9600 pro/np at Best Buy & Should I get it

[CU]

Rumor has it that a 9600 will be on sale at Best Buy for $70 after MIR this weekend. Does anyone know if it is a pro or not. I cannot find a positive answer. If there is not a positive answer when will one be avaiable. Also does this one at Best Buy come with a coupon for HL2. I have a P4 1.8ghz@2.2ghz with 512meg ram and a oem 8500LE 128meg runnig stable at 300/300. Would a 9600 pro or np be any faster say at X2 The Threat (since I am going to get it). I get 52 fps with the default setting in the rolling demo they released awhle back. I would sale my 8500 here if I get the 9600. What would it be worth? $80? It has vga and tv-out. And finally should I get it? Thank you for your time. I know this is very similar to other questions. I just wanted a more personally answer.

 

[videoclone]

The 9600 if its not a Pro will be just as fast if not slower then your ATI8500 card you have now but with DX9 support if its a pro it will be a small upgrade but still an upgrade never the less the ATI 9600 Pro or non pro are not as good as people make them out too be they are Value cards and thus perform as such this card will be good to get but for the amount of performance you gain i don?t see how its worth the money if i was you i would just stick with the 8500 you have now and if you must upgrade try and find a good deal on a ATI9800 non pro or a FX5900nu anything under these cards isn?t worth upgrading too unless something?s wrong with your old card and its not playable what so ever in a certain game you play. :beer: good luck in your decision.

 

[modedepe]

I'm pretty sure it's going to be a 9600np, so it won't be much of an upgrade from your current card (maybe a downgrade is some cases). And I think the max you'd get for your card is $70, maybe less.

 

[JH68]

Right now you can get the 9800 pro at best buy for $299 and that is a good buy!!!

 

[jiffylube1024]

Originally posted by: JH68
Right now you can get the 9800 pro at best buy for $299 and that is a good buy!!!

Yeah but you can get four of these 9600 np's for that price - not everyone is willing to spend $300 on a video card.

 

[JH68]

Originally posted by: jiffylube1024

Originally posted by: JH68
Right now you can get the 9800 pro at best buy for $299 and that is a good buy!!!

Yeah but you can get four of these 9600 np's for that price - not everyone is willing to spend $300 on a video card.

Yeah but the games he wants to play the 9800 pro would be the best and would last longer in the long run.

It just depends on what he wants to do and how smooth he wants his games.

just remember the 9600 series has 4 pipelines
9800 series has 8 pipelines
which would send more data through

 

[JetJock]

This card at Best Buy is not the SE / LE version, is it? I will be upgrading from the on board video of an Intel 865 mo-bo. Should be woth $70, don't ya think?

Here is a link to the actual card:

Link to actual card

Thanks,

JJ

 

[lchen66666]

It's np version, but it's SE or Pro or XT version too.

It has same memory bandwidth like Pro or XT, but slower speed.

I think it would be faster than 8500.

 

[CU]

After looking at the Best Buy sales paper it looks like a np to me. I could not find pro or se anywhere on the box. If I could overclock the mem up the to pro speed I would get it. How does Ati's 9600 np overclock? I need to find out if it comes with HL2 also.

 

[modedepe]

Originally posted by: CU
After looking at the Best Buy sales paper it looks like a np to me. I could not find pro or se anywhere on the box. If I could overclock the mem up the to pro speed I would get it. How does Ati's 9600 np overclock? I need to find out if it comes with HL2 also.

Most of the 9600np's have pretty horrible ram (often 5ns) so there isn't much chance of getting the ram to pro speeds. The gpu is passively cooled, so to have any shot at getting it to pro you'll need to stick a fan on it.