Which budget Gfx Card help

[CeeJay]

hey people,
just a quick bit of guidance please.
ive currently got a choice of 2 graphics cards on the table.

sapphire 9600xt 128mb
sapphire 9700 128mb non pro

now ive been trying to read as much as i can, and have a basic understanding that on paper at least the 9600xt appears to be faster.
but i have read that the 9700 has an extra 4 pipelines? will that make it twice as fast or something?
obviously i dont want to get left behind in the near future, so which one should i go for as the 9700 has been around a fair bit now?

ANY help would be fantastic


cheers

[BenW]

I don't know but i would have thought the 9700 will be faster

[yamangman]

You should get a 128 Mb Radeon 9800 Pro, can be had for about £120 if your thrifty. Better than both of the ones you mentioned and for just a couple of extra quid, you get a whole lot more.

[CeeJay]

im on a bit of a budget so its really a choice between these 2 im afraid.
ive read alot about the 9800 but simply cannot afford one.
and these 2 cards can be had for pretty reasonable money.

any ideas which out of the 2 cards?

thanks for the responce though guys

[CeeJay]

ive also read that some of the 9700 non pros didnt have the 8 pipelines? this site says it only had 4?? (bt worried now)

http://www.guru3d.com/article/Videocards/8/2/

[myth]

obviously i dont want to get left behind in the near future

Thoes cards are allready left behind! But I'd go for the 9600XT...

[CeeJay]

got any reasons for that choice mate?

[myth]

got any reasons for that choice mate?

I stand corected! The XT was faster clocked but the 9700 supports DirectX 9.0! Also 8-pixel pipeline architecture! And even 256-bit DDR memory interface! Yea go for the 9700 se! Its the logical choice!

[CeeJay]

cool , thanks for the responce.
only thing that does worry me is the age of the 9700's.
where as the 9600xt are fairly recent, would the 9700 be a good choice to feed the new games over the coming months? it wasnt long ago when it was one of the better gfx cards around.
and its not the se model mate, its just a boggo 9700 non pro

[yamangman]

Don't get an SE. A 9700 should run HL2 ok. Also a 9600XT is dx9.0 compatible, dunno what myth was referring to. Can you give us a budget and maybe we could suggest somthing esle?

[myth]

Don't get an SE. A 9700 should run HL2 ok. Also a 9600XT is dx9.0 compatible, dunno what myth was referring to. Can you give us a budget and maybe we could suggest somthing esle?

I was just pointing out that the 9700 was too!

[CeeJay]

well ive been offered either of the cards for £60 used.
thats about my budget really

also, is it possible to unlock 4 pipelines on the 9600's?

[myth]

well ive been offered either of the cards for £60 used.
thats about my budget really

also, is it possible to unlock 4 pipelines on the 9600's?

Its a shame relly, That £60 over here in the US could get you a 9800 Pro AIW! Thats like $115 US to me!

[Ravens Nest]

hey people,
just a quick bit of guidance please.
ive currently got a choice of 2 graphics cards on the table.

sapphire 9600xt 128mb
sapphire 9700 128mb non pro

now ive been trying to read as much as i can, and have a basic understanding that on paper at least the 9600xt appears to be faster.
but i have read that the 9700 has an extra 4 pipelines? will that make it twice as fast or something?
obviously i dont want to get left behind in the near future, so which one should i go for as the 9700 has been around a fair bit now?

ANY help would be fantastic


cheers

The 9700 np is faster it has 8 pipelines & 256bit memory bus versus 4 pipelines & 128bit memory bus on the 9600 pro


9700 Non Pro

core speed is clocked at 275 MHz
memory speed is clocked at 540 MHz
256-bit bus
8 pipelines

9600 Pro

core speed is clocked at 400 MHz
memory speed is clocked at 600 MHz
128-bit bus
4 pipelines

And here's a review of the 9600 pro vs 9700 pro & Nvidia 5600
http://www.hexus.net/content/reviews...hpc3Rvcnk9LTI=

And here's a VGA card test from toms hardware which shows the 9700 np owning the 9600 pro..
http://graphics.tomshardware.com/gra...004/index.html

The only good thing's i can say for the 9600 pro is it is cheaper, gives off less heat and can be overclocked quite high. (the memory sometimes upto 700mhz!)

[CeeJay]

thanks for the links, but its a 9600xt im looking at, is there a big difference in the xt and pro?
also, the 8 pipelines is looking more apealing than just slightly faster memory speeds, i take it thats the case right?

[myth]

thanks for the links, but its a 9600xt im looking at, is there a big difference in the xt and pro?
also, the 8 pipelines is looking more apealing than just slightly faster memory speeds, i take it thats the case right?

8 is always better then 4!