needing a new card, confused by radeon line

[chadomaly]

I want a new video card, a Radeon, but only have <$200 to spend. I look at pricewatch and see a bunch of variations, and have no idea what the diffs are. Can you guys let me know what the difference between these cards is, and which is the better card in this 150-200 range?

Radeon 9800 SE 128mb - $164
Radeon 9800 128mb - $164
Radeon 9600 Pro Ultra - $153
Radeon 9600 Pro Ultimate - $157
Radeon 9600 Pro 256mb - $119
Radeon 9500 Pro 128mb - $149

What are the diffs between all those 9600s... "Ultra" "Ultimate"??? Also, the 256mb version is cheapest of them all? Is a non-pro radeon 9800 crippled somehow? Is there any review that pits some of these together so I can see benches?

 

[Lonyo]

Where the heck are you getting a Radeon 9800 for $164 from? That's a steal, assuming it's a Radeon 9800, not some kind of SE version.

Can you post a link for that 9800 because if it's a "real" 9800 (ie, 8 pipelines, 256-bit mem bus) then that's the best deal, ever.

The Radeon 9800Pro has 380 core clock, 8 pipelines, 256-bit mem bus
9800 has 325 core clock, 8 pipelines, 256-bit mem bus
9800SE has (I believe) 4 pipelines, 256-bit mem bus, or I think there are some with 8 pipelines, 128-bit mem bus.

A 9800 should have 325MHz core clock, 580MHz (or close) mem clock, 256-bit mem bus, 8 pipelines, if this is true of the 9800 for $164 you have listed, get it now!

 

[chadomaly]

guess it is an SE. I was just pullin gthat from pricewatch, and they didn't specify until you follow the link. I'm mainly wondering what the diff between all those 9600 versions is.

 

[VIAN]

9800 Pro holds crown as the fastest card available not counting the 9800XT.
How many pixel pipelines and how big the memory interface is, is important for speed.

9800 Pro - This chip is fast with 8 pixel pipelines and 256-bit memory interface
9800 - An underclocked 9800 Pro
9800 SE - A 9800 with 128-bit memory interface
9600 Pro Ultra - An overclocked 9600 Pro
9600 Pro Ultimate - The same as the 9600 Pro only has a big passive heatsink on it, for people who desire quiet
9600 Pro 256MB - A 9600 Pro with 256MB of VRAM, not needed for this card, considered a waste of money
9600 Pro - This chip is fast with 4 pixel pipelines and 128-bit memory interface
9600 - An underclocked 9600 Pro
9500 Pro - From the previous 9700 Pro generation, competes with the 9600 Pro family, able to be unlocked and overclocked to a 9700 Pro, Alone without overclocking, this chip is just as good as the 9600 Pro

 

[chadomaly]

Thanks, that was a good explanation.

That narrows it down to the 9500 pro and 9600 pro ultra. THey're about the same price... any suggestions (Please explain recommendation, don' tjust say "Get the xxxx")


also you said the 256 mb was a waste of money... but it's the cheapest there... is the RAM significantly slower than the 9600 pro ultra that makes it cheaper?

 

[z0mb1e]

If you're gunna go for a 9600 type card, wait a month (if that) till the XT's are availible. I'm plannin on getting an ASUS 9600XT unless i can land a 9800 Non Pro (not SE) from ebay before that. The 9600XT will run at 500mhz out of box.

 

[chadomaly]

doubt the xt will be <$200

 

[Lonyo]

9500 Pro CANNOT be unlocked to a 9700Pro, because the PCB is physically different and unchangeable.

A 9500Pro will outperform a 9600Pro, if they are both run at stock speeds, however, with overclocking, both cards will result in being about the same speeds.
If you don't want to overclock, get the 9500Pro, if you do want to overclock, look at the bundle that comes with the card.

If you are willing to shell out a little more, see what happens tomorrow when the scores for the 9600XT are released, and you can see if that's any better than the 9500Pro or 9600Pro, and see if the extra cost is worth it (remember the 9600XT should come with a coupon for Half Life2).

Hope that helps a bit.

 

[chadomaly]

are there any estimates for what the 9600 xt will cost?

also, is the sapphire 9600 pro "Atlantis" the ultra chip or non-ultra? I can't find clock speeds on it...

 

[lordtyranus2]

I'm starting to like the 9800 SE at that price. At stock, it performs at 9600 Pro levels, maybe SLIGHTLY lower. But there is that chance that it can be modded into 9800 Pro.

 

[chadomaly]

seems like the 2 choices in this price range is a Sapphire Atlantis 9600 pro or a PowerColor 9600 pro ultra.... are they both ultra chips? Atlantis in reviews seems to run at 400mhz which is what I seem to think the ultra is. Anyone heard good or bad about either of these cards?

 

[modedepe]

9500 pro for $148? That's a great price. I'd pick that one up.

 

[Blackroot]

If anything see how the 9600xt preforms, comes with tomb raider and HL2 from sapphire, if it goes well i know i'm getting it.

 

[Matthias99]

The 9600XT can be pre-ordered for $199 from ATI's website right now, so it would be safe to assume the MSRP will be around there.

 

[Blastman]

There are 2 versions of the 9800SE.

9800SE ? 380/340?.256bit bus? L shaped memory configuration 2.8ns memory
9800SESE ? ? ? 325/250 ? 128bit bus ? I shaped memory configuration 4.0/3.6ns memory.

The faster 9800SE fares OK in the 3Dmark?s but it?s no faster than the 9600pro in the actual games. The slower 128bit version is quite a bit slower than a 9600 pro.

The best 9600 128MB pro?s up till now came with 2.8ns rated Samsung memory, like the ?

Powercolor 9600pro ? ?Bravo? ? ? 400/337 ? 2.8ns Samsung
Sapphire Radeon 9600pro ? 'Fireblade' ? ? 400/300 ? 2.8ns Samsung (guaranteed o/c to 337)

256MB 9600?s are clocked 400/200 and usually have only 5ns memory. Much better to get 128MB 9600 with faster memory.

The best 9600pro is the ? Gigacube ? ?Ultimate Extreme Version?. It comes with 2.5ns Samsungs and is clocked 400/365 DDR --- quite a bit faster than the normal 9600 pro?s 400/300. There is a picture of the card here.. The new 9600XT is clocked 500/300 with the same memory speed of the 9600pro. The Gigacube card if overclocked to 500/365 will be a lot faster than the 9600XT. Only question is how fast the new GPU on the 9600XT will overclock. It?s manufactured on a new low-K process. In any case, the 9600XT has slower memory compared to the Gigacube. The Gigacube runs about $180 ? see...

komusa

dvcentury

 

[chadomaly]

I'm looking at the picture on the komusa site the last post provided, and I am guessing that those RAM chips are not BGA... correct me if wrong? BGA is square, while Rev.4 is rectangular like that gigacube card? Thus, I assume that those are standard ram chips and not bga...

 

[tenoc]

also you said the 256 mb was a waste of money... but it's the cheapest there... is the RAM significantly slower than the 9600 pro ultra that makes it cheaper?

Yes.

 

[Blastman]

Originally posted by: crleap
I'm looking at the picture on the komusa site the last post provided, and I am guessing that those RAM chips are not BGA... correct me if wrong? BGA is square, while Rev.4 is rectangular like that gigacube card? Thus, I assume that those are standard ram chips and not bga...

You are correct. The picture of the Gigacube ?Ultimate? 9600pro 128MB at the bottom of the komusa page listed is certainly the wrong picture. That card has slow the rectangle shaped TSOP (thin-small-outline-packages) memory. The komusa site was probably too lazy to take a new picture of the correct card and reused a picture of some regular 9600. The 9600pro 128MB cards come with the faster square shaped BGA (ball-grid-array ) memory.

 

[Pete]

Let's be clear:
*The Pro after a 9600 only guarantees the core is 400MHz. 128MB Pro's have 300MHz DDR memory. Every 256MB I've seen has 200MHz DDR memory, so avoid them.
*256MB memory is worthless on any card slower than a 9800P or 5900.
*A lot of those Pricewatch numbers are wrong. No online store will sell you a 9500 Pro, which is faster than a 9600 Pro, for $150.

For <$200, your choices are:
*New ~$155 9600 Pro.
*New ~$200 9600XT: faster than a Pro, and ATi and Asus models include (an IOU for) HL2! Not available for a few weeks yet, though, by which time 9600P prices may drop slightly.
*Used ~$200 9700 or 9700 Pro, if you're lucky. Both of these cards will be much faster than the 9600's, particularly at high res and with AA+AF.

OT: crleap, can you please remove the extraneous horizontal rules and spaces in your sig?