What Video Card

[heed316]

Hey. I am looking to buy a new video card right now. I wantto get either a PowerColor Radeon 9600 Pro 128MB for 113$, a PowerColor Radeon 9500 Pro 128MB for 130$, or a PowerColor Radeon 9800SE 128MB 256-bit for 120$ but I don't know which one to get. I would be using this for gaming in games like Call of Duty and Battlefield Vietnam. Any suggestions on which card to get are greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[butch81385]

either the 9600 pro or the 9800 se... browse for some benchmarks or wait for the next reply

[jeffwong]

The 9600 pro is good to go with if you dont want to overclock however, I would go with the powercolor 9800 Se because it can be softmoded to near 9800 levels because the card is identical to a 9800 pro but it has 4 pipelines disabled. I modded my powercolor 9800 se and my 3d marks score was 5150 so basically I got a 9800 pro plus several games for 150 bucks. Here is how to do the softmod…

1) Download the Omega drivers 2.5.22 from omega homepage http://www.omegacorner.com/index_ati.html

2) When you start install the driver, you should pick the option "Soft-Mod 9800SE Omega Driver 9800SE -> 9800 NP/Pro/XT".

3) Actually, it is already unlock the other 4 pipelines when the driver finish installed. However, you cannot really tell from video properties. You should download riva tuner software http://download.guru3d.com/rivatuner/

4) After installed the riva tuner, you can see the 4 pipelines are already unlocked. (You need to responsible for your own risk!)

[douglas55]

9800 se will be the best buy. I have a 9500 pro and the most I can OC is around 300mhz core and mem.

[The Real Bingo]

If what jeffwong says is accurate, I'd go with the 9800 SE, but from what I heard SE's are crap.

[Bizkitkid2001]

The 9800 SE is the best buy, with the 9500 being in second, an d9600 being in last.

Although, may I ask why are you buying from power color? If you are going third party ATI, i recommend Saphire.

[custompccases]

Stay away from PowerColor. Go with sapphire if possible.

Also don't bet on softmodding. ATI disables those other 4 pipes for a reason, most of the time those disabled pipes are defective. That is why ati came up with the 9800SE concept in the first place, to get rid of faulty 9800's. However sometimes to meet demand they take perfectly good 9800's and disable their pipes to supply the SE's.

[GameManK]

Correct me if i'm wrong, but isn't 9600 the upgrade/newere version of 9500? Then what would be the point of buying a 9500 esp. if its more expensive?

EDIT: if that 9800se mod thing works, that sounds like an amazing deal

[Bizkitkid2001]

I say the 9500 pro is better becasue, well, look at benchmarks, it just is.

[heed316]

I think I am just gonna save up for a 9800 pro. The only reason I said powercolor was because that was the one that was up for sale at the time. Thanks for the input anyways.