OP
- Joined
- Oct 2, 2003
- Location
- TX, Austin
- Thread Starter
- #21
how's 8500aiw compare to 9600pro?
-
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what is better for me?
- Thread starter RG
- Start date
- Joined
- Nov 2, 2003
I have to agree with CamH that just getting a new card won't give much performance gain. But if you were to get a new processor, mobo:
A7N8X $94
AthlonXP 2500 $100
Ti 4200 $70
Total: $264
(you'll have to run your existing RAM at slower than 333FSB though, so a TBred 2400 might be a better choice, given that the new Barton core is now locked)
That's not within budget, although it is the better solution. But if you do go with this setup, you probably should get a Radeon 9600 Pro instead of Ti 4200, it's better although most expensive.
To stay close to budget:
AthlonXP 2400 $100
Ti 4200 $70
This gives a considerable boost, especially when OCing the CPU to ~2400 Mhz. First, you get double the CPU power. Second, the Ti 4200 is twice as fast as a Radeon 7500(see this chart
The only downside is: your current mobo won't do higher than FSB266, and your RAM is also at DDR266 in single channel mode. And you'll have to do the wire trick to OC.
A7N8X $94
AthlonXP 2500 $100
Ti 4200 $70
Total: $264
(you'll have to run your existing RAM at slower than 333FSB though, so a TBred 2400 might be a better choice, given that the new Barton core is now locked)
That's not within budget, although it is the better solution. But if you do go with this setup, you probably should get a Radeon 9600 Pro instead of Ti 4200, it's better although most expensive.
To stay close to budget:
AthlonXP 2400 $100
Ti 4200 $70
This gives a considerable boost, especially when OCing the CPU to ~2400 Mhz. First, you get double the CPU power. Second, the Ti 4200 is twice as fast as a Radeon 7500(see this chart
The only downside is: your current mobo won't do higher than FSB266, and your RAM is also at DDR266 in single channel mode. And you'll have to do the wire trick to OC.
- Joined
- Sep 10, 2001
Overclocker550 said:theres no point of a nf2 mobo with the ram hes got since itll never do high fsb. unless he gets pc3200 ram, id go with a kt400 mobo and xp2100. the xp2500s are locked and cost more
you do know that even tbreds are being locked now right?
OP
- Joined
- Oct 2, 2003
- Location
- TX, Austin
- Thread Starter
- #26
So, here are my choices, which one should i get? I'll concider pro, but not in this list. and is there a really big difference in pro and these cards? If there is a diff, then what is it, thank you guys, i'm gonna buy 9600, but i'm not sure which one.
http://www.newegg.com/app/Showimage.asp?style=album #1
http://www.newegg.com/app/Showimage.asp?style=album #2
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-102-295&depa=1 #3
http://www.newegg.com/app/Showimage.asp?style=album #1
http://www.newegg.com/app/Showimage.asp?style=album #2
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-102-295&depa=1 #3
OP
- Joined
- Oct 2, 2003
- Location
- TX, Austin
- Thread Starter
- #27
sorry for the first two, didnt know
here theu are:
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-240-005&depa=1 #1
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-102-320&depa=1 #2
here theu are:
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-240-005&depa=1 #1
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-102-320&depa=1 #2
- Joined
- Jul 24, 2003
- Location
- Nashville, TN
If you have your heart set on a new video card then you will be much happier with the 9600pro. The extra money is worth it, but personally I'd go with CamH's originally advice and upgrade the cpu and mobo first.
- Joined
- Jun 7, 2003
- Location
- Pittsburgh
I would say defnately go with a video upgrade. A 9600 pro will run any game out now or due out soon in a respectable fashion. You could drop 1000.00 on a board, cpu, and memmory and still not like playing hl2 ect. If you don't game at all upgrade the board to nf2.
Having said that: If you look at the pics of the 9600 pro vs the 9600 the memmory on the pro is the square bga type. It runs faster and over clocks better. If you can strech your budget get a pro.
Having said that: If you look at the pics of the 9600 pro vs the 9600 the memmory on the pro is the square bga type. It runs faster and over clocks better. If you can strech your budget get a pro.
OP
- Joined
- Oct 2, 2003
- Location
- TX, Austin
- Thread Starter
- #32
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-240-005&depa=1 is this ok? will it overclock to pro speed?
OP
- Joined
- Oct 2, 2003
- Location
- TX, Austin
- Thread Starter
- #34
I'll get the new cpu and mobo after christmas, maybe in february
- Joined
- Jul 24, 2003
- Location
- Nashville, TN
The card that you linked cost $123 including shipping. You can get the 9600pro for just $25 more. With your system and with much faster system for that matter, the pro is worth the difference in price
Yep, seeing as you might want a significant upgrade in your system at some later time, getting a new video card is probably the best option. After all, the AGP slot is hardly going to disappear for atleast a year.
Very few reviews of the 9600 non-pro seem to exist... hmmm, I'd feel happier with a pro... the difference is in the memory bus speeds. You may well be able to ooverclock a non-pro to the same GPU speeds as a pro, but without high memory bus speeds, the high clock may sort of go to waste.
Basically the non-pro is sort of an unknown... I certainly have seen hardly any reviews that bother benchmarking it.
As always, prices drop rapidly... so if you wait, things will only get better.
Personally, I think you'd get the best value for money if you wait and buy a whole new system all at once when you have the money...
Unfortunately, there is little happening in the computer market RIGHT NOW. Come february or march next year... Prescott, Athlon64, rv420, nv40.... new processors and graphics cards will be all over the place.. not that you'd want to buy those when they came out because prices will be insane.... but the price of OTHER components could come down by as much as half!
So, my advice to my friends right now is wait till march next year... then pick-up a radeon 9800 non-pro for sub $150 and Barton 2500+ on a SATA+Firewire motherboard like the Abit nf7-s.
So waiting is good.... unless there's some games you really want to play right now.
If you decide not to wait... TRY to get a 9600 PRO for now... OR... the other idea is upgrade your mobo/CPU which actually seems like a reasonable idea.
See, the 2500+/nf7-s combo I mentioned above is already available at a rock-bottom price and seems unlikely to go any lower, although I can't predict the future. The nf7-s weighs in at $115 tho, so if you don't need SATA, firewire and high quality sound (soundstorm)... get the MSI k7n2 delta-L, or maybe the Asus a7n8x-x both of which go for around $75.
If you were going this route, your game performance might not improve much though... so I'd be planning to pick up a radeon 9800non-pro next year. I personally predict they will reach sub $150 prices in march next year, provided Ati and Nvidia's next generation cards have hit the market by then... I could be very wrong though.
As for performance, I would say a 9800np beats a 9600pro by about 40%. More for newer games.
So you have two choices IMHO:
1) 2500+/cheap mobo (prolly read some reviews carefully to make sure you know what you're getting)
2) 9600pro. I'm only averse to this card though due to it being slower than the older 9500pro... seems to me like Ati must be making a fair bit on these. The 9800non-pro is an absolute class product though IMHO.
So seeing as you prolly have a job/school which will keep you busy in march next year... the best thing for game enjoyment could be to get the 9600pro now, and upgrade your cpu/mobo after christmas.
eg signing off (sorry for length lol)
Very few reviews of the 9600 non-pro seem to exist... hmmm, I'd feel happier with a pro... the difference is in the memory bus speeds. You may well be able to ooverclock a non-pro to the same GPU speeds as a pro, but without high memory bus speeds, the high clock may sort of go to waste.
Basically the non-pro is sort of an unknown... I certainly have seen hardly any reviews that bother benchmarking it.
As always, prices drop rapidly... so if you wait, things will only get better.
Personally, I think you'd get the best value for money if you wait and buy a whole new system all at once when you have the money...
Unfortunately, there is little happening in the computer market RIGHT NOW. Come february or march next year... Prescott, Athlon64, rv420, nv40.... new processors and graphics cards will be all over the place.. not that you'd want to buy those when they came out because prices will be insane.... but the price of OTHER components could come down by as much as half!
So, my advice to my friends right now is wait till march next year... then pick-up a radeon 9800 non-pro for sub $150 and Barton 2500+ on a SATA+Firewire motherboard like the Abit nf7-s.
So waiting is good.... unless there's some games you really want to play right now.
If you decide not to wait... TRY to get a 9600 PRO for now... OR... the other idea is upgrade your mobo/CPU which actually seems like a reasonable idea.
See, the 2500+/nf7-s combo I mentioned above is already available at a rock-bottom price and seems unlikely to go any lower, although I can't predict the future. The nf7-s weighs in at $115 tho, so if you don't need SATA, firewire and high quality sound (soundstorm)... get the MSI k7n2 delta-L, or maybe the Asus a7n8x-x both of which go for around $75.
If you were going this route, your game performance might not improve much though... so I'd be planning to pick up a radeon 9800non-pro next year. I personally predict they will reach sub $150 prices in march next year, provided Ati and Nvidia's next generation cards have hit the market by then... I could be very wrong though.
As for performance, I would say a 9800np beats a 9600pro by about 40%. More for newer games.
So you have two choices IMHO:
1) 2500+/cheap mobo (prolly read some reviews carefully to make sure you know what you're getting)
2) 9600pro. I'm only averse to this card though due to it being slower than the older 9500pro... seems to me like Ati must be making a fair bit on these. The 9800non-pro is an absolute class product though IMHO.
So seeing as you prolly have a job/school which will keep you busy in march next year... the best thing for game enjoyment could be to get the 9600pro now, and upgrade your cpu/mobo after christmas.
eg signing off (sorry for length lol)
OP
- Joined
- Oct 2, 2003
- Location
- TX, Austin
- Thread Starter
- #38
thanx guys, i'm getting pro next week thursday/friday!!!!!!
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2003
- Location
- San Francisco, CA
hey guys, i got $140-30 to spend. my system is amd athlon xp 1500, wd60gb, pc2100 512ddr, ATI RADEON 7500, k7s5a mobo, and other stuff. Should i buy 9600 or should i spend it on my mobo and cpu? what is the best to do? if i should buy vga, which one is the best for my money, if i should buy cpu with mobo, which is the best for my money again. if anyone has any suggestions, please post'em here, thanx.
it depends on what you want to do with your system...
if it's primarily gaming...
then i would get one of two packages:
$75 ti4200 newegg refurbished, ebay (overclock to ti4600)
$50 2100xp newegg (unlock and overclock to 2.2ghz+)
(This would upgrade your system and video card for cheap)
or
$120-150 9600pro newegg, ebay, and have to keep cpu/mobo
(This would upgrade your video card for dx9 features but you would have to upgrade your proc and mobo later)
if it's not gaming...
then i would get a Nforce and 2100xp or 2500 barton and pc3200+ RAM for $150-200
(this would upgrade your overall system the most and for the longest...but it will cost more...then later if gaming is an issue you could get a much better video card---the 9700pro when it cost $100-150
Last edited:
- Joined
- Jun 7, 2003
- Location
- Pittsburgh
Let us know how you like your card!
