Buying assistance needed; $150 price range

[Flewdefur]

I need assistance in choosing a video card for a system I am building. I do not have a lot of cash to throw around; ie: I can't afford the latest and the greatest, the 9700s and the 9800s. I’m trying to keep the cost to about 150 USD. The only requirements I have is that the card be DirectX 9 compatible, have pixel shader and vertex shader. I would like to be able to play some of the newer games coming out but I don't expect it to last me for too very long due to the average quality of the cards in my price range.

I've been reading the boards and some reviews and shopping around but I must admit, I get bogged down by all the different features and names Nvidia and ATI use. For example, the FX line say they support "pixel shader 2.0 and vertex shader"; great that’s what I want but I’m sure ATI must have the same thing with a different name, maybe Videoshader or Smartshader...I just don’t know.

After looking around a lot, I found several items in my price range that might meet my requirements. I ask for your assistance and guidance in choosing a card; I will be grateful for all suggestions.

First, the MSI FX5600 (http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduct.asp?DEPA=&submit=Go&description=MSI+FX5600%2DTD128) It appears to have everything I want for only $154.00 but I have also read that the FX line (except the 5900) just doesn’t seem up to par and might not even support some of the new games like HL2. This appears to be the only Nvidia card that meets my requirements both in features and price.

On the other side of the spectrum is ATI. The 9500 and 9600 seem to be in my range. I don’t know if either of these support pixel and vertex shading, so I’d like some help deciphering their feature listings. Because of the great reviews and the overclockability the Radeon 9500 np (http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduct.asp?description=14-102-271) for $155.00 seems to be a good buy, pending that it has the features that I want. Correct me if I’m wrong but if I go the 9500np route the hope is to get a card with the L shaped ram as this will be more likely to OC to a 9700np, which would definitely be worthwhile.

Well that’s about it, The 9500 seems the most tempting as long as it supports pixel and vertex shading, once again any suggestions are welcome, I truly value the insights and opinions of the members here.

Thanks, Peter.

[TheMatrixHasYou]

Yeah, the 9500np is decent, and it has about a 50% chance of soft modding to a 9700.

It's $139 at AllStar Shop: http://www.allstarshop.com/shop/product.asp?pid=6538&sid=B50JNF860DA39PA7008X0TNHPN9H9EP0

[Chowdy]

I second that vote for the 9500np. It is about the same performance wise as the ti4200 and even better with FSAA and AF on.

And yeah, you can also softmod it. If you're lucky it'll be successful w/o any artifacts. In reality, the chances of softmodding it is less than 50%, from what i've read i'd say 30%. Either way, it's a great card for the $ even w/o the softmod. The softmod is sort of a bonus, a really nice bonus at that.

[rdy2rave]

The 9500 supports pixel shading and shouldprovide good IQ. That's what I'd choose.

[MrMarbles]

yeah, Im gonna add to 9500 people
when overclocked, it is even better than a 9600 pro (assuming 9500 is the one with "L" shaped ram)

I wouldnt really plan on modding it to a 9700 since more likely than not its not going to. Its still a decent card though.

[tuskenraider]

If you look hard or try long enough, you should be able to find a 9500 Pro for that price, maybe used, but worth it.

[Flewdefur]

Originally posted by TheMatrixHasYou
It's $139 at AllStar Shop: http://www.allstarshop.com/shop/product.asp?pid=6538&sid=B50JNF860DA39PA7008X0TNHPN9H9EP0

Good price and i can save myself some shipping according to mapquest that place is only 12miles from my house.

Originally posted by rdy2rave
The 9500 supports pixel shading

That's just what i was hoping to hear.


Looks like the 9500np is the best, good price and performance. Even it if doesnt softmod it should at least get me started with the upcoming games. Thanks.

[TomaHawk47x]

Originally posted by MrMarbles
yeah, Im gonna add to 9500 people
when overclocked, it is even better than a 9600 pro (assuming 9500 is the one with "L" shaped ram)

I wouldnt really plan on modding it to a 9700 since more likely than not its not going to. Its still a decent card though.

the 9500 non-pro is inferior to the 9600 pro and even the ti4200. its more expensive than the ti4200 only b/c of its popularity and demand. look at some benchmarks, why spend more when u can get better for less? 99% of the people who recommend the 9500np know virtually nothing about it and only recommend it b/c they frequently see others recommending due its potential to soft-mod to a 9700. the chances of the card soft-modding are less than 50%, and if it doesnt soft-mod, your stuck with only a decent card that will now hopefully run without further artifacting, etc. even if it does soft-mod, you're not getting 9700 performance...although it would be better than 9500np stock performance. the card is labeled as a 9500np and had its 4 other pipelines deactivated b/c they were not suited to be 9700s. the 9500np is not a video card in its own, but rather a detuned 9700. re-enabling those pipelines is not the same as using a 9700, since those 4 pipelines are faulty.

[snyper1982]

i really wanna know why there is about 4 threads asking the exact same question. i mean how many times do these questions have to be answered?

[Flewdefur]

I started this thread mostly to ask about the features on each of the cards in question. Also, most of those other threads contain little useful information and end up with people saying go get a 9700 or 9800 which i really cant afford. Yes i read many pages before posting and used the search feature extensively.