Gf4 4200 ti or radeon 9600 ?

[dubreed]

I´m buying a new comp and it will contain a barton xp2500 and either a gf4 4200ti 8x or a radeon 9600(non pro).

The games i play are mostly rpgs(not a big FPS fan ) and i´m not really sure if those will require dx9 support in the near future

So,which one should i buy ? they´r priced exactly the same...


Oh... and i don´t really need more than a 300w PSU for either of them right ?

 

[Willamette_sucks]

Hey.

Don't underestimate the graphics power that RTSes need/will need in the future!

Toms hardware has covered a few RTS that look to be pretty graphically intensive, especially one they covered at E3 i believe, and it was DX9.
So I know of at least one DX9 RTS due out this year.
Plus games like CCG already require some pretty good hardware, AOE2 also.

I dont know if im just out of the loop or just plain stupid or something, but I didnt know the 9600 non-pro was out yet.
U sure that its a non-pro?

Neways, get a 9500/9600 PRO! Way better than the non-pro version, and both can be had for between 170 and 180.

Long live ATI.

 

[daddywags214]

I second that! Think about the future, man. A 95/9600 Pro will hand the 4200's asss to it in a nice tweed basket.

I'm a born barbershopper...

 

[dubreed]

Hehe i hate RTS games ;P

I play mostly RPGS like baldurs gate ,neverwinternights,morrowind....(they usually don´t have all that high requirements)

The lowest price i can find here in Sweden is 200$ for the 4200 ti and radeon 9600(which will arrive next week)and the cheapest radeon 9600 pro is around 280$ (this is with shipping and taxes)i guess some things are more expensive in europe

 

[daddywags214]

So buy from ebay or something. You'll just have to pay a bit more for shipping.

I'm a born barbershopper...

 

[cleeve]

1. The 9600 PRO beats the snot out of a Ti4200

2. A 300 watt PSU is probably not sufficient. Bare minnimum would be 350 watts, assuming that's a good name brand 350 watt job and that your processor is over a Ghz...

 

[dubreed]

Allright i´ll get an aopen case with a 350 watt PSU then

The Radeon 9600 i´m thinking of getting is made by connect3d and the pro is clocked at 400/300 and the non pro 325/200.
I just mailed them and they are using "Samsung 4x32 -3.3" for the non pro, do you think i could get those modules to run faster than 200 mhz ?

 

[tombance]

Yes, 3.3ns means 300MHz. About the core though, im not so sure. They drobably down bin the ones that cant run at Pro speeds, it might overclock that far.

<A HREF="http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=5467618 " target="_new">Almost Breaking 12k!!</A>

 

[hlftopdog]

be careful with the psu my 350W wasnt enuff for my 9500. Anyway on ebuyer.co.uk u can get the 9500 non pro for £125 inc vat and delivery which is about $160 US dollars i think. Also be careful with the motherboard, my MSI K7N2 6750, 2400xp + and 9500 are all playin silly buggers with me. You have been warned

 

[dubreed]

I´m absolutely no hardware expert ,but some of the vendors i talked to refused to build a pc with a nforce2 mb and anything but superexpensive corsair memmory because of stability issues.

I was also recomended to not mix parts from abit,asus and msi ( If you ask them to build the system for you, you´r more likely to get straight answers on compability isues so i will go with a kt400 , i hope that added stabilty will help, becuase i can´t really find any 350 + silent PSUS ..

Good bye and thanks alot for the input everyone,i think i´ll go with the radeon 9600 non pro

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

350W of a GOOD PSU will be sufficient. I run my XP2000+ with 2 opticals, 2 HDs, 1 EXTRA Lan, 1 Audigy, plus 3 whisper case fans PLUS the 9600PRO all on my Enermax Whisper 365 without incident. I would recommend the PRO as I like mine alot, but the 9600non-pro if it has 1/2 the headroom of my card will do well. And yes the 3.3ns memory should let you get close to 300mhz. Supposedly mine is 2.86ns (says 2A @ Samsung) and I got mine to 360mhz from 300 (rated for 350mhz). Also remember that the 9600s don't draw nearly the same power as the 9500pro, so I wouldn't worry too much. If you get a GOOD 350W PSU (giving you REAL 350+) you will be ok even with a few add-ins later. As for silent, my Enermax Whisper 365 is AWESOME quiet. I swapped out a regular 365 for it an sold the old one to a guy at school for the price of the new Whisper. I can't recommend better, unless you want the Whisper 465 .

Good luck with your purchases.



- You need a licence to buy a gun, but they'll sell anyone a stamp <i>(or internet account)</i> ! <font color=green>RED</font color=green> <font color=red>GREEN</font color=red> :tongue: GA to SK