Overview of the RADEON 9600: characteristics, tests, photos and reviews

In the history of computer hardware, there are many such models of equipment that have become a real breakthrough for their time, providing players with excellent performance at a very democratic price. So, for example, was Radeon 9600 (especially in the "Pro" series).

The first to take advantage of the new video card drew the attention of foreign gamers and computer publications, which not only broke out with enthusiastic applause, but also led numerous reviews to confirm their words. They also found out that this model (like almost all of the company's products) is perfectly capable of overclocking, which further improves the performance of the new video card. However, we will not follow their example. From our article you will learn what exactly is good Radeon 9600 and why it was so loved by the players in those days.

Brief technical information

Appearance was quite common for those times. The video card is relatively compact, depending on the manufacturer, it could be equipped with various models of turbines and cooling radiators. As a rule, the main circuit board was made on the basis of red textolite.

By today's standards, the performance of this "antiques" looks ridiculous, but then the 400 MHz frequency of the main chip looked quite solid, and the memory, working at 600 MHz, was a sample of the speed of response. Naturally, many gamers immediately rushed to acquire such a promising novelty. Especially everyone was attracted by the price: as always, the "reds" did not become greedy and sold the video card at a very affordable price. Not surprisingly, in 2005, it was the Radeon 9600 that was one of the most popular video cards that could be found on both the foreign and domestic markets.

Main changes

It should be noted that the above characteristics are valid for the modification of "Pro". In conventional models, these figures were noticeably more modest: the processor ran at 325 MHz, and memory was barely enough to reach 400 MHz. In any case (if to compare with the predecessors) the dimensions of the chip itself have decreased noticeably. It measures just 9.5x9.5 mm. Thus, its total area is approximately 100 square meters. Mm. In any case, even a layman can see the differences from previous models.

This made it possible to significantly reduce the size of the radiator and not "muddle" with the design of the cooling system, which in this case is a simple fan in a plastic casing. True, such savings are not always good: if you decide to overclock, the drain cooling system will probably have to find an adequate replacement. In conditions when the models of this series have not been released for a long time, this task can be far from the simplest.

Connector Specifications

Continuing to discuss the video card Radeon 9600, we can not fail to mention the curious nuance concerning the performance of the AGP-connector in this entire series. More precisely, it did not have a slot for placement in the slot, and therefore many users were faced with the impossibility of installing the card on very old motherboards. Thus, the manufacturer forgot to mention that the equipment was supposed to have 1.5-volt AGP 4x and AGP 8x slots, otherwise it would not be possible to play anything.

The answer of competitors

To make it clearer, what disappointment gamers experienced then ... The fact is that the GeForce FX 5600 at the same time had a completely universal connector, which allowed to install the card in both a 1.5-volt and a 3-volt slot. However, once again we emphasize that such problems were experienced only by those users who had the most outdated archaic "motherboards". To the needs of this category of "electorate" producers, in principle, do not hurry to listen. Finally, the Radeon 9600 256Mb showed itself well in the field of encoding and professional video editing, and therefore these advantages were more than outweighed by not so significant drawbacks.

By the way, without departing from the subject matter of the article. Let's see how adequate the answer was given to ATI regarding Nvidia, which are traditionally their main (and only) rivals. If you look at the "paper" characteristics, then the leader will not be able to identify. So which video card had real advantages over its rivals?

"Green" or "krasnenkie"?

We will not cite all the results of the old surveys. It is better to confine ourselves to simple concrete information. Of course, you are unlikely to use this video card now, as its performance by today's standards is extremely unserious, but some facts about ATI are not bad to know today.

Immediately note that in those days the overall picture was quite heterogeneous and contradictory. It is for this reason that many players have been asking and assessing for a long time, unable to make a really right choice. The fact is that in the synthetic tests of palm trees, the ATI products belonged unequivocally, and the gap turned out to be quite significant, it was impossible not to take it into account at all. However, everything was not so simple, as practice, as always, still made its own adjustments.

The fact is that in games and video encoding, there was practically no real gap in performance. Although, if we talk about the ATI Radeon 9600 series in the "Pro" version, then the tangible win was still preserved. These video cards not only felt great in full-screen mode, but also could boast of normal support for anisotropic filtering. This is now such a characteristic seems to us as a matter of course, but at that time it was really great! Until 2005-2006, the owners of these cards from the lack of performance did not suffer in principle.

Advantages of Ultra and Pro versions

Once again we note that all of the above concerns only the ATI Radeon 9600 Pro. In this series were added "bells and whistles" like FSAA and AF. They allowed to see all the advantages of the new DX9 at the time. For example, the owners of these video cards could really appreciate the "living" faces of the characters in the games, rather than their plasticine and extremely unnatural resemblances. In heavy modes, models with a prefix "Ultra" and "Pro" provided an advantage in performance in the region of 20-30%, which is not so little.

Differences from version 9500

Do not assume that the Radeon 9600, the characteristics of which we cite on the pages of the article, was really a breakthrough novelty. The owners of overclocked 9500 in general could not buy it, because they would not have felt a particular impact on the purchase. The whole point is that 9600 doubled the number of pixel containers ... But they doubled the core frequency, significantly increased the memory bandwidth, and also used the chic overclocking potential.

Upgrade potential of the new model

Suppose a user buys for new games Radeon 9600. The characteristics of this video card are not bad, but what if they are not enough? Of course, the situation in this particular case can be remedied only by dispersal, the good that the potential for it is left quite good. The RV350 chip, which forms the basis of this card, is made of 0.13 micron process technology. This means that there are no real obstacles to a "self-made" increase in productivity.

Important! A simple Radeon 9600 graphics card does not fit well for this. The fact is that it has a rather primitive board design, not so high-quality memory, and some problems may arise with the cooling system. So if you want to overclock, you should buy a "professional" model, freed from these insulting shortcomings.

Simple Tips

In addition, for such an option, a board with a 256-bit bus was desirable, since on the 128-bit model, during overclocking, it was necessary to increase the voltage too much. All this led to a significant overheating, which was fraught with equipment failure. Of course, it's worthwhile to increase performance only if you use officially recommended utilities, which Radeon mentions every time you release new sets of device drivers. If you do not have any experience, strongly do not recommend using BIOS for this, because in this case you can quite burn half of the computer hardware!

What did the test results show?

"For sweet" we offer the results of testing slightly overclocked copies of this video card. The results were very good! Thus, with an increase in the memory frequency to 700 MHz, the "old man" was on par with the far more new and powerful Radeon 9800 Pro. Which is not surprising, since the new model was equipped with a memory with a frequency of 680 MHz. However, it is not necessary to be especially flattered: test results show that everything depends on the specific manufacturer here.

The chip can be overclocked at once to 531 MHz! Note that you do not even have to replace the regular cooling system and do other "tricks"! So, if you want on overclocked Radeon 9600 Series it's quite possible to play some games of the end of 2000, that for such a rarity - very, very worthy result. In addition, all videos from "Youtube" (even at 720p and 1080p) are played without any delays and brakes. But today there are a lot of integrated integrated graphics cards on the market (in entry-level notebooks), which "stumble" on such tasks.

Dependence of performance on board revision

Thus, the chip overclocking potential in this model is 33%, memory - 11%. If we talk about copies of the production of MSI and ASUS, then they chased even better. In addition, the overclocking was positively influenced by the updated versions of the drivers, which the manufacturer released regularly. By the way, some of their editors gave an increase from 20 to 28%, which in games was noticeable to the naked eye.

The most successful in this regard was the revision of the A13 card, while the first boards were manufactured by revision A12, and therefore their chip worked at a frequency of only 375 MHz. Most likely, the output of Radeon 9600 Pro is connected with the development of a new version of the technological process. The company was able to give users virtually unlimited (in reasonable limits) the freedom of overclocking, which was especially appreciated by gamers experienced in virtual battles.

Can I use this video card today?

So, the main question. Is it possible today to use Radeon 9600 for anything? XP, at the time of which this video card was developed and actively sold, is no longer supported, but even in newer systems, the map will be useful for something. So, if you disperse this "old man" to the maximum, screw a more perfect cooling system to the video card, then you can play in the same "Crisis" (the first and second parts).

Of course, on the minimum settings and with a more or less adequate CPU, which will take the lion's share of the load. At one time, the ATI Radeon 9600 graphics card (the driver was supposed to be the freshest) was stretched even by "Clear Sky", famous for its hardware requirements.

So the conclusion is quite simple: if you're not a fan of the latest AAA games, if you do not need to transcode HD movies every day, then even this card will surely satisfy all your modest requests.

If desired, it can be played in almost all games of 2008-2012, without any special difficulties and not being angry with constant brakes. Of course, only if overclocked. Without it, an ancient and not too powerful graphics processor simply will not pull these toys, even at medium quality settings, and not everyone wants to play at a minimum.

Reviews

So, what do the reviews say? Users believe that if there is an opportunity to purchase such a video, it should be used. Of course, it's not even worth to dream about new games with such video, but, at least, all the films in the 1080p resolution card take without problems. Simple "gags" of the same level in stores cost at least two or three thousand rubles, so that "old man" can be an excellent opportunity to give a second life to an old computer, turning it into a multimedia center.

The reviews claim that due to the low-power chip and small dimensions of the used drain cooling system, the ATI Radeon 9600 graphics card fits perfectly even in the smallest compact cases. Given its low noise, this solution can be ideal for a very cheap work computer, on which, however, from time to time you want to play.

Also, experienced users say that this model can be used to build a simple machine for a cashier's workplace, for the purpose of teaching children computer science, if it is a rural school with a very modest level of funding.