i'm a gamer and i want to upgrade my vid card. i currently have a
radeon 9250 128 mb. i currently have $66 so i can afford the 9600 128
mb and less, and the fx 5500 and lower. should i save more to $97 for
the 9600 256, or $109 for the 9600 pro 256 mb or just get the 9600 128
mb. i play mostly rts (real time strategy) in 3d and fps. i'm also a 13
and get $5 a week.
I'd recommend saving for the $109 9600 pro. $66 9600 is almost certainly
a 64 bit SE board. The various SE versions of the ATI video cards have
a 64 bit memory bus rather than the 128 bit memory bus of the full-fledged
versions of the cards. That memory bandwidth loss means significant
loss of performance. My observation is that the SE version of an ATI card
is only slightly faster than the full fledged version card that is one step
lower. I.e. a 9600SE is only slightly faster than a 9200/9250. Of course
a 9600SE is quite a bit faster than a 9200SE. And so on.
I'd say that a 9600 Pro is about twice as fast as a 9200/9250. The
9600 Pro is about 40% faster than the 9600, depending on benchmark.
If you really want to see an improvement, save for the 9600 Pro. You
might also check into an Nvidia 6200 AGP or 6600 AGP.
I recently upgraded my ATI 9200 to the Nvidia 6600 and all I can say is
"WOW"! I was able to pick up the 6600 for $135 from one of the regular
web places.
So, definitely wait 'til you can afford a better card. Pick either the 9600
Pro
or the 6200 for ~$100. Better yet, volunteer to do some odd jobs for your
parents and/or neighbors (garbage/baby sitting/lawn care/pet sitting) and
earn enough for the 6600. You'll be glad you did. (And make sure you get
the AGP version of the 6200 or 6600, not the PCI-express version, which you
can't use.)
--
Dan (Woj...) [dmaster](no space)[at](no space)[lucent](no space)[dot](no
space)[com]
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"I want to feel sunlight on my face
I see the dust cloud disappear
Without a trace
I want to take shelter from the poison rain
Where the streets have no name"
