CougTek
Hairy Aussie
This must be old news to many of you and I heard about it some time ago, but while browsing a well-known online store (to compare my prices to theirs - they don't ship here, the bastards), it stroke me in the face.
Here's the PCB of the old 9500 that is so famous to overclockers :
Now look at the PCB of the 9700 Pro. Only difference is in the section below the DVI connector and it isn't related to the memory bus. The rest is a copy/paste :
_____________________________________________________
Then here's the PCB of the non-256bit memory bus 9500 Pro, that DOES NOT make it to 9700 Pro speed :
And oh surprise, here's the familiar look of the above found in the new (black to attract n00bs) 9500 128MB :
The new and crippled 9500 128MB is sold at 10$ less than the old one, at least at Newegg. Resist to the temptation, the older version offers much more value and potential than the new, better-looking and slightly cheaper one, does.
Here's the PCB of the old 9500 that is so famous to overclockers :
Now look at the PCB of the 9700 Pro. Only difference is in the section below the DVI connector and it isn't related to the memory bus. The rest is a copy/paste :
_____________________________________________________
Then here's the PCB of the non-256bit memory bus 9500 Pro, that DOES NOT make it to 9700 Pro speed :
And oh surprise, here's the familiar look of the above found in the new (black to attract n00bs) 9500 128MB :
The new and crippled 9500 128MB is sold at 10$ less than the old one, at least at Newegg. Resist to the temptation, the older version offers much more value and potential than the new, better-looking and slightly cheaper one, does.