XFX GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB DDR3 PCIE video card + COD4 game $19AR @ tigerdirect

[Fallengod]

Tigerdirect has the XFX GeForce 9600 GSO 512MB DDR3 PCIe HDMI video card + Call Of Duty 4 PC game for $19 shipped after rebate. Card has a lifetime warranty. ***Note: Some reviews say the fan is fairly loud....something to consider***

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...rkey=P450-9619

$45.99 -$30 rebate + 2.99 for shipping = $19AR shipped.

I sold my last oem COD4 for like $12 so...selling the game could make the end price around $9 or so after rebate.

Rebate expires 10/31/11 ->> http://static.highspeedbackbone.net/rebates/XFX-6283 US.pdf


A 9600 GSO is roughly equal to the speed of the DDR3 GT 240, 8800GS, ATI 4670, 5570. However, it probably uses more power and produces more heat being an older process.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-performance-radeon-geforce,3018-7.html


**Alternatively Newegg also has the same video card for $20AR with COD4 and game pouch but their shipping is $7. If you havnt yet, you can sign up for shoprunner trial to negate shipping cost.** http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...x%209600%20gso

 

[jlin101]

look at the reviews--the fan is LOUD (no speed control)

 

[waffleironhead]

I'm wondering on the stated specs as well. I thought the supply of all the 96sp had died out and those were tied to a 384 bit memory bus. The later 9600 gso were 48?sp's and 128 bit.

Dont get me wrong, I realize this is a $19 card, but I'd still like to be sure what I am buying.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I'm wondering on the stated specs as well. I thought the supply of all the 96sp had died out and those were tied to a 384 bit memory bus. The later 9600 gso were 48?sp's and 128 bit.

Dont get me wrong, I realize this is a $19 card, but I'd still like to be sure what I am buying.

192-bit memory bus. They had 384MB of RAM total.

 

[Fallengod]

Upon a little investigating, it does sound as if this video card only has a two-wired fan, meaning, it does operate at 100% fan speed 24/7 with no controlling it. That sounds absurd to me, what a bad design flaw. Just thought id note that....

I know for a fact the XFX GT 240 does not do that, and the GT 240 is only about $5 more after rebate... Id spend the extra $5 for not having a jet engine in the room.

 

[superHARD]

does it do audio over hdmi? How can you tell?

 

[Fallengod]

does it do audio over hdmi? How can you tell?

I have no idea but one reviewer on newegg I remember seeing said it does not....No idea how you tell. By the nature of HDMI, I would have thought all HDMI had sound? Isnt that the purpose of HDMI.

 

[Stas]

does it do audio over hdmi? How can you tell?

I believe 9 series nVidia cards don't do audio over HDMI. You have to use S/PDIF.
Even though AMD/ATI had it for years (since HD2xxx series, IIRC), only GeForce 200+ support audio over HDMI.

 

[Stas]

http://xfxforce.com/en-us/products/GraphicCards/9series/9600GSO.aspx

128-bit DDR3. 512MB. Nothing to write home about. If the noise issue is true, I would skip on this deal.

 

[wirednuts]

i dont know... maybe rip the fan off, downvolt it and use it as an htpc hd video card?

 

[Stas]

i dont know... maybe rip the fan off, downvolt it and use it as an htpc hd video card?

Quite useless for HTPC, if you can't do audio over HDMI

 

[skillyho]

Just a FYI to everyone...

1) Card doesn't require a 6-pin power adapter (big plus if you're putting it in an OEM machine).

2) It has a 128-bit interface and only 48 shaders which makes it score substantially lower than it's 8800GS/960GS0 counterparts with the 192-bit interface and 96 shaders, regardless of the memory size (384/768 vs 512).

3) The fan is a 2-pin connector, no speed modulation available. It is obnoxiously loud..really really. The prefabbed heatsink screw holes will not accept an Accelero S2 cooler if you happen to have one of those lying around like I did.

4) Out of the box the card will not pass audio via HDMI. You have to get a 2-pin SPDIF cable to run from your mobo to the 2 pins on the card if that's a goal you have.

I have it, and I'm keeping it, but I just wanted to pass along some info I've uncovered since getting the card in that may sway others away from the deal. The card only benched around 5500 in 3dMark06 with a AM2 5600+ (2.9GHz) so don't expect to turn up the resolution or detail in current games by any means.

Also on NewEgg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150570&Tpk=9600%20gso (Same price, slighty higher shipping...sometimes free depending upon how high the moon is in the sky - or whatever logic they're using)

 

[superHARD]

just a fyi to everyone...

1) card doesn't require a 6-pin power adapter (big plus if you're putting it in an oem machine).

2) it has a 128-bit interface and only 48 shaders which makes it score substantially lower than it's 8800gs/960gs0 counterparts with the 192-bit interface and 96 shaders, regardless of the memory size (384/768 vs 512).

3) the fan is a 2-pin connector, no speed modulation available. It is obnoxiously loud..really really. The prefabbed heatsink screw holes will not accept an accelero s2 cooler if you happen to have one of those lying around like i did.

4) out of the box the card will not pass audio via hdmi. You have to get a 2-pin spdif cable to run from your mobo to the 2 pins on the card if that's a goal you have.

I have it, and i'm keeping it, but i just wanted to pass along some info i've uncovered since getting the card in that may sway others away from the deal. The card only benched around 5500 in 3dmark06 with a am2 5600+ (2.9ghz) so don't expect to turn up the resolution or detail in current games by any means.

Also on newegg: http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=n82e16814150570&tpk=9600%20gso (same price, slighty higher shipping...sometimes free depending upon how high the moon is in the sky - or whatever logic they're using)

tyvm

 

[Mythman]

Control of the fan can be accomplished by using Riva Tuner if memory serves me.

 

[waffleironhead]

Just a FYI to everyone...

1) Card doesn't require a 6-pin power adapter (big plus if you're putting it in an OEM machine).

2) It has a 128-bit interface and only 48 shaders which makes it score substantially lower than it's 8800GS/960GS0 counterparts with the 192-bit interface and 96 shaders, regardless of the memory size (384/768 vs 512).

3) The fan is a 2-pin connector, no speed modulation available. It is obnoxiously loud..really really. The prefabbed heatsink screw holes will not accept an Accelero S2 cooler if you happen to have one of those lying around like I did.

4) Out of the box the card will not pass audio via HDMI. You have to get a 2-pin SPDIF cable to run from your mobo to the 2 pins on the card if that's a goal you have.

I have it, and I'm keeping it, but I just wanted to pass along some info I've uncovered since getting the card in that may sway others away from the deal. The card only benched around 5500 in 3dMark06 with a AM2 5600+ (2.9GHz) so don't expect to turn up the resolution or detail in current games by any means.

Also on NewEgg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150570&Tpk=9600%20gso (Same price, slighty higher shipping...sometimes free depending upon how high the moon is in the sky - or whatever logic they're using)

Thanks for that! I had suspected this was the case as the earlier rev chips should have been gone quite awhile ago. Avoiding this "deal" now.

 

[Replay]

Not like the alphabet has run out of letters.

They could have named it the 9600 POS.

Thanks skillyho, been hoping someone with tech savvy would tells us what they are really selling.

192 bit 96 shader good version (G92), a cut down 8800GT.
256 bit 48 shader not as good version (G94), a cut down 9600GT.
128 bit 48 shader not so good version, this deal (G9x?).

Deal has been popping up for months, $24AR August, $15AR, $19AR. The AR price is ok if you know what you are getting. Almost bit a few times, but the XFX product page lacked clock & shaders specs.

 

[kalrith]

I'm pretty sure you can use a molex-to-3-pin adapter and either 7v or 5v the fan. I had a 9500GT with a 2-pin fan that ran at 100%. 5v wasn't enough to always spin the fan, but I ran it at 7v for about a year or two with no problems (I sold it when I upgraded to a 4550).

I'm not sure if the 9600GSO produces too much heat to 7v the fan, but you could always run it through furmark while keeping an eye on the temps just to make sure.

If you don't know how to run your fans at 5v or 7v, read this: http://www.silentpcreview.com/article6-page1.html

 

[Old Dog]

Hi all, Thought I'd add my 2 cents. I've bought 4 of these over the past few months and I think they're all identical. Here's what GPU-Z says:

Kind of weird... Maybe GPU-Z is confused, but it thinks it's a G92 with 512MB on a 128bit bus. Didn't know that combination existed. I suspect it's really a 94 with only 48 shaders.

They OC to 650 easily, but RAM doesn't go much faster than stock without artifacts. Fan is very loud, and Afterburner doesn't do a very good job of controlling it. I've set mine to downlock to minimums and turn the fan off completely unless playing 3D games.

I got 2 because I have two identical PCs for my son & me to game on. We're currently only using two cards, but got two more to try them in SLI for a budget solution until I upgrade next year. Even single card, it's not bad for casual gaming (we mostly play Starcraft II at 1280x1024). Maybe not good for the latest & greatest games, but gets me by for now.

 

[Replay]

Old Dog, welcome to these forums.

If GPU-Z is confused we may have to wait for someone to pull the heatsink and read the numbers under the goo. Have some old rigs with $15 8600GT cards. A 48 shader 128 bit 9600 would not be much of an upgrade.

 

[skillyho]

The more testing I do the more convinced I am that these cards have something off. I pulled my old 3Dmark06 records for my 8800GS and on an almost identical system it was getting over 11k, while this 9600GSO gets 6k when overclocked. The SM2 and SM3 scores are almost double in some places on the 8800GS looking back at the previous benchmarks.

I've also noticed that the GPU load never goes over 49%, and I've read others who've experienced similar problems. I wonder what a BIOS flash would do...It's only a $20 card right? I'll try to find the Core/Shader/Mem limits sometime this week and go from there.

OldDog - What's the highest you've been able to reliably OC your cards? Also, welcome to the forums!

Replay - G92-158-B1 is what's on the GPU itself. My google-fu didn't show anything very useful, other than I think it's a 55nm core (not 65) and still think the shaders are at 48...perhaps they were physically cut in manufacturing?

 

[Bman123]

I wonder how this would do at 1280x720?

 

[Stas]

Just a FYI to everyone...

1) Card doesn't require a 6-pin power adapter (big plus if you're putting it in an OEM machine).

2) It has a 128-bit interface and only 48 shaders which makes it score substantially lower than it's 8800GS/960GS0 counterparts with the 192-bit interface and 96 shaders, regardless of the memory size (384/768 vs 512).

3) The fan is a 2-pin connector, no speed modulation available. It is obnoxiously loud..really really. The prefabbed heatsink screw holes will not accept an Accelero S2 cooler if you happen to have one of those lying around like I did.

4) Out of the box the card will not pass audio via HDMI. You have to get a 2-pin SPDIF cable to run from your mobo to the 2 pins on the card if that's a goal you have.

I have it, and I'm keeping it, but I just wanted to pass along some info I've uncovered since getting the card in that may sway others away from the deal. The card only benched around 5500 in 3dMark06 with a AM2 5600+ (2.9GHz) so don't expect to turn up the resolution or detail in current games by any means.

Also on NewEgg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150570&Tpk=9600%20gso (Same price, slighty higher shipping...sometimes free depending upon how high the moon is in the sky - or whatever logic they're using)

Thank you for combining the info.