[EspElement]

how much of a diff is there between these 2? any one can you get me info or specs on these boards? 9700is arounbd 300 now, and the 9600 is 200, would i notice a bigg diff between the 2? .oh yea i am also talking about the pro versions. thank you

[Zaku]

Not sure on this but i believe there is a big difference. The 9700 was once ati top of the line. The 9600 is a cheaper version of the new card.

[DaddyB]

I think I'd rather have a 9500Pro then a 9600Pro and the 9700Pro would be about 30-40% faster then either of these 2 cards.

I would reccomend that you do some reading before you buy so that you can see which card would suit you best. There is a good review of the 9600Pro here and you can see how well the 9700Pro performs here. Just keep in mind that the 9500Pro and 9600Pro perform about the same when you look at the numbers in the second link (since it doesn't show the 9600Pro).

[Too Smart]

Is the 9600 that some of the new laptops have inferior to the 9600 for desktops?

[EspElement]

well 9600's got 2.1 smooth soimething a few more features then the 9700 and 9500 pros, how would i clock teh 9500 pro to a 9700 pro?, anyone help?

[Beast Of Blight]

I'd go for the 9600 Pro, But thats just my opinion. Go whats best for you

[bdw8]

The 9700pro definately gets better peformance. The 9600pro is really in the battle with 9500pro. Its outperformed with the 9500pro but it overclocks like MAD and you don't have to flash the bios. I planned on getting a 9600pro soon, because I wanted to try it out and it seems like a nice card. But I would suggest the 9500pro, or better yet, if you have the money definately go for the 9700np/pro (whichever is in your budget). But with the 9600/9500, IMHO, its a matter of personal preference...some may say otherwise.

I did some digging on the 9600pro and I found some stuff for your reading pleasure:

http://forum.oc-forums.com/vb/showth...hreadid=193417

http://forum.oc-forums.com/vb/showth...hreadid=193674

http://forum.oc-forums.com/vb/showth...hreadid=192547

[Damian]

You can't clock a 9500/9600 to a 9700... other things differ than merely clock speeds.

[EspElement]

wierd, i heard ppl do it all the time, oh well

[DaddyB]

I didn't follow most of the details about it 'cause I don't have a 9500 so I could be a little off but essentially the way it went was the 9500 (non pro) had 256bit memory and 4 pixel pipes enabled when it was first released, a few methods surfaced to enable the 4 other pipes (the 9700 has 8, 9500 has 4) which would make the 9500 on par with a 9700 (not pro) architecturally. Then you could OC the 9500 up to 9700 speeds, maybe even 9700 pro speeds in some cases.

That was all a long time ago and since then the 9500 has been changed so that you can't do any of that (and I believe the RAM is now 128bit not 256bit)... The original 9500s were rushed to market and their PCBs weren't ready yet so they just used the 9700's PCB instead, now they use a PCB specifically for the 9500 which is why it is no longer possible.

That is what Damian ment by other things besides the clock speed will keep a 9500pro from reaching 9700pro levels of performance.