Power draw diff. between 9500 Pro & 9600 XT??

[bcsman]

I going to be purchasing one of these cards as they appear similar in specs and wondered how much power each one draws. Didn't see anything at the ATI site. The only reason I'm askig is I noticed the 9500 Pro has an extra power connector on it over and above the power it gets from the PCI slot. The 9600 XT does not have this extra connector. Does the 9500 Pro really draw that much more juice to require an extra power input?? My power supply may not be able to handle if it's considerably more. Anyone with some inside info?? Thanks!

 

[otispunkmeyer]

the 9500pro uses the very successful R300 core.....thats right the full 8 pipelines are enbaled just like in the 9700 seires of cards, this core how ever has 110 million transistors (roughly) and the agp slot simply cant provide enough juice to handle them all which is why the card need the power connector to draw power straight from the PSU.also the R300 core is manufactured on the 0.15 micron fabrication

the 9600 on the other had is based on the RV360 core (i think) this core is manufactured on the newer 0.13micron process (this helps reduce heat and power consumption) but to add to that this core only has 4 pipelines.


the 9600xt is clocked at 500mhz, but the 9500pro is clocked at 275mhz with twice as many pipelines, that means the 9500pro can still beat out the card that was supposed to replace it. 8 pipelines and 275mhz would mean the 9600 would have to be clocked at 540mhz jus to break even in terms of fill rate.

yes it does really need more power......107 million trannies vs only 75 for the 9600, plus the 9600 has the smaller fab process. however a 300 watt psu should be ample

i ran a generic (crapy) 375 wat psu with 2 HDD, 2 CD drives, and some other things and it ran fine......the 9500pro would be my choice BTW

 

[Cawchy87]

Well, although the 9500pro has 8 pipelines (not sure if it does) it for sure has a 128bit mem bus. I would say the 2 cards are on par. And are on par for power consumption as well... I think. I know the 9600xt doesn't us e much power at all, and am pretty sure of the 9500pro as well. You can probibly pick up a 9500pro for cheaper so i would go with that.

 

[otispunkmeyer]

my 9500pro would not work with out that extra power....i learned the hard way when i installed it with out the power.......it was no go for me an i thought i busted my computer. so i would say it does draw quite abit more than the 9600

9600xts are 500/300 for core/mem 9500pros are 275/270.......well most 9500pros can make 300 on the mem easy (giving equal bandwidth) then the cores can reach 330mhz easy on stock cooling (infact mine ran nice at 370 with the stock cooler)

yes the 9600 core is more effecient with a few things.....but at higher res with aa and af theres no beating the extra 4 pipes on the 9500pro

the 9500non pro had 4 pieps disabled but the beauty of the pro version was that it had 8 pipes. and for the price it was being sold for, there was simply no competition.

the 9500pro is cheaper....and a much more powerful card.

i mean look the new mid range cards are all now 8 pipeline designs, 6600 and x700 have 8 pipes, 4 pipelines jus wont be able to hack it shortly

there is no replacement for displacement......

 

[Cawchy87]

9500np's can potentially soft mod to a 9700pro because of its core. i don't think the 9500pro uses the same core.

 

[Pete]

I'd wager the 9500P uses more power than a 9600XT, simply judging by the cooler size. Even though the latter's core is clocked higher, it's also built with fewer transistors on a smaller process. I'm not sure the difference will be that great, but it probably exists.

Some 9500s can softmod into a 9700 because they retain the 9700's 256-bit memory bus. The 9500P can't, as it it only has a 128-bit memory bus. All three cards have the same core, although the 9500 has its number of pipelines halved with a BIOS flash. When you softmod a 9500 into a 9700, you're just unlocking the other four pipelines. The only physical difference is the memory chip arrangement and the traces b/w the GPU And the memory (halved on a 9500P, as compared to a moddable 9500 and any 9700).

 

[otispunkmeyer]

ok

9500 NON PRO uses an R300 core, with 4 pipes disabled (as they maybe bad, or cant run the needed speeds, this runs 275/270)
the 9500 PRO uses an R300 core wiht all 8 PIPELINES ENABLED (but running slower at 275mhz, as they maynot of been stable at 325 this)
the 9700 NON PRO uses an R300 core with all 8 pipes, (except this time memory bus is 256bit not 128bit....core n mem stay at 275/270)
the 9700 PRO uses an R300 core with all 8 pipes....running 325/310. a beast in its day

however the 9500non pro had a little trick up its sleeve.....it may of had 4 pipes disabled, but most came on a PCB wired for 256bit memory. a simple bios flash later meant u had all 8 pipes running at 275mhz, and 270mhz memory on a 256bit bus....a little overclock later an u had a 9700PRO

the 9500pro already had the full 8 pipes, but these were only ever produced on PCBS wired for 128bit memory bus, so the 9500pro could never become something it wasnt. 🙁

 

[otispunkmeyer]

9500non pro to 9700pro all used the same core.....jus different iterations of the speeds and pipes disabled

 

[bcsman]

Thanks for the discussion!! I have a 400 watt Antec PS so I guess I'm safe for either. Looks like I can't make a "bad" decision no matter how I go here. Upgrading from an 8500 LE so I should see results. If indeed the 9600 XT is based on a .13 M chip and the 9500 a .15 M chip, I'm certain the 9600 would draw less current. THought somebody out there might have some specs that would answer this. Went to the ATI website but nothing in their spec that I could find for current draw.

 

[MegaWorks]

9500 Pro

9600 Pro

9600XT