Help me decide please: Radeon 9500 Pro VS Radeon 9500 Modded to 9700

[TweakageMan]

I have two options for getting a video card:

Sapphire Radeon 9500 Pro @ $270 CDN

or else:

Sapphire Radeon 9500 w/ Guarenteed 9700 Mod (no artifacts or anythng) @ $350 CDN

Which one should I get please? Is it worth the extra $80 to pay for the non-pro with guarenteed mod? Will the modded 9500 be just like a 9700? 256bit???

And how much advantage will I see over a 9500 compared to a 9700? How much in 3dmark2001 for instance? Some numbers would help me if anyone has them. I don't do alot of heavy gaming, so im thinking maybe the Radeon 9500 Pro would be enough... plus it has 8 pipelines, does that mean anything?

 

[DClark]

If you want to spend $350 on a "guaranteed" 9500 to 9700 mod, then why don't you just buy a 9700 for around $370?

ATIC computers in Vancouver sells the SapphireTech 9700 for $365oem, $375 retail, and in Ontario Canada Computers is also selling the SappireTech Radeon 9700 for $365.

As for baseline numbers, with a P4 1.6A my Radeon 9500 Pro gets around 9600 marks, and around 11,400 marks when my fsb is set to 133mhz (for a 2.13Ghz processor speed). Those are day-to-day numbers; I can add a couple hundred to each of those scores through bios tweaks and running my OS with performance in mind.

edit: I should mention that I'm running an SiS 645 chipset (MSI 645 Ultra), so it's not the fastest motherboard by any stretch of the imagination.

 

[TweakageMan]

Originally posted by: DClark
If you want to spend $350 on a "guaranteed" 9500 to 9700 mod, then why don't you just buy a 9700 for around $370?

ATIC computers in Vancouver sells the SapphireTech 9700 for $365oem, $375 retail, and in Ontario Canada Computers is also selling the SappireTech Radeon 9700 for $365.

As for baseline numbers, with a P4 1.6A my Radeon 9500 Pro gets around 9600 marks, and around 11,400 marks when my fsb is set to 133mhz (for a 2.13Ghz processor speed). Those are day-to-day numbers; I can add a couple hundred to each of those scores through bios tweaks and running my OS with performance in mind.

edit: I should mention that I'm running an SiS 645 chipset (MSI 645 Ultra), so it's not the fastest motherboard by any stretch of the imagination.

Well, the 9500 w/ Guarenteed Mod isn't $350, it's only $307 @ VibeComputers.. but I added on 15% tax I have to pay, plus shipping... and it comes to like $348 or something. Since ATIC is in vancouver also, that would cost me 15% tax as well. If I keep going up higher in price, then ill be broke.

Bottom line:

Sapphire Radeon 9500 Pro = $262 (CanadaComputers.com / Not including shipping or 7% tax (only 7 since it's from Ontario)

or

Sapphire Radeon 9500 = $307 (VibeComputers / Not including shipping or 15% tax)

So getting the one with guarenteed mod on will end up costing me about an extra $66 CDN (that's $40 US) AFTER TAXES/SHIPPING - Worth it or not?

 

[Grakatt]

Nevermind

 

[TweakageMan]

anyone? I need to order today. As of right now i'm going with the Pro

 

[KillaBong]

I would buy the pro and overclock. Its cheaper anyway with probly a very small performance difference. You should probly hear it from somone with a modded card though.

 

[Killrose]

Look at some of the comparisons between the 9500 Pro and a 9700 non-Pro, especially with all details on and FSAA / Anisio. The 9500>9700 hacked cards will only do about 295MHz on the mem. max, so don't buy the pre-hacked 9500 thinking you will be able to clock it as a 9700 Pro.

Mine does 360Mhz core/ 297MHz mem. (the cores all seem to overclock like crazy).

 

[FFactory0x]

yea, i was thinking of the non-pro 9700 for $232 at newegg.

 

[Auric]

I suppose the markup does not seem too unreasonable if you do not want to gamble or deal with buying and selling ones that are unmoddable. But I like to consider percentages as they reveal the real difference. Not including taxes and shipping, a real 9700 typically costs 35% more than a 9500 Pro whereas this "virtual" 9700 costs 17% more than a 9500 Pro. However, some 9700's have been equipped with faster Pro spec memory so there's another wrinkle for the gambler. But then since you are considering paying a premium I guess you aren't. If you really need the extra oomph now then go for it, otherwise just wait for prices to come down, especially when the 9600 and 9800's are released. I would also consider whether the thing will maintain its premium value to another buyer if resold.