Possible upgrade from 9200 to 9600XT

[GandalftheGrey]

will i notice a significant performance increase in going from the 9200 to the 9600xt? i'm interested in games like thief 3...
jedi academy and neverwinter nights. also maybe hl2 and the wave of seqyuel fps's coming up...

[kram 2.0]

Well, the differences aren't too significant. First, you will see new DX9 performances on the 9600XT. However, it looks like you will keep the 128-bit memory bandwidth. You will be able to play Theft III fine, and HL2 won't be giving you max settings and stuff. The memory clock especially is much higher, but I would actually recommend the Radeon 9800 pro 128 if you can stretch you budget that far - it is the best bang for the buck right now and I think that you will benefit from the 256-bit card for HL2 and Theft three and stuff.


Hope that helps,
kram

[GandalftheGrey]

i dl'd the thief 3 demo, and it runs OK on 640x480 res... but just OK, it's still pretty choppy to the point of being certainly noticeable and maybe even a little annoying.

i guess i should be expecting to spend $200 if i want to see a significant performance increase?

[kram 2.0]

Well, actually, now looking at them side by side, I take that back - the 9600 XT will yield a good performance increase. I'm looking specifically at the Tom's hardware VGA III Guide for banchmarking - it shows that the 9600XT is clocked both core and memory, very high which can be advantageous even though it is at 128-bit card. So 150 USD with the 9600 XT is well worth it.

Hope that helps,
kram

[GandalftheGrey]

i've found this 9600pro for $130

this seems like a great deal, but why is it so cheap? is powercolor of questionable quality? do the other $150-$180 9600xt cards have anything more than this card to explain the price gap?

[GandalftheGrey]

o nm i see that the xt is actually slightly better than the pro

thanks for your help

[GandalftheGrey]

one more question regarding the HL2 bundle:

does hl2 come free with the purchase of any 9600xt? i think on the ati website it said the promotional deal was only for 9800's or the 9600 AIW. but the picture of the ATI manufactured 9600XT radeon card shows the HL2 promo graphic on the front of the box.

does anyone have the definitive answer?

[kram 2.0]

I think ATI restricted the HL2 deal even further - they are making the deal only for 9800XTs and Asus 9600XT. The Asus 9600 XT is a little more expensive than the other 9600XTs because it includes VIVO functions - some nice things if you work with video inputs and stuff. If you have the money, take a look at it.

Hope that helps,
kram