10-25-2003, 03:12 AM
Being in the market for a new graphics card myself, I figure I'll throw in my two cents:
Sapphire Radeon 9600 Pro 128MB
At least, that's what all of my poking around at the various hardware review sites seem to indicate. Actually, most of them say to get a 9600 XT (especially if you were planning on getting Half Life 2 anyways) but not until the price drops down to <$150, which is what the 9600 Pro is at right now. So, if you need one right now, go Pro. But if you can wait, go for the XT. As far as I can tell, there isn't much difference in the performance. Or at least not enough to warrant an extra $50. Of course, this is all assuming you're in the market for a mid-range card, and not a high-end card. But since anything that would make really good use of a high-end card isn't on the market yet, I figure that's a safe assumption.
Here's some links you might find helpful:
AnandTech's October 2003 Video Card Price Guides
Specifically, the Mid-Range Guide.
HardOCP kind of agrees with me, although they think the 9600XT is must-have unless you already have a 9600 Pro, or something similar.
Tom's Hardware seems to sum up my position pretty well: "The performance increase between the Radeon 9600 XT and its predecessor, the 9600 Pro, is very small.
Well, I hope some of that helps. Back to lurking.
Cheers,
Caes
Sapphire Radeon 9600 Pro 128MB
At least, that's what all of my poking around at the various hardware review sites seem to indicate. Actually, most of them say to get a 9600 XT (especially if you were planning on getting Half Life 2 anyways) but not until the price drops down to <$150, which is what the 9600 Pro is at right now. So, if you need one right now, go Pro. But if you can wait, go for the XT. As far as I can tell, there isn't much difference in the performance. Or at least not enough to warrant an extra $50. Of course, this is all assuming you're in the market for a mid-range card, and not a high-end card. But since anything that would make really good use of a high-end card isn't on the market yet, I figure that's a safe assumption.
Here's some links you might find helpful:
AnandTech's October 2003 Video Card Price Guides
Specifically, the Mid-Range Guide.
HardOCP kind of agrees with me, although they think the 9600XT is must-have unless you already have a 9600 Pro, or something similar.
Tom's Hardware seems to sum up my position pretty well: "The performance increase between the Radeon 9600 XT and its predecessor, the 9600 Pro, is very small.
Well, I hope some of that helps. Back to lurking.
Cheers,
Caes
Caes