Author Topic: ATI 9600 card (Read 800 times)

13Promet · « **on:** May 13, 2004, 03:24:35 PM »

Hi guys,
I've seen in a shop an ATI 9600/256Mb at 120$.
I wonder what's the performace of it compared to the 9600pro and 9600xt models.
I checked out at TomsHardare.com, but they did not show any review of not pro or not fx model.
Any help please ?

Thank you in advance

Promet

Ghosth · « **Reply #1 on:** May 13, 2004, 04:32:50 PM »

Well if it was me I'd go to pricewatch.com & compare apples to apples.

by the time you add on shipping that local card may be a deal.

ChasR · « **Reply #2 on:** May 13, 2004, 11:29:43 PM »

Comparing Aquamark3 scores, the 9600 is around 70% as fast as a 9600 Pro, 65% as fast as a 9600 XT and about 25% faster than a 9600 SE. Tom's hardware has benchmark info on almost every card here

13Promet · « **Reply #3 on:** May 14, 2004, 05:32:02 AM »

Thank you very much guys

gofaster · « **Reply #4 on:** May 14, 2004, 12:51:08 PM »

I'm looking at that same card, trying to decide how much power I'll need for AH2. I'm leaning towards the Radeon 9600 XT for around $180. Is there anything out there better?

MrLars · « **Reply #5 on:** May 14, 2004, 04:51:58 PM »

I have a 9600 XT and it does fine on my 2g machine. I have it oc's to 9800 pro speeds and haven't had any problems associated with that.

The only downside I can see in the future is if HT doesn't optimize AH2 for ATi cards.

I bought the 9600 XT on Skuzzys recomendation of it being a good buy as far as bang for your buck goes.

You should be able to get that card for under $170 USD, I paid $167 and got free shipping along with a voucher for a free copy of Half Life 2 when it's finaly released.

eilif · « **Reply #6 on:** May 15, 2004, 05:34:15 PM »

I got a 9600 se the other day and it works fine in conjunction with my 1.6 ghz 512ddr system, get about 75 fps.

acetnt367th · « **Reply #7 on:** May 16, 2004, 10:54:45 AM »

Guys,

If you have an older Ati card to trade - you can normally get a very good discount on the 9800pro from the Ati website.

http://www.ati.com/buy/traderebate/tradeup.html

$200 for a hell of a card - i.e. if it is within your budget.

Acetnt

beet1e · « **Reply #8 on:** May 19, 2004, 12:52:06 AM »

13Promet - I have the ATi Radeon 9600 and with VSync always on, I get a constant 75fps in AH2. Gixer has that card, and in another thread I saw him say that he gets 75fps too.

There are some optional Omega drivers I've downloaded specifically designed for gaming. I haven't tried those yet...

13Promet · « **Reply #9 on:** May 19, 2004, 02:59:01 AM »

Thank you very much for info, guys.
A pity that give-your-old-card-back-to-us ATI thing is ony valid for USA and CAN.

Best regards

Promet

eilif · « **Reply #10 on:** May 19, 2004, 09:58:24 PM »

ya i get a solid 75 too its nice, and thats on 1280 res with defalt settings

Edbert · « **Reply #11 on:** May 20, 2004, 11:08:02 AM »

I just bought a 9800-pro (128) card from Fry's for $174 (it was on sale). This is replacing my Ti-4400. I normally peg my FR at about 65 with the old card, the same is happening with the new card. I have the "umlimited" option chosen within AH and am not interested in overclocking. But I wouldn't mind squeaking a few more FPS out of it via software settings and drivers. I am running in 1024, but tried 1280 and got basically the same FR. Am I limited by the refresh of the monitor? It is a 19" Dell M992 and Windows refresh is at 75.

Should I look into those drivers that Beetle recemended? What are the settings I should tweak?

ChasR · « **Reply #12 on:** May 20, 2004, 01:01:03 PM »

A 9800 Pro at $174 is hands down the most bang for the buck you can get. Most places have them in the $205 - $215 range. If you have a fast computer (AMD 2400+, P4 2.4 +) the 9800 Pro is the ATi card to have. If your computer is older, it may bottleneck the card in which case the 9600 XT or Pro would be a better choice. nVidia makes some good cards too. I just don't have any experience with them.

Online prices have the 9800 Pro @ $205, The 9600 XT @ $159, and the 9600 Pro @ $139 all of which represent pretty good bang for the buck. The Ati SE (and nVidia MX)cards are marketing gimicks. You pay $13 more for a 9800 SE than a 9600 Pro but they perform about the same. The 9600 SE barely outperforms the 9200 again for more money.

The Omega drivers will not improve frame rates and may be slightly slower (based on personal testing a few versions back). They are supposed to improve image quality. I run both Cat and Omega drivers on my computers and can't say I can see a difference even with my bifocals. Younger eyes may do better. Omega drivers come with RadLinker, a good overclocking utility.

If higher frame rates are what you're after, make sure Antialiasing (AA) and Anisotropic Filtering (AF) are set to application preference.

Contrary to what MrLars says, you can't get 9800 Pro speed out of a 9600 XT. The 9800 Pro has twice the buswidth and twice the pixel pipes of the 9600 XT and no amount of overclocking will overcome that. (I have both and have benched them stock and overclocked).

My experience with the default settings in AH2 is they work ok for air to air combat but are unsuitable for bombing and attacking. You have to set the sliders to significantly more detail and greater range if you want to see ack positions and small buildings. Frame rates will be quite a bit lower near the ground with higher quality settings.

MrLars · « **Reply #13 on:** May 20, 2004, 02:07:47 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by ChasR

Contrary to what MrLars says, you can't get 9800 Pro speed out of a 9600 XT. The 9800 Pro has twice the buswidth and twice the pixel pipes of the 9600 XT and no amount of overclocking will overcome that. (I have both and have benched them stock and overclocked).

My understanding is that although you can oc the processor and memory speeds up to 9800 pro standard speed, the 9800 pro has 4 additional pipes that are unavailable on the 9600XT.

So, yes you can oc to 9800 speed you don't have the throughput capability of the 9800 pro.

ChasR · « **Reply #14 on:** May 20, 2004, 02:33:20 PM »

Actually the 9600XTs RV360 gpu runs at 500 MHz while the R350 gpu in the 9800 Pro runs at a mere 380 MHz. However it would be extremely misleading (actually patently false) to say the 9600 XT is faster than a 9800 Pro just because its GPU runs at a higher clock rate. It is similarly misleading to say a 9600 XT will overclock to 9800 Pro speed. It's about like saying your Ford Focus is faster than a Mustang Cobra because you put a chip in it and it will now turn 7000 RPM and the mustang Cobra only turns 6500.