opinions on getting a 9500 non pro right now

[m1ke101]

I was thinking about getting a 9500 non pro right now because i've heard all the talk about being able to flash it to a 9700, but I realized that the geforce FX and maybe the r350 would be coming out relatively soon. Anyone think it would be a good idea to shell out $170 right now for the 9500 non pro, or wait until the fx / r350 is released first?

 

[Lint21]

If I had to have a new video card right now, I would probably get the 9500NP. But I'm sort of taking the approach you are right now. We're a little too close to a new generation for me to be upgrading. Maybe prices will go down more. But then again, they probably won't go down more than $10-20, so it's not really worth waiting if you're going to get a budget card anyway.

 

[BarneyFife]

I'm about to build another system but I'm gonna wait until April. With the release of the R350 (I'm assuming the price of the 9700 pro will go down), memory prices falling, cpu price cuts etc... I'm thinking I can save $300 if I wait.

 

[hollowman]

If you are thinking about getting 9500 non-pro for modding, then it's already late. (Unless you can find a vendor with the right PCB.)
If you are thinking about getting 9500 non-pro for it's price, then I guess it's better to wait a bit.

Newegg restocked 9500 non-pro but it has a new Black PCB instead of the original 9700 PCB.

 

[Killrose]

I would'nt buy a 9500NP with the hope of getting a 9700 from it, it is a crap shoot. Not all of them are able to do it. If you wait another month, prices will fall with the release of the R350/FX on all high end cards.

 

[AnAndAustin]

Yeah the chances of finding a Rad9500 nonPRO on the 9700PCB with 128MB is very slim ... and even then you're looking at less than a 50% success rate of enabling all 8 pipes to even get near 9700 perf! If you want something right now look to...

1. BUDGET END with decent perf, namely Rad8500, Rad9000PRO, Rad9100, GF3 or GF4TI. This will tide you over well and should hardly devalue.
2. MID-RANGE, Rad9500PRO, you won't get near 9700PRO but with a little o/c'ing and guaranteed 8 pipes you should get VERY near Rad9700 nonPRO perf.
3. HIGH END, Rad9700, o/c's to Rad9700PRO and is a fair bit cheaper. GF-FX is late, loud, hot etc so I'd avoid unless something amazing happens.

I'd take option 1 or 2, buying the top end will hurt you in the gfx or CPU market, new ones come along far too fast. If you want a 9700PRO I'd suggest waiting amonth or two to see how GF-FX and the new Radeons effects things.

 

[Auric]

The other thing to consider is that the current low-end cards will not be around much longer to drop a lot in price but rather will be replaced by the RV350 and maintain selling prices. Especially as there is no competition. I see the Radeon 9500 Amateur has actually increased significantly in price despite now using the cheaper 128bit PCB exclusively. A month ago I was glad to gamble but if I was only just starting to think about upgrading right now I would probably get the 9500P. It will be interesting to see how the price line up changes with the R300 and RV350. The latter may not necessarily be worth waiting for if it is only a replacement up to the 9500 but presumably the price gap betwixt the 9500P and 9700 will close.