sapphire atlantis, good brand?

[Darfur]

I see them all over Price watch, so I'm assuming they are, but I just want to make sure.

I'm looking at either the 9500 PRO or the 9600 PRO, but I hear the 9500 is actually faster. . .looking over the specs it seems to make sense. If so, what does the 9600 have to make it a choice against the 9500 (not including the 9500 being discontinued)

And also the site I would buy the 9500 PRO from offers additional cooling. Is this recommended, or just a way to squeeze a little more profit from me?

Last thing, I believe it was on the 9700, that a reseller said that the minimum power supply requirement was 300 watts. Is there anything like that for the 9500 pro or the 9600 pro?

What are your thoughts on this?

 

[cleeve]

Sapphires are great, they actually manufacture the Retail Ati cards for Ati.

9500 PRO is better, but not all that much. The 9600 PRO is still a great card.

Additional cooling is useless unless you plan to overclock.

You're going to want AT LEAST a 350 watt power supply to feed your system and your video card.

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Radeon 9500 (modded to PRO w/8 pixel pipelines)
AMD AthlonXP 2000+
3dMark03: 3529