First 9600XT Review (Impressive)

looks like it is roughly as fast as the 9500Pro.

Between this review and the one at anandtech, I guess it isn't a 9700 killer after all. Did ATI really say that 9600XT performance would beat a 9700??

It looks like a nice value, especially with the HL2 bundle, but it's just a factory overclocked 9600 pro.

gungeek said:

but it's just a factory overclocked 9600 pro.

Click to expand...

Not quite. The core has been redesigned (as in parts have been shuffled around), and it was manufactured using a Low k process, which may mean nothing to average people, can mean a lot to an overclocker, as well as the industry (now that one chip has successfully been manufactured using .13 micron Low k, more will be able to follow easier)

More reviews :

http://www.driverheaven.net/reviews/9600XTreviewDH1456/index.htm
http://www.hexus.net/content/reviews/review.php?dXJsX3Jldmlld19JRD02NDQ=
http://www.hothardware.com/hh_files/S&V/radeon_9600xt.shtml
http://techreport.com/reviews/2003q4/radeon-9600xt/index.x?pg=1
http://www.tomshardware.com/graphic/20031015/index.html
http://www.spodesabode.com/content/article/9600xt

Here is a negative one :
http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/article/1671/

Cowboy X said:

Here is a negative one :
http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/article/1671/

Click to expand...

Wow...reading the conclusion on that one...the guy really doesnt know what he is talking about. I'll point some things out

And even that might not be enough justification to buy one, as it’s predecessor, the Radeon 9600 Pro can be had for about $150, which is a good $50 cheaper than then 9600 XT.

Click to expand...

With HL2 in the bundle, that alone makes the whole point moot, if you plan to buy HL2. Paying $150 for a card, and then $50 for HL2 makes them exactly the same price, which i think is a great deal with the added Hardware Monitoring alone that you get, along with a core that has a lot more potential.

And honestly we can’t blame them, the Radeon 9500 Pro of late had lots of potential and could be turned into a Radeon 9700 Pro with little effort, yielding similar performance at about half the price.

Click to expand...

The quote says it all.

It looks like ATi has shut the door for anyone aspiring to get Radeon 9800 XT performance out of a 9600 XT.

Click to expand...

I think he was probably the only person who ever ever got the impression the 9600XT would perform near the 9800XT

And unfortunately no firmware hack can get the 9600 XT performing on par, as it is simply missing a trivial part of the performance equation; it doesn’t have a 256-bit memory bus.

Click to expand...

Again, the quote says it all. The 9500/9700 and 9800SE/9800 hacks have nothing to do with the memory bus.

We find the XT tagline that the 9600 XT is carrying confusing, as people, by the looks of it, will think it s faster than any other ATi graphics card, but for the 9800 XT.

Click to expand...

Nobody thought it would be better then all non-XT cards, except this guy it seems. The average consumer, as well as the well informed buyer, would look at the number and place it above the 9600 Pro, but below a 9700. By his logic, we all think a 9000 Pro will outperform a 9800np simply because it has "Pro" tagged to the end.

Anyways, thats the end of my rant. I just hate it when "review" sites are as "in the know" as your local Best Buy courtesy clerk

*edit* Oh, and might i also add, this guy doesnt review the card with a single game

Yes, def. true. I was confused to why he said that the card could not mod, he was expecting that ATI made another hole so it could be softmodded or something?. He only used synthetic benchies, 3dmark2001/2003 and aquamark, no real life gaming benchies, which are less likely to be optimized by either ATI or Nvidia, he said that he tested them but the same "trend" continued...
"And honestly we can’t blame them, the Radeon 9500 Pro of late had lots of potential and could be turned into a Radeon 9700 Pro with little effort, yielding similar performance at about half the price. (hardwareanalysis.com)"
Heh, the Radeon 9500 Pro could not be modded into anything! I have no idea where he gets this info, only the Radeon 9500 np 64/128mb could. Wouldn't this be a biased/misleading review?

yeah, it was only the non pro 9500 that could be turned into a 9700.

so they redesigned the 9600 core as well as the 9800 core for the XTs? not just the 9800XT?

shiyan said:

so they redesigned the 9600 core as well as the 9800 core for the XTs? not just the 9800XT?

Click to expand...

Yes, the 9600XT's more so, since it was done using a Low k process, things probably hand to be moved around and little changes made here and there to get it to work just right (this is, afterall, the first card using a Low k process on a .13 micron core)

That low k process is excellent. Hardocp got the core to 600 MHz. The problem is that the memory bandwidth is the same as the Pro and it impedes the performance from soaring, a bottleneck. I would hope that better memory would be used instead of the 3.3 ns samsung chips to really get some performance out of the XT, clocked at 300x2 MHz. I did not understand how in the hardwareanalysis 3dmark 2003 benchie difference between the Pro and the XT is about 100 or so points, while in other reviews, lthere was a 400-700 point difference. It questions yet again the validity of this benchmark.

Josebmw I more question the validity of the review , not the benchmark .

gungeek said:

it looks like a nice value, especially with the HL2 bundle, but it's just a factory overclocked 9600 pro.

Click to expand...

yea, it does

Except your warenty isnt valid, and maybe it could go 10Mhz faster then an overclcoked 9600PRO

It looks like a nice value, especially with the HL2 bundle, but it's just a factory overclocked 9600 pro.

Click to expand...

yea it does

sorry about the spam thoight it didn't post

gamer004 said:

yea, it does

Except your warenty isnt valid, and maybe it could go 10Mhz faster then an overclcoked 9600PRO

Click to expand...

The Radeon 9600 XT is not an oc'ed 9600 Pro with any voltage "mods" or anything of the like. It has the new "R360" low k .13 micron core like evnas said. If you look at an average oc'ed radeon 9600 Pro core 480-510 MHz or so, then you take the Radeon 9600 XT oc'ed @ 600 MHz, that's about 100 MHz difference depending on the cooling/voltage etc.. I would buy it over the Radeon 9600 Pro if I was getting a new card.

You can't make any overclocking assumptions from the qualification samples in the reviews out though.. The 9600 Pro qualification samples all got around 560-580mhz.. then most retail ones didn't even get to 500mhz.

^^^ you must have gotten lucky

No, my card did 475 stock.. I do a little more than move an OC slider.

That's true q149, I would expect at least 550 MHz though, I think that is a reasonable oc. It is impressive you got your card to 606 MHz with the volt mods, from that I would want to volt mod my Radeon 9500!