9600 Xt?

[gd867]

I'm replacing my very old and lousy videocard with a new one for HL2 (I get to finally play it this weekend!), and was considering the 9600 XT.
I don't have the money to drop for the super high-end cards, but I was wondering how much I'll be missing out by not spending the extra 80 dollars (the 9600 XT is something like $170 at my local shop) for something like a 9800 pro.
So yea-
what specific features/qualites would I lose in the 9600 XT vs the 9800 pro?
is there another card at about the same price or lower that would be better?

My specs:
2.0 Ghz processor
512 MB RAM


Thanks.

 

[bryanf445]

save up 30 dollars and get the 9800 pro off newegg....actually i got my msi one for 185 and i believe it is still priced at that...and also you get a bunch of games with it

 

[Beechbone]

You missed out bud, I got a 9600xt this past weekend for $70 at best buy, $100 off. But if you are already up in that price range, might as well get a 9800 pro. I'm still waiting to see how this guy works with HL2.

 

[gd867]

What, in my setup, would be the specific improvements I would see in HL2 with the 9800 pro over the 9600 XT?

 

[bryanf445]

you will be able to use higher aa and af, and well umm it will just be faster hahah

 

[bosox188]

Much faster, high settings instead of medium, higher resolution, and aa and af.

 

[bryanf445]

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=14-127-127&depa=1
enough said

 

[ATI4EVER!]

i have a 9600XT

everything maxed out, 20-40fps.

1.8ghz p4
768mb ram

then... this is why you shoudl not have the 9800 (when i say "your cpu... im reffering to someone else as i have posted this b4. ANd im sure some of you may recognize it. BTW, I'm right, dont argue with the following facts.)

I am the master at explaining how this stuff works. At least i think so. Peple normally write to me asking. So here: (I am so sick of posting this on so many threads)

Videocards opperate by Pipelines, much like your CPU. Videocard pipelines are very very deep and wide. The 9600xt features 4 of these pipelines, the 9800 features 8, the x800 12 and the 6800 16. Holy crap. That is a lot. Now you ask "so what?". Well when your videocard draws out something, it has to pass through the pipelines (the rule of thumb is more pipelines usually is faster) so if you have say 16 pipelines, it will do the work faster than if you have 4 pipelines. Now, these pipelines are beeing feeded by the CPU (your 1.2ghz athlon). If you have an 8 pipeline videocard with a crappy cpu, the cpu won't be able to issue enough instructions to the videocard. Pipelines are REQUIRED to be full at all costs, if they are not, all work that is currently in the pipeline will be tossed out and it has to start all over again, this results in lost clock cycles, you prbably loose some 40fps for 2 seconds. This could happen with the fastest CPU on the planet, and a 4 pipeline videocard, if the cpu messes up or something, it is very rare and it would only last 2 seconds. BUT.. if you have a 8 pipeline vodeocard with your cpu it will happen very very often.

Here is a little thing i made up myself to guide you.

4 pipeline: 1.8ghz P4 or AMD equivelent
8 pipeline: 2.4ghz P4 (w/HT) or AMD equivalent
12 pipeline: 3.0ghz P4 (w/HT) or an athlon 64 (any speed)
16 pipeline: 3.0ghz P4 (w/ HT Preferably extreme edition) or Athlon 64FX 51

Ram also matters, when i bought my 9600XT i had 256mb ram, it SUCKED. I upgraded and bought a stick of 512 mb, that helped alot.

generally you should always have at least 512 mb.

I hoped this helped.

 

[PsyvariarDC2]

I'm thinking of getting this card off Newegg. Which company should I get it from? There are a lot like ATi, Sapphire, etc.

 

[Asus]

The 9600XT would give you good framerate. It depends how important it is to you I guess. The 9800 Pro is a very good card. It will give you much higher framerate and you can even turn on the Image Quality settings AA and AF if you'd like. It's just a much more powerful card that would let you run at higher resoultions/detail with better FPS.

If you don't play games that often then the 9600XT would be a good alternative as it will get you through. Is your CPU a 2GHz AMD or a 2GHz Pentium 4? Would make a difference.

You have some thing mixed up there, ATI4EVER!. A CPU's pipeline is like an assembly line (think vertical). A set of stages. A gfx card's set of pixel pipelines are run in parrallel (think horisontal). They all do the same thing and at once. There are other pipelines (vertical) in GPUs but thats not what they mean when talking about 16 pipelines.
Also, pipelines aren't everything. The whole GPU core architecture makes a difference. hehe

 

[Hazar]

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=14-127-127&depa=1
enough said

/me can't wait till it comes in stock

I'm gonna get it

 

[PsyvariarDC2]

The only game I plan on playing on my comp. is HL2 and it's mods. I play a lot of CS, and I'm not looking for THE best card, so is 9600XT a good choice for me? (1.9GHz Pentium 4)

 

[ATI4EVER!]

yeah. deffinately.

People bitch about how the 9800 is suck a better deal then the 9600XT. Well maybe it is, but as i said in post #8, for you a 9600XT will suite you better. ANyways, i play hl2 at FULL detail with FULL AA and FULL AF, at 1024x768. I get 20-40fps. It's not bad at all considering i ahve everything maxed out.

1.8ghzp4
768mb ram
ATI radoen 9600XT

] You have some thing mixed up there, ATI4EVER!. A CPU's pipeline is like an assembly line (think vertical). A set of stages. A gfx card's set of pixel pipelines are run in parrallel (think horisontal). They all do the same thing and at once. There are other pipelines (vertical) in GPUs but thats not what they mean when talking about 16 pipelines.
Also, pipelines aren't everything. The whole GPU core architecture makes a difference. hehe

I dont believe i have anything mixed up. I knew what you told me I never contradicted that. I was just stating that if you have a 6800 (16 pipelines) and you have a 1.8ghzP4, It's like trying to make a bull and a bullfighter get a long, it just wont work. a 1.8ghzp4 just doesn't cut it to give out enough instructions to fill up 16 big pipelines, the maximum would be 8, but you should try to stick to just four. If you have a 1.8ghzP4, it will run faster and smoother with a 9600 than an x800. It just works like that. So I'm warning you now people, if you have what is now considered a crappy cpu (like me) you have to go for cheaper videocards. But as i said, even a 9600XT can run hl2 at full glorry with max AA and max AF at desent framerate.

please dont hesitate to ask me if you have any more questions. Either post it here or you can PM me.

 

[baron insig]

WEll i ahve a hightech 9600 xt overdrive on a athlon 2400 xp and 768mb of ram and i'm not even considering 1024 768 :/

There is something going wrong on my pc it just cant handle out doors ( eg in anti citizen one it lags horrifcally )

Any help ??? woudl be greatly greatly appreciated

 

[ATI4EVER!]

hmmm.... what drivers are you running?

I was using 4.11 while in anticitezen 1. Hmmm and you have a better cpu too....

www.ati.com for drivers. I wouldnt use omega if i was you.

 

[baron insig]

i using 4.11 :S and they are installed proper using driver cleaner and stuff

I think there must be a severe bottle neck in my system but i dont know where

i think im only running ddr 266 because my fsb is a mere 133 mhz ( x 15 for 2.0 Ghz)

how ever my ram is capable of ddr 333 soo i may oc in te near future when i get a better cpu cooler and do some timedemos and test it

 

[ATI4EVER!]

i have bad ram to. Think REALLY bad ram. like PC1800.

BTW I'm running my card on AGP 4x not 8x, my mobo is old (hence the crappy ram) so i can only have crappy ram crappy cpu and good card on agp 4x. Its fine though.