Thanks for the vid card advice, need more: ATI 9500 or 9700?

A

Automatic Jack

Veteran X
What are the differences?

The 9700 is significantly more expensive, why? Will it stand the test of time better? They are both DX9 compliant from what I understand, if the 9700 is simply higher benchmarks it's not worth it to me.

But if it has features that the 9500 does not, that could be worth it depending on what they are.

Any opinions?
 
Everything I've read suggested that the 9700 Pro is the best bang per buck video card on the market right now.

I've been very happy w/ mine so far.
 
The only difference is that the 9700 is faster. The 9700 Pro is significantly hihger price but the 9700 regular is just over $200. I think I will buy the 9700 when it drops a little more. The Pro will probably always be expensive for what you get because that is just the nature of the top of the line cards.
 
The 9500 is a downsized 9700. Rage3d might have some info on flashing the card's bios and overclocking and overvolting it slightly (which the bios should do, but you might have to do the voltage mod) to make the 9500 into a 9700.

Just be sure to search around a bit to make sure the ram on the 9500 can stand being at 9700 speeds.
 
I switched from a GF4 ti4600 to a Radeon 9700 PRO and I LOVE it. My 3D Mark 03 score went from 1900's to 4500's, plus the FPS in game went way up while having the games gfx maxed out. 9700 PRO is worth every penny.
 
Neckhole said:
Everything I've read suggested that the 9700 Pro is the best bang per buck video card on the market right now.

I've been very happy w/ mine so far.
Click to expand...

Same here. The price drops now that the 9800 is coming out make it even better.
 
Well the difference between $150 and $225 is a lot, if it is just benchmarks then I figure the 9500 will be fine, I just want to make sure I am not missing out on features I will want in two years, my presumed lifespan for the card.
 
{A} PR24 said:
I switched from a GF4 ti4600 to a Radeon 9700 PRO and I LOVE it. My 3D Mark 03 score went from 1900's to 4500's, plus the FPS in game went way up while having the games gfx maxed out. 9700 PRO is worth every penny.
Click to expand...

can i have ur gf 4 ?

pay you or soemthing
 
9500pro has 8? my bad :) you can only mod the 9500 non pros though and the majority of the mod'ed cards create artifacts on your screen.
 
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i just got a 9700 non pro 2 days ago paid $220 shipped. I have mixed feelings, great card if you don't overclock. I have overclocked mine and its faster then some 9700 pros.

sapphire 9700np red pcb
stock speeds: core@270 mem@275
o/c: core@355 mem@282

stock 3dmark2k1se:
http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=6371507

o/ced 3dmark2k1se:
http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=6372987
370 really isn't that stable

one difference tho, my cpu is 15mhz is the overclocked one


mine came with the horrible infinion 3.3ns ram which doesn't overclock at all...

the best part tho, even at stock speeds i can play sof2, bf1942,t1duh
@1024x768 with 6x fsaa and 16x AA and it flys through'em
 
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Automatic Jack said:
Well the difference between $150 and $225 is a lot, if it is just benchmarks then I figure the 9500 will be fine, I just want to make sure I am not missing out on features I will want in two years, my presumed lifespan for the card.
Click to expand...

if you're going to keep it that long, i definatley suggest a 9700 the anti aliasing performance is quite a bit better due the 8 pipelines it has.

i think this is correct
9700 has 8 pipelines and 256bit bus
9500 pro has 8 pipelines 128bit bus
9500 has 4 pipelines and 128bit bus
 
CommyBastard said:
i think this is correct
9700 has 8 pipelines and 256bit bus
9500 pro has 8 pipelines 128bit bus
9500 has 4 pipelines and 128bit bus
Click to expand...

Hmmph. And 9700 Pro?

Fatter bus sounds nice, I will price the 9700 Pro, and I might wait to pull the trigger until the 9800's come out.
 
It depends on the card you get. The older models of 9500 have the same 256 bit PCB, while the newer ones have a new borard.
 
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