ATI 9600 128mb for $70?

[rmrpbutt]

Hi, first time post...go easy on me!

I have an ATI 128 Rage Pro currently (cheapo that came with my Dell, intended to swap it right away, waited 6 months for no good reason). I see that BestBuy will be offering an ATI Radeon 9600 w/128mb on Friday only for $70 (probably after rebates). The listing I saw didn't mention XT/Pro/whatever, so assuming the worst, is this worth the upgrade? I did this same thing last year on my other pc and got a Ti4200 for $90 after rebate and have been happy with it (in fact, I was going to swap that into my current machine originally but I got lazy).

Thanks!

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by rmrpbutt on 11/25/03 01:04 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[cefoskey]

Yeah I work computers at a best buy, and the price is after rebates. The 9600 is the std version, but still a hell of a step up from your Rage. Make sure you get there early, theres only 25 per store and they will go fast. Theres going to be huge lines as usual, i can't wait to get up at 4am to go to work friday.

"Who is General Failure, and why is he reading my drive?"

 

[rmrpbutt]

Is the 9600 standard also a huge jump over the ti4200? I assume yes since the 9600 is dx9 compliant, but I loved that ti4200 on my win98 machine and wonder if it would be worth switching it over to my xp machine instead of buying the 9600.

 

[Coyote]

I don't know about it being a "huge" jump over the Ti 4200. For that you'd prolly have to go to a 9800 Pro/XT and jack the resolution and details to max. Since it's not even a 9600 Pro, just standard 9600 I don't think I'd spend the $. I'd just use my Ti 4200.

As far as DX9, I can't say. I don't have HL2 or any games that even use DX9. But I'm reading that at this point only small portion of coding in the new games is DX9. So I'm personally wary of seeing any huge increase in gfx due to DX9.

XP 2000+
MSI KT3 ULTRA-2 KT333
Maxtor 60GB ATA 133 7200RPM
512MB PC2700
ABIT G4 Ti4200 OTES 64MB
Win98SE

 

[cleeve]

A 9600 non-pro would probably a slight step DOWN from a Geforce4 Ti 4200. The only cases where it would excel would be true DirectX 9 titles, because the pixel/vertex shaders of the 9600 are very good.

But in your average DirectX 7/8 title, the Ti4200 would probably be faster.

------------------
Radeon 9500 (hardmodded to PRO, o/c to 322/322)
AMD AthlonXP 2400+ (o/c to 2600+ with 143 fsb)
3dMark03: 4055

 

[rmrpbutt]

Well I'm glad I asked then! Thanks everybody for their help!

 

[Guest]

Captain Obvious says it also depends on the rest of your system!

It might be a waste to get the R9600 if the CPU < 800Mhz.


<b><font color=red>Captain Obvious To The Rescue!!!
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[Spitfire_x86]

If it's not 9600SE, then it's quite good value.

R9600 (no SE/PRO/XT) = Slower than Ti4200 in DX8 games, equal or better in Anti-Aliasing, better for future DX9 games

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[dhlucke]

Is it really worth it to get up that early the day after thx giving? I did it one year, showed up an hour or two before they opened, and there were still a few hundred people ahead of me. I didn't get the card either. They hid it on the back of an isle instead of in the normal spot and I never found it before all 10 of them were gone. They set up baracades and chains all over the store so that you can't get there easily.

You'll have to get up very very early.

Alternatively you could just buy it online.

_________________________________________
<font color=red>12 bit... The way games are meant to be played!</font color=red>

 

[HardWareBoss]

Get up at the crack of dawn for a $70 Vid card!!!!!! That will be the day. Now IF that was a 9800 Pro that would be a differant story.

 

[Crashman]

I have a 9600 here that belongs to a customer. It has 128-bit RAM, but it's only 4ns (rated to 250MHz), SDR. It's still better than the 9600SE would be, which should be 64-bit if I'm not mistaken. Not a match for the Ti4200 however.

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[GeneticWeapon]

Crash...I enjoyed almost getting to see what you look like in the THG gallery

<b>I help because you suck</b>

 

[rmrpbutt]

I know what you mean about getting up that early, but last year at Best Buy, I got there at 5:15, they were serving hot coffee to everybody for free, everybody was chatting and having fun, I got an awesome Ti4200 for only $90 after rebate, etc. I normally get up that early for work, so for me, no biggie. This year you can also get a Maxtor 120GB HD for only $50 after rebate! I figured if I was gonna get that and if all you guys whole-heartedly recommended the R9600 (which unfortunately you didn't), it would have been worth it. Now I have to decide if the HD is worth it or not since I will probably just swap the Ti4200 in and wait for better cards next year to drive the 9800 prices down.

 

[baldurga]

What about if I have a GF3Ti500? Big jump?

My idea was to wait until next generation of GPUs, but for $70 ... that would be a nice and cheap upgrade meanwhile.


Still looking for a <b>good online retailer</b> in Spain :frown:

 

[cleeve]

From a Geforce3Ti500... yeah, it'd probably be worth the $70.

Especially since you could sell your Geforce for $30 or so.

------------------
Radeon 9500 (hardmodded to PRO, o/c to 322/322)
AMD AthlonXP 2400+ (o/c to 2600+ with 143 fsb)
3dMark03: 4055

 

[Spitfire_x86]

It won't be faster than GF3 Ti500 in DX8 games without AA/AF

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