FIC Radeon 9600 Pro - Box contents

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FIC A96P Radeon 9600 Pro 128MB

 

 

Box, Contents, Card

I've been pretty fond of FIC's attractive packaging and simple bundle, and the R9600 Pro definitely follows the tradition.

 

Inside is a manual, software cd, s-video extension cable, rca extension cable, s-video-rca converter, and DVI-VGA converter.

 

 
 

The software CD is nothing too fancy.. just drivers, WinDVD, and a couple other documents.
 

Here are a bunch of shots of the card, front and back, side-to-side, and a picture of an ATI built 9600 Pro for comparison.
 

 

 

 

First thing you'll notice is that this board isn't too large like the powerhouses we've seen (R9800 and FX5900). It's lacking a molex power connector which we've seen on every R9500+, probably due to the lower power consumption with the new design. The Samsung BGA memory chips are arranged in a familiar L shaped pattern, on both the front and back of the card. And lastly, the heatsink/fan is SMALL! We'll translate that into the board's overclockability later.. but do keep in mind the 9600's 130 nm process.

 

Here's a picture of the memory:

These chips are rated 2.8ns with a maximum frequency of 350MHz or 700MHz DDR goodness. The 9600 Pro has a default memory clock of 300MHz, so with these Samsung chips, FIC has graciously given us a little bit of headroom to work with.

 

Some closer shots of the heatsink assembly:
 

 
 

 

Any of these pics will show that there is no shim used with this Radeon; not a big deal for people who leave the original cooler intact, but a big plus for anyone who does their own VGA cooling. Also, if you look closely, it seems that FIC has used a thermal pad for heat transfer.

 

Ok, now you've seen the FIC Radeon 9600 Pro. Let's meet what I'm going to put it up against.

 

The Competition

I will be comparing the FIC Radeon 9600 Pro 128MB to an Albatron GeForce FX 5600 256MB, as well as a BFG Tech. GeForce 4 Ti4280 (4200 w/ 8X AGP) 128MB.

  
from left to right: FX5600 over the R9600P, FX5600, Ti4280, Ti4280 (back)

Price at time of review:

R9600 Pro 128MB - $140
FX 5600 256MB - $149
Ti4280 128MB - $100

These cards are definitely mismatched, but since the Radeon and FX cost about the same, it's still a fair comparison. Note: the memory clock of the FX5600 used is slightly lower than most FX5600s due to the larger amount of memory. I also decided to include a Ti4200 w/ 8X AGP just to see how well the latest line of DX9 accelerators have evolved, and if there is any significant gain from a mainstream DX8 card to mainstream DX9 card besides DX9 support. Grab your beverage of choice, and lets continue!

 

System Setup

• Intel Pentium IV 2.4B @ 3.06GHz (18 x 170fsb)

• ABIT IS7-E (bios 14, F1 acceleration, AGP 8X enabled, 128MB aperture size)

• 2x512MB Kingston HyperX @ DDR340 (170fsb, 1/1 divider) 2-6-2-2, DC

• 2x Western Digital ATA100 40GB 7200rpm

• FIC Radeon 9600 Pro 128MB @ 400/300 stock

• Albatron GeForce FX 5600 256MB @ 325/225 stock

• BFG Technologies GeForce 4 Ti4280 128MB @ 250/444 stock

• Windows XP Professional w/ latest updates, DirectX 9.0a

Drivers & Settings

• ATI Catalyst 3.6 Driver Suite, texture preference and mipmap detail level both at High Quality, quality AF used.

• nVidia Detonator FX 44.03, image settings at Quality, D3D Mipmap Detail Level at Best image quality.

Benchmarks

• Comanche 4

• AquaMark v2.3

• Code Creatures

• GLExcess

• SPEC Viewperf 7.1

• Shadermark v1.7 (DX9 2.0 Pixel Shader Benchmark)

• Splinter Cell

• 3DMark01SE Build 330

• 3DMark03 Build 330

• UT2k3 (featuring [H]ardOCP UT2k3 Benchmark)

Next: Let the benchmarks begin >>
 

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