Ati 9500? WHEN! ;)

[Case00]

Anyone heard ANYTHING new? Im waiting for this card but cant hold much longer cause of the cheap 8500LE´s and 9000Pros out there!

 

[AnAndAustin]

I'd expect it to be sometime in Nov with availability before Dec. I'd expect it to offer pure 3D perf comparable to GF4TI4600, be priced about $200 but will obviously sport DX9 hw complaince as well as the great AA and Aniso the 9700 possesses. However this is just me guessing, I'm expecting ATI wanted to sell off the majority of their Rad8500 cards (like nVidia did with GF3TI500 before introducing 4200) and establish their AIW Rad9000 and Rad9700 over the AIW Rad7500 and Rad8500. BUT I'm sure both nVidia and ATI will want consumers to pay a good $300+ for DX9 hw, 3D perf (inc AA and Aniso) for as long as possible so it could be 3-6 motnhs before either company will release $200 'budget' DX9 cards.

You may very well want to get a 128MB Rad9000PRO, Rad8500 or GF4TI4200 to tide you over the next 6 motnsh or so while the dust settles a little bit.

 

[DevilsAdvocate]

I actually read (@ Digitimes I believe) that it will be a DX8.1 part.

 

[JeremiahTheGreat]

i thought it was basically the same as the 9700 except with 128bit memory controller... i guess it still all speculation..

 

[rachaelsdad]

Austin is probably correct on the Time line. Have heard that ATI will announce the specs around October 15. Prices are out there now. Two cards 9500 at 179 Street and 9500 Pro at 219. Both cards are Dx9 but will have half the pipelines. Have not heard anything definate about the memory controller but could well be at 128. The card should put out good raw performance but will loose to the 9700 as you crank up the textures and resolution.

 

[DevilsAdvocate]

Any idea about the feature set? Anyone hear if it is definitely DX9?

 

[rachaelsdad]

It is definately DX9; The Shaders are going to have to go throught 2X's as many passes as on the 9700. Still no idea just conjectures on the size of the memory controller. The VPU will be smaller since the pipelines take up a lot of real estate and should produce less heat than its big brother. It sounds like in raw power it may be around the 4600 but have the extra goodies for eye candy of the 9700 just at a lower resolution. It actually sounds like a good card since the 9700 is currently CPU bound and the peeps on Rage3d are enjoying telling us how much they enjoy running their games at 1280X1024 or 1600X1200 and at 4-6Xs aa and 16AF
I am usually an early adopter but am taking a wait and see attitude; Since ATI finally is getting some good drivers out my Radeon 8500 does everything I want with no problems. I figure by Christmas ATI is going to have out the 9500 and a respun 9700 with solid mature drivers and the 9500Pro might be bought for around 150-170$ USD. Might be a good time to buy methinks.

 

[Tab]

Its october 4th right now! Hopefully, we can overclock it like the majority of the ti4200s.

 

[silentScope]

I'm reallly looking forward to this card, and i want it like so badly soon to play Ut 2003... it would be so much better than this geforce 2 mx.. ;\ And if you guys are right about the prices, thats really low priced!

Anyone know when the 9700 regular card is comming out? and how much it'll be? I might get that one if its its around 230 or so ;p

 

[AnAndAustin]

Any Rad9700 would most likely be 10% slower than the Rad9700PRO for about 10% less cash ... certainly not $230 (IMHO). As said neither nVidia nor ATI will want to give DX9 hw (or the std 3D perf and eye candy there in) away for 'budget' $200 any sooner than absolutely necessary ... certainly not this side of Dec.

If you are currently using a GF2MX then you really should have already upgraded to a GF3, Rad9000, Rad8500 or GF4TI which will all play UT2003 very well indeed even on a 'lowly' (LOL) Athlon1.4ghz. If you are happy with 1024x768x32 with 2xAA (or Aniso instead on Radeon) then a decent CPU and gfx card is more than enough to run UT2003 at a good 60FPS+ ... Rad9500 like GF4TI4600 will largely be overkill ... which is really nice for those with the money ... but then those guys won't still be using a GF2MX.

 

[rachaelsdad]

The actual street price of these cards is going to depend a lot on how well the NV30 performs. If it comes out with a 128 bit memory controller but with DDR II or similar ram;i(f JEDEC does not approve the new DDR II spec for video cards) Then the ATI 9700 may beat it; but at Resolutions like 1800X1400 that for most people are meaningless. If the NV30 comes out at 400 MHz core and fast DDR II; then it will probably beat ATI by maybe 20% and street prices for all the Radeon cards will drop.
All this is to say that they prices may not drop much more for a while; and now might be a good time to sell the 2Mx and get either the Radeon 9000 or a GeForce 3. Both are great cards and can be found in the 80-90 dollar range. Either of which has enough power to play any current game and probably any coming out next year with most of the eye candy on.