The Pro is much better, especially as the chances of a card you can softmod are low, and it might not work even if you do find a card.

The 9500 non-pro has 4 pipelines, the 9500pro has 8 pipelines so it can work quite a bit faster.
The softmod enables the extra 4 pipes on the 9500 to turn it into a 9700.

You could always try for a 9700 non-pro anyway (maybe look for a refurb) as they are very nice in terms of price/performance.