Damaged Sapphire 9600, looking for a replacement

[ironflippy]

I got a Sapphire Radeon 9600 a couple summers ago for my system which is as follows:

AMD Athlon 3000+
ASUS A7V600 mobo
Aspire 500w PSU
512MB Corsair Ram
80GB WD SATA HD
160GB WD IDE HD
way too many 80mm fans

I also have an exhaust fan 2 slots below the card. I added some Zalman video card heatsinks as well. I had the card OC'd for a little while, but didn't notice much gain, so I stopped.

The card has been having many issues recently. The least of my worries is the VGA output: the slightest movement of the plug causes the screen to have a pink overlay. What worries me more is that with this card in, it takes my computer around 10 minutes to start up, and sometimes it will randomly restart. I switched it out for my room mate's ATI 9000 which has worked flawlessly (except of course, being slower).

Another thing to note is that the Sapphire card couldn't take any driver updates. Whenever I tried this, the card wouldn't work after the system started up.

So rather than try to get this one repaired, I'm looking for another one. I don't do much hardcore gaming, but I enjoy recent games every now and then. The 9600 had just about the right amount of power for me. So I was thinking about going with the PRO or XT as a slight upgrade. I want to keep the card around $100 and I want to keep it for a few years. I was thinking about switching over to nVidia, but I don't know anything about those cards or how they compare to ATI.

Any suggestions?

EDIT: I found a PowerColor 9600pro, how reputable is that company?

EDIT 2: I also want to add that I use the card for TV-out, if that plays any effect in the decision.

[Damenshon]

lol the powercolor 9600pro....i bought that when it first came out. clocked at 500/400 or something like that. i was thoroughly dissapointed. it said it was a pro b/c it had a pro core but not the pro ram. maybe then changed since then. id rather go with the 6600gt, i was lucky and got it for 100 :p

the 9600 wasnt a bad card but it wasnt the best. if u can find it for cheap i guess itll be alrite. (once oced)

[threeme2189]

9600xt baby!!!
its all about the ram. try getting an asus one (like i have) or one that has good ram so you can overclock it to t3h maxxorz!!!!

[ironflippy]

http://www.pricegrabber.com/user_sales_getprod.php?masterid=1255092&lot_id=2374669

Can I safely assume this is a good buy? Anyone know anything about this retailer?

[Damenshon]

eh, i personally distrust random companies...especially ones that cant keep their online catalog up to date...for a few more dollars u can get one at newegg...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814153012

have u looked into nething else besides the 9600xt? may i suggest trying to look for a cheap 6200 and flash it to a 6600? look around if u arent in a hurry, but watch out for the 64bit mem. how about a 9800se or np?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102587

[ironflippy]

I'm trying to steer away from Sapphire because of my bad experience. Probably just bad luck, but I know there are other good companies out there (without paying top dollar for the ATI brand). I'll look at the 6200, what are some good brands for N-Vidia cards?

[ironflippy]

Bump. Any word on the 6200?

[Dan Derrig]

6200 is a good card - and you can unlock extra pipelines I hear. Into a 6600.

[twoeyes]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102640
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102640
would be a good choice i think