I'm looking to upgrade my video card, but money is at a premium right now.

My system specs currently are:

P4 2.4 GHz, 512MB RAM
64MB ATI Radeon 8500LE
Audigy Gamer
Win XP Home

I prefer ATI cards because I've had good experiences with those, and they have served me well. I saw that Best Buy has the 9600SE (128MB) card for $120.00. What is the version of ATI cards that you have to start hooking them up to your power supply? I would rather NOT have to do that, because fiddling with hardware isn't my forte. Are there big differences in the various versions of the 9600? As long as the SE will run games that take advantage of Direct X 9.0, that's all I really care about right now. I'm assuming my system can handle the top of the line card (9800) if I choose to go that way in the future.

Thanks for any assistance!

Regards,
Michael

Hey I saw that model at Best Buy. I live behind one. So Cool! Anyway, I went to the site and it did mention it supports DX 9. I don't know about the power supply though. Look on the box and if it shows the picture of a fan, then it will probably need a connection. IMO it looks like a good buy. It has almost everything I need: DVI connection, mpeg 1&2 decoder, DVD support, DX9 support, etc. Sound like a winner.

Edit: Ok. I went to my Best Buy and asked the Tech person, He said the ATI 9600 SE does not need to a separate power supply from your PC. It has its own or something like that. This sounds good to me because I didn't want the connection either. Anyway, I also looked at the FX5200 and it does specify a need for a hard drive power dongle (hehe, funny word). So no go for me there. I think I'm set for an ATI also. BTW looks like that SE model would be just what you need Mike. Me? I'm probably going for a Pro or XT model. Hey!! Did you know you can get a FREE Half-Life 2 game with the purchase on certain ATI models. The 9600SE is one of them and also the higher end models. Woo hoo! :D [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img]

[ 12-11-2003, 09:00 PM: Message edited by: GForce ]

Thanks for your reply, GForce. I think I'm going to go for it. It sounds like a good deal - especially with the free Half-Life 2! [img]smile.gif[/img]

Regards,
Michael

Power supply is needed from 9700 and up. No 9600 card needs another power supply. What's the price difference between the 9600SE and the 9600Pro? I know the 9800SE is not a recommeded card (it's much much slower than the 9800 and 9800Pro). You ought to check if the same goes for the 9600SE, I believe it does. Be sure to check it out!

Just clarify, only the geforce fx 5200 Ultra needs a power supply, not the regular.

Ok Mike. I bought the bigger ATI version, 9600XT, and sadly I had to send it back to Best Buy. It had great pictures but it froze and CRASHED on me tooooo many times. I had to reinstall my old yet reliable GF4MX. All my drivers were up to date yet the ATI just hiccups and it became a incompatiblity issue with my games. Thus, I traded it in for a FX 5700 Ultra. This card works for me. No hiccups, crashes, or freezings and the picture is great. My only complaint is that the highest refesh rate with a DVI connection is 60hz. So I had to go analog and there were no picture quality differences (analog vs digital) that I could see. Very smooth card. Anyway, I hope the ATI works out great for you Mike. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Happy Holidays everyone! :D