Dilemma: 5600 Ultra rev.2 or radeon 9600 np??

[momento]

Just grab these two today from bestbuy and compusa:

PNY 5600 ultra rev. 2 for $100 after MIR
Made by ATI radeon 9600 for $70 after MIR

would like to put one of those into a rig that has a geforce TI 500.

dilemma 1. should i make the upgrade? How much improvement will they offer?

dilemma 2. which card to get?

Thanks for you reply.

Momento

 

[modedepe]

Take the 5600 ultra. The 9600np wouldn't be much of an upgrade unless you turn aa/af on. The 5600 should offer a decent speed increase in all situations.

 

[clicknext]

I don't think either of them are a big improvement over your Ti500.

 

[NYHoustonman]

Originally posted by: clicknext
I don't think either of them are a big improvement over your Ti500.

Yep. Save some more, unless you really somehow feel you need this now.

 

[momento]

thanks all! I'll keep my geforce3 ti500 then.

 

[VIAN]

I would get the FX 5900.

 

[Corporate Thug]

Originally posted by: VIAN
I would get the FX 5900.

but the 5600 ultra costs half as much @ frys ($98.99)

its the best buy i can think of for people who are on a sub $100 budget

 

[Sid59]

can you sell me the Radeon 9600? i was too lazy to wait in the lines.

 

[Stoerm]

Rumor is it is available online now. I purchased it at the store and am very happy I did.

I had to make the same decision... Radeon 2D image quality and $30 less with only one $25 rebate to send in made the ATI the clear choice for me. Really, neither card is fabulous, but for $70 it's a pretty nice temporay solution to my vid problems.

EDIT: Apparently Bioware games and ATI 9600s do not go well together. Odd, but important to not before you make your decision. This was another factor I had to weigh, as I really would have like to play KOTOR. Ah well.

 

[dguy6789]

for 100 bucks, a 5600 ultra is a good deal. But if you can, save up a bit more for a 9600 pro, which would give you a great increase accross the board, especially with aa/af on.

 

[Jmman]

Well, according to HardOCP, the 5600 ultra pretty much keeps up and beats the 9600 pro, even withh AA/AF........
Text

"However, if I had to put one card as a winner in these tests it would clearly have to be the 9500 Pro. Its performance cannot be denied, the numbers do not lie. It is stronger in vertex and pixel shader speed. It is faster then the GFFX 5600 Ultra as the resolution and AA/AF level increase. That being said, the 9500 Pro?s days are numbered as the 9600 Pro will be taking its place in the ATI product line up. The 9500 Pro is still a great buy and a great performer, but when it is gone, the 5600 Ultra will very much move into the vacancy left and wear the mainstream performance crown.

 

[Blastman]

The 5600U looks as fast as the 9600pro in a lot of the old reviews because NV largely optimized for about the dozen or so games/benchmarks that hardware sites usually run. Once you start using custom time demos and a wider variation of games the story is much different. In THG?s 5700U/5950U review he used a newer set of benchmarks and a wider range --- the 9600p beat the 5600U in 8/10 benches by an average of 23.9% (1024x768) -- the margin looks even wider using AA/AF. Also, with the older drivers the 5600U was really terrible on a lot of games. The new drivers seem to fix a lot of these problems and the 5600 is now an ok card -- but it?s still not near as good overall as a 9600p, especially when you factor in the 9600pro?s much superior DX9 performance.

Look at a couple more reviews with a wider selection of game benchmarks like Anands 9800XT review. The 9600p averaged 26.2% faster than the 5600U in the 13 games benched in that review. If you run a wide selection of benchmarks the 9600pro usually looks much better than the 5600U. Also check out this nordichardware
Review.

 

[Keysplayr]

Blastman, what is your issue? Like a freakin ATI salesman. Your in every "which card should I buy" thread preaching ATI.

I can't stop ya of course. All I can do is ask ya. QUIT IT !!!

And now a word from our sponsor..........