Which is better (ATI Radeon 9000 pro or 9200 pro)

[mytfastss]

Im stuck between two Video Cards. The radeon 9000 Pro or 9200 Pro. Im wondering which card will perform better with the current games coming out (Halflife 2::::Unreal 2). The reason for these two cards Is Im running windows 98 SE, and I would Like to Upgrade from My ATI Radeon 7000LE.

Now, I was Considering Upgrading the O.S to Windows XP Home, and Might Consider the ATI Radeon 9600 Pro as the Alternitive, which is Not Compatible with 98 SE.

But right now, Im Just curious, Which Video Card is better?

[jmebonner]

Depends on your mb kinda...

From what I could find the 92000 pro was the Radeon9000 Pro, with AGP8x support and higher memory and clock speed. It has 600Mhz DDR-I / 300Mhz core while the 9000 pro has 550Mhz / 275Mhz.
The reason I say about your MB is b/c unless you have a new one, the only thing you'll gain is the clock speeds. Most older mbs don't support agp 8x.

If money's the factor, go w/ the 9000 and overclock it.

Your best bet would definately be to go to XP and get the 9600.

[Eladijaz]

Hi mytfastss,
Presuming they are the same price, out of the 9000 or 9200 pro, the 9200pro is better - it will be faster. As jmebonner has said, the 9200pro is a revamp of the 9000pro, it has the same spec's except that the core and memory have been boosted as stated above, and it can interface using 8xAGP (this is of virtually no benefit over 4xAGP). So really I'm just saying jmebonner is correct.
Again jmebonner is right in that the 9600 would be a much better purchase if you can afford it but mostly only for the newest games. In older stuff it will only be marginally better due to it's slower memory.
Regards,
Elad.

[washe]

ill also suggest invenst a little more on a 9600, im not sure if the 9000 and 9200 pro are directx 9 compatible.

[Eladijaz]

Hi washe,
The 9000 and 9200 are not dx9 compliant, no. They are designed for dx8.1, whereas the 9600 is a dx9 compliant card (hence my comment re:'newer games'). They are of course compatible in the sense that they will run games designed for dx9 but will tend to be slowed more than usual and may have some reduction in image quality (in addition to having to manually turn down the image quality to get higher framerates). I wish I could guide us to a good comparison b/w these cards but I am unaware of any. If anyone else knows, the information would be gratefully received.
Regards,
Elad.