[Tidusffx]

and to be honest, the 8500-8600 i can understand you dont want to play the latest games but...for the investment its worth now getting a 9600gt it will be better off for you financially in the long run.

but the 9800 are just a way to prove you have money they are a poor card for the price.

[Desertfish]

Originally Posted by link590o

The 9600gt does pull far ahead in almost all cases though. that's because the 9600gt was designed as a part competitor to put ATI into a corner, but it still has a lot of the 8800gt's trimmings.

Hehe... that kinda sounds like Nvidia is playing their 2000 trick again. So whats the 9600GT then? An 8800GT with overclocked memory, a faster GPU and a different number on the badge?

Cheers:
Chris

[Carbon]

Originally Posted by Desertfish

Hehe... that kinda sounds like Nvidia is playing their 2000 trick again. So whats the 9600GT then? An 8800GT with overclocked memory, a faster GPU and a different number on the badge?

Cheers:
Chris

Other way around. Kept the 512 memory, cut the stream processors by half but it performs just as well as the 8800GT and is way cheaper.

[Tidusffx]

i have an 8800 also...700/2000/1700
9600 have something i cant remember the name that when activated boosts performance.
the only reason i recommend that 9600 is the lifetime warranty and its a good quality graphics card. The 8800 i believe is the better card. But 9600 is about 50 pounds cheaper. And the difference isnt alot.

But the 9800 however that is a dual graphics card like the 7900. So remember that octa SLi post on here. That was 4 9800's linked up. Thats why every card is 1gb in memory.

Thats the whole "scam" with the 9800 its only real difference is 1gb memory and the fact its 2 cards. But when tested it showed minute performance increase over the 8800GTX

[Cew27]

sorry to hijack but im just wondering, what is the performance of the 9600 compaired to a 8800 ulta ko overclocked?

[Carbon]

Originally Posted by Cew27

sorry to hijack but im just wondering, what is the performance of the 9600 compaired to a 8800 ulta ko overclocked?

8800 Ultra? Ultra will outperform the 9600GT, obviously, but with a sufficiently overclocked 9600GT, I'd guess you could narrow it down to about a 20% difference on average in benches.

The 9600GT has several things going for it:

1. It runs on a 65nm die. So it's fast. It's also small, cool, and overclockable. The Ultra is roughly the size of a small moon due to its 90nm construction.

2. The Ultra has a small benefit over the 8800GTX. It's like 5% in most cases.

3. The 9600GT matches or outperforms (at some resolutions) the 8800GT in a majority of benches. Why this is is simple: a lot of the 8800GTs being sold are 256MB, and that hurts AA performance, especially at high resolutions.

4. The 8800GT outperforms the 8800GTS in all tests, including high resolutions, and with overclocking can almost match the 8800GTX.

An OC'd 9600 won't match Ultra performance, but it will come dangerously close for a fourth of the price. Two of them in SLI, or two 8800GTs, will most likely beat the Ultra out in both price and performance.

As for the 1GB card, this card is probably made for video at high resolutions on big displays. That would be the only real use for it.

[Cew27]

sorry i meant the 9800

[Carbon]

9800GX2 beats Ultra any day, but not by much.
9800GTX..probably, but it's a lot closer.

[Cew27]

ok so i shouldn't be beating my self to hard because i got the ultra in jan ?

[Carbon]

Not at all. I'd be beating myself because I bought an Ultra in the first place, though, it's massively overpriced for a difference that can be made up for in five minutes with RivaTuner.