Radeon 9500 Pro

[EviLBoX]

I'm looking to upgrade my video card and came across the ATI Radeon 9500 Pro, would this video card be a good choice for my system? I was also considering the 9700 non-pro, but I haven't seen any benchmarks on how much faster that one is than the 9500 Pro so I can't justify if the price jump. Basically, will my system be a bottleneck for either card?

 

[Damian]

Yes, the 9500 pro is a good buy if you can get one for less than $200. The 9700 non-pro is significantly better, and some, especially the FIC 9700np, overclock extremely well to speeds high above that of a 9700 pro. I'd reccommend that unless you're tight for cash or don't particularly care for speed, get a 9700np. Just stay away from Powercolor.

 

[Kronos138]

you didn't really say what kind of budge you're on so i would suggest picking up a 9600 pro. granted if you can pick up a real cheap 9500 pro then go for it but in order to overclock it you need to do some fancy bios flashing. the 9600 runs on the new 0.13 micron die process and therefore runs cooler. but again the 9500 pro is a nice card if you can find one for a good price.

 

[Hurk]

9700 np if you can get it.
9500 Pro if not.
9600 Pro if you can't get the 9500 Pro.