4 vs 8 pipeline

[Doubl3KiLL]

Ok, Im sure this has been asked before, but I cant search for it, soo... what is the main difference? like, if comparing a 9600 to a 9500, which is better? the 4 or the 8 pipeline? Just wondering.

 

[Brent_Justice]

the more pipelines the better generally

except in the case that you can clock the core high enough and add other performance enhancements that the difference cancels itself out

and comparing the 9600XT with the 9500Pro we have come to that point, the 4 pipeline 9600XT is performing just as fast as the 8 pipeline 9500Pro and even faster in pure PS 2.0 because of the higher core speed

 

[Mikey20]

double the bandwidth meaning you can use 256bit memory instead of 128bit

 

[Brent_Justice]

Originally posted by Mikey20
double the bandwidth meaning you can use 256bit memory instead of 128bit

that is not true, pixel pipelines have nothing to do with memory interface

 

[Doubl3KiLL]

so If I were to ask, should I get a 9500Pro for the piplines? or a 9600XT for the raw speed, what would you say? Im interested in buying a new video card, and I dont really want to spend 400 bucks... so what would get me better performance at high quality?

 

[Brent_Justice]

Originally posted by Doubl3KiLL
so If I were to ask, should I get a 9500Pro for the piplines? or a 9600XT for the raw speed, what would you say? Im interested in buying a new video card, and I dont really want to spend 400 bucks... so what would get me better performance at high quality?

shouldn't the question be which card offers the best gaming performance?

my answer would be the 9600XT

 

[Mikey20]

thanks for correcting me

 

[zerogt86]

well whats your budget, im in the same boat as you and right now im looking at 9700 pro's for a little over $200. They are way faster then a 9600, and alittle better than a 9800np. I actually mihgt order the card tonight (unless any one on the [H] gives me a good reason not to buy a 9700 pro).

 

[EarthwormJim]

A 9800np performs about equally to a 9700pro in DX8/DX7 games (well around 1-5% slower than the 9700pro), and will perform better in DX9 games because of the enhancements in the R350 core over the R300 core. If you can get a 9800np for the same price as a 9700pro, I'd go for the 9800np (plus they usually overclock better too).

 

[archevilangel]

well, I'd say that the 9600 xt has a high enough clockspeed to beat a 9500 pro, but at the same time a 100 mhz overclock on a 9500 pro will show a greater gain than a 100 mhz overclock on a 9600 xt. The 9500 pro runs at 270 mhz default core, and the 9600 xt runs at 500 I believe. 8 x 370 > 4 x 600. You're overclocking results will vary. But in the mean time Ill be dreaming about 8 x 600 :X, maybe this generation.