9800 pro -vs- 9600 pro

[Plass]

Is there much of a difference performance wise between a:

Sapphire Atlantis ATI Radeon 9600 PRO 128MB
and
Sapphire Radeon 9800 PRO 128MB

Im purchasing a new pc from ABS and the price difference between the 2 cards is $153. Overall I like to game, but not usually the cutting edge stuff. I like playing games like Diablo2/Ages of Empires/Neverwinter Nites/Dungeon Seige etc. I don't mind spending the extra $, but don't want to throw it away if not needed.

Thnx for any help you can give!

P.S. Keep it simple please as it wont take much to go over my head

 

[Spitfire_x86]

Radeon 9800 PRO is a much better card than Radeon 9600 PRO. It has 8 pixel pipelines (R9600 PRO has 4) and 256 bit memory (Radeon 9600 PRO has 128 bit memory). The performance differnce is quite big, especially if you use 4x AA

Check recent THG Graphics Card articles for benchmarks.

You can consider buying Radeon 9800 (non-PRO). It's only little slower than Radeon 9800 PRO but costs quite less. Beware of Radeon 9800SE! It's a much inferior card. It's slower than even Radeon 9600 PRO.

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[lhgpoobaa]

ummm yes. Thats why the price is so different!

Its like the difference between a 2.5L 4 cylinder and a 5L V8 engine

The R9800pro has 8 pipelines opposed to 4 for the 9600 and also has a 256bit memory badwidth opposed to 128bit.

The R9600pro is a medium to high level budget card.
The R9800pro is a high level gamers card.

If you dont pay many 3d shooters then a R9600pro should be fine for your needs.

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I know the way myself.
Regards,
Mr no integrity coward.</b>

 

[Spitfire_x86]

R9600 PRO is fine for your listed games, but you may invest bit more and get a Radeon 9800 (non-PRO) for better performance with future games.

R9800 is not recommended if you don't have a good PSU.

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[Crashman]

More like the difference between a 2.5L Turbo and a 5.0L performance engine. The 9600P is clocked much higher, but not enough to make up the difference.

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[shadus]

Honestly, if you can hold out I'd recommend holding out till Q1/Q2 next year when the next generation of ATi/nVidia cards are released... if you can't the 9800 pro is a mighty nice card and will last you a couple years at least.

Shadus

 

[mrface]

agree completely actually, when the next gen cards come out i m pretty sure you would be more than happy with those

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[shadus]

Nod, I just hate to see people upgrade right now when for the same or slightly more money in a few months they can get a card that will perform better than either set of cards presently... so close... yet so so far away!

Shadus

 

[HardWareBoss]

ATI Radeon 9800Pro $250 with trade of old vid card. At ATI web site.

 

[Guest]

Any idea where to find information on the next gen ATI cards?

Thanks

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