Upgrade or new PC

[bosox188]

Sapphire has just come out with something called the radeon 9550. I checked newegg and it has a 256mb powercolor one for only $100. Is it any good? It doesn't look to fast, it has a 250mhz clock speed and 400mhz memory speed. But it says it supports smarshader 2.1 and smoothvison 2.1. Until now, only the 9800 pro had smartshader 2.1. Does it make a difference? And as I'm writing this I've just seen something cool on ATI's site. The X600 and X300! Doesn't give any stats but maybe they're actually affordable!

 

[Farfege]

Thanks but I knew enough bout puters (luckily) before I got the Dell and made sure I had an AGP slot. I have a 64 meb GForce4 right now. Haha both my friends upgraded for $130 back then and got some crap 128 meg no name brand card. I upgraded for $20 to get the GForce4 and my parents offered to get the $130 upgrade. But I waited and now I'm getting a 9600XT. Oh how sweet patience is sometimes...

 

[blahblahblah]

Thanks but I knew enough bout puters (luckily) before I got the Dell and made sure I had an AGP slot. I have a 64 meb GForce4 right now. Haha both my friends upgraded for $130 back then and got some crap 128 meg no name brand card. I upgraded for $20 to get the GForce4 and my parents offered to get the $130 upgrade. But I waited and now I'm getting a 9600XT. Oh how sweet patience is sometimes...

Spend the extra money and get a 9800 Pro. Its only a few dollars more.

 

[bosox188]

Spend the extra money and get a 9800 Pro. Its only a few dollars more.

It depends on which one you're talking about. The 9600xt's made by ATi are more expensive, but really not better. Powercolor, Sapphire, Asus, they're anywhere from $140-$160. The 128-bit 9800 pro is around $170, I've seen some at $163. But they're not real 9800 pro's they're fake little 128-bit things that aren't anywhere near as good. A real 9800 pro is $190-$210. If you have the money though, get one. I might get a refurb 9700 pro from newegg. It's only $135, and they're not much worse than 9800's

 

[Farfege]

Yeah but Sapphires don't come with the HL2 voucher do they? Atleast I don't think they do. And by buying a ATi card (prolly 9800 pro cause I'm getting a job this summer) with the HL2 free is $50 off, because I would buy that anyway. But I have to act soon, cause now all the new boxes just say "HL2 Recommended Graphics" not free HL2 game Have to act fast!!! HL2 is only weeks away!!

 

[Asus]

Sapphire has just come out with something called the radeon 9550. I checked newegg and it has a 256mb powercolor one for only $100. Is it any good? It doesn't look to fast, it has a 250mhz clock speed and 400mhz memory speed. But it says it supports smarshader 2.1 and smoothvison 2.1. Until now, only the 9800 pro had smartshader 2.1. Does it make a difference? And as I'm writing this I've just seen something cool on ATI's site. The X600 and X300! Doesn't give any stats but maybe they're actually affordable!

9550 is their new DX9 low end part.
The 9200 is what they used to compete with the FX 5200 but the 9200 is still DX8.1 while the 5200 was DX9.

The X300 is also a low end part. The X600 is decent as it has higher clock speeds but it doesn't have the full pipelines. Arn't these PCI Express cards?
9600(Pro/XT) and 9800(Pro) are still the better buys especially for the price.

 

[bosox188]

Yup they're all worse than the 9600 and 9800.