Is the Radeon 9500 ok?

[Philibob]

Right, I need to upgrade my GF2MX.
It was at first between the Ti4200 and the 9500PRO. I've gone for the 9500 out of these two mostly because the 9500 is a DX9 card.
But then it's between the 9500PRO and the 9700PRO. I can't order online so I have to buy from a shop that's ~26 miles away (and I don't have a car)
The shop has the two cards prices as follows:
9500 PRO - £142.18
9700 PRO - £264.38
It is a big difference between prices, and, as a student it'll take me about 5 weeks to make the extra money.
Is it worth saving for the 9700PRO or should I go for the 9500PRO?

[Raptorman]

Get the 9500 PRO, and hack it to a 9700.

Overclocking fun - :firedevil

[CherryPopper]

well given the budget that you're on I would probably go with the 9500 Pro. HardOcp has done a couple reviews on it .. it is still an excellant card. He says
I think it is without a doubt the best gaming bang for the buck out of the current crop of cards.
http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=NDA5

[Philibob]

I think I will go for the 9500 Pro, after looking at reviews it does really well (better than Ti4600 in a lot of cases) with AA and AF turned on (which I can't even use at the moment :o ).
Thanks guys :)

[lagadu]

Originally posted by Raptorman
Get the 9500 PRO, and hack it to a 9700.

Overclocking fun - :firedevil

you can't turn a 9500pro in a 9700.
no amount of overclocking will make a 256bit bus out of a 128bit one present in the 9500pro (ok, a 100% oc will :p.

what you mean is the 9500 non-pro, that's the one that has a 256bit bus.

i'd advise for the 9700 as it has far more future potencial, specially considering that you probably don't upgrade the vid card often (you have a gf2mx now)...

[digitalwanderer]

The 9500 Pro is a frigging dream, you won't regret getting it! I am SO missing the one that ATI sent me to play with, I really miss 4xAA & 8xAF at over 60FPS. TOO cool, you become spoiled quick. :)

[Mow]

I have heard a rumor that you cannot get AGP functionality with this card and the nForce2 chipset.

I just ordered this card and a A7N8X delux and was hoping someone can verify this to be true/untrue or if there are special "things" I need to do to get full functionality. Thanks.

[digitalwanderer]

Originally posted by Mow
I have heard a rumor that you cannot get AGP functionality with this card and the nForce2 chipset.

I just ordered this card and a A7N8X delux and was hoping someone can verify this to be true/untrue or if there are special "things" I need to do to get full functionality. Thanks.

You might want to check out Dave's review of the A7N8X over at DH (http://www.driverheaven.net/reviews/asus/), he used a 9700 Pro for his review with it and didn't have any problems. (The third page of the review. ;) )

[Mow]

Thanks I will do that......if the 9700 will work then there is no reason the 9500 shouldn't as well one would think.

[Philibob]

I've changed my mind, I'll go for the R9700 PRO. As whatever card I'll buy I'll be using for about 2 years so might as well go for the top one.
Any driver problems that I should worry about?

[Mow]

My next question is did you guys that have this combo use the included ATI software or just let Windows or whatever handle it?

[Gator]

Yes, you can hack some R9500's to be a R9700. It doesn't always work, but it can work.

Download RivaTuner here (http://www.guru3d.com/files/rivatuner/) and make sure you download the version called "RivaTuner 2.0 + SoftR9700 + SoftFireGL"

:rolleyes: Edited 2/14 about 4pm :rolleyes:

[ahebl]

Actually, you are wrong and don't know what you are talking about.

You need to look into this more.

IT IS THE 9500 NON PRO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The non pro has the 256 bit bus, but only four pipelines.

the 9500 pro has a 128 bit bus, but the full 8 pipelines.

The soft mod activates the remaining 4 pipelines on the 9500 NON PRO, making it a full 9700.

THIS CANNOT BE DONE WITH A 9500 PRO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Gator]

Philibob, check Rage3d for more information on this in the Radeon tweak and overclocking section.

[Fotis]

Originally posted by Philibob
I've changed my mind, I'll go for the R9700 PRO. As whatever card I'll buy I'll be using for about 2 years so might as well go for the top one.
Any driver problems that I should worry about?
The latest catalyst 3.1 has fixed almost every bug.They fixed everything for me and increased UT2k3 performance.Visit rage3d and the catalyst 3.1 thread for more details.

[ahebl]

Dude, the 9500 non pros were originally made on the 9700 pcb, so they had the design of the 256 bit interface in place. It is there. The card just doesn't take advantage of it because it only has 4 pipes enabled. The 9500 pro is on its own pcb, which only has a 128 bit interface in place. Find me an article that says the 9500 pro is the one that can be converted and not the 9500 non pro.

Here is one that says exactly the opposite:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/story.html?id=1041719082

Your facts are mistaken.

[Raptorman]

Originally posted by lagadu
you can't turn a 9500pro in a 9700.
no amount of overclocking will make a 256bit bus out of a 128bit one present in the 9500pro (ok, a 100% oc will :p.

what you mean is the 9500 non-pro, that's the one that has a 256bit bus.

i'd advise for the 9700 as it has far more future potencial, specially considering that you probably don't upgrade the vid card often (you have a gf2mx now)...

Sorry, that was my bad, I wasn't paying attention to what I said.

[ahebl]

Gator is convinced that what you said was correct, despite the fact that all evidence points in the opposite direction, including your own admission that it was a mistake.

[Gator]

Originally posted by ahebl
Gator is convinced that what you said was correct, despite the fact that all evidence points in the opposite direction, including your own admission that it was a mistake.

But like I said, check out Rage3d Radeon Tweaks & Overclocking forum, they know more than I do about this, especially since I don't own a R300 board. :rolleyes: Edited 2/14 about 4pm :rolleyes:

[McTurok]

wah wah wah
Look I'm only telling you what I've read. But like I said, check out Rage3d Radeon Tweaks & Overclocking forum, they more than I do about this, especially since I don't own a R300 board. But Ahebl I am pretty certain that while some R9500Pro do have a different design board like the Sapphire, many do have the default ATI setup
You need either to learn how to read again, or learn to admit you were wrong. Now I guess you are going to start saying how you are a computer guru and blah, blah, blah, and you know everything. Blah, blah, blah.

You have to have a 9500 NON PRO with 9700 PCP. It's that plain and smiple.

So please edit your replies to the topic posting false information so you don't screw up others who come to read a thread like this one. Geesh, be a man.:rolleyes:

[saturnotaku]

This is a moot point because 9500 boards of any kind that use the 9700 PCB will cease to exist (if they haven't stopped production already).

[Gator]

Originally posted by McTurok
You need either to learn how to read again, or learn to admit you were wrong. Now I guess you are going to start saying how you are a computer guru and blah, blah, blah, and you know everything. Blah, blah, blah.

You have to have a 9500 NON PRO with 9700 PCP. It's that plain and smiple.

So please edit your replies to the topic posting false information so you don't screw up others who come to read a thread like this one. Geesh, be a man.:rolleyes:

I clearly said in my later posts I wasn't sure, and that I recommended people check Rage3d for more information. But if it'll make you guys stop complaining and be happy, I will edit my posts right now :rolleyes:

[ahebl]

Well, I will take the fact that you have edited every single one of your posts in order to save face an admission that you were wrong. But you were definitely a bitch about it.

[saturnotaku]

Originally posted by ahebl
But you were definitely a bitch about it.

Look who's talking. :rolleyes:

[ahebl]

Well, it looks pretty one sided right now, I admit. But if you saw what he had written before he edited his posts, my reaction might make a little more sense.