Help with purchase

Emultra

Golden Member
Jul 6, 2002
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Some of you may shout "use search", but I want my own thread.
I have an AthlonXP 1600+, 256 MB DDR RAM and a GF2 Pro 64 MB DDR
I need a new GFX-card (I will get more RAM as well). I have about 150$ to spend, possibly (but not certainly) up to $200. I'm looking at the Radeon 9600 Pro, which can be found for about $150. I've heard that it's not up to par in some areas, though, and I new some advice.

I'm going to play HL2, DooM III, Thief III, Deus Ex: Invisible War and so on.
Is there a better choice, or should I go for the Sapphire Atlantis Radeon 9600 Pro at $152?
 

GullyFoyle

Diamond Member
Dec 13, 2000
4,362
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You might want to consider (putting hard hat on) the 9800 SE, if you are willing to spend more than $150.
Here's a REVIEW.
If the RivaTuner-based hack mentioned in the article works, it's almost at normal 9800 speeds.
They are going for around $186 on Pricewatch. BananaPC seems to have good word of mouth.
 

Emultra

Golden Member
Jul 6, 2002
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What is special about the SE's? I've heard some discouraging talk about them...
 

VIAN

Diamond Member
Aug 22, 2003
6,575
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lets just say its better than the 9600 pro but performs slower than the 9800
 

Johnbear007

Diamond Member
Jul 1, 2002
4,570
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Hmmmmm

If this article is correct it looks like the 9800 SE is an Excellent buy. It overclocks to almost pro level, and it enables all pipelines.

Better deal than the 9800np


On another note, I think buying any of these cards is STUPID. They only get like 30 fps on direct x 9 games. Talk about lame.

I bet my 8500 will get 20 fps :p big whoop 20 or 30 is still SUCK either way. Ill suck for free rather tahn for 400$
 

Jeff7181

Lifer
Aug 21, 2002
18,368
11
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Originally posted by: Emultra
What is special about the SE's? I've heard some discouraging talk about them...

In short, they have 4 rendering pipelines instead of the normal 8 for the other two 9800's.
 

Pete

Diamond Member
Oct 10, 1999
4,953
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Originally posted by: Emultra
Some of you may shout "use search", but I want my own thread.
I have an AthlonXP 1600+, 256 MB DDR RAM and a GF2 Pro 64 MB DDR
I need a new GFX-card (I will get more RAM as well). I have about 150$ to spend, possibly (but not certainly) up to $200. I'm looking at the Radeon 9600 Pro, which can be found for about $150. I've heard that it's not up to par in some areas, though, and I new some advice.

I'm going to play HL2, DooM III, Thief III, Deus Ex: Invisible War and so on.
Is there a better choice, or should I go for the Sapphire Atlantis Radeon 9600 Pro at $152?

The better choice is to wait until at least one of thoase games is actually available for purchase before setting up your PC for them. You may just need a new CPU (the HL2 benchmarks were CPU-limited on a P4-2.8GHz) and you most likely need more RAM. I'm not sure how well a 9600P will perform on those games, either.

At the moment, my advice would be to wait and see. Wait and see how the games perform at launch, and whether ATi or nV will offer you a faster card for the same money by then.
 

Emultra

Golden Member
Jul 6, 2002
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Thanks, all. BTW, how much of a performance impact is there when there are only 4 pipelines instead of 8?
 

Regs

Lifer
Aug 9, 2002
16,665
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Originally posted by: Emultra
Thanks, all. BTW, how much of a performance impact is there when there are only 4 pipelines instead of 8?


I estimate around 20-30% . Could depend on the game as well.


 

VIAN

Diamond Member
Aug 22, 2003
6,575
1
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if you have have the pipelines, then about half your fillrate is gone considering that they might adjust the core clock to counter it. You lose quite a lot of performance. Kiss those games at high res. good bye.
 

CraigRT

Lifer
Jun 16, 2000
31,440
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Originally posted by: modedepe
For $150 the 9600 pro will be your best bet.

yeah and try to get some more money to spend on memory... 256MB is not enough anymore for big games...
 

NYHoustonman

Platinum Member
Dec 8, 2002
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Originally posted by: CraigRT
Originally posted by: modedepe
For $150 the 9600 pro will be your best bet.

yeah and try to get some more money to spend on memory... 256MB is not enough anymore for big games...

Agreed, and then you might wanna work on the processor a lil bit...Depends, as others have said, on the benchmarks that come out.