Need help deciding.....

[UnbreakableDD]

On either a 9600XT or a 9800SE, they are both right around the same price. The 9800SE is $10 more. I am a video card noob. I have always had an nvidia card in the past and am in needs for a new card. Friends have steered me to the world that is ATI. Please any thoughts would be appreciated.


THANKS!

 

[Keysplayr]

From folks here in the forum, I always here "Dont get the 9800SE, its severely crippled.". So I would steer clear of that one.
I heard it offers similar performance to the 9600pro. But if you go with the 9600XT, at least you will have a coupon for HL2 that you can play on your future video card purchase, not this gen of mainstream cards.

Keys

 

[modedepe]

Get the 9600xt--cheaper, faster, and comes with hl2.

 

[UnbreakableDD]

On www.mwave.com it lists 2 9600XT cards. One for $159 the other for $183. The 183 one is out of stock. I see this with several models on that page. The card twice but one is something like $20 more. Id there a difference? I do not see any difference but wanted to make sure before I made the purchase which is the correct one.

http://www.mwave.com/mwave/ProdVID-...NAME=<b>Video+Cards</b>&Back=ProdVID-ATI.hmx?

 

[Zephyr106]

The $183 card is an ATI-branded card, the $159 one is OEM "powered by ATI." "Powered by ATI" means its probably built by Powercolor or Sapphire, and OEM or "bulk" means it comes with no box, just card, driver CD-ROM, cables, in bubble rap. The ATI branded card will come in the retail box with manual, and sometimes some games. Performance wise they should be exactly the same.

Zephyr