Is nVidia 9500GT a good card?

[pcmanrules]

I'm looking to upgrade my graphics card to one that speeds up Final Fantasy XII. In NZ the 8500GT is a good price for 1GB but is it a good card? Or is there a better card for around NZ $200?

[redlof]

8500GT is not a good card but 9500GT is.
You can get good speeds with 9500GT in ZeroGS. 9500GT is comparable to 8600GTS in speeds, if overclocked it will easily surpass 8600GT.
If you can spare some more 9600GT will be the best.

BTW I have a 9500GT 512mb ddr3, and it runs all PC games at decent speeds with all the eye candy turned ON. And it runs cool too.

[pcmanrules]

I should be able to afford the 9600GT, how does it preform with games like Kingdom hearts I & II as well as Final Fantasy X & XII? My processor is powerful enough but is this graphics card?

[tenow]

9500GT is ok for most games to play with native resolution. But why not HD4550 or smth like that? It'd be better

[redlof]

See any card above 8600GT will perform the same because pcsx2 is mainly CPU dependent. so upgrading a GPU should be done keeping in mind the performance increase in PC games. An upgrade in CPU will result in better speed with PCSX2.

When it comes to pcsx2 More CPU GHz means more speed.

[pcmanrules]

I'd prefer to stay with nVidia as all of my others have been very reliable. I'll probably buy a nVidia 9600GT 1GB DDR2 unless there's another nVidia for NZ$200. My CPU during slow parts in games is only using 2/3 so i think it's defiantly my graphics card.

[redlof]

9500GT is ok for most games to play with native resolution. But why not HD4550 or smth like that? It'd be better

ATI cards have performance issues with pcsx2, so staying on Nvidia's side would be a better option.

---

I'd prefer to stay with nVidia as all of my others have been very reliable. I'll probably buy a nVidia 9600GT 1GB DDR2 unless there's another nVidia for NZ$200. My CPU during slow parts in games is only using 2/3 so i think it's defiantly my graphics card.

No don't buy DDR2, it will be slow. Get the DDR3 version as there is a big difference in speed between the two.

[sandrodz]

Do yourself a favor. Don't go for the low end DDR2 options.
Forget about the fact that they have 1GB of Ram. This is a total waste, since that amount of Ram with a mediocre GPU will go unused. Remember, it's not about the quantity, its about the quality of Ram, and its speed.

You say you've got 200 New Zealand Dollars available (that would be about $110 american bucks).
If I where you, I'd get a slightly used or refurbished 8800GTS from Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/XFX-PVT88GYDF4-GeF...938&sr=8-2

Check it out. An XFX 8800 GTS 512MB DDR3 for $99 US.
It's slightly used, but it comes with warranty and all. I've bought used/refurbished items from amazon before, and have never had a problem with them.

Anyways, this is a very descent card, which will perform much better than the options you mentioned before.
This would be my choice if I were you.

[tenow]

ATI cards have performance issues with pcsx2, so staying on Nvidia's side would be a better option.

---

Can i have an example of it? I'm using ATI and run all the games same as nVidia users. Its not like Intel has SSE4.1 and AMD doesn't. PCSX2 doesn't rely on any nVidia special features.

[smartstrike]

BTW I have a 9500GT 512mb ddr3, and it runs all PC games at decent speeds with all the eye candy turned ON. And it runs cool too.

i have the same model redlof..

w/9500GT 512mb ddr3 me and redlof it runs generally fair speed,not all games at full speed one of the example are those tri-ace games,KH2(hallow baston),
other 3D games while 2D games almost at full speed examples are SRWA3.Diagaea,Harvest moonTH