[SOLVED] nVidia 9500GT vs 9600GT, which to buy?

[mips]

I can get a XFX 9500GT for a good price?

1. I do not see linux driver support for this gpu or am I mistaken, ftp://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86_64/177.70/README/index.html

2. Are there any know issues with this card in linux generally, using Arc64+KDE4.1?


How does the 9600GT perform. Issue I have is that it is 50% more than the 9500GT in price.

There is a comaprison site out there that I lost the link to that you can compare gpus side by side from a drop down menu, anyone know the site?

EDIT: I found the site, http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php

[mips]

What is the difference between the different series models, ie 8800GT vs 9800GT. From what I gather a 8800GT will outperform a 9600GT?

Why is this and can someone please explain this to me?

What would currently be a good buy that falls into the same price range as the 9500GT to 9600GT?

[Bachstelze]

A 8800 GT will indeed clearly outperform a 9600 GT.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compari...ocessing_units

From what I've read in lots of reviews, the 9000 series is generally not worth it. I guess a 8000 would be the best buy, since they got much cheaper when the 9000 series came out, and are still very good cards.

[astroboy78]

It depends what you want to do with it. If you are a gamer, I will suggest that you buy something more powerful that a 9500GT, if you have the financial resources. If you just surf the web and watch videos, a 9500GT will be plenty.

The way it works, the second number (eg. the 5 in 9500) means its power across GPU generations (6000, 7000, 8000, 9000). So even a 6800GT will "beat" a 9500 GT, bechmarking wise.

It's like CPUs. First they produce the 9800GT and then when they get chips that aren't "stable" at the spec speed of a 9800, they tag them 9600, then 9500 and so on. Instead of trashing the chips, they sell them at a cheaper price.

If you want to do some comparison, you can go to:

http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/g...score,538.html

and check benchmarks for different graphic cards. The 9000 series is not there yet, but you'll have a good idea on how it works.

If you have more questions, do not hesitate to ask!

[mips]

Thanks for the info, I'm busy looking at the links you guys provided.

I just came back from the pc shop and I also spotted the 8600GT 512MBddr2 from Asus & XFX which are reasonably priced. The 8800 series they have there is more than what I'm willing to pay.

I'm not a gamer, but will be trying CSS in future but that does not have a very high requirement of the GPU from what I have read..

The only reason I'm buying a new card is that my old pc, which I got working again now no longer has a gfx card as I transferred the 6600 to my new PC.

[mips]

From comparison it looks like the 8600GT lags far in performance compared to the 9600GT.

They have a 8800GT 1GB ddr3 in stock but that is more than twice the price of the 9600GT. They also have a 8800GS in stock which is pricier than the 9600GT but outperforms in some areas and loses in others, http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards....=551&card2=557

There is also the issue of heat and noisy fans, I think the one 8600GT does not have fans.
I'm thinking 9600GT, what do you guys think? Fortunately they sold out on 9500GTs so that is no longer an issue.

EDIT: These are my options,
http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1...96&modelmenu=1
http://xfxforce.com/en-gb/products/g.../8600GT.aspx#2 512MB ddr2 version
http://xfxforce.com/en-gb/products/g.../9600GT.aspx#2 650MHz clock version

[geekygirl]

With benchmarking a lot will also depend on the other hardware found in the test bed PC they are using, and the performance you actually get (ie realworld performance) might be a lot different to the benchmark results as well.

Another thing to remember is GPU performance can be very much affected by the drivers in use as well...

Generally speaking the 8800GT 512MB and 9600GT 512MB are very much on par with one another, with the 8800GT only edging out the 9600GT in the higher resolutions. To say that the 9600GT is basically a rebadged or slightly newer version of an 8600GT couldn't be further from the truth.

I have compared the real world results of my XFX 9600GT and also my evga 8800GTS 320M KO ACS3 (which was the fastest 8800GTS 320M at the time) and the 9600GT more than keeps up, an 8600GT wouldn't. Given that both times I was running Bioshock with shaders and graphics turned up, on a 1280x1024 resolution the difference between the two was rather minimal - pretty much the reason I kept the 9600GT rather than sell it and get an 8800GT....

The 9600GT is a good buy for mid to low end budget gaming PC's, but it is nothing like an 8600GT, more like an 8800GT 512MB, but not quite! It will also run most 3D games (yes it struggled with Crysis..but so do most cards, and it took a mate of mine to run in Crossfire 2 HD4870X2 cards to get it to run well!)

The 9 series GPU's run quite well with Ubuntu, just had to use envy to install the latest drivers.

[mips]

I have compared the real world results of my XFX 9600GT and also my evga 8800GTS 320M KO ACS3 (which was the fastest 8800GTS 320M at the time) and the 9600GT more than keeps up, an 8600GT wouldn't. Given that both times I was running Bioshock with shaders and graphics turned up, on a 1280x1024 resolution the difference between the two was rather minimal - pretty much the reason I kept the 9600GT rather than sell it and get an 8800GT....

Thanks for that, you just made up my mind for me. Always easier hearing from someone that has owned & tested both than comparing specs on a web page

I'm off to the shop seeing the only have one 9600GT left

Thanks to everyone that provided input in this thread, much appreciated!!!

Will provide feedback once I get back and have installed it.