A friend of mine is looking to upgrade his GeForce2 64MB card. I suggested going for an ATI card. His system is used for Photo editing and some motorsport games like NFS2 etc.. As I browsed the website of a local supplier I saw there is some difference in price between the ATI 9600 and 9600 SE. Is it worthed paying the extra cash for the 9600 ? And should we go for a 128MB or 256MB ?
Yes. The 9600SE has a 64-bit memory bus, the 9600, 9600Pro, and the 9600XT all have a 128-bit memory bus. The 9600SE performance is roughly that of a 9200 with native DX9 support slapped on. Yeah, it's nice to have DX9, but stuff that uses DX9 are likely to eat the 9600SE for breakfast. For what he's doing, you'll be fine with 128MB. While the 256MB can help, it's not going to do anything noticeable for him---if it does anything. You don't need anything very powerful for photo editing in the video card department. He could have a TNT2 for that and be fine if that was all he was doing.
Not really, when comparing the ATI and Nvidia in a Performance:Cost basis, the ATI usually wins in both.. If your friend plays NFS2 - which is quite demanding a 9600 would be limited really.. i presume this is why he wants a new one? as NFS2 is v.demanding, and will i suspect not run very well on a 9600, as i had a 9600XT a weeks back and had the demo of NFS2 and i got around 30-40fps, if you want a card that will perform v.well in NFS2: ATI 9700Pro 128mb (£100 Including Vat) If you want a card that will play NFS2 no problem but not on best graphics (ie: low - medium) then get a 9600XT 128mb. u can pick them up for around £60
Vs. a 128MB 9600? To a degree, yes, IF it's to do with textures from NFSU2, which is what the memory on the video card is for. Vs. a 128MB 9800? No. The 9800 chip itself has more pipelines than the 9600, giving it an advantage. Again, more memory can help, but only to a certain point. It's like me putting the best stuff in my Cavalier. Sure, it's going to run better than someone who puts the cheapest crap they can in their's so it will run. However, my Cavalier doesn't hold a candle to a Corvette. Same thing with the 9600 v 9800.
At this point im quite confused! These are the ATI 9600 series cards that I can buy locally. I converted the currency in US $$. As you can see they are quite expensive. ATI RadeOn 9600XT 128MB TV Out AGP8X $234 ATI RadeOn 9600XT 256MB TV Out AGP8X $249 ATI RadeOn 9600Pro 128MB TV Out AGP8X $216 ATI RadeOn 9600 128MB All-In-Wonder AGP8X $294 ATI RadeOn 9600 256MB TV Out AGP8X $177 ATI RadeOn 9600 128MB TV Out AGP8X $162 So which is the cheapest best card for NFS 2 ?
Look at the last two on your list. Unless you need the extra features of the All-In-Wonder, it's not worth it. The Pro has faster clock speeds than the plain 9600. The XT has faster clock speeds than the Pro, and has a built-in temp sensor. You might be able to get the 9600 up to 9600 Pro speeds with some overclocking.
Check out these on Newegg: http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-102-320&depa=0 http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-102-326&depa=0 http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-102-345&depa=0 http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-102-395&depa=0 http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-102-331&depa=0 Happy hunting :ninhas:
If it helps I had a Sapphire 9600XT 128mb in my last machine, and it was a very good card considering it cost me £110 including vat around 5 months ago I know for a fact that it will run: FarCry on Medium graphics (with one or 2 low) Counter-Strike 1.6 / Counter-Strike Condition Zero @ 100FPS solid, even on 20 player servers in a massive fire fight it only drops to 60 odd.. Need For Speed Underground runs smoothly at almost full graphics Doom3 i got about 30-40FPS on the demo So its a good card But if i were you.. if you were going to spend £100 or so on a graphics card, i'd get the 9800SE it only comes with 4 pipelines but they are just locked.. and its only £111 and you can usually unlock them.. Now its kind of pot of luck if u get a card that can or not, but if u goto www.overclockers.co.uk (i have been swearing about them alot but its because my board is fucked and was unlucky) then goto graphics > ATI > AGP > 9700/9800 Range Then find the 9800SE, now its their own brand of 9800SE, but if you phone them i believe they promise you can unlock the other 4 pipelines with a softmod (installing Omega ATI drivers) Or.. for £100 inlcuding vat get a 9700Pro (Very Good card for cost)
