9800SE or 9600XT?

i was wondering which would be better...

Sapphire 9800SE 128mb agp 8x

or

ATI 9600XT 128mb agp 8x

9800SE, I believe. But not by much. Perhaps you should research this stuff for yourself instead of asking us?

-Virt

im too much of an idiot to do it myself
and plus..im a PC n00b

(No joke...yesterday i thought a CPU was sometype of a coffeemaker)

Radeon has no specs for the 9800 "SE" on their site that I could find. That could be an indicator right there. The 9600 XT seems like alot less card than the basic 9800 because of the 256 bit memory interface on the 9800.

However this may be meaningless. The 9600 specifications for memory interface shows 128 bit "(64-bit on RADEON® 9600 SE)." So if there is some consistency to the "SE" monacher then the 9800 "SE" is 128 bit interface also. I tend to think you'd be better off to just get a 9800 just for the longevity of Direct X and Open GL support as well as knowing it is a wide ddr interface.

I personally think you might notice a slight speed advantage in the 9800 SE, but not much. This all depends too on what system you put it in. If it is less than say 1.5 ghz there will be little noticable difference. Also that you have 512 megs of ram or more, any less an video card is probably not gonna help you much. Note the 9800 specs also suggest "ATI recommends a 300-Watt power supply or greater to ensure normal system operation where a number of other internal devices are installed."

I am not saying post all your info right now, I am saying that considering what would be required, make sure the video card is really what you need to change. If you have these other particulars covered and are still having trouble, or know the card is ancient as dirt and hasn't enough memory, then the video card is a good idea to look at.

Hope this was helpful.

it is a crippled budget card

avoid se models

ATi Radeon 9600SE Review

Assuming that “SE” stands for “Special Edition”, one could possibly arrive at the thought that it is an improved version of the same 9XXX core – though one would be incorrect. “Special” takes on more of the short yellow bus meaning than anything.

The RADEON 9600SE differs from it’s 9600 brethren in one main way. The memory interface is 64-bit as where the others are all 128-bit. The clock speeds are substantially slower as well and overall bandwidth as a result:

SE sucks. Never buy a card with SE in it, or LE, or anything other then 'pro' 'pe' or 'xt' The 9600 xt will be alot better card, it is faster too, if you just want some stat.

Yeah, just stick with Pro or XT. I got the 9600 Pro.

Definitely avoid SE models. I always assumed the SE stood for Slow Edition, or something worse, which I'd rather not say. The 9600 XT is faster than the 9800 SE, but the 9600 Pro is slower. If you can find the Sapphire 9600 XT at a good price, that's what I'd recommend.

9600 XT, faster CPU for faster shader operations.

i know this is an old thread, but you people need to give better advice.

Radeon 9800 SE is about the same as the 9600 Pro, if you get the one with 256-bit RAM, it will outperform the 9600 Pro and even 9600 XT.

here are some benchmarks:
http://www.digital-daily.com/video/vga-roundup/

And certain SEs can be soft modded to Pros.

one should be considerate of those who can't afford a high end vid card. after all, companies like nvidia and ati still make a profit selling budget vid cards b/c ppl like me can't afford good ones...

i have a ati radeon 960xt 256mb

and it runs wonderfully on guild wars. i bought it last october for like 200 bucks CANADIAN so its pretty cheap and very good card in my opinion .runs all my games at full settings :-D including hl2