9500 better than the 9600?

[SubKamran]

In this benchmark, 9500 beats the 9600...

http://www.sharkyextreme.com/hardware/videocards/article.php/3211_2245951__3

 

[SidewinderX]

yup, the 9500 pro is a faster card than the 9600pro, and you can also softmod the 9500 to 9700 speeds, but you have to get a certian version of the card (red pcb, 9700 memory layout). The 9600pro, however, has a cooler chip (the .13micron) and is supported more by ATi.

 

[Sgt.Igneri]

The 9500 has 8 pipelines which makes it faster then the 9600.

 

[vissione]

9600 is cheaper though, and like it's brother can overclock quite a lot. I'm in the process of picking out exactly which 9600 pro I'll be buying...so far I know the Powercolor EZ version is out of my list because I found it it uses slow... VERY slow RAM and I want to overclock my R9600 as much as possible.

 

[SidewinderX]

the 9600pro's ram is very difficult to OC. I really can't get much out of it, though the core will go to hell and back for me.

I have the shappire Atlantis version, works great.

About the powercolor ez: very poor card. underclocked memory (by 100mhz DDR (200mhz overall)).

 

[vissione]

Originally posted by SidewinderX143
the 9600pro's ram is very difficult to OC. I really can't get much out of it, though the core will go to hell and back for me.

I have the shappire Atlantis version, works great.

I'm torn between a Sapphire Atlatis Radeon 9600 pro and a Connect3D Radeon 9600 pro. Both have the proper 400mhz core clock, and 300mhz(600mhz) memory. They come exactly at 398.25mhz for core clock, and 297.00mhz for memory. The Connect3D uses Hynix BGA RAM, while the Sapphire one uses Samsung RAM, both rated at 2.8ns. They both have the possibility of reaching 350mhz(700mhz) for RAM speed.

Sapphire is supposed to follow the ATi reference design very close, and the reference card at Hard|OCP was able to hit 567mhz core and 357mhz for the memory.

Firing Squad was able to hit 547mhz for core and 365mhz also using a reference ATi card.

Now with the Sapphire board, ExtremeOverclocking was able to reach 506mhz for the core, and 324mhz for the memory.

Rage3D, using the same Sapphire board was able to hit 506mhz on the core, and an amazing 350mhz on the memory.

VR-Zone Hardware was able to reach 500mhz on the core clock, and 344mhz on the memory.

The only Connect3D review that I could find was from TheModFathers and they got 519.75 on the core, and 337.5 on the memory.

Given there is only 1 Connect3D review, I'm a bit skeptical about getting their card. It seems high-quality, but only having 1 place to base my results on isn't too good. If I go with Sapphire it seems I can safely hit atleast 500mhz, though I wish I could hit atleast 550mhz. Then there's memory like you said... which DOES seem to get varying results.

- VR-Zone's Sapphire Radeon 9600 pro uses Etrontech memory.
- Rage3D's Sapphire Radeon 9600 pro uses Samsung memory.
- ExtremeOverclocking's Sapphire Radeon 9600 pro uses Samsung memory.
- The Hard|OCP and Firing Squad both had Samsung memory.
- Connect3D uses Hynix memory.

I don't see the solution to the mystery... but I'm guessing I'm better off with a Sapphire Radeon 9600 pro and hope I can atleast hit VR-Zone's memory overclock.

An ATi reference card would probably make me happier, but those are also a lot more expensive. ;(

EDIT: There also seems to be 2 versions of the Sapphire Radeon 9600 pro, according to a snipplet I read at Digit-Life.

"...There can be cards with the FireBlade sticker (the photo below). This card is for overclockers; the memory reliably works at the clock speed 30 MHz higher than the default one; use the Sapphire's tweaker for overclocking it."

There's 2 Sapphire cards at Newegg... a "Lite" and a "Bulk," I believe one of those must be the one that has the Fireblade memory.

 

[dawdler]

I would advise the Sapphire above Connect3D... But the thing is, when you clock this high over spec, it vary from card to card [with the same make], some go high, some wont. You may be lucky or you may be unlucky. So dont hope for much.

 

[vissione]

Originally posted by dawdler
I would advise the Sapphire above Connect3D... But the thing is, when you clock this high over spec, it vary from card to card [with the same make], some go high, some wont. You may be lucky or you may be unlucky. So dont hope for much.

Yeah I think you're right, Sapphire is widely known and I don't know jack about Connect3D. I won't get my hopes up too much, but I expect to get a decent overclock.

It's great this card doesn't use PSU power, mines only 350watts so I was worried a high-end card would suck too much watts. I'll probably buy an extra fan with some loose change and have it hanging beside the card whenever I try to overclock, hope that improves my results. :cheers:

 

[dawdler]

Originally posted by vissione
Yeah I think you're right, Sapphire is widely known and I don't know jack about Connect3D. I won't get my hopes up too much, but I expect to get a decent overclock.

It's great this card doesn't use PSU power, mines only 350watts so I was worried a high-end card would suck too much watts. I'll probably buy an extra fan with some loose change and have it hanging beside the card whenever I try to overclock, hope that improves my results. :cheers:

It sucks power too
But 350W should be fine.

 

[SidewinderX]

I got the lite version, due to my budget, thus I don't have the samsung ram, which limits ram OCing (that and the cooling in my case blows) but I've gotten the core to run at 522Mhz through a series of 3dmark01/03/aquamark3