| » Pros | |  |
Performance: While this card is hard pressed to outperform its predecessor, it is certainly capable of providing adequate performance for today's games. It is even capable of surpassing the Ti4600 once you turn on AA/AF.
.13 micron: The move to .13 micron for this part has been very beneficial for ATI as they've had the chance to test the process for the high-end segment and decrease their overall costs, which means cheaper cards for us. Moreover, they were able to squeeze out some extra clockspeed.
| » Cons | | |
Radeon 9500 Pro: Again, the Radeon 9600 Pro is very pressed to keep up with the older R9500P. In some cases, we even see the non-pro version beating the newer card. This isn't good for ATI, especially if the R9600P is supposed to be replacing the R9500P.
| » Review | | |
Overall, the R9600P is an excellent card, but its label is a little misconceiving to the average consumer, especially since the R9600P can't beat its older brother. Still, its good to see that ATI is moving their cards over to the .13 micron process and that the card can still offer admirable performance. It will be interesting to see how this card competes against NVIDIA's 5600U, as that will be ATI's direct competition in this segment. The question is, should you go out and buy this card?
My answer to that is yes and no. If you currently have a 9500 or better, there is obviously absolutely no need for this card. Moreover, if you're looking to upgrade and can manage to find a 9500P before ATI phases them out, you'd be much better off buying that, as it is still the performance king in this segment. If you don't fall in either of those groups and you're looking for a card with good performance and a decent price, then look no further...unless of course you want to see how the 5600U stacks up :) |
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