Model numbers aren't everything and this card really shows it. It's based on the RV350 core which shares technology with the R300 (essentially the base for Radeon 9500 Pro up to Radeon 9800 XT). The V in RV states it's the value line of cards. However ATi was, just like nVidia, releasing all kinds of cards to stay competitive. Manufacturers like Sapphire had free choice in a few things including memory bandwidth. In short: in several applications this 9600SE performs almost identical to a Radeon 9100 and the Radeon 9550 scores about 50% faster. Of course it varies per application but it kind of shows how misleading a model number can be. Keep in mind that the Radeon 9100 is based on older technology and will perform slower in more recent applications.

Nevertheless this card is not really a bad card in regards of construction. The passive cooling is adequate and will never fail (active cooling/fans will). Also the capacitors are still fine after all those years. If the price was right and you didn't need fancy 3D-graphics this card would've ran just fine. > Read more

A typical budget card: it has an in-between model number, too much memory and it has been manufactured 3 years after the chip it's based on made it's debut.

Let me explain that: The ATi Radeon 9500 was a decent performer in it's day. It was succeeded by the 9600 which was fine. However, the 9550 doesn't have the performance to justify the name 9550. It was placed under the 9600-series but ATi probably didn't wanted that it would sound too slow and opted for 9550 rather than a, performance-wise, more appropriate 9400 or something.

Too much memory? This particular card is fitted with 256MB of RAM. 128MB would've been enough for every possible scenario that this card will ever see in it's life.

Manufacturing date? It's made in 2006 . The RV350 was announced in 2003. In 2006 ATi would be releasing the Radeon X1950XT and nVidia already had released the GeForce 7800 GTX. That's 2 generations of cards in difference. I find it always interesting that these slower, budget cards somehow find a reason to exist. Wouldn't it be more sense to buy a newer Radeon X300 or X1300 instead? I guess someone had stockpiles of old chips to sell... > Read more

Based on the RV350-core which is the value version of the R350. Generally this card is 50% of the 9800 Pro and it was a good midrange performer. The 9500 Pro is more advanced (chip-wise, it's a 9700 chip) and more expensive to build and thus less favorable for ATi. > Read more