Radeon 9550 vs 9600 ..please need advices!

[pat]

I know a lot about mainboard and CPU, especially AMD, but when it comes to video card, I'm not really knowledgable..But, I know that some of you are.

Ok, my friend is on budget. I'm building him a computer with a nforce 3 board and a 3000+ A64 CPU, socket 754 with 512 megs of RAM.

Almost the same system I have here except I have 1 gigs of RAM. I have an ATI AIW 9600XT and I'm very satisfied with this card. When he saw NFSU2 running full detail at 1024x768(for TV output), that what he want. But he can loose a bit of detail too.

So my question is, based on that system, how much performance hit will he suffer if he go with a Radeon 9550(not the se) instead of the 9600XT. I dont want benchmark score as they means a little for me. I'd like real life situation, just how thiss card perform.

Remember, he is on budget and he want something good, not extraordinary? That will save him about 60$ Can, so it is something not negligable.

If my 9600xt is 100%, how do the 9550 rate against it? 60% 80% ..

Or, is a 9600SE better than the 9550?

Thanks



-Always put the blame on you first, then on the hardware !!!

 

[addiarmadar]

Well you have to drop the res one and sacrifice some, not all, eye-candy details to closely match the FPS between those 2 cards. Dont get confused that this card is a better version of the good'ol 9500s when it is completely the inverse.

Speaking of why dont you locate him a 9500 card, pro version if you wanna spend more. If you can find one that has the l-shaped memory then it could be modded to the 9700 with little effort which can smoke the 9600xt. The only bad side is that this card is a bit old and warranty coverage maybe limited but who cares about that anyways for it can be an excuse to upgrade!

<i><font color=red>Only an overclocker can make a computer into a convectional oven.</i></font color=red>

 

[pauldh]

A 128-bit 9550 is definately better than a 9600se. It can be a great overclocking giving near 9600 pro performance. Avoid a 64-bit 9550. Your percentages are hard to guess, as it depends on the game. I'd say stock speeds the 9550 = 60% of a 9600XT and 90% of a plain radeon 9600.

Side note, if he is against overclocking the 9550, I think a radeon 9550 is way too wimpy for that system. So is a radeon 9600. If he is a gamer....I wouldn't sacrifice on the video card! Downgrade the CPU to a 2800+ and put that money into buying a radeon 9600 pro or higher, and the system will be a far better gamer than an A64 3000+ and radeon 9550 at stock speeds. And in the USA anyways, downgrading the cpu would just about pay the difference to get a 9600 pro. You would save $25 on the cpu and need to spend $40 on the Video card upgrade. IMO the $25 saved is almost not worth it, but the $40 video upgrade is a must, so if need be lower the cpu to save a little and make the 9600 pro possible.

Put it this way, a radeon 9700 pro/9800 256-bit/Radeon 9800 pro 256-bit with an A64 2800+ would be a far superior gamer to a 3000+ 9600XT. CPU and Ram matter for sure, but with a low end video card, even an FX55 with 2GB of PC3200 would be a crappy gaming rig. If it were a value A XP2200+ system, I'd say the R9550 would be an ok choice. But an A64 gamer, it's too weak a video card unless he plans to OC it like mad.

I know you don't want benchies, but game benchies as opposed to 3dmarks, is a pretty good indicator. High end system, all DX 9 cards, <A HREF="http://www.ixbt.com/video2/over2k4-fcs20-1024.shtml" target="_new">look</A> how they do in farcry at 1024x768.




<A HREF="http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k3=3400555" target="_new"> My</A>
<A HREF="http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=8268935" target="_new">Gamer</A>
<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Pauldh on 01/05/05 00:18 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Crashman]

9550 cards aren't given the "SE" designation when they castrate them, they just put the same name on and hope to stun you with a lower price. The order of performance:

9550 64-bit
9600SE
9550 128-bit
9600
9600 Pro
9600XT

The 128-bit 9550 is a fairly good card for the money, and can be overclocked.

<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>

 

[pat]

Yes, game are good real life performance benchmark. I can see that the 9550 will be a bit weak for his system, so he'll be better with the 9600XT or even PRO

Thanks!

-Always put the blame on you first, then on the hardware !!!