VisionTek Radeon 9500 Pro

[nocatharsis]

I like everything I've read on here about this chipset. What about the brand though? Anyone have some experience with this brand and chipset? Is it better or worse than BBA (Built by ATI)? Thanks.

 

[PREST0]

I never had a 9500 from visiontek, but I did have a geforce3 ti500 from that maker and it gave me a couple years of good service. The Fan did eventually die, but that was after about 2 years and it was an inexpensive and easy part to replace. I give visiontek a good rating as far as my experience.

 

[splenda20]

If your thinking about buying a 9500Pro, why not just spend a few more dollars and get a 9700 or 9800XT? I haven't seen prices on the 9500Pro since I bought mine a year ago for $250CDN, but now they can't be far off from the 97/9800 prices.
Anyways, I don't know about VisionTek for ATI, I know they made very high quality NV boards. I have a Sapphire 9500Pro that has been great for me.

 

[Willamette_sucks]

First let me say I agree with splenda.

As far as Visiontek is concerned, they follow the ATI reference design to the T, and are exactly the same as BBA and Sapphire cards. It should be just as good.

Me: are you saying I can't provide?
Me: cause I know I can provide.
Me: oh and I can provide money too
Rachel: why do we need money when we can just stay in our room and have sex all day?

 

[sweatlaserxp]

Why not just spend A FEW MORE dollars and get a 9700 or 9800XT??? Splenda, you better go online and get current with prices- the difference in price is much greater than a few bucks between those cards and the 9500 Pro.

The 9500 Pro is a very good card, but the problem is that it's very difficult to find a NIB 9500 Pro without paying a premium. However, if you trust eBay, there are always a handful of them up for auction, and you should be able to score one for less than $130, or even cheaper than that, so granted that it's in good working order it's a better buy than the 9600 Pro.

 

[nocatharsis]

I was just thinking I could get a 9500 Pro off of Ebay for around $100 and that was a pretty good price. What should I look for in a 97/9800? Pro? XT? SE? I don't even know all the nomenclature. Is it worth the extra cash in speed? Thanks a lot.

 

[cryo]

although 9500 Pro is one helluva card (it's almost a legend :lol: ), if you can afford the difference, go for a 9700Pro/9800non-Pro/9800Pro. Stay away from 9800 SE (only half the memory bandwith compared to the others), and don't go for 9800XT (is not worth the extra bucks from 9800 Pro, IMO). Also, make sure you get the 128MB DDR versions, the 256MB are just not worth the extra money.

Edit: to clear up the suffixes involved:
For ATi: SE < non-Pro (normal) < Pro < XT (and further <PE<Dilithium edition<Unobtanium etc - joke )
For nVidia: XT=SE < normal < Ultra (and looks like there will be also a Pro soon, remains to be seen where it will go)
Nota bene: XT means <b>best</b> for ATi, while it means <b>worst</b> for nVidia

"I cannot give you a brain, but I can give you a diploma"
- The Wizard of Oz, talking to the Scarecrow<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by cryo on 05/07/04 03:30 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[nocatharsis]

Cool, well thanks a lot. Ok, so here's the price breakdown that I've found so far. These are all 128 MB cards from ATI brands or equivalent (according to what this thread has told me) and prices from Pricewatch except the 9500.

ATI 9500 Pro: $160 Pricewatch, $100 or so on Ebay (variable)
Sapphire Atlantis 9600 Pro: $126
Sapphire Atlantis 9700 Pro: $164
ATI 9800SE: $132
ATI 9800 Pro: $199

Yeah I don't want to spend too much. What is my best bet considering the future and considering PPR? Thanks a lot.

 

[cryo]

Considering that, basically, the 9800 (Pro or non-Pro) is just an overclocked 9700 Pro, you could go for the 9700Pro, to save some money. Excellent price-performance ratio (I hope this is what PPR means). However, if you squeeze the extra 35 bucks for the 9800 Pro, you won't regret it one bit. Still one of the greatest cards out-there.

Edit: this is how I got my 9800Pro: was looking for a 9600 card, then said oh, I'll get an XT one, and then: oh, whaddaheck, i'll just pay 30 more euro and get a 9800Pro :lol:

"I cannot give you a brain, but I can give you a diploma"
- The Wizard of Oz, talking to the Scarecrow<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by cryo on 05/07/04 04:09 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[sweatlaserxp]

I bought a stand-alone (OEM) Sapphire 9800 Pro from Newegg about two months ago, and so far I've had no problems with it, and it's very powerful. In my opinion the two choices really are $100 for the 9500 Pro, which is an outstanding value, or $200 for the 9800 Pro which is also a good value. I don't know what card you are upgrading from, but I would recommend just going all-out and get the 9800 Pro, because it's the biggest step in performance and it's within your budget. Or, if you're crazy, you can try and score an X800 Pro ;-)