ATI's Radeon 9800, 9600 & 9200: Still Fighting Strong

Final Words

More than just a higher clocked Radeon 9700, the Radeon 9800 Pro doesn't cease to impress because of the minor but potent improvements ATI made to the R350 core. Definitely a pleasant surprise, ATI has produced a worthy interim successor to the Radeon 9700 Pro. If you want the best out today, look no further than the Radeon 9800 Pro; it's quiet, faster, occupies a single slot, and will enjoy much wider availability than the GeForce FX.

NVIDIA will not have a chance to respond to the Radeon 9800 Pro for another couple of months, with their NV35 part. NVIDIA has NV35 up and running and it is already significantly better than the lackluster NV30; although we're not sure if it will be able to outperform the Radeon 9800 Pro, at this point we can say that from what we've seen, NVIDIA has regained some of our confidence.

The most interesting battle will occur between the Radeon 9600 Pro and NVIDIA's forthcoming NV31 part (look for a preview of the technology later today), we're hard at work at bringing you all benchmarks of both cards so stay tuned for those reviews as well...