Hi all,
Just to the point, when it comes to new vid card, what would you guys prefer? My old AIW 8500 128MB is broke and I bought a Radeon 9000 64MB for a cover but I will refund it (still got the receipt). I looked at the 9600/SE/pro/XT which one of these cards are best?...I went to compusa and they have varieties of vid cards w/ the same price range, but unfortunately I have a limited budget...100-150...read some reviews that the FX5200 is not that good. I been an ATI customer for a long time so nVidia probably is out of option...well your suggestion is welcome...pls drive me to the best video card for my beloved PC.

Thanks,

current specs:
AMD 1500XP @145 FSB
1GB SDRAM PC133
ATI Radeon 9000 64MB (will be returned)

Hi. The Radeon 9600 XT is better than the SE & Pro versions, but before you get that you might want to take a look at the reviews. I also think the FX5200 & FX5600 sucks, but that doesn't mean the 5900SE & 5700 Ultra does. If you care about anti-aliasing & anisotropic filtering I would go with the 9600XT. If you care more about performance at good image quality I'd go with the FX5700u.

good luck

Yah...that's what thought too...but the ATI AIW 9600 128 is priced for $199.99 at compusa. Should I go for it? it's 50 bucks instant save.

Thanks,
j3r3my07

The 9600XT is much faster than the 9600AIW, so I wouldn't go for the AIW.

Also

If your aren't planning on running any video editing/recording/watching-tv-on-you-computer applications don't go with an AIW.

And about the 5700 and 5900? Very good cards but I have seen side by side comparisons but the ATI cards seem to render a little more smoothly and blend colors and vertexes better. Not as blockly as Nvidia. But the Nvidia's do seem to out perform the ATI's in dx8 and open gl games. But the ATI cards seem to do better than the Nvidia cards in dx9 games like Halo. So if your into a lot of old games like Jedi Knight II or UT 2003 then 5900 or 5700. But if your looking into the future, ATI seems to be the best option as of now.

Fish,

I'm looking forward to play future games like Doom 3 or Halo 2. And Yes...I do play PS2 games in my computer w/ my old AIW8500. I think I'm gonna go w/ AIW9600...besides the price is the same w/ 9600XT. Well thanks for all of your suggestions guys...I really appreciated it...

thanks,
j3r3my07

Well, to be totally honest all the 9600's you posted are pretty much the same, if not balanced out amongst each other. First the 9600SE being the low-budget grpahics card of the bunch, i heard can be softmodded easily to pro specs., The pro just being the same, but with not having to oc. I think personally, owning a 9800XT, think you should go with the XT, it is clocked a lil' higher than the bunch, but you get Half-life 2 for free.

one day sale ends 1/13/04 at 4pm!
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?DEPA=1&sumit=Go&description=14%2D130%2D179&searchdepa=1

Of those, I would definitely avoid the AIW. I also am a longtime ATI customer but have always avoided the AIW cards for this simple reason: you can get a stand-alone daughter card for the same as the price difference usually, without giving up the performance that you lose in an AIW card. If video in is important to you, buy the XT, then get the Video Wonder daughter card. Prices as of a week ago at the local Best Buy were $149.99 for the XT (following $20 mail-in rebate) and $39.99 for the video wonder daughter card. You lose a PCI slot, but you gain dual-monitor capability and a faster base vid card, without giving up video capture ability.