Gonna get a new ATI Radeon card..need help deciding which one
 

Was at the store looking today..I don't know too much about em, but I was checking out some of the newer video cards (my old geforce 3 is getting pretty dated). Gonna get one of the ATI Radeon 9600's, but cant decide on which model...here are the specs:

http://www.ati.com/products/radeon96...o/compare.html

The pro looks to be only slightly better, and its 130 dollars more (the SE is 130, while the pro is 260)...any thoughts, from the experts out there?

ATI Radeon 9800 XT :thumbsup

haha...dont have that kinda money to drop on a video card.

Then go for the 9600 pro

ATI buy a GeForce 4 5300 Ultra :thumbsup

If you definately want a 9600 then go for the 9600XT, stay away from the SE, it is a budget version. But I do recommend you go for a regular 9800, for just a bit more money you will get a lot more performance than a 9600XT.

The SE series are the new naming structure for what they used to call "mx" chips. You pay for the name of the newer product line, but don't get the features. The MX chips didn't allow for pixel-shading, for example. For many people, that was the whole advantage of upgrading the video card.

I love my 9600 Pro :thumbsup But any Ati should be good.

If you can find a store with a 9500 PRO still in stock, get one of those. Apparently they are faster than the new 9600's, for some reason. At least that is what I read on a hardware site.