You seem to have not read any softmods for the 9500-NON-Pro...

The 9500PRO will get maybe 4000, with it OC'ed, not to mention it is clock locked and sealed at 128-bit memory bandwidth...

The 9500Non-PRO with Omega drivers(Hacked, softmod) unlocked 8 channels of 256-bit memory bandwidth. Which is what the 9700 series is running at. Add to that, warp11's "hacked"(single hexidecimal change) which is keeping the card clocked locked. Then just OC the card to 325/310(620effective). You effectively have a Radeon 9700PRO for the price of a 9500-Non-PRO. With the exact same, if not better performance due to clocking beyond 9700PRO specs, even with stock cooling.

The 9700PRO physicaly is equal to a 9500-Non-PRO.

3DMark scores:

9500-Non-PRO: 3000-3300
9500PRO: 3500-3800
9700-Non-PRO: 4200-4800
9700PRO: 4900-5200

9500-Non-PRO(SOFTMOD): 5000-5300+

My Sapphire 9500-Non-PRO w/ Zalman ZM80A-HP(No fan): 5750

All of these are guestimates in the standard ranges. (Depending on the system of course).

Price Comparission @ NEWEGG.COM:

Sapphire 9500-Non-PRO: $141.00
BuiltBy-ATI 9500PRO: $198.00
Sapphire 9600PRO: $173.00
Sapphire 9700PRO: $292.00

If soft modding to 9700PRO specs with stock heatsink, that saves you:
$151.00 or add a ZM80A-HP($28.99) for a saving of, $122.00.
Keep in mind of course the 9500-Non-PRO still gives you room beyond 9700PRO clock speeds. It is a very high quality card for the price for sure.

With that, I end my rant. :-P

ATI Radeon 9600 pro.

I still feel that the 9600PRO, even being a .13 micron GPU won't go to much higher... It was a test card released just to see if people would scoop it up. It's for a later generation.

Sure it can go high in the Core clock, but it's memory can't do much to keep up with it.

sharkims:
the 9500 np card have cheaper and slower memory than the 9700pro, which means they are NOT identical.
if you OC to 310 on mem you'll be pushing your luck. it mostly wont ho higher than 300 because of the mem timings. otherwise yo¨'ll get serious artifacts.

go 9500 pro man

Try to find a 9500 non pro. Install omega drivers. do option for 9700 soft mod. leave it as it is, or get a good heatsink, like the zalman heat pipe, and overclock it.