what card to buy

[smig]

after my previous question was unswered (Thank you :toast: ) comes the question of the card to buy.

I mostly interested in XpertVision (PNY) now simply because they are the cheapest here, and comments I read about them are good with Solid and quite cooling.

I'm mostly confused between the 9600GSO 786mb Sonic (180 US$) and the 9600GT 512mb (205 US$).
the 9600GSO has more shaders (96 vs 64) but smaller bandwidth (192bit vs 256bit) and it runs at slower speeds.
which one is better ?

In any case I'll take the Sonic (OC) version. I guess it's better to take a company OC version for the extra 15 US$.

I also found a Twintech 9600GTXT OC 512mb (225 US$). what does the XT here mean ?

I know the 8800GT performs a bit better then the 9600GT, but it's also a bit more pricy. I guess when new drivers will come out they will squeese mor from the newer 9600 one.

(all prices do not include shipment)

Thanks,
Tal

[Smartbomb]

I think you are best off to buy a non OC'd version and save youself sum chickens as it is easy to use rivatuner and OC yourself :)

[smig]

I think you are best off to buy a non OC'd version and save youself sum chickens as it is easy to use rivatuner and OC yourself :)

yes I know I can do, but won't it void the warrenty ?

[CrackerJack]

yes I know I can do, but won't it void the warrenty ?

if you screw it up, then yeah. But with using rivatuner you should be ok. Just take small steps. Then when you find a safe zone, then you can flash. :D

[Azazel]

oc edition is 100% stable. if your not comfortable oc'ing it yourself

[smig]

oc'ing is not the problem. but if I do it myself and the card stop working (from any other reason) won't it void the warrenty ? if it does I prefer to take the pre OC one and keep it like they did.

my more importent question - should I take the 9600GT or the 9600GSO one ?

[Azazel]

get the GSO...its about 8% better in general.

[smig]

ordered the XpertVision (PNY) 9600GSO Sonic - 786mb DDR3 PCIe 2.0 (my board is ver. 1.0 only)
Memory Clock: 600MHz, Core Clock: 1800MHz (900x2)

[wolf]

lol i think thats core clock: 600mhz and memory clock: 1800mhz

and yes the GSO has more shaders, but its got 25% less ROPS than a 9600GT, which accounts for your sheer pixel filling grunt.

[smig]

I took the speeds from XpertVision site ;)

all benchmarks I saw show better performance for the GSO over the GT model.