Radeon 9600 XT, much ado about nothing

[CrazyCrusher]

a some what interesting read I might add :)

ATi seems to be on a winning streak lately, they’ve launched one successful graphics card after another, securing their position as the current 3D graphics leader. Although the launch of the Radeon 9800 XT was a bit of a paper launch, as they only had a handful of videocards to circulate amongst the different media, we were anxiously awaiting the Radeon 9600 XT. Why? Because the Radeon 9600 XT was set to bring high-end 3D graphics performance at a sub $200 price point, performance comparable to the Radeon 9800 or 9800 Pro. That got us excited, as not everybody is willing, or able, to shell out a mere $500 every year to be able to replace the previous king of the hill 3D graphics card with the next generation. Unfortunately all winning streaks must come to an end, and with the launch of the Radeon 9600 XT ATi certainly fell short on delivering on their promises.

full story click
http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/article/1671/

[bob05]

Looks like those who want a 9600XT should look else where (maybe the NV40 :p). Too much hype about nothing, really. Only compelling reason to get it is for HL 2 (if it even comes out :rolleyes: ). :t

[tgxiii]

I agree that it's disappointing, but for people who are getting a 9600 Pro and Half-Life 2 they might as well get a 9600XT, don't you think? I haven't seen the 9600 Pro cards go under $160. HL2 will cost $40 to $50? (I'm not sure, just guessing.) It amounts to around the same cost as a 9600XT anyway, so....

[Someone Stupid]

And by the time HL2 is out, 9600's are most likely going to be going for 120 or so instead of 160.

[tgxiii]

Heh... good point... your member name seems to be a misnomer. :D

[Rugor]

Funny thing that

There are half a dozen reviews of the 9600XT from such sites as:

Tech Report (http://www.techreport.com/reviews/2003q4/radeon-9600xt/index.x?pg=1)

and [H]ardOCP (http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=NTMz)

Who give it an Editor's Choice and Must Have [Hardware] award respectively.

And even Beyond3D (http://www.beyond3d.com/reviews/ati/rv360/)

All of these reviews put the card in a much better light than Sander Sassen's review on Hardware Analysis. I wasn't overly impressed with his work when he was a "Site Leader" on Hardware Central years ago, and I'm not now.

What's the point of cherry-picking the one negative review from a relatively minor site, when other reviews put the same product in a much better light?

[cyber_gubat]

the radeon 9600 XT is not that bad, it's good actually. but with all those claims ATI just came too short to compare the 9600 XT with a 9700pro.

[CrazyCrusher]

removed

[Rugor]

Why wouldn't you call them Minor? They are relatively new, I for one hadn't heard of them until quite recently. Only one member of their team has any history in the community, and his greatest claim to fame was Hardware Central before it merged with the remains of Sharky Extreme. Ignoring the big three, (Toms, Anands, and [H]) I look at places like Techreport, Beyond3D, and ArsTechnica and other established sites as the next rank. Hardware Analysis is too new to have built a real reputation, and Sander Sassen doesn't carry enough personal weight to carry a first ranked site yet.

From where I sit they are a minor site, they may grow, but right now they're minor. Not enough people know about them for them to be anything else.

[Someone Stupid]

The number of reputable sites that I know of that gave nvidia good reviews for the FX series or any of the bloody drivers that I know of I can count with my "limb" with no digits if you get my drift.

Edit: As for my name, that is if I make a mistake, well you did listen to someone stupid. :)

[CrazyCrusher]

removed

[Met-AL]

With 9700-pro being so cheap now, the better buy would be a 9700-pro over at 9600xt.

[Magua]

the Radeon 9600 XT was set to bring high-end 3D graphics performance at a sub $200 price point, performance comparable to the Radeon 9800 or 9800 Pro.

It was? Thats news to me. The 9600XT was never supposed to be equal to or better than a 9800 card. I think the 9600XT is exactly what it was advertized as, the best mid-line graphics card around. It costs about $40 more than the old 9600pro, but packaged with HL2 (which many people going after good cards will buy) so if you basicly get an improved 9600pro for free. If you didn't want HL2, you still get (by far) the best video card under $200.

EDIT: In the future try using the quote feature for quotes, or use quotation marks. I was under the impression you wrote that paragraph. So your not wrong, they are.

[Met-AL]

I did read on Anandtech that ATI was stating that the 9600XT was going to be the first mainstream card to best the 9700-pro in most applications. This was ATI's claim, not Anandtech's.

[CrazyCrusher]

Originally posted by Met-AL
I did read on Anandtech that ATI was stating that the 9600XT was going to be the first mainstream card to best the 9700-pro in most applications. This was ATI's claim, not Anandtech's.
Yes, I read that allso, it was ATI's claim.

[Magua]

When did they say it was to compete with the 9800's?

[CrazyCrusher]

removed

[Magua]

Ahh I see, why did you type that whole paragraph with 99% of it directly copied from the website, instead of copy and pasting it into the quote box, or putting it in quotes?

[CrazyCrusher]

Originally posted by Magua
Ahh I see, why did you type that whole paragraph with 99% of it directly copied from the website, instead of copy and pasting it into the quote box, or putting it in quotes?

and your point is :confused:? what I did, if you "look" copy and pasted from the site a small preview of the story, as i did not want to over flow the forum ok, yo with me, ok good, then I have a link at the bottom, thats say, now take it slow, magua, click here full story, now, there ya go, so simple :t and im sure every one who "read" the story on that site saw the start of it here. so I honestly dont know why your getting so up set. one more thing mague, I did not typ the whole paragrah, why would I do that, thats just a silly waste of time dont you think. oh, one more thing there magua if you did read the preview on that site you would see that its %100 copy and paste, not %99 my good man :)

[Rugor]

I thought the 9600 XT was being positioned to be a match for the 9500 Pro in performance, and what tests I've seen show exactly that. As to a 50 dollar price premium over the 9600 Pro, a 25% higher core speed and HL2 on release seems to be worth the difference.

It's a good card and a solid value.

[CrazyCrusher]

I agree, All I said, That it was a little over rated on some sites and by others that¡¦s all, wow I post a link that some people might find interesting and I get jumped on, I never said it was a bad card did I? <----checks his posts nope, don¡¦t look like I did ƒº, and yes its good Value, but as I said a little over rated, now move on with the original topic, which was do you think they over rated the card? I allso took my posts out to stop the whining and the text inspector lol :t

[runforfun320]

When exactly does the 9600 XT get released?? On the ATI site it says it's sold out so I emailed them about it but who knows when I'll get an answer with their tech help. Plus, I see all these sites saying that the 9800 XT will come out in April with HL2 so does that mean the 9600 XT will come out then too???

email me at smallsk8r320@msn.com or post back
thanks.

[RamonGTP]

The only thing wrong with the 9600 XT was that it was over-rated and over-hyped... Anyone who really believed it would perform like similar to a 9800 Pro is just naive. The card itself IS a good card, and it IS faster than the 9600 Pro, and it IS better than its nVidia counterpart.

[runforfun320]

Yeah, but when will it finaly come out???

[ComPooTer]

i thought it came out already?

[tgxiii]

It came out already, but they were underproduced. It got too many orders and not enough cards were made upon release.

[iceblue]

Originally posted by CrazyCrusher
and your point is :confused:?...
next time just ignore it. save a few minutes of your life :t