ATI RADEON 9600 PRO - Graphics adapter - Radeon 9600 PRO - AGP 8x - 128 MB DDR - DVI - TV out

by ATI

Product Details

Product Manual [479kb PDF]

• ASIN: B00009ETL1
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: January 12, 2006

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Explore stunning new worlds of cinematic gameplay with the unprecedented combination of power, performance, and Microsoft DirectX 9 optimized support featured in RADEON 9600 family of visual processors. Maximize your long-term entertainment value with its Quad-pipe architecture and high precision cinematic shaders that will upgrade expectations for devoted gamers and casual fans alike -- and push the most compelling next-generation games to their limit.

Features

Get in the Game

• Quad-Pipe architecture delivers real-time cinematic rendering and animation
• SMARTSHADER 2.0 technology supports Microsoft DirectX 9 feature sets, enabling more complex and cinematic-quality lighting effects
• SMOOTHVISION 2.1 technology delivers the sharpest, clearest textures without sacrificing frame rates
• 128-bit full floating point precision enables billions of color variations to render the same lighting and effects as Hollywood studios
• Full AGP 8X support doubles available bandwidth for the most engaging gameplay in its class

Microsoft DirectX 9 support

• Enjoy better performance and 3-D imagery in multimedia, games and applications with Microsoft DirectX 9 optimized architecture
• DirectPlay of the Microsoft DirectX 9 brings improved multiplayer access to groups connecting over LANs and the Internet
• Supported by CATALYST, the industry's most stable 3-D acceleration software
• Also supporting the latest OpenGL functionality and feature sets

Extra Life

• Optimized to run the most demanding 2-D and 3-D next-generation games and applications without putting extra strain on the CPU
• FULLSTREAM removes blocky artifacts from streaming Internet video to deliver smoother looking, higher quality online content
• VIDEO IMMERSION integrates features to provide unprecedented support for digital and high definition video
• Enjoy long-term compatibility with the hottest Microsoft DirectX 9 gaming releases and backwards-compatibility with your favorite titles

Only Products designed and built by ATI offer:

• Hassle-free manufacturers warranty
• Responsive and knowledgeable Customer Service Team
• Extensive online user resources and updates through ATI.com
• Feature-rich, frequently updated, ATI designed CATALYST software

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

58 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent high end card, August 15, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: ATI RADEON 9600 PRO - Graphics adapter - Radeon 9600 PRO - AGP 8x - 128 MB DDR - DVI - TV out (Personal Computers)

This card is an excellent compromise between high performance and ease of installation. Why?
First, It does not need to be hooked into the power supply like the 9500 pro, 9700 pro and 9800 pro or the high-end Nvdia cards. This can be tricky and crash your entire system if your power supply is not at least 300W. Next, this card does have a small fan above the processor heat sink, but it runs so cool because of the new processor technology and in tight installations does not make the next PCI slot unuseable because of the size of the fan. Also this fan is very quiet and not a noisy annoyance like in the GeForce 5900.
This card is a little slower than the top end cards, BUT also much less than half the price, it does support DirectX 9.0 and and all the latest shader etc. technologies. The perfomance differences are not noticeable to the average user unless you are a top end gamer. Therefor the excellent performance right at the top end together with the ease of installation makes this my top choice for other-than-hard-core-gamer machines. There is nothing like it available elsewhere. Install is a snap: First unistall all your previous drivers, reboot and install teh latest driver suite from ATI.....and voila ....a whole new world of graphics is open to you. HINT: You GOT TO download some of the DirectX 9.0 demos from ATI's web site !!! Don't miss them !!

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Super fast and future proof, July 3, 2003

By 

S. Pathak (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: ATI RADEON 9600 PRO - Graphics adapter - Radeon 9600 PRO - AGP 8x - 128 MB DDR - DVI - TV out (Personal Computers)

I had a measely ATI Rage 128 card before I bought this one. Suffice to say I noticed a massive difference in quality. I now play Unreal Tournament 2003 at 1024 * 768 with all detail settings maxed, and it plays so smooth!!
The Anubis map looks amazing!!

When I was getting around 2-3 FPS (frames per second) in games like Unreal2, Im now getting 100's of FPS.

My setup: P4 2.4Ghz, 512Mb PC2700 RAM.

I get around 11,000 3DMark2001 and 3300 in 3dMark03. ...

Installation:
No problems here. Removed old drivers, removed old card, installed new card, popped in CD which came with card, and I was gaming in about 15 mins.
There can be problems with installation however, with both NVIDIA and ATI cards, and so follow the instructions VERY CLOSELY.

I would recommend the Radeon 9500 Pro for people with a 300W+ power supply however. This card is a Radeon 9700 clone and uses the same PCB. It became to expensive for ATI to manufacture for a mainstream price (150-200$) and so it is now discontinued. It is still available at some online stores and so get it while you can.

The 9600Pro doesnt require connection to your internal power supply and so I bought it, since I have a 250W PSU.
One can run even the 9700 or 9800 on a 250W PSU, but its a risk I didnt want to take.

The 9600 is also fully DX9 compliant (in hardware) and so you should be all set to play games like Half-life2 and Doom3 which make use of DX9.

There are no real competitors in the NVIDIA product line, and while the FX5600 comes close, the 9600 beats it in most tests.

This card can play all of todays games at full detail level comfortably.

In short, if you are willing to spend [the money] on a card, try the 9500 first, else get this card.

Enjoy

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars So glad I spent that little bit extra..., December 2, 2003

By 

AntVector (NY) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: ATI RADEON 9600 PRO - Graphics adapter - Radeon 9600 PRO - AGP 8x - 128 MB DDR - DVI - TV out (Personal Computers)

In approaching an upgrade for my default dell graphics card I admit that, being a thrifty, stingy kinda guy, I was tempted by several different 3rd party cards, most of which weighed in around the $100 mark. In a titanic battle of instinct vs. cashflow I eventually decided to suck it up and get this card, which has been favourably regarded in most reviews. I'm no great computer whizz, so I can only review this from a user perspective - you can always check ATI's site for power and framerate specs.

The intsallation was pretty simple even for a scaredy-cat like moi - I followed the instructions closely, and didn't have any problems. All the new drivers worked fine, and its nice to have a greatly expanded menu of graphics options, included as software with the card.

I can honestly say that this card is the single biggest performance upgrade I've made, surpassing extra RAM by a mile. I had a blast running my newer games (Call of Duty, Battlefield 1942 etc) on higher resolutions than I thought I'd ever seen on my P4 1.4, and it really has opened my eyes to the potential of a quality card. I can only assume from my lack of problems that it runs cooler than my old card, and it's quiet too.

For those on smaller budget, eager to upgrade their graphics I highly recommend splashing out that little bit extra on this, or a similarly priced card. You really are getting what you pay for, and in my experience ATI has offered great patch support and a solid, well designed product. I guess the highest praise I can offer is that, for a lower end user like me, this card is simple, very effective, and the price is cheaper than I'd expect for these results.