Fall 2003 Video Card Roundup - Part 3: ATI's Radeon 9600 XT
by Anand Lal Shimpi & Derek Wilson on October 15, 2003 10:26 AM EST- Posted in
- GPUs
Final Words
The Radeon 9600 XT ended up not being nearly as interesting as ATI would've liked it to be, but it does continue ATI's success in the midrange segment. We crowned the original Radeon 9600 Pro the winner of this segment back in April, and with the Radeon 9600 XT ATI extends the lead (although the improvement is only marginal). The GeForce FX 5600 Ultra is quite disappointing when put up against the Radeon 9600 Pro and 9600 XT; although NVIDIA will tell you to wait for the GeForce FX 5700 Ultra, try telling that to those that did invest in the FX 5600 Ultra.
The GeForce FX 5700 Ultra is architecturally different from the 5600 Ultra, so there is a chance that the gap could shrink but we'll have to wait another week or two before deciding on that.
We continue to see that the Radeon 9700 Pro is performing quite well and unfortunately ATI's assertions that the 9600 XT would perform similarly to the 9700 Pro are simply untrue. Given the very low price of the Radeon 9700 Pro we'd strongly suggest buying a 9700 Pro over a Radeon 9600 XT, or if you don't want to spend that much money we'd suggest a Radeon 9600 Pro as the performance difference isn't all too great.
We're wary of making a final recommendation for this segment right now because of the fact that the 5700 Ultra is right around the corner; we haven't heard anything about its performance relative to the 9600 XT so only time will tell. However if you are going to go the 9700 Pro route we mentioned above then feel free to pull the trigger, as the 5700 Ultra shouldn't be able to outperform the 9700 Pro.
What's also worth mentioning is how competitive the GeForce4 Ti 4200 remains in all non AA/aniso modes. If you are a current GeForce4 owner and don't plan on turning on any of those features then you're better off sticking with your current card until you do need DX9 support.
With another round the saga continues; the picture is almost fully in focus for this holiday season though and it's shaping up to be a very red and white scene...
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Anonymous User - Wednesday, October 15, 2003 - link
Before anyone else beats me to it,NVIDIA HAS FAILED
sorry, just had to say it.
Anonymous User - Wednesday, October 15, 2003 - link
#8 = TrollAnonymous User - Wednesday, October 15, 2003 - link
I CAN'T UNDERSTAND HOW THEY GOT SUCH LOW SCORES ON THE GEFROCE FX 5600 ULTRAI BUILT COMPUTERS FOR A LIVING AND OFTEN BENCHMARK THESE SYSTEMS FOR MYSELF
TAKE GUNMETAL FOR EXAMPLE
THE 5600 ULTRA SCORED 14.5FPS
ON A ATHLON XP 2600 KT400 DDR333 GEFORCE FX 5600 NON-ULTRA I GET 25FPS
NOT TO MENTION I GET 47FPS ON A 5900
HOW IS IT THAT WITH SUPERIOR HARDWARE THEY SCORED %40 LOWER?
WHAT BULLSHIT IS THIS...
Anonymous User - Wednesday, October 15, 2003 - link
#4If we are talking about <$2.00 burritos, how about including some tacos? Does it make sense? Tacos are cheeper because of the hard, quite unedible shell. However, because a burrito can be warmed, the shell is of soft phsophate.
Anonymous User - Wednesday, October 15, 2003 - link
How do you get an FPS rating from WarCraft 3?Anonymous User - Wednesday, October 15, 2003 - link
Enough of the speculation of when NVIDA products will come out. May I point you to a quote from the Radeon 9700 Pro review:"NV30 will be out around December"
The product didn't actually make its way out until March, and even in limited volumes then.
Telling people to wait on the 5700 Ultra doesn’t make much sense.
Anonymous User - Wednesday, October 15, 2003 - link
If we are talking about <$200 cards, how about include the 9800se. It can be had for $170 and it seems like it would be a decent performer, especially if overclocked. Can we also include the 9800se (non-pro) in future reviews?thanks
Anonymous User - Wednesday, October 15, 2003 - link
As an owner of a Geforce 4 ti4200, I apreciate having it included in the lineup, as it shows me that unless I have the cash to dish out for a 9700+, it's not realy worth it :) Great review!Anonymous User - Wednesday, October 15, 2003 - link
A 100Mhz increase in core clock frequency! The benifit of buying this card becomes apparent in future titles, not current ones. My guess is the gap between 9600XT and 9700 pro will close significantly in Half-Life2 or Doom3 =).I also truely hope the GeforceFX 5700 will beable to dish out more damage then the 5600. No fun buying from just one company.
As for me, I doubt ill find a reason to upgrade my 9500pro for quite some time. Anyone who bought a card with the R3XX on it should not upgrade until DX10 comes out.
Anonymous User - Wednesday, October 15, 2003 - link
bad link:page:
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.html?i=1904...
says:
Halo Performance but goes to Homeworld 2.