funny little mixup

[meltdown75]

Hi all. I just received my video card today. I installed it and everything seems to be working great.

I have one question - I ordered a 9600 pro with 256 megs, yet received a 9600 xt with 256 megs. I shouldn't be complaining should i? The 9600xt is superior? Thanks in advance.

-Melty

 

[Corporate Thug]

9600 xt > 9600 pro

 

[otispunkmeyer]

yes the 9600xt is superior but its no champ by todays standards

better than a normal 9600 tho

 

[gururu]

that's a nice switch. the 9600xt is a finer card than the 9600pro.

 

[meltdown75]

well, it ran ok on 3dmark03, got a score of 2987 so i guess i should be happy with that? cool. can't wait to see how hl2 will run on it. yay my 3rd budget build is complete

question: with this nice little app called Atitool, it shows my core at 409 and the memory at 225. can anyone give me a few tips on using this program? thx.

 

[LTC8K6]

Core at 409 & memory at 225/450? Sounds like a 9600pro. A 128MB 9600XT would be clocked at 500 core and 300/600 memory.

I hope they didn't slow the card down that much just for some useless extra ram. :frown:

 

[Pete]

Those are odd clocks. You seem to have gotten a 9600 Pro EZ with slightly boosted memory speed. 256MB cards tend to have slower memory than 128MB ones, as LTC noted, but 225MHz is closer to the EZ's (and regular 9600's) 200MHz than to the Pro's 300MHz memory clock.

9600: 325/200
9600P EZ: 400/200
9600P: 400/300
9600XT: 500/300

Why did you think you got a 9600XT? Does it say so on the box, or in the drivers? It's possible your card is using a 9600XT core, although it's not running at XT speeds.

How much did you pay for it, if you don't mind my asking?

 

[SneakyStuff]

9600XT should score about 3900 on 3dmark03

 

[otispunkmeyer]

yeah thats whacked that man....id try see if it will run at xt speeds

should be 500 on core and 300 (600ddr) on the mem

seems like u bought a 9600pro 256, thought u got a 9600xt 256meg, but actually got a 9600 EZ corss breed. maybe its a 9650

 

[meltdown75]

well, i pd about $140 us for it, from ebay.

Well, on the card there are 2 stickers which say 9600xt. the seller also checked the "9600xt" box on the retail box with marker. this card is from 'imagestore' and i believe the manufacturer is 'agptek' although it does not say so on the card anywhere. Sandra 2004 is recognizing the card as a 9600 XT (V350). well, i guess they put some cheap ram on it eh?

this is what the card looks like

my 3dmark 2001se score was 10116.

also, would anyone recommend changing the agp aperture size in bios? it is set @ 64 right now. this is the setup:

athlon xp 2700 / asus A7N8Xrev2.0 w/1010b bios / 'Ultra' 512mb pc3200 ddr400 / coolmax 400w psu / audigy gamer / winxp sp2.

thanks. i will do some research on this card since the whole time i thought i was getting this one.

overall, i am so far satisfied with the performance of the card... hard not to be when you come from a geforce2 card.

* edit: i guess you get what you pay for but, this budget card could be ok???

 

[Gamingphreek]

Your 3dmark scores are much too low for what you are running. Also just out of curiosity why did you spen 140 on a 9600Pro when you could have spent like 20 more bucks and gotten a 5900XT or a 9800Pro both of which are much faster.

What drivers are you running?

-Kevin

 

[meltdown75]

catalyst 4.11

oh and, i was on a very very tight budget. thx

 

[meltdown75]

Originally posted by: otispunkmeyer

seems like u bought a 9600pro 256, thought u got a 9600xt 256meg, but actually got a 9600 EZ corss breed. maybe its a 9650

LOL.

 

[meltdown75]

there isn't much info on this card out there! lol

 

[meltdown75]

atitool... let it run for 8 mins checking the max for both core and mem (didn't know how long you are supposed to wait) and it got to 440/250 but i will leave it at default, since i don't want to mess it up already. any suggestions would be great.

 

[MadEye2]

Keep the card in an air sealed container in a safe somewhere. It sounds like it may end up becoming a collectors item haha.

 

[LTC8K6]

9600XT would be an RV360 core and should be running at 500mhz stock. It was not uncommon to hit close to 600mhz with the stock cooler.

You do not have a 9600XT if you have an RV350. RV350 is a 9600Pro core.

The extra 128 megs of ram is a waste, though.

A real 9600XT with 128MB ram can be had for around $140 and would be much faster than the card you have.

 

[jiffylube1024]

You got screwed. Although your card may look like the one in that link, it is different - according to those specs that card runs at 500MHz (the usual XT speed).

You got a hyped up ATI Radeon 9600 Pro EZ as Pete said: your clocks of 409/225 are right near the "official" 9600 Pro EZ clocks of 400/200, and despite the fact that you have 256MB of video memory, your card is slower than a regular 128MB 9600 Pro, which is clocked at 400/300 (the memory speed makes a much bigger difference than the amount of RAM on the cards, espeically at the resolutions games are playable at on these cards).

The real 9600XT clocks are 500/300. Seeing as you can only get up to 440/250, you've definately got something in the "EZ" range of cards; that's definately not an XT core (it would be able to go past 500 MHz without too much problem) and your RAM is definately slower too (should be able to go past 300 MHz).
You got tricked - that's no XT card, and it's slower than a Pro.

 

[daveybrat]

You can tell just by looking at that picture!

That card you have uses TSOP memory, and it should be using BGA if it was a true 9600Pro or XT model.

That's a weird card. Unfortunately for you, it's actually slower than a true 9600Pro or XT because of the ram.
No matter how fast you overclock the core, you're still limited with TSOP memory.

But i'm sure you'll still be able to play HL2 on it alright.

 

[meltdown75]

Thanks guys for all your responses. Also after reading up a bit on AtiTool, it appears that some users let the program figure out the max core and mem speeds over night, or for a full 24 hours. So my 8 minutes might not have been too accurate ...

Just goes to show you that when you're excited to buy something, sometimes you click prematurely! Well, I am sure the card will suffice for now. Like I said its a heck of a jump from a Geforce2. Thanks again gentlemen!

edit: also, if I were to one day decide to put a VGA cooler on the card, I would have to remove the stock heatsink/fan apparatus, right? Or does it simply go on top of what is there? thx

I also thought it was 'interesting' that both links to those cards specify 500mhz core speeds... whereas the "9600xt" which I received runs @ 410. it is also worth noting that this manufacturer only works through one seller. as far as I have found, you can't get the card through any other channel. yikes! anyhoo i'm not complaining, i like it so far. i'm sure i will upgrade to a 9800pro or xt when they come down a bit. for now i'm satisfied to be in the entry-level mix somewhere!