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10-03-2003, 10:54 AM
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#1 (permalink)
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Better Value? 9800XT or 9600XT?
For someone who is a heavy gamer, which of the two cards is a better value? Consider the price, performance, and longevity (how long until I have to upgrade again). I can't decide whether to buy the 9600XT when it comes out or save up a little longer for the 9800XT. I'm hoping that if I do save up for the 9800XT, the price would've gone down. What do you think?
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10-03-2003, 11:29 AM
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#2 (permalink)
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I'm going for a 9800 Pro personaly but the 9600XT is an awsome product if what ATI says is true. According to ATI the 9600XT is going to be the first mainstream vidcard to outperform the 9700 Pro, I'm guessing thats w/ the Overdrive Utility in Cat. 3.8 and a speed of 700Mhz Core and 800Mhz Memory, which is possible with the new low-k process and 2.8DDR ram. Also consider that the 9600XT is a $200 card that comes with a $50 game you'ld buy anyway and it makes a great deal. I'm getting the 9600XT myself for my upcoming SFF system and my 3200+ will be getting the 9800 Pro. If ATI can release a 9800XT with 128MB DDR for $350 I'd jump on that, but ATI is being stingy and only making it with 256MB  . Other viable alternatives would be the upcoming XGI Volari's and the S3 DeltaChrome. You can also prolly find a 9700Pro cheap by now, that is if you can deal having a Mainstream card being faster a month after you buy it.
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10-03-2003, 11:42 AM
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#3 (permalink)
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I hate it. Ya go and buy a 9700 just to have a lesser card perform just as well 2 months later. A 700mhz core? Pardon the expression, but what u be smokin? I believe the 9600XT will still have that 128bit bus(dunno for sure), but if it does, then a 9800 is a better option.
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10-03-2003, 11:52 AM
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#4 (permalink)
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I don't really mind having that other video cards are faster than mine. All I care about is the performance it will give me, not how it compares to others. Can the 9700Pro run HL2 at decent framerates?
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10-03-2003, 02:01 PM
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#5 (permalink)
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Heck yeh the 9700 Pro will run it nice. My question is to tony and how he knows that the 9600XT wont do a 700Mhz core? Do you have a 9600XT? I'm not saying I do but if ATI themselves said the 9600XT will out perform the 9700 Pro then a clockspeed of between 650-700 would be required to make up for the fact that it only has 4 pipelines and a 128-bit memory bus. Unless ATI gave the 9600XT a 256-bit bus with the 4 pipelines, then a clockspeed of 500-600 would be needed to beat the 9700 Pro. So if you don't believe the 9600XT can reach 650-700mhz core then your either saying the 9600XT will have a 256-bit memory bus or your calling ATI a bunch of liars. Or maybe, just maybe the Rv360 is the most efficient VPU since the inception of graphics cards. Anyway, I think the 9600XT is a great deal and I can't wait for reviews of it.
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10-03-2003, 02:14 PM
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#6 (permalink)
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Anyone know when the 9600XT will come out?
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10-03-2003, 02:45 PM
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#7 (permalink)
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Juan, companies always hype how their products will perform. I'm not saying it wont, but a 700mhz core is outrageous. The Radeon 9800XT is only gonna have a 540mhz core. I'd lean toward the 256bit bus.
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10-03-2003, 07:07 PM
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#9 (permalink)
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according to anandtech, the 9600XT is clocked at 500 MHz Quote: |
ATI is also announcing the Radeon 9600 XT; a much more exciting derivative of the Radeon 9600 Pro based on a low-k dielectric 0.13-micron process. The benefits of a low-k dielectric are mainly related to shielding from crosstalk in high transistor density chips; the benefit of a low-k process is mainly the ability to scale up clock speeds, which is why you will see that ATI is able to clock the 9600 XT at 500MHz.
| Thanks for the link, ShawnD1. http://anandtech.com/video/showdoc.html?i=1890&p=3 | |
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10-03-2003, 09:48 PM
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#10 (permalink)
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Im not saying the STOCK speed is 700Mhz, but with Overdrive (if your read the whole article, or head over to www.hardocp.com and read the preview of the XT series over their, you'll see what I mean) it can reach that speed if the Lo-k process is a efficient and cool as ATI says it is. And 700 Mhz is in optimal conditions meaning a blowhole on the side of the case blowing air right on the the card. I maybe wrong, and I hope ATI does give it a 256 bit mem-bus, it'll be funny seeing this $200 ($150 if you planned to buy HL2 anyway) completly slaughter the Geforce FX 5900 ULTRA 256, in upcoming DX9 games. Anyway, Tony, if I'm wrong about the 9600XT reaching a core speed of 650-700Mhz, I owe you a coke  | |
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