ATI 85,9,91 comparison?

[nemaNIN]

i'm going with ati. and i was going to get a 9000, but now i see a 9100? anybody know the difference? its not on the ati sight? and i see people saying the 8500 is actually faster than the 9XXX? so its actually a downgrade?

what are the essential differences between these 3 cards? whats the difference between pro and non-pro?

im really looking for a simple comparison...
thanx for your help
nema

 

[Kazuo]

R9100 = R8500. It's just that the R200 core (the 8500 core) was stripped down and given some of the 9700's core's benefits to make it the 9000. However, the pros didn't outweigh the cons. The 8500 is typically faster (by a fair margin). So they felt the need to rename it the 9100 to show that it is indeed faster. Any 8500s that come out now will be labeled 9100.
Pro versions have higher clock speeds. In order of speed (I believe, and these are just typical results):
Radeon 9000
Radeon 9000 Pro
Radeon 8500LE (I believe most of the 9100 cards coming out are the same as this).
Radeon 8500
Radeon 9500
Radeon 9500 Pro
Radeon 9700
Radeon 9700 Pro

Check the clock speeds when you're buying a card.
Personally, I have a regular old R9000 and it's suiting me just fine. And yes, I do play games UT 2003 runs beautifully with it on my AthlonXP 1600+. And hey, it's quiet- no fan