Which 9500 to buy from Newegg?

[WarSong]

Which 9500 will give me the best bang for my buck that I can purchase from Newegg? Should I buy the Pro or NP? Sapphire or ATI?

ATI OEM RADEON 9500 64MB DDR 8X AGP BULK $142.00
ATI OEM RADEON 9500 128MB DDR BULK $159.00
ATI OEM RADEON 9500 PRO 128MB DDR DVI BULK $180.00
ATI RADEON 9500 PRO 128MB DDR DVI AGP RETAIL $197.00

Which will give me the best chance for a successful mods? The first two specifically say they are manufactured by Sapphire. I'm pretty sure that the last two are ATI.

I'm looking to buy pretty quick. TIA!

 

[Killrose]

First off you need to realise that the 9500 mods (9500 64mb to 9500pro and 9500 128mb to 9700) are not going well. The success rate makes it entirely a gamble. My advice is to just buy the 9500 pro. I ordered my 128mb 9500 from Newegg the very nite the hack broke out on the web, and I was one of the luck ones who got a working card after the hack. But had I known about the poor success rate, I would have just bought the 9500 pro, which is an awesome card.

 

[WarSong]

If I were to go Pro, then is there much, if any, difference between the OEM and Retail?

 

[Eskimo]

I bought the second card on your list 2 days ago, the $160 non pro 9500 by Sapphire. I successfully modified it to run as a 9700 with a core speed of 310 and memory speed of 290 (580 effectively). I have not encountered any visual artifacts in any of my games or 3DMark. I used the Rivatuner software patch to modify the card.

 

[Killrose]

Originally posted by: WarSong
If I were to go Pro, then is there much, if any, difference between the OEM and Retail?

I think the Ati warranty for retail is 3years. Don't know about OEM. You probably get some games/demo's with the retail too. Other than that they are the same card.