9600 or 5600? What do you think?

Time for an(other) upgrade.

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So 9600 or 5600.

I can't afford top spec so it's a choice between these two.
Usually I'd go for Nvidia but I think they maybe loosing their edge.

What's the verdict fellas?
Dee Cee

 

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I believe most people would point you in the direction of the Radeon 9000 series over the GeForce FX series.

However I have a 9700 Pro, and I can say I haven't been all that impressed with mine. I excepted that my framerate would fall to slugish under absolutely no circumstances, however this is far from the case - note though I am using image quality options like anti-aliasing, anisotropic filtering, high mimap quality etc....

I've also had a few compatibility problems as well, like the inability to play Deus Ex in Direct3D (it will only run under OpenGL, period), some visual artifacts in Operation Flashpoint, some changed fonts and flickering with Battlefield 1942, and choppy animations when minimizing and maximizing windows.

I thought I would be getting a great product from what so many people claim is the best out there...

Anyhow, the 5200's are bested by the older GeForce 4 Ti series. And I think the 5600 non ultra's are too. Considering that all FX cards are meant to run DirectX 9 games, this is obviously a bad sign, along with many other bad signs from Nvidia (like making changes to their drivers simply so they can score higher benchmarks by literally cheating)

I really don't know what to tell you :-S

 

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I have a Radeon 9500 non-pro, and I was pleased with it's stock performance.

They stopped making the 9500 series because they were basically a 9700 tuned with lower specs, and people were finding ways to transform the 9500 into a 9700 with software drivers. I happen to be one of those people that take advantage of that

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My performance specs are up to 9700 pro standards, but I can't compare the reality of image quality and all that with my card and a real 9700 pro. But the 9600 is basically a redesigned 9500, and I think it supports the latest versions of PixelShading and VertexRendering...the exact names elude me right now. I can recommend the 9600 for you because of it's value and good performance. I can play games like GTA Vice City, Halo, Unreal Tournament 2003, and No One Lives forever 2, with the highest quality settings, and 1024x768 resolution and it's smooth. My computer is P4 1.7ghz, with 266mhz ddr ram. It's not cutting edge....or fairly out of date, but I can still play the newer games with the card.

Remember, when you're buying a video card, you're going to be playing the same games. Getting an ATI card versus a comparable Nvidia card is all about what your willing to spend and which company you prefer. You should be worrying about if the card will fullfill your desires for gaming, not if one is 100mhz faster for $50 more. Find some reviews on the net about how the cards handle the types of games you like to play, and be wary of the test systems that reviewers use....TomsHardware.com tests video cards with a P4 3ghz and 400mhz ddr ram....with that type of computer any game will run smoothly.

I'd go for a 9600 over the 5600 just because I like ATI.

And if you make your decision, Pricewatch.com can get a very good deal on the pricing.

 

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With all of ATI's compatibility issues and nVidia's cheating, I've been looking at a differnt alternetive: SiS. It's okay, you can laugh but think about what Xabre 400 offers:

Something about as good as a Radeon 9000 or a 5200... for less, with (now) mature and debugged drivers, good support, and descent features. The only issue it has ever had in hardware is no 4x AGP with some VIA chipsets, but that's no biggie.

Seriously: There is something to be said for sometimes going out of the mainstream.