Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.
Both cards IQ will be the same. However, the xt will get around 15% better performance than the pro. Also, the xt has thermal monitoring and overdrive. Mine o/cs like crazy too.
There's a little bit of performance difference, no IQ difference, and not enough of a performance difference to justify an upgrade from a 9600Pro to 9600XT.