9600GT enough for 17" (1280x1024) ???

[di9it]

Hi frnds,

Im planning to buy Palit 9600GT.
Is this card sufficient for all the games available these days @ 1280x1024
Or shud I increase my budget?

[uchiha_madara]

Definitely increase your budget if you can, HD 4850 or 9800GTX+ should be your target.

Is this card sufficient for all the games available these days @ 1280x1024

Well that depends on the games you are playing and at what setting.

[damngoodman999]

dont worry 9600GT is ok , but all medium settings , go for HD 4850 gaming @ high settings

[Ecstasy]

Surely 9600 GT is good enough for most of the games. Palit 9600 GT always had a good review.

[Ethan_Hunt]

Having owned a ATI card for quite sometime now, I would strongly suggest getting a good Nvidia card. 9600GT should be more than enough for playing at 1280x1024 resolution. But make sure he has a good PSU to back it up as well.

[furious_gamer]

Originally Posted by Ethan_Hunt

Having owned a ATI card for quite sometime now, I would strongly suggest getting a good Nvidia card.

Well i thought that you are happy with that card, but when analyze by the statement you written, you are completely disappointed with it.Am i right? Whats wrong with that card?

Anyhow, 9600GT is a best bet for playing games at the resolution mentioned by the OP.

[Ethan_Hunt]

I'm not satisfied with the driver support to be honest. It's extremely buggy. It keeps having conflicts with some or the other games. You can check with people who have previously used Nvidia cards & have now used ATI & ended up having issues with ATI cards, which they never had of Nvidia cards. I don't doubt it's better in terms of IQ as opposed to Nvidia, but the stability with games is better with Nvidia drivers. My friend (who has a HD4870) & myself got it around the same time & often end up having discussions of some or the other issues. He was planning on switching to a GTX260. I, on the other hand, am not going to switch anytime soon. Will buy a console, may be, but not switch my graphic card. Provided an opportunity now, I would gladly shift to Nvidia.

[furious_gamer]

Oops, i have to revise my idea of buying a HD4850

[hell_storm2006]

HD 4850 rocks!!! Great Card!!!! I have no problems with it!! No heating issues. Little power consumption!!! Best value for money card ever released i guess!!!

[di9it]

Originally Posted by hell_storm2006

HD 4850 rocks!!! Great Card!!!! I have no problems with it!! No heating issues. Little power consumption!!! Best value for money card ever released i guess!!!

Aren't u facing any driver problem with this card, i mean the most of the posters say that ATI cards have driver bugs..?

[desiibond]

I faced crashes (HD2600XT) for two games till now.

1) Virtua Tennis 3
2) Burnout Paraside Ultimate box

And patches were available in no time for both. no issues with any other games.

[comp@ddict]

Dude, 9600GT is a winner, and at 1280x1024 resolution, it will sail through every game at full settings and 4xAA, you might have to occasionally reduce to medium-high settings or 2xAA or maybe 0xAA(never I think), but it's excellent overall.

[hell_storm2006]

Originally Posted by di9it

Aren't u facing any driver problem with this card, i mean the most of the posters say that ATI cards have driver bugs..?

Absolutely Not!!!

I get frequent updates! Although Catalyst 8.11 was a problem, notjing major to say ATI makes pathetic drivers. 8.9, 8.10, 9.1.... no problems!!! Catalyst 9.1. I have had such problems with my old AGP card from nVidia! So go for ATI 4850 and enjoy gaming!

[comp@ddict]

^^9.1 is a loser , get 8.12 with the hotfix or 9.2 modded.

[Plasma_Snake]

9.3 is also out and I too faced driver related issues with my HD4850 and not to forget the cooling issues for which I had to invest another 2.5K to retro fit it with better cooling solution.

[hellgate]

after having used 2 ATI cards i wud anyday prefer a nvidia card.

[huntu123]

yup, i too had hd4850 n i sold it.......m not sayn its a bad card...........but nvidia cards are more stable dan ati counterparts.......in perfomance hd4850 is very competitive against nvidia 98xx but its the other features of nvidia which makes them stand out.........

[uchiha_madara]

Originally Posted by huntu123

yup, i too had hd4850 n i sold it.......m not sayn its a bad card...........but nvidia cards are more stable dan ati counterparts.......in perfomance hd4850 is very competitive against nvidia 98xx but its the other features of nvidia which makes them stand out.........

What other features that might be?

I haven't had any issues with my card, though I only install only no CCC and ****.

[Ethan_Hunt]

^Only one I guess, PhysX.

[huntu123]

physix and cuda really..............n der driver support is far ahead of ati's catalyst ........even though the implementation of both cuda n physics is very less in real world but they are there................. in future, software developers wl use cuda n physix to develop games n softwares whereas havok enjine of ati is nowhere to be seen...........and dnt forget nvidia's hybrid power n hybrid boost are some features which are very useful to conserve energy.........but in ati only one of them is present.......so overall nvidia is better dan ati.............

correct me if m wrong..........

[uchiha_madara]

Originally Posted by huntu123

physix and cuda really..............n der driver support is far ahead of ati's catalyst ........even though the implementation of both cuda n physics is very less in real world but they are there................. in future, software developers wl use cuda n physix to develop games n softwares whereas havok enjine of ati is nowhere to be seen...........and dnt forget nvidia's hybrid power n hybrid boost are some features which are very useful to conserve energy.........but in ati only one of them is present.......so overall nvidia is better dan ati.............

correct me if m wrong..........

I will
How do you judge that driver support of nvidia is better?
IMO it's just your personal opinion.
Yeah CUDA has something going for it but its future is uncertain as OpenCL standard is here which is going to be supported by more companies than one proprietary standard being pushed by nVidia.Though there are a couple of softwares I know that do use it like Coreavc and this one http://neuron2.net/dgmpgdecnv/dgmpgdecnv.html.

AFAIK Physx has been incorporated into just two games Mirror's edge and UT 3(I have read on some forums that cryostasis used Physx only in the demo ,not retail game).So much for basing your purchase decisions on just two games.

Then there is this debacle of nvidia moving out components with shoddy soldering leading to premature failure of the hardware and also the selling of old hardware rebadged with new stickers.

Havok is Intel's property and if you wanna talk future, Havok is gonna beat out any thing out there because it is software based and every CPU can run that ,plus AMD in partnership with Havok is going to get that engine hardware support and don't forget in pure theoretical performance Ati card of 4800 series beats the 98xx series so the hardware physics won't be constrained by computing power.
For hybrid have a look at this http://ati.amd.com/technology/hybridgraphics/index.html.
So there you have it ,please try to get your facts straight and please do construct complete words if a sentence is too, tiresome.

[mikael_schiffer]

I'm not satisfied with the driver support to be honest. It's extremely buggy. It keeps having conflicts with some or the other games.

Yep. I had HD2600XT Super 1GB. Bloody card cannot run BIOSHOCK. All textures are blacked out. Seriously ATI shuxx when it comes to driver support.
The reason why Ati HD48xx series is owning the gaming scene is because top games in the market support it properly. Else, good luck with ur ATI card playing other "not so famous"games.

@thread opener.

Your 9600GT is good enough for mid-end gaming. Dont crank ur AA and stick to Medium-high graphical settings. 90% games in the market will run at MAX settings except for certain few like CRYSIS and World in Conflict.

As for power requierement, any 350-400W PSU with dedicated PCI-E connector will do. Dont rely on cheap unbranded ones though. Specially those iBALL cases with bundled PSUs >_<

[di9it]

Hey Friends,

Thank you all for your wonderful opinions......

Finally, I come to a conclusion:
nVidia = Stability/Reliablity
ATI = Compatibility Issue/Wait for drivers

May be I go for a better card than 9600GT but it won't be an ATI.
Shall 9800GT work better as compared to HD4850 as suggested by some posters in this thread?

Any pros/cons are welcome...

[damngoodman999]

May be I go for a better card than 9600GT but it won't be an ATI.
Shall 9800GT work better as compared to HD4850 as suggested by some posters in this thread?

NO!!

HD 4850 even beats 9800GTX , its far more performance than 9800GT

[j1n M@tt]

I was planning to get a HD4670...is 9600GT better than HD4670 when it comes to playing games at higher resolution??...I hav 17" widescreen LCD with 1440x900res.

[damngoodman999]

^^^ GO FOR 9600GT its really good under medium budget

[j1n M@tt]

under medium budget?!!!....I hav to get a decent PSU too with this power hunger monster!

[damngoodman999]

9600GT is not power hunger !! u can have 500 watts PSU thats enough

[j1n M@tt]

but my Zebronics 500W PSU sux...hav to get at least a CM 469W PSU

[huntu123]

thats true.................... dnt rely on zebronics psu............go for cm 450w or better........for 9600GT it wl suffice.........its a gud decision u r goin with nvidia.............