Good Video Card Deal?

[finlandsfinest]

Hello, I am upgrading my system. I am getting all the parts from a local computer store, except for the video card (charging way too much).

I was wondering if this was a good card for my money and if it will allow good play on all current games and upcoming games (Battlefield Vietnam, HL2, etc, etc)

Radeon 9600 Pro

 

[Pete]

That's a great price, provided that's actually a full-speed 9600 Pro. 400Mhz core, 300 (600 effective)MHz DDR memory is full Pro speed; some "Lite" or "EZ" versions ship at 400MHz core, 200(400)MHz memory.

A $200 9700 (Sapphire OEM @ Mwave / Powercolor retail @ GameVE) will be much faster at high res with AA + AF, though. Take a look through some recent Radeon 9500/9600/9700 and GeForce FX 5600/5800 threads for links to various reviews if you'd like to see benchmark numbers comparing a 9600P to a 9700.

 

[devers]

Looks like a good price, it's tough to find a 9600P for less than $155, as far as I know.

Str8Buy doesn't have a very good customer satisfaction rating though, see http://www.resellerratings.com/seller1923.html

If you read the customer reviews there, some people are mighty upset with 'em. I especially like the one who says "STR8BUY GO STR8TOHELL". hehe

Anyway, there's one other thing to watch out for with the Saphires, I think. I'm pretty sure Saphire makes a "Lite" version of the 9600P. This is a 9600P card, but with the memory clock toned *way* down. Thus, its performance is significatnly impaired.

I'm also in the market for a 9600P, and the best price I can find for one from a reputable shop is $155. But I'm not sure if it's a "Lite" version or not. I think the best bet is to wait until tomorrow (Monday) morning to call and ask someone if the card is clocked at normal GPU and mem frequencies. Then ask them to send you an email from their domain which specifically states that the GPU and memory clocks, and offers in writing a free (no re-stock fee, no cust. serv. fee, paid return shipping) if the information proves to be incorrect.

That's what I'm going to do anyway, unless of course someone here can determine whether these cards are the lite vers or not.

If I can't get anybody to email me a GPU & mem clock guarantee, then I'm either gonna get a 9500 and hope to softmod it, or just get a dinky 64MB GF4 Ti4200, save some money now, and count on having to upgrade in a year and half or so.

Anyway, that's all I know about it, and there you have my plan of attack Hope it helps.

EDIT: Woops, Pete and I were typing at the same time. He explains the "Lite" stuff much more succinctly.

 

[LeeTJ]

Here's where i bought my soft modable

i got it up to 9700pro speeds.

 

[finlandsfinest]

yea

it seems that they have a problem with product misrepresentation... if you find a good deal on a 9600p at the manufacturer's standard let me know

 

[devers]

Originally posted by: LeeTJ
Here's where i bought my soft modable

i got it up to 9700pro speeds.

Sweet. Buying a 9500 is so temping. We should both consider doing that too, finlandsfinest.

By the way, Lee, do you have any advice for me on this thread: http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=31&threadid=1087357

Thanks if so.

 

[finlandsfinest]

Yea

Im not sure if I want to risk soft modding it. Im pretty low on cash and can't afford to screw it up.

 

[devers]

I'm in the same situation with you there on softmodding. Anyway, even if I had a ton of cash I wouldn't wanna blow a bunch on a card.

I don't think you can screw up the card too much just by trying to softmod it though. Overclocking can get you in trouble, but that's something else.

Anyway, 9500 hacks aside, NewEgg, Allstarshop, and Googlegear all list a 9600P for $155 (I'll get links for ya if you can't find 'em). Each of these shops have great long-term and 6-month ratings on RR. However, like the one you found at Str8Buy, none of the product spec pages detail the GPU and memory clocks, so there's no way to know for sure whether they're the "Lite" versions or not.

Argh.

 

[finlandsfinest]

Thanks. The only problem I have is that I need to find a retailer that ships internationally. =\

Does anyone know if you screw up the softmod, that it will permanently screw up ur video card?

Btw, devers, do you have msn or aim?

 

[devers]

I don't right now finlandsfinest, but thanks for asking.

Keep us posted on how your search goes. I'd appreciate knowing about it if you find any good deals on one of these things. I'll keep you posted if I do too.

 

[4x4expy]

Your not going to screw the card up softmodding. You either get the artifact/checkerboarding or you don't. Dont buy a 9500 with 3.0ns ram, look for one with 3.3ns chips. Even if you get a 9500 that won't softmod properly, the GPU will easily overclock 100mhz or more and put its performance out of reach of a 9600pro.

I picked up one from newegg about 2weeks ago that softmodded beautifully overclocked to 378mhzGPU/300 mem. My GPU temp increased by 1c. This picked up 3000 extra marks in 3d2001, and ~4000! extra marks in 3d2003 over my ti4400 at 320/640mhz.

 

[devers]

*drools*

Sweet. Well, yeah getting the 9500 sounds pretty tempting.

You said an OC'd 9500 can outperform a 9600P. Is that an apples-to-apples (overclocked-to-overclocked) comparison? Say your 9500 doesn't mod well, if you just OC it, will it really outperform an OC'd 9600 Pro, in your opinion?

 

[4x4expy]

It will outperform a non overclocked 9600p without problem. Remember it still has the r300 GPU, same as the 9700pro. I am sure that the overclocked 9600pro will give it a run, maybe even surpass it's performance. But it will do it with absolutely zero chance of modding to 9700p levels! I had the same choice, went with the 9500 and it worked great. Had it not, I would have been a little disappointed but still would have had a great performing card.

One more thing to think about is that these are ~$140 cards. If you could ante $199, you could get a 9700non pro which has the 8 pipeline/256bit mem, r300 GPU, and is clocked at 275mhzgpu/275mhzmem, and can usually oc to around 400/300 levels, which is only slightly less than a heavily overclocked 9700p. Basically the extra $50 would eliminate the gamble of whether your card would softmod or not. JUst a thought.

 

[Pete]

I'm not sure if an OC'ed 9500 will outpace a 9600P, b/c the 9500 is missing some bandwidth-saving features, IIRC. A 9500 starts out at 275/270, 4x1; a 9600P at 400/300, 4x1. I don't see you easily OC'ing a 9500's core to 400MHz, and I don't see you OC'ing a 9500's memory higher than that of a 9600P. Obviously a softmod to a 9700 or even a 9500P will make the 9500 faster than a 9600P, but it's a big risk. The customer reviews I've read at Allstarshop and NewEgg don't show a very high percentage of succesful mods.

 

[LeeTJ]

Originally posted by: Pete
I'm not sure if an OC'ed 9500 will outpace a 9600P, b/c the 9500 is missing some bandwidth-saving features, IIRC. A 9500 starts out at 275/270, 4x1; a 9600P at 400/300, 4x1. I don't see you easily OC'ing a 9500's core to 400MHz, and I don't see you OC'ing a 9500's memory higher than that of a 9600P. Obviously a softmod to a 9700 or even a 9500P will make the 9500 faster than a 9600P, but it's a big risk. The customer reviews I've read at Allstarshop and NewEgg don't show a very high percentage of succesful mods.

for me personally who just recently bought a 9500 modable, it is moot, because i DID successfully mod it to 9700 then OC'd it to 9700 Pro speeds.

 

[Pete]

Yes, but your success doesn't guarantee mine, or else I'd be ordering a 9500 as we speak.

I can't see your link, though, as I'm not a subscriber. What store did you buy your 9500 from?

 

[LeeTJ]

Link for nonsubscribers