Sapphire Atlantis Radeon 9600 Pro Advantage 256MB

[Stickspoon]

Is this card any good for 150$? I've been trying to find a review for it but haven't been able to do it. I'm upgrading from a Geforce 4 MX 440 SE. My computer can only use AGP cards.
Thanks everyone!

[Ben]

well it will be night and day over the MX440.

it's a mid range card. will play most games fairly well

[Stickspoon]

Thanks! I guess my question is, should I spend around 40$ more for a much better card, or should I spend less to get a card that is "better bang for your buck"? the radeon 9550 is only 120$ whereas the 9600xt is 220$..again, thanks for the help!

[Neil4Speed]

Its funny that you are in the exact same position that I was a few weeks ago. It really depends on how keen you are on gaming I think. I had the exact same card as yours, and it ran the previous gen games just fine, but the current games a little shitty. I ended up spending an extra $25 and upgrading to a TI4200 which runs most of my games nicely including Doom 3. When I say nicely, I mean nicely for a casual gamer.

I would assume that the 9550 is a good card for the money, and would run the current gen games well. I was actually looking at that Sapphire 9600 pro myself, it will run most of the current gen games well, and I think its a good price point/performance.

On the other hand though, if you do have the money, and since you are upgrading anyways, why don't you get a 6600GT, it is about $300 after taxes and shipping, but its more or less the best card out there.


In the end it really comes down to how into gaming you are. I would recommend the 9600Pro especially at the price of $129 I believe at OEM Depot.

Have fun bud

[Ben]

I would get the XT if you have the money.

[MidnightDreamer]

I have that card right now. It's a pretty decent card... Overall performance is probably below par... But with the setup I have right now, I scored about 3000 in 3dmark05, which isn't bad at all. I can run HL2, and Doom 3 with no lag whatso ever... The only thing I really have a quibble with it the TV-out capabilities... Even with an DVI cable the image looks pretty shitty. Using comp or s-vid is even worse... I don't understand this... I just bought an Asus v9400 nvidia mx4000 card which cost about 50$ from mem express... and even using comp vid cable it looks ten times better than the Sapphire did with the DVI cable on my HDTV... But other than this, it's a very well performing card for the more economical gamer. No rendering issues or framerate problems yet. Lots of good reviews for the card if you look for them.

[Stickspoon]

Thanks for everything! Will go get it at OEMdepot for 129.99 (good thing I asked you all otherwise I would have spent an extra 20$ at Memory Express)
:)

[Xtrema]

If you're going for 9600XT for $220, you may as well go for GF6600 for $40-$50 more.