Which Video Card?

[keyz]

Should I buy.. Now I'm set on the ATI Radeon 9600, but there is a "Pro" card and then there is just the ATI Radeon 9600 card, both 128MB DDR. What's the difference between the two? Is there enough difference between the two, that I should shell out the extra bucks for the "Pro" card than the other? I am building myself a PC for the first time, and I just want a card, this card, to perform great with: gaming, videos, graphic design, and so forth. Would you prefer getting an OEM Card instead of getting Retail, if it might be the same, if you know what I mean? Thanks in advance to those who can help me

[racer II]

http://www.ati.com/products/radeon9600/rad...ro/compare.html

9600 9600 pro
difference : Pixel Fillrate (Gpixels/sec) 1.3 1.6
Engine Clock (MHz) 325 400
Memory Clock (MHz) 400 600

[3rd gen noob]

i've got a 9600 pro and would recommend it highly

as you should be able to see from the comparison, the pro is quite a bit faster than the standard card (a difference which would be nigh-on impossible to make up with an overclock of the standard card)

[keyz]

thanks racer II and 3rd gen noob.. I am going to go with 9600 Pro.. should I go OEM with Pricewatch.com or look for a low price retail? Is OEM fine?

[3rd gen noob]

Originally posted by keyz@15 October 2003 - 21:21
thanks racer II and 3rd gen noob.. I am going to go with 9600 Pro.. should I go OEM with Pricewatch.com or look for a low price retail? Is OEM fine?

from what i've heard, www.newegg.com is supposed to be cheap in the u.s
oem is fine for a video card, depending on the warranty of course

some oem warranties are 15 days, some are a year etc...

[adamp2p]

Originally posted by keyz@15 October 2003 - 22:21
thanks racer II and 3rd gen noob.. I am going to go with 9600 Pro.. should I go OEM with Pricewatch.com or look for a low price retail? Is OEM fine?

I would steer away from pricewatch. Stick to zipzoomfly.com or newegg.com.

Don't buy a used graphics card.

[keyz]

I have another question. There is a ATI Radeon 9600 "Pro" and "Pro EZ" are they the same? I did check the ATI site briefly and couldn't find anything on the "Pro EZ". Thanks adamp2p, for the advice. I'll go with the Retail.

[adamp2p]

Hey bro, I think you are talking about the 9600 pro XT. You know what, look around for the 9500 pro as well. That might cost a bit more though. But 9500 pro is better than 9600 XT. The 9500 pro has 8 pixel pipelines as opposed to 4, but a lower clock. But the 9500 pro overclocks very very well. I have found scored over 37,000 in Aquamark 3 at core 360 and memory at 286.

If you have $200 get the 9500 pro if you can find one. If your budget is only $150-160 USD, then just get the 9600 pro and overclock it to the 9600 XT.

[ricochet]

What adamp2p said is true the 9500 card does show better tests than the 9600 card does. I would save for a bigger card like a 9700 pro card if you can. With the new 9800 xt card out now I think the 9700 card should start getting cheaper soon.