Goin with a 9500Pro

[ShawnS]

Well I am finally upgrading my GF2 Ultra. After much research I am deciding on an ATI 9500Pro.
Newegg has the FIC one for 175.
I had a final debate between the 9500Pro and a Ti4600. I feel the 9500Pro will last me longer
with the DX9 support as well as the additional graphic functions. Am I correct here?

I quickly debated the 9500Pro with a Vanilla 9700 but I can't justify 50 bucks more for 256Bit
path. I also read up on the Software Mod that will "unlock" the bus path? Is this really
the case? Or only for a few select early 9500pros?

Will I be happy with the 9500Pro? Or should I pony up 50 more bucks? Rather not,
have it, but ... rather not

 

[selfbuilt]

Tough call ... but I guess it also depends on what kind of system you have. If you have a lower-mid range system (i.e. 1-1.5 GHz processor, etc), I doubt you'd see much of a difference between the 9500 Pro and 9700 nonpro. Even on a high-end system, the difference only becomes apparent when you stress the cards (e.g. highest resolution or max AA/AF enabled) ... so, effectively, you wouldn't see much of a difference on current games there either. But it's possible the 9700nonpro could have a longer life in your system as future games come out.

Also, depending again on your system, you might want to put that $50 toward other parts (e.g. RAM is at an all time low these days). It depends on what else you have, and what matters to you.

 

[mamisano]

First off, Welcome to the Forums.

I too have a 9500 Pro, great card. Much better than the ti4200 that I had running at ti4600 speeds.

The 9500Pro has 8 pipelines like the 9700 but only a 128bit memory interface. The 9500Pro can not be modded into a 9700, only certain 9500 Non-Pros can *possibly* be modded.

I am sure you will very happy with the 9500 Pro. Save the $50 and wait until the next-gen card come out....then upgrade again

 

[ShawnS]

Almost done with order. Should I be concerned with an OEM version of the card? shorter warranty and less bundled stuff.
Not worried about the bundle, since i have plenty of games etc.

Retail is closer to $200. Worth it?

 

[Keysplayr]

You cannot mod a 9500pro to have a 256bit memory bus. The 9500pro is not equipped with a 256bit memory bus.
There were at one time, Radeon 9500's (non pro) that had 256bit memory bus but only 4 pipelines enabled and the
mod enabled the other 4 "sleeping" piplines for a total of 8 piplines. However there was not a high success rate
and some people destroyed their brand new 9500 non pros. Those are the cards
to do the mod on. But you will be hard pressed to find one around now.

Keys

EDIT: Sorry mamisano, you beat me to it..

 

[ShawnS]

Cool not that worried about the mod, just thought it was interesting. I am sure I will be happy with the performance
and should see a huge increase from my Geforce 2 Ultra 64.

 

[ShawnS]

O yeah my system is a

ASUS P4PE
P4 2.4Ghz
1GB DDR333
IBM Deathstar 40GB ATA100

Have to create a MY Rig link I guess

 

[ShawnS]

Newegg has the FIC and the Sapphire.

Any difference between the both? I am leaning to Sapphire since I hear they actually make some ATI stamped
cards for ATI, as well as a good chunk of the OEM market.

 

[ShawnS]

WOOT! Sapphie 9500Pro on order

 

[CurtCold]

Going from a GF 2 to the Radeon is going to be sweet. Make sure you get rid of all your nvidia drivers before you install the ATI card, ohhh yeah, and make sure you turn on the "quality settings" in the cntl panel, because that ensures that your games look pimp sweet.

Have fun....

 

[ShawnS]

Thanks! Can't wait.

Should I go ahead and do a reinstall of the OS? Or yah think removing the drivers and any remnants would be enough?

 

[Creig]

I think there's a program out there called "Detonator Destroyer" or something that will go through and find all traces of Detonator drivers and remove them. But you definitely want to remove as much of the Detonator drivers as you can. For some reason, the ATI drivers are really touchy this way. Sibling rivalry I guess.

 

[Rogozhin]

shawn s

I suggest a reformatt. It's even standard review practice to wipe a drive clean and start with fresh drivers and updated drivers.


Use the cat 3.2s from ati's website (not the ones included on the disc).

Order of install the way I do it.

OS
latest chipset drivers
DX 9.0
Video Card drivers
Video card control pannel
Sound Card drivers
and The OS UPdates.


Good Luck!

Rogo

 

[Creig]

But yes, I agree with Rogozhin. If you can back up all your valuable (*ahem*) "files", a reformat is the best way to go.

 

[ShawnS]

I went with a fresh install as well. Loving the new card. Look at Flashing BIOS atm. To see if that is why my 3DTweak settings keep getting reset. These aren't OCable until you flash em right?

Updated 3DMark2001SE score of 13275

GF2Ultra got me 4945.