Which radeon?!

[AllucardCasull]

I am having a little trouble deciding on a new video card. My gf3 ti500 is finaly kicking it, i artifact everywhere, and my fps in CS goes from 15-100. Ive been talking to my pals, and they are split between the 9500 pro and 9600. Once says you can flash the 9500 to be a 9700, but then this other guy on the overclockers forums, got his 9600 to 460 core and 360 mem. im pretty broke right now, i cant spend more than what a 9600 is worth. Thanks for any info!

 

[Hanzou]

I am also debating on whether to get a 9500 or a 9600. I have heard that the 9600 with a special utility you can download is extremely easy to overclock. You just move the slider up on the core and memory, and its done.

 

[waylman]

Both your friends are right..........

An overclocked 9500PRO beats an overclocked 9600PRO-Winner 9500 PRO
A stock 9500PRO beats a stock 9600PRO-Winner 9500 PRO
An overclocked 9600PRO beats a stock 9500PRO-Winner 9600 PRO
And obviously an overclocked 9500PRO beats a stock 9600PRO0-Winner 9500 PRO

Winner: 9500PRO

 

[AthlonXP]

Just stick with the Radeon 9500 PRO, newegg/mwave have it for $170, gameve.com has it for $160 if you mention pricewatch (FIC OEM). If you have spare $$$ to kill, I highly recommend the FIC 9700 nonpro OEM for $229 from newegg, from what Ive heard this card will run fine with a 9700 PRO bios and overclocks in the 340 core/ 350 memory range.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

I'd go for the 9700 non pro as well. That card will give you double the memory bandwidth thanks to the 256bit whereas the 9500 pro has a 128bit. I'd seriously find a way to spend that extra money because it'll last you a whole lot longer as well. The 9700 non pro will serve you well through Doom 3

 

[Blastman]

A stock speeds the consensus seems to be that the 9500pro is a little faster than the 9600pro, although in this ExtremTech?s review the 9600pro managed to beat the 9500pro.

Basically the 9600 overclocks better than the 9500, but the 9500 was ahead to start and can be overclocked quite well too. Both overclcoked to the max essentially produced a tie between the cards. See ...

firingsquad

The 9700 (non-pro) is another good step up from either of these cards. Really fast for the price.

 

[AllucardCasull]

awesome, i wish i had the money for a 9700, but i dont, so i think im going to go with the 9500, and flash it to "be" a 9700

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Originally posted by: AllucardCasull
awesome, i wish i had the money for a 9700, but i dont, so i think im going to go with the 9500, and flash it to "be" a 9700

Thats not really going to work unless you can find someone else who has it and is willing to sell it. You have to get one with the RED PCB and the "L" shaped memory layout. Even after finding that which will be a pain in itself, you only have a 50% chance of it working because many people just get the checkered board effect. You may just want to g o with the 9500 Pro then, there will be a huge difference of light and day between the pro and non pro of the 9500 because the pro has twice as many pipelines as the non pro.

 

[AllucardCasull]

i meant pro, sorry, and my friend flashed his 9500pro to a 9700. so i was gonna do that. sorry for being misleading