ATI's Radeon 9500 Pro - Now Shipping & Faster

Final Words

ATI is very concerned about making sure the Radeon 9500 Pro is a success, as it targets a much larger volume price point. Thanks to an improved driver, new board design with an optimized layout and a full 128MB of memory the card is able to compete with the GeForce4 Ti 4600 instead of being just barely faster than the Ti 4200.

Getting this card to market in time is crucial for ATI, because although NV30 (GeForce FX) was delayed - both NV31 and NV34 are on track for their scheduled release. NVIDIA's NV31 will be what's pitted against Radeon 9500 Pro but we'll have to wait and see about the performance of NVIDIA's as yet unannounced part.

If ATI can indeed get their Radeon 9500 Pro cards out in quantity before the end of the year they will have at least a 2 month lead on NVIDIA. Putting pressure on NVIDIA in this ~$200 market segment combined with their uncontested Radeon 9700 Pro, ATI has truly proven their ability to deliver on promises - a welcome change from the ATI we saw during the days of the 8500.

Should NVIDIA be worried? Every day that they don't have competing products out in the channel is another opportunity to increase ATI's sales, we'll leave that decision to the market and you.