ADVICE: Is a refurbished Saphire Ultimate Radeon 9600XT worth 70$?

[dbeanerz]

Hello:

First poster, in search of good advice.

I'm currently playing World of Warcraft on a P4 2.5Ghz, 1GB RAM, GeForce 4200Ti 64MB, dying PC. Granted, the performance for that game isn't really bad at all, I get a constant 30 FPS and can't complain. I'm not a huge gamer and am not looking to trick out anything related to my PC in the near future.

Yet, I have been looking at some cheap Radeon 9600's for the hell of it, because they are under 100$ and I can give my old card to a family member. Now I am sure of compatibility and all that, just wondering if this deal on newegg is worth it, in terms of money spent and slight increase in performance. Again, I only really play World of Warcraft, and at times Sims 2, and some other shooters, Battlefield, Call of Duty.

Here's the card in question:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102342R#sctNav
Saphire ULTIMATE RADEON 9600XT 128MB 128-bit DDR AGP 4X/8X Video Card - OEM

Chipset Radeon 9600XT
Core clock 500MHz

Memory Clock 600MHz
Memory Size 128MB
Memory Int 128-bit
Memory Type DDR


Any help is appreciated - if 70$ or ten bucks more can get me something a little better, please let me know, otherwise, I'm all about this deal. They are offering 1$ three day shipping as well! Thanks.

 

[iss]

the 9600's will outperform the Ti4200 AND they are DX9 compaitable while the Ti4200 is only DX8. personally I would look at spending another 50 or so bucks and get a 9800 or 9800 pro.

 

[Masque]

I would have to agree with iss.....though that card IS historically a good performer, I'd tend to go up a little. If that $70 is all you're willing at this time to put into it, I'd say go for it and save for a better card for later.

BTW, Welcome to Techspot! :wave:

 

[dbeanerz]

Thank you for the replies!

If anyone else happens to read this, then I guess my follow up question
would be, is a 9800 or 9800 Pro worth the extra 50$ in terms of performance,
as will it be noticeable for the price? And if I were to spend the extra, which
would amount to 120$, should I be looking at an NVIDIA card.

Thanks for any responses.

-David

 

[vegasgmc]

A 256bit 9800 Pro is still a really good card and will out perform the 9600, especially at higher resolutions. With an Athlon XP 3200 I could play Half Life 2 at 1600x1200. You may find one of those as a refurb. Newegg is great about returns if one doesnt work.

 

[dbeanerz]

Thanks Vegas - looking into it!

 

[iss]

yes the extra money is definitly worth it. I have a 9500 pro, a 9800 and a 9800 pro in various machines. and there is a BIG difference in performance between the 9500 pro and the 9800 and 9800 pro. and the 9500 pro is slightly more powerful than the 9600XT. the 9500 pro has 8 pixel pipelines while the 9600 series only has 4. the 9600 series also is only 128bit memory interface while the 9800 and 9800 pro are 256bit. the 9800 pro is in my kids machine which is a 2.6 ghz P4 and they can run even the latest games at high settings with no problem.

 

[dbeanerz]

That's good to hear - I too noticed the pipeline difference and also read of the 256 compared to 128-bit difference.

So I am looking into the 9800 Pro now - once my school books sell on Amazon I'm set. Thanks for your guys help. Also just got a WD 300GB HD for 70$ after mail in rebate from best buy, so im on a roll with deals.



**UPDATE**
Got a refurbished Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB for 99$ Refurbished
on NewEgg. Hope it arrives with a fan and all.

Thanks

 

[crazdude]

keep in mind the geforce 6 series, even tho most of them have 128 bit only, they are just as powerful as the radeon 9800, or more powerful, if i were u i wud buy a 6600 or 6600 gt instead of a 9800, Ati cards are a bit outdated.

 

[dbeanerz]

Agreed CrazDude - thanks for the reply. I was aware of them being pretty outdated, and by now even below mid-card level, but believe it or not, I don't have the extra 50$ to shell. Got a quick little deal on a 9800 Pro, and that'll hold me over with World of Warcraft for the next 6-8 months. Then this system goes to my sister, and I build my own. Thanks for your help though.

 

[crazdude]

fair enough