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My PC magazine recommends the PRO or XT models and their tests show a great difference between the 9600 SE and the PRO. The 9700 PRO has better results again.
I have an ATI pamphlet, shows differences between 9600 SE and PRO as:
Memory Interface PRO: 128-bit SE: 64-bit
Pixel Filtrate PRO: 2.0 Gpix/s SE: 1.3Gp/s
Engine clock PRO: 500 MHz SE: 325 MHz
Memory Clock PRO: 600 MHz SE: 400MHz
256-bit color? Whoa! I thought my 32-bit color was bad@$$, but 256-bit must own.
Shadowhawk, put the brakes on - you're going down the wrong direction.
Both the 9600 and 9700 are high-powered "gaming" cards from ATI both capable of fairly state-of-the-art performance in such categories as color-depth and AGP speed.
The 9600 is a little brother of the 9700 and was made into more of a midrange video card by having only 4 pixel pipelines and 128-bit memory interface as opposed to the superior architecture of the 9700 which has 8 pipelines and a 256-bit memory interface. Hence the higher price of the 9700.
Both cards are DirectX 9 cards that will serve you very well in all regards. The main difference is that the 9700 will give you faster rendering performance - i.e. better for gaming. If you don't game, then there's no reason to buy these cards as ATI sells cheaper cards that will give the same 2D quality.
In the U.S., 9600s run in the $90-$170 range while the 9700 is around $140-180.
