Direct from
tomshardware.com :
Quote:
Here is a summary of the differences:
Radeon 9700 PRO: The fastest and most expensive card among the ATI models. Eight pixel pipelines, four vertex shaders, 128 MB with 256-bit memory bus, DirectX 9 support. Clock speed (chip/memory): 325/310. Official price: $399.
Radeon 9700: The smaller of the 9700 series differs in its lower clock speeds: 275/270. Official price: $299.
Radeon 9500 PRO: The memory interface was reduced from 256-bit to 128-bit, but it can still accept up to 128 MB of memory. Otherwise, it has the same features as the 9700 cards, meaning that it offers full support for DirectX 9. Clock speeds: 275/275. Official price: $199.
Radeon 9500: Again, the memory bus is only 128-bit. The maximum memory is reduced from 128 MB to 64 MB. In addition, four pixel pipelines are left out. However, it still offers full DirectX 9 support. Clock speeds: 275/270. Official price: $179.
Radeon 9000/9000 PRO: Based on the technology of the Radeon 8500 (R200). Supports DirectX 8.1.
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I'm assuming the Radeon 9700 TX you speak of is the regular Radeon 9700.
Here are some comparison charts to help further:
Normal resolutions (read: non-crazy resolutions):
Unreal Tournament 2003
Aquanox
Max Payne
3DMark 2001 SE
More crazy resolutions (though usable with these new powerful cards):
UT 2003 at 4X Full-Screen Anti-Aliasing
UT 2003 Anisotropic
UT 2003 with 4x FSAA + Anisotropic
In other words, the both Radeon 9700's outperform the Ti4600's in any case, and not only that they allow 4x FSAA and Anisotropic (ie. game looks much better) to be turned on for most any game and still be played smoothly. The extra $100 to buy the 9700 Pro over the 9700 will likely help in the longrun, but it can still be a lot more money especially since new cards will soon be coming out.
Keep in mind you can get many of those cards for much cheaper than the retail price. Ask me if you want to know where.