9600xt 128mb or 256mb

[Mike.c]

Its nearly pay day and ive decided to upgrade my graphics card. Ive looked around and decided that 9600xt is the card i want, its just in my price range and offers good performance.

But i just cant decide whether to go for the 128mb version or the 256mb. Ive heard the the 128mb runs faster memory, but does the extra 128mb make up for that on the 256mb version.

Anyway these are the two cards am looking at.

ASUS Radeon 9600XT 128MB

and

Sapphire 9600XT 256MB

Any other suggested cards are welcome, but i dont have the money for high end cards!

Thanks!

[blockers]

Dont get a 256mb card. As very few games actually start to use 256mb and they use slower RAM. So there is less chance of overclocking.

Have you considered the 9800SE?

[BlackSheep]

128MB for the 9600XT - will be quicker than 256MB

[Rabs]

I second the vote for the 128MB card.

Reasons:

I had to make the same decision a few days ago, I'm not keen on the build quality of Sapphire/Powercolor cards which make up the cheaper end of the market. Spend the money on the Asus, I did and I'm loving it! (cue cheesy McDonalds advert).

The Asus is also a vivo card and the software pack you get with it is impressive. So any extra money spent is worth it for that alone (oh and the HL2 voucher).

[Mike.c]

Thanks for the replys, i had a feeling the Asus was higher quality.

Now i have another question for you, I don't know much about Nvidias latests cards and ive just found an FX 5900XT and was wondering if this was a better deal, if not il be ordering the Asus tomorrow!

Thanks a lot!

[BEANFro Elite]

well in regards of the 9600 on the long term you should get the 256mb version but for the short term you should get the 128mb version.

also if you get the 256mb version don't get a connect 3d one the ram will be slow and the cooling will be carp.

[BlackSheep]

well in regards of the 9600 on the long term you should get the 256mb version but for the short term you should get the 128mb version.

also if you get the 256mb version don't get a connect 3d one the ram will be slow and the cooling will be carp.

long-term or short-term the 128MB will be better - the 9600XT can't properly take advantage of the extra 128MB (whereas the 9800Pro/XT can - but even then the improvement is marginal).

[BlackSheep]

5900XT / 9600XT ... difficult choice there - the 5900XT will probably be faster for most stuff ... difficult

[Rabs]

Now then the 5900XT... now thats a different kettle of fish..

Excellent (Radeon 9800 Pro) performance on DX8-8.1 games, dire performance on DX9 stuff, that doesn't mean that it wont run DX9 games, its all down to the pixel shader 2.0 performance, if the game in question uses that expect poor results. However afaik HL2 etc will only use PS1.1 when used with a GF FX card, so even though you lose slightly on gfx niceness, you'll still have the speed.

I couldn't live with knowing my card wasn't 100% DX9 compliant and now stick to Radeons only, the choice is yours my friend.

Another note on the 9600XT 128MB or 256MB, you would only need that amount of GFX ram if running 1600x1200 with full AA etc on (which the 9600 I doubt would handle anyway) or in the far future where textures sizes/maps are silly. Again upto you (my personal view is mainly the 256MB is overkill and just for the 'mines better than yours crowd'

[BEANFro Elite]

indeed but with my graphics card (geforce 4 Ti4200) when i got it, it was better to get the 64mb version and not the 128mb cos at the time 128mb was faster.

but now, the 128mb version of my card is almost upto 40% faster on some of the more up to date games ie battlefield, doom 3 (E3 demo leak) etc.

and with my experiences with pcs, you should always future proof whereever possible

[Mike.c]

Well thanks for the help!

Ive been looking for a review of both the 128mb and 256mb but couldnt find any!

The FX5900XT looks nice but i know it does have its problems with DX9, I assume that an FX5800 Ultra DDRII would have the same issuse as the FX5900?

Ive really got to stop looking at these cards.. theres just too many to choose from!!!

But anyway i be most likely goin for the Asus 9600XT.

Thanks for the help again.

[BlackSheep]

indeed but with my graphics card (geforce 4 Ti4200) when i got it, it was better to get the 64mb version and not the 128mb cos at the time 128mb was faster.

but now, the 128mb version of my card is almost upto 40% faster on some of the more up to date games ie battlefield, doom 3 (E3 demo leak) etc.

and with my experiences with pcs, you should always future proof whereever possible

Anybody who pays £100+ extra for 256MB 9800Pro/XT radeon over the 128MB would have been better off futureproofing by saving the £100 on their next upgrade when games start fully using 256MB

future-proofing doesn't exist in PC hardware

[NeilI]

An FX5800 will result in a severe mocking form everyone you know and your house will most likely take off.

I'd go for the 128MB 9600 too.

[da_ging]

5900's do not have problems with dx9 5800's and 5600's do ,although the shader 2.0 performance of the 5900 aint on par its only a driver issue and will be sorted plus its not used in many games yet so aint an issue

best value card at the mo has to be the Aopen 5900 (thats full 5900 not xt although the 5900 xt will crush a 9600xt) for £140 at dabs

[funnelhead]

yepp either get

£ 180 - 9800 pro 128mb from komplett

£145 - asus 5900 128mb from dabs

£99 - 9600xt - specials page at kmplett

[Mike.c]

Hmm thought i had it sorted. But now am stuck between the Aopen FX 5900 128 for £140 or the Asus Radeon 9600xt.

Whats the difference between the fx 5900 and fx 5900xt?

God i didnt think upgrading would be this difficult!!

Thanks!