Help! Can't decide: Radeon 9550 256 mb or Radeon 9600 128 mb ?

johnrogh · 05-08-2005, 06:46 PM

Hi, I'm a n00b to the board and it's my first post. Btw, I'm also Canadian, so I'm actually speaking in Canadian funds.
I recently got Adobe Premiere 7.0 and want to make music vids, but it's too laggy right now. Alongside, I'm a gamer, but most of the recent games out now can't be handled by my current video card. I currently have an ATI Radeon 7500 and I want to upgrade, however, I can't afford to spend ANOTHER $400 over it. $200 is as much as I can stretch. My tech store has two cards that are priced the same (and under my budget requirements of course), but I don't know which one is better. They have the ATI Radeon 9550 256 mb and the ATI Radeon 9600 128 mb (not pro, just 9600). I don't want to sound like a n00b anymore, but does it really matter that one has better memory than the other? And overall, which one of these two performs better?

Here are the specs to both of these video cards:

ATI Radeon 9550 256 mb

ATI Radeon 9600 128 mb

(Sorry I couldn't write these out myself, but a chart looks more elegant and organized.)

Please help!

**UncleMacro** · 05-09-2005, 04:09 AM

Welcome to the forum.

Assuming you're not overclocking, you're better off with a 128MB 9600 than with a 256MB 9550. They're basically the same board except the GPU of the 9600 runs at 325MHz whereas the 9550 runs at 250MHz. The GPU (graphics processing unit) is the chip that does all the 3D drawing. The RAM speed on the two cards is the same. 256MB doesn't really help the 9550 because it's too slow to take advantage of that amount of RAM. 256MB is only useful in much faster video cards. As it happens, it's very easy to overclock the GPU of a 9550 since it's actually a seriously underclocked 9600 in the first place. You can convert 9550s into 9600s almost every time using something like ATITool.

If you're really looking to do some gaming you would be much better off spending the extra cash to get a 9600 Pro. They are about 50% faster than a plain 9600. A plain 9600 has a 325MHz GPU and 400MHz RAM. A 9600 Pro has a 400MHz GPU and 600MHz RAM (if you avoid the slower 446MHz model). I'm not sure about up North, but down here in the US, 9600 Pros are only a little more expensive than plain 9600s and they're definitely worth the price difference.

2ply · 05-09-2005, 10:59 AM

Like Macro said, I currently have a 9600 Pro, stock clocked, and it's alot better than my friend's plain 9600. I bought my 9600 Pro at Memory Express in Calgary for about $150(I think, I'll check when I get home, it was around there).

05-08-2005, 06:46 PM	#1 (permalink)
johnrogh Registered User Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 1 OS: Windows XP	Help! Can't decide: Radeon 9550 256 mb or Radeon 9600 128 mb? Hi, I'm a n00b to the board and it's my first post. Btw, I'm also Canadian, so I'm actually speaking in Canadian funds. I recently got Adobe Premiere 7.0 and want to make music vids, but it's too laggy right now. Alongside, I'm a gamer, but most of the recent games out now can't be handled by my current video card. I currently have an ATI Radeon 7500 and I want to upgrade, however, I can't afford to spend ANOTHER $400 over it. $200 is as much as I can stretch. My tech store has two cards that are priced the same (and under my budget requirements of course), but I don't know which one is better. They have the ATI Radeon 9550 256 mb and the ATI Radeon 9600 128 mb (not pro, just 9600). I don't want to sound like a n00b anymore, but does it really matter that one has better memory than the other? And overall, which one of these two performs better? Here are the specs to both of these video cards: ATI Radeon 9550 256 mb ATI Radeon 9600 128 mb (Sorry I couldn't write these out myself, but a chart looks more elegant and organized.) Please help! Last edited by johnrogh : 05-08-2005 at 07:04 PM.

05-09-2005, 04:09 AM	#2 (permalink)
UncleMacro Moderator Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: San Diego Posts: 2,127 OS: Vista SP1 My System	Welcome to the forum. Assuming you're not overclocking, you're better off with a 128MB 9600 than with a 256MB 9550. They're basically the same board except the GPU of the 9600 runs at 325MHz whereas the 9550 runs at 250MHz. The GPU (graphics processing unit) is the chip that does all the 3D drawing. The RAM speed on the two cards is the same. 256MB doesn't really help the 9550 because it's too slow to take advantage of that amount of RAM. 256MB is only useful in much faster video cards. As it happens, it's very easy to overclock the GPU of a 9550 since it's actually a seriously underclocked 9600 in the first place. You can convert 9550s into 9600s almost every time using something like ATITool. If you're really looking to do some gaming you would be much better off spending the extra cash to get a 9600 Pro. They are about 50% faster than a plain 9600. A plain 9600 has a 325MHz GPU and 400MHz RAM. A 9600 Pro has a 400MHz GPU and 600MHz RAM (if you avoid the slower 446MHz model). I'm not sure about up North, but down here in the US, 9600 Pros are only a little more expensive than plain 9600s and they're definitely worth the price difference. __________________

05-09-2005, 10:59 AM	#3 (permalink)
2ply Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 85 OS: XP/FC3 Dual Boot	Like Macro said, I currently have a 9600 Pro, stock clocked, and it's alot better than my friend's plain 9600. I bought my 9600 Pro at Memory Express in Calgary for about $150(I think, I'll check when I get home, it was around there).