Which card is better?

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garry26

Gawd
Joined
Jan 8, 2003
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I have a Radeon 9600pro 128mb I got 2yrs ago for around 150$. I was thinking of putting it in my new pc until I saw a much cheaper priced Radeon 9250 256mb. As you can see, Im very budget concious.

So the question is:
Do I use my older radeon 9600pro 128mb or do I get the Radeon 9250 256mb? Which is better?

I tried looking in HardOCP, but there were no comparisons that I could see, and Im not very computer savvy. The only thing I know is that one is 128mb and the other has 2x that, but I know enough to realize thats not enough to determine which is 'better'.

The price is certainly right. I can get 3 of these cards with the $150+ I spent 2yrs ago.

Thx in advance for your insight.
 
9250s are kinda sketchy...they come in several different versions which vary widely in performance and manufacturers aren't always forthcoming with the exact details of the card...some of the cards have a severely crippled memory interface and others not so much so...here's a comparison of the 9600pro and the best case scenario 9250:

http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=72&card2=75

Even using the 128bit 9250, it's no match for the 9600pro...and if the cards you're looking at are 64bit versions...they'll be far worse than this...
 
"Even using the 128bit 9250, it's no match for the 9600pro..."

I dont have a 9250 128mb. I have the 9600pro (128mb). I was thinking of getting was the 9250 256mb card.

edit: I checked that site, but it didnt have the radeon 9250 256mb listed to compare to the 9600pro. Or is it that the mbs dont really matter as much as other factors?
 
garry26 said:
"Even using the 128bit 9250, it's no match for the 9600pro..."

I dont have a 9250 128mb. I have the 9600pro (128mb). I was thinking of getting was the 9250 256mb card.

edit: I checked that site, but it didnt have the radeon 9250 256mb listed to compare to the 9600pro. Or is it that the mbs dont really matter as much as other factors?
Click to expand...


He didn't say 128mb, he said 128bit, and the wording was intended to say that if you compared the two (not owned both or even that you own the 9250 - wherever you got that inference from) that the 9600 Pro would be a far better card. The 9250 looks to be based off the 8500 since it supports older versions of shaders and DirectX.


I'd stay with the 9600 Pro, like every one else suggests.
 
So the 9600pro is so much better that the 128mb the 9250 provides is irrelevant?

I guess ill be taking out the 9600pro card outta my old pc and installing it in my new one :)
 
just curious...did you make the new comp agp? seeing as your radeon 9600 was purchased 2 yrs ago so its likely that its agp....
 
another misconception that more video memory is better .... Even if the 9250 had 2GB of memory, the 9600 Pro would kill it. The 9250 is a budget card whereas teh 9600 is a mid range "gaming" card for the time of it's release.
 
garry26 said:
"Even using the 128bit 9250, it's no match for the 9600pro..."

I dont have a 9250 128mb. I have the 9600pro (128mb). I was thinking of getting was the 9250 256mb card.

edit: I checked that site, but it didnt have the radeon 9250 256mb listed to compare to the 9600pro. Or is it that the mbs dont really matter as much as other factors?
Click to expand...

The amount of memory doesn't matter...I was referring the 128 BIT version...that is to say that there are two versions of the card, one with a 64bit memory interface and one with 128bit...again this is not the amount of memory on the card, this is the width of the memory bus...

To show you how badly the 9250 loses to the 9600, look at the fillrate and memory bandwidth specs...and realize that the cards you were looking at likely had a 64bit memory interface meaning they were even slower than the card I showed you in the comparison...

Bottom line, the 9250 is a piece of crap.
 
9250 is crap no doubt.

There is a reason why its called a 9600 pro. As too say a 9250 which is alot older technology
I owned 3 9600 cards the standard the pro and the XT all have served its purpose. Its not a great card, however it still plays many of today's games at strugglng speeds. To buy a 9250 just because it states 256 megs is retarded to say the least. If you care about gaming i'd buy a more decent card like a 9800 pro or Xt those dropped in prices alot. Better yet grab a 6600GT or something those are pretty decent.
 
My new comp has an agp slot and pci slots. However, I dont know if any of the pci slots are pci-e (which seem to have stronger vid cards from what Im reading). The pc is a compaq presario SR1010Z bought this summer (7-01-05) at a bargain $300. Its a good comp despite the bargain price.

I also saw a Radeon x600 pro 16x pci-e 256mb for $70. I couldnt find a comparison at that link, but I hit ebay and found a listing with specs. Theyre similar to the 9600pro, but it loses to the x600 by 400pts in several areas.Everything else is the same (except for the 128mb vs 256mb). Not enough of a difference to warrant a buy though IMHO.

Basically, if I find anything with enough of an edge over the 9600pro, thats in the $60 or less range, Im scooping it up.

Edit: Spike, Im not computer hardware savvy. Thats why I posted about it. When I got the 9600pro, I posted too and read articles, but I didnt keep up with vid card advancements so Im lost again.
 
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