Any difference in different ATI cards?

[alent1234]

I want to get a 9600 until early next year when I do my upgrade to socket 939, PCI-e, etc. My ti4600 died and I've been on a scavanged ATI Rage Pro for the last few months. I was hoping to get a real ATI card, but I see a bunch of other brands of 9600. Any big quality differences among them? Any brand to avoid?

 

[dc5]

the 9600 will be pretty outdated by next year. i see many people buy the saphire ati cards.

 

[alent1234]

i just need it for 6 months until 939 matures a little. I don't see any point in buying anything 939 now since PCI-e is coming along with ddr2. Any 939 mobo's will be useless for upgrades in 2-3 years.

 

[Navid]

Keep this in mind if you are considering a 9600 card.
http://www.ati.com/support/infobase/4219.html

 

[kylebisme]

on the off chance you have to set a 9600pro down to agpx4 for stablity, it isn't really a big deal anway.

as for which brands of ati chiped cards to get, the quality is pretty consistant across brands from what i have seen. price and warranty are the deciding points for me. you might wan't to look for a 9700 or better though as they don't cost much more than the 9600s and they are a lot more card for the money.

 

[clicknext]

ATI and Sapphire are sure to be good. I've heard bad things about older powercolor and gigabyte cards, but that was back in the 8500 generation, I believe.

The 9600 (not the 9600 pro/xt) will perform significantly worse than the Ti4600. The Pro and XT version will perform roughly the same, and better with AA/AF. You most likely won't be too happy with HL2 and Doom3 using this card. Get a 9700 if you can find one for not much more.

 

[alent1234]

not looking to play any new games with it. I still have only a P3 933 that won't be upgraded until early next year. I have some older games I want to play for now.