Radeon 9600 Pro Shines

The board's Radeon 9600 Pro chip supports DirectX 9, the latest version of Microsoft's application programming interface for rendering 2D and 3D graphics; DirectX 9-based games will arrive en masse later this year. The board also provides a healthy 128MB of DDR SDRAM and support for 8X AGP.

Many higher-end graphics cards glean extra power via a connection to the PC's power supply. This isn't necessary with the Radeon 9600 Pro: ATI's first 0.13-micron chip delivers faster clock speed but consumes less power.

In our tests with Unreal Tournament 2002, the Radeon 9600 Pro turned in exceptional performance at resolutions at or below 1280 by 1024 with 32-bit color depth. At a resolution of 1280 by 1024, it scored 95 frames per second; at 1024 by 768, it hit 141 fps--on a par with the speed of the comparably equipped NVidia GeForce FX 5600 Ultra reference board that we reviewed in our June issue. The Radeon 9600 Pro also scored a more-than-respectable 60 fps at 1600 by 1200 resolution and 32-bit color (see our additional test results for other specific scores).

Serious gamers who regularly use the highest resolution or who plan to try the upcoming DX9 games should consider a more powerful card, perhaps one based on NVidia's new GeForce FX 5900 Ultra chip. Our Unreal Tournament 2002 tests of engineering samples with this chip show that it can hit about double the frame rates of the 9600 Pro at 1600 by 1200 resolution and 32-bit color.

SUMMARY

ATI Radeon 9600 Pro Superb midrange gaming board, if you don't need or want the fastest and most powerful. Price when reviewed: $199 Current prices (if available)