Which Low-Profile Card?

[fell8]

Sure, Id like something faster, but it looks like these are the best options available in low-profile.

According to Anand's cheat sheet, the 9600SE theoretically beats the 9550, but I'm guessing that's because it's a higher-clocked version of the same chipset. There is a 128 bit version of the 9550 (I've seen non-SE 9550s on Newegg listing 64 bit) that I would think should trounce the 9600SE (with it's 64 bit bus) if clocked to the same speed. What do you folks think?

The 5700LE shows lower theoretical performance than either Radeon, but I've read people are very pleased with it's DX9 performance (for the price). I've also read that the Radeons have poor DX9 performance, but it scores better in 3D Mark03 than the 5700LE. Any thoughts/opinions.

I've heard both that soft-modding can and can't be done on the Radeons. Anyone tried and succeded (or failed)? What's the verdict?

Thanks for the input, guys!

 

[klah]

All 3 of those are benchmarked in this article: http://www.digit-life.com/arti...igest3d/index0408.html

I don't think you will get reasonable performance with a DX9-path with any of these cards.

 

[Cheetah8799]

I've used MX440se, 9100 and 9600se low profile card in the past. The 9100 played Call of Duty, BF1942, Soldier of Fortune, and other games of that age with no problem. I didn't use the 9600se much since it had issues, so I returned it... MX440 cards are crap for gaming, don't even bother...

Anyway, most all low profile cards are 64 bit, so if you can find one with 128bit memory, I think you might want to jump on that, even if the gpu core is a little slower than some others.

In the end, I think you'd do fine with a 9600se or 5700le if you can get one for your rig. Heat may become an issue though. If you want to do really serious gaming, you'll probably find that you need to move up to a case that holds full height cards... that's what happened to me...

 

[Marsumane]

THe 5700le and the 9550 are pretty close in comparison. I'd go with a 128bit memory bussed version of either of these cards (if u can find them). They are both decent overclockers and will run anything out today (although potentially at low res). If you overclock them, they arent 1/2 bad tho.

 

[Peter]

128-bit bus versions aren't feasible in LP, traces to the RAM chips would be getting too long for the high frequencies. Hence you only get 9550SE and 9600SE.

There is an LP Radeon 9250 w/ 128-bit RAM (at a slow speed) from PowerColor now. Not that it'd be in any way interesting ...

 

[fell8]

This, this and this (assuming it's 128 bit and I can find it) are my choices.

The 9550 is looking like the best option as it is the cheapest and has a 128 bit version readily available. I wonder how it overclocks, I've heard the 5700LE has some potential. Too bad all I can find in low-profile are 64 bit.

As to going to a bigger case, this box was purpose-built for portability--lugging a full-sized case is too much a pain. It's the best balance for upgrading on the cheap.

Thanks again guys.

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Originally posted by: Peter
128-bit bus versions aren't feasible in LP, traces to the RAM chips would be getting too long for the high frequencies. Hence you only get 9550SE and 9600SE.

There is an LP Radeon 9250 w/ 128-bit RAM (at a slow speed) from PowerColor now. Not that it'd be in any way interesting ...

/grabs FireGL from his sig

/bonks Peter slowly but firmly on the nose with the LFH-to-VGA cable

No. No. Bad Elite. 😉 😛 😀

The 128-bit DDR on the FGL has no problems hitting 500MHz. It's rated for 550 according to the chip, but I don't think they're getting enough voltage.

Oh, Fell8 - that Abit 9550 is a 64-bit model.

- M4H

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Originally posted by: fell8
I've heard both that soft-modding can and can't be done on the Radeons. Anyone tried and succeded (or failed)? What's the verdict?

As has been quoted in kensplayrs' sig - "It's impossible to softmod a 9550; they burned the Suck right into the silicon." 😉

None of the cards listed (9550, 9600SE, 5700LE) are softmoddable to anything else. Overclockable, yes, but then you need to worry about heat constraints in a tiny case.

- M4H

 

[kamranziadar]

I think 9600 Series are Good

 

[Peter]

Originally posted by: MercenaryForHire

Originally posted by: Peter
128-bit bus versions aren't feasible in LP, traces to the RAM chips would be getting too long for the high frequencies. Hence you only get 9550SE and 9600SE.

There is an LP Radeon 9250 w/ 128-bit RAM (at a slow speed) from PowerColor now. Not that it'd be in any way interesting ...

/grabs FireGL from his sig

/bonks Peter slowly but firmly on the nose with the LFH-to-VGA cable

No. No. Bad Elite. 😉 😛 😀

The 128-bit DDR on the FGL has no problems hitting 500MHz. It's rated for 550 according to the chip, but I don't think they're getting enough voltage.

- M4H

Ow.

Tee hee.

I should have said "unfeasible ... unless you add a few more layers to your PCB, which kinda defeats the purpose of making a cheap card." Your FireGL plays in a different arena 😉

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Originally posted by: Peter

Originally posted by: MercenaryForHire

Originally posted by: Peter
128-bit bus versions aren't feasible in LP, traces to the RAM chips would be getting too long for the high frequencies. Hence you only get 9550SE and 9600SE.

There is an LP Radeon 9250 w/ 128-bit RAM (at a slow speed) from PowerColor now. Not that it'd be in any way interesting ...

/grabs FireGL from his sig

/bonks Peter slowly but firmly on the nose with the LFH-to-VGA cable

No. No. Bad Elite. 😉 😛 😀

The 128-bit DDR on the FGL has no problems hitting 500MHz. It's rated for 550 according to the chip, but I don't think they're getting enough voltage.

- M4H

Ow.

Tee hee.

I should have said "unfeasible ... unless you add a few more layers to your PCB, which kinda defeats the purpose of making a cheap card." Your FireGL plays in a different arena 😉

Touché, although the second-hand pricing on them is well within reasonable limits for an LP card. 😉

- M4H

 

[fell8]

Oh, Fell8 - that Abit 9550 is a 64-bit model.

Are you sure? Newegg lists it as 128 bit and Abit lists:

Features
- ATI® Radeon? 9550 128-bit 3D Graphics Accelerator
- GPU Clock: 250MHz
- 0.13u Process Technology
- 128MB DDR Memory
- ATI® CATALYST? unified software suit deliver rock-solid compatibility with software drivers
- ATI® SMARTSHADER? 2.0 improves programmability and performance
- ATI® SMOOTHVISION? 2.1 supports a high-performance anti-aliasing mode and a high-quality anti-aliasing mode
- ATI® Hyper Z? III+ reaches the unprecedented levels of rendering performance
- ATI® FULLSTREAM? improves the performance and visual quality of streaming video playback
- ATI® VIDEOSHADER?: a seamless integration of pixel shaders with video
- ATI® HYDRAVISION? multi-monitor management software enables to manage increased amounts of information and improve the productivity
- MPEG-2 decoding with motion compensation, iDCT and color space conversion
- DirectX 9.0 Architecture: Industry?s fully playable DX9 Architecture

4 Full Precision Pipelines (DX9)
2 Fast Geometry Engines
- HLSL & GLSL Architectures that ensure the newest, cutting edge special effects in applications will run flawlessly and fast

It doesn't specifically mention memory bus, but I doubt the 128 bit is refering to the GPU which , I believe, should be 256 bit and can't be changed. Besides, I thought that if it was 64 bit, that made it a 9550SE.

 

[effee]

9600SE..its a good card