Bought Radeon 9600 Pro that isn't Pro

[DragonSoull]

Well I bought PowerColor Radeon 9600 *Pro* w/ 256MB VRAM (says so in the Box), the thing his that the board isn't really a Pro the core is 400MHz but the memory is only 2x200MHz (400MHz real pro are 600MHz).

Checking the PowerColor website I discovered that my board was in fact the simple Radeon 9600 Non-Pro.

My box does have a sticker saying 400/400MHz in the corner but it doesn't cover the Pro has the box depicted in the PowerColor website.

My question is, is it worth the trouble to go to the shop and bitch about it and try to get a real Radeon 9600 Pro?

I paid €174 (including 19% tax) in Potugal/Europe for this one, real Radeon 9600 Pro w/128MB VRAM cost about the same and the brand new Radeon 9600XT for €210 (also including 19%Tax).

Tell me what you think I should do...

PS: By the way why are PowerColor and GeCube Radeon board to be avoided? Believe it or not that's all that's selling around here, except for a couple of high end Asus boards.<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by DragonSoull on 02/11/04 07:10 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[cleeve]

Should you return it? I would, unless you can't afford a true PRO. If it's all you can afford, keep it and try to overclock it.

powercolor and Gecube aren't the antichrists of video cards or anything, but they do have a higher average rate of failure, so you have a higher chance of having to warranty return the card.

But if that's all you can get, they're not that bad really.

________________
<b>Radeon <font color=red>9500 PRO</b></font color=red> <i>(hardmodded 9500, o/c 322/322)</i>
<b>AthlonXP <font color=red>2600+</b></font color=red> <i>(o/c 2400+ w/143Mhz fsb)</i>
<b>3dMark03: <font color=red>4,055</b></font color=red>

 

[pauldh]

I think what you got is a 9600 Pro not non Pro, but it is the EZ version that PC puts out clocked (400/400). It is faster than a plain 9600 (325/400), but I wouldn't want to own one unless it is far cheaper than a real (400/600) 9600 pro.

Grape posted this link a short time ago. Look at card # 59 in the test... It is yours. As you can see in the benchmarks, it trails far behind the 400/600 "real" 9600 pro.

<A HREF="http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/over2003/index.html" target="_new">http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/over2003/index.html</A>

ABIT IS7, P4 2.6C, 512MB Corsair TwinX PC3200LL, Radeon 9800 Pro, Santa Cruz, TruePower 430watt

 

[DragonSoull]

Like I said on my post a REAL PRO should be about the same price.

Any way I just took it back to the shop and the guy there was surprised saying I was the only person to ever complain but he said he was going to try but it would be hard.

On a curious note the guy tried to convince me to take a PixelView GeForce FX 5700 saying it was a much superior board for an extra €30?

Hope he manages to get me a real RADEON 9600 Pro, If not I'm not sure if I should keep the Fake Pro still better then my old GeForce 2Ti...

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by DragonSoull on 02/11/04 11:59 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[cleeve]

I wouldn't say the 5700 is MUCH superior, but it's on-par with the 9600 PRO.

Still, if he can find you a real 9600 PRO for that price, that's what you should get...

________________
<b>Radeon <font color=red>9500 PRO</b></font color=red> <i>(hardmodded 9500, o/c 322/322)</i>
<b>AthlonXP <font color=red>2600+</b></font color=red> <i>(o/c 2400+ w/143Mhz fsb)</i>
<b>3dMark03: <font color=red>4,055</b></font color=red>

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

Hey man the FX5700 isn't on par with an R9600Pro, the FX5700ULTRA would be close to on par (depending on what you are comparing), but the FX5700non-ultra is below the true R9600Pro. IT may tie PC's idea of a PRO but that's like calling an FX5600XT a high-end 5600.

Man, trying to bad-mouth my card, with bad, freakin' pos, err.. pc, <A HREF="http://www.dailywav.com/0599/coughsyrup.wav" target="_new">I'm worried about you man</A>!


- 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> GA to SK

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

If you can get an R9600Pro, if they are the same price as an R9600XT, then look for those.

As for GigaPuke and Powercolor, it's just a question of build quality, overclocking prowess, and reputation, your experience would be a perfect example of why they don't have a good reputation. PRO, eh!?!

The FX5700 is better than that PC piece of ...., but it won't do as well as an R9600Pro or XT. The FX5700Ultra would be the equal to those cards. The FX5900XT or SE would also be another good choice if it's in that price range. But of the one's you've spoken of, the XT would be the best followed by the PRO, followed by the FX5700.

The R9600 series is very memory limited so having 100(200) mhz slower memory makes a BIG difference in games at medium to high resolution/detail.


- 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> GA to SK

 

[DragonSoull]

I had already pushed my budget with the RADEON 9600 Pro :\ around here the choice is slim and everybody seems to be selling the cheap version of every thing, and I can't really shop around for the best price anymore (the shop doesn't do refunds).

But even not outperforming the Radeon an Nvidia board would have it's charm since it would probably go better with my Nforce 2 MB (some people report issues with radeons on this MBs).

A good option would be to get some more money and buy something better but can't find the middle tier models it all goes from RADEON 9600XT / GeForce FX 5700 Ultra to RADEON 9800 Pro / GeForce FX 5900 and I'm not willing to spend €500 on the graphic board.

So if they probably i'm going to be forced into buying a Asus Radeon 9600 XT (or maybe even a GeForce FX 5700 Ultra since you guys say it's about the same) at €230 something going over anyway , that will teach me not to do my homework. If I read the guide It would probably saved me allot of trouble...

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by DragonSoull on 02/11/04 10:26 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Crashman]

The d00d is selling the cards with the slow RAM called 9600 Pro...Light or EZ. These use the Pro core but slow RAM. People aren't complaining because they simply don't know.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[DragonSoull]

Found this board:
http://www.gecube.com.tw/productCategory.php?proID=29

The most intersting thing is the "128MB of 2.5ns BGA DDR memory", any coments on that?

 

[coolsquirtle]

u just have to touch on my sensitive side don't you ?

RIP Block Heater....HELLO P4~~~~~
120% nVidia Fanboy
never tried to go crazy when it comes to o/cing.
THGC's resident Asian and Graphics Forum's resident nVboy

 

[Crashman]

2.5ns is rated at 400MHz (DDR800). Your original 9600 "pro" 200MHz (DDR400) ram.

Actually it probably had 250MHz RAM underclocked to 200MHz. But since you thought you were getting a card with 300MHz (DDR600) RAM clock, you still got cheated.

Yes, that card you link with RAM rated up to DDR800 speed should be sweet! Of course it's probably still clocked at DDR600 speed (300MHz), but they provide fast RAM so you'll have pleanty of room to overclock it.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[DragonSoull]

Actually I did a little overclocking on it (that's how I found out that is wasn't a real pro) only managed to get the memory up to 230Mhz (460Mhz) more then that and I would start to see artifacts/errors. About the core I can't really say, it goes up to 411MHz but I didn't have time to see the limit.

Once again, thanks for the advice you guys been great...

 

[DragonSoull]

[ Duplicate post due to bad connection, my apologies ]<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by DragonSoull on 02/12/04 01:46 AM.</EM></FONT></P>