Originally posted by: TerryMathews
Originally posted by: orion7144
Why would one get a 9500np for $133 and oc it to 9700 if you can get a 9600pro from ATI for $149? I'm not trying to be a smart A$$ I am just curious since I am in the market for a new card. Can the 9600pro be modded?
Okay, here's some basics (Not trying to be condescending):
The Radeon 9500 np is a 4 pipe 256bit card that defaults to 275 core and 540 mem.
The Radeon 9600 Pro is a 4 pipe 128bit card that defaults to 400 core and 600 mem.
Effectively, because video is very high bandwidth, the RAM on the 9500 np can be considered to be twice as fast since it's twice as 'wide' as the RAM on the 9600 Pro. So now our competition is:
275 : 400 core
1080 : 600 mem
IF the 9500 np can be softmodded, it's core performance is effectively doubled. If that is true, then we're looking at:
550 : 400 core
1080 : 600 mem
The early 9600 Pros were capable of hitting the ~550 range, but newer ones have trouble crossing 450Mhz. Even on the built-by-ATi cards. The current theory on the rage3d forums is that ATi tampered with the core voltage.
Also worth noting that the 9500 np can be overclocked, although not to the same degree that some 9600 Pro's can be.
Now can you see why a softmoddable 9500 is very desirable for $133?