HELP!!! FX5600 or 9700Non PRo or 9600pro!?!?

[HoMeZ]

Hey my friend is in China right now and can get either card for $120 US. He wants to know which one to get... the fx5600 clocks at 325 / 550 MHz (DDR) and the non pro is 275/270(I think) and the 9600pro is 400/600(I think). So.. which is the best to get?

 

[Lonyo]

!!!

The 9700 non-pro is quite a hell of a lot better if they're the same price. Even if the 9700 was a bit more expensive it woul dbe the better deal.

Clock speeds as raw numbers mean nothing.
Look at processors, an XP1700+ runs at 1.43GHz and outperforms a 1.8GHz P4 (IIRC), the same is similar for graphics cards.
The FX5600 is the mid range part, the 9700 is the lower clocked high end part.

The 9700's memory is 540MHz (270x2 to reflect the fast it's DDR) which is only 10MHz lower than the 5600U, I believe it also has double the memory bus width anyway, 256bit compared to 128-bit, so it has about twice the memory bandwidth.

That 5600FX is also the slower version, there is a new one clocked at 400/400 which still is worse than the 9700 non-pro.

Get the non-pro. In fact, get loads, you could sell them for $180 at least.

 

[McArra]

9700np without doubt. It blows the other contenders in everything.

 

[HoMeZ]

oh well thanks guys =] but nonpros are not ati so besides sapphire what else is good? and what about 9600pro vs 9700np? does the "pro" just make the card faster? like besides clock speeds what's pro mising? pipelines?

 

[nick1985]

Originally posted by: McArra
9700np without doubt. It blows the other contenders in everything.

 

[Mem]

Yep 9700NP is the best choice,I`ve had mine for two weeks now and it has been excellent so far.

 

[lchen66666]

Seems like video card competition is really heating up in China. There are many brands/models that you couldn't see in US.

Here the list of interesting models that can not be found in US.

9800SE(with free logitech OEM optical mouse) 128MB around $135.
9800SE(Golden) with 128MB 2.8ns mBGA memory (can be moded to 9800 Pro) $240
Gainward FX 5200 with 6 layer PCB and 64MB(128bits) mBGA 3.5ns memory $85
Gainward FX 5200 with 8 layer PCB and 64MB(128bits) mBGA 2.8ns memory $120

Take look at pcpop.com if you understand chinese.

 

[stardust]

Originally posted by: lchen66666
Seems like video card competition is really heating up in China. There are many brands/models that you couldn't see in US.

Here the list of interesting models that can not be found in US.

9800SE(with free logitech OEM optical mouse) 128MB around $135.
9800SE(Golden) with 128MB 2.8ns mBGA memory (can be moded to 9800 Pro) $240
Gainward FX 5200 with 6 layer PCB and 64MB(128bits) mBGA 3.5ns memory $85
Gainward FX 5200 with 8 layer PCB and 64MB(128bits) mBGA 2.8ns memory $120

Take look at pcpop.com if you understand chinese.

All those are sold here, just in different packaging. wow never knew about pcpop haha maybe i'll start reading their articles now...beats these american reviews LOL. The asian websites tend to give u a lil more info than they're supposed to haha. Like that one NV36 preview sight that had a chinese employee at nvidia leaked more info that was necessary, thats why all know so much more about the FX5700.

neways...back to topic.... i think newegg is selling a SoftMod approved version of the 9500np. Mod it to a 9700pro if u dare

 

[walk2]

5600-U is $189

 

[lchen66666]

No, I can not find those 2 Gainward models in US.
I even can not find the models in www.gainward.com web site.

Can you tell me which web site sell these 2 models ?
I am interested in the FX5200 one because it can be overclocked to FX5200 Ultra level easily.

 

[HoMeZ]

wow so.. 9700np beats 9600pro?

 

[Mem]

wow so.. 9700np beats 9600pro?

Yes the 9700NP is faster plus has 256 bit bus and 8 pipelines compared to 128 bit bus and 4 pipelines of the 9600 Pro.

 

[HoMeZ]

oOo well guess my friend is going to be getting that 9700np =] does the np have less piplines than the pro? or is it only slower in raw speed?

 

[Mem]

The 9700NP is exactly the same as the 9700 Pro except for lower clocked core and memory speed.

 

[HoMeZ]

Ah I thought so thanks guys

 

[Bateluer]

Sheet, if you can get the 9700np for 120, buy a few of them and sell them on ebay.

 

[HoMeZ]

It's some chinese company with rainbow colors not sapphire... still good?

 

[nRollo]

Yes the 9700NP is faster plus has 256 bit bus and 8 pipelines compared to 128 bit bus and 4 pipelines of the 9600 Pro.

Actually the 5600 has a major strike against it you didn't note: 4 pipelines with one tmu each. The 5800/5900s have 4 pipelines with 2 tmus each, so they match/exceed the texel fill rate of the 9700/9800. (the 5800s are still constrained by the 128bit memory bus which comes into play as you increase the AA/AF settings)

 

[nRollo]

It's some chinese company with rainbow colors not sapphire... still good?

Only if the manual is in a foreign language as well and it says "Trident" somewhere on the box.

 

[HoMeZ]

Is trident good?

 

[Pete]

They've been around a while, so they must be doing something right.

 

[HoMeZ]

Do you have their website?

 

[Schadenfroh]

trident is american, but i am not sure we want them
trident

btw, the guy that mentioned it was making a joke, the company you are looking for is called powercolor

 

[HoMeZ]

I'm a bit lost...

 

[nRollo]

I was kidding about Trident. They're very low end.