Something disturbing about this release, assuming that the information is vaguely correct, is how ATI seems to be "ghettoizing" the value conscious. It began with a limited 9500 Pro run, then a "hard floor" on 9700s, then 9800NPs disappeared rather quickly, then 9600 XTs only had the core speed bumped, then the next generation of mid-range cards will be PCIe only and STILL just a speed-bumped 9600 Pro (grain of salt excepted, Dave
). Anyone see a pattern here? It seems that ATI is determined to enforce a vast gulf between high-end and mid-range. :? That's really bad since either a .13 micron Low-k card with either more pipes or a wider memory bus would be less expensive than the 9500 Pro and still be an appropriate card for medium-level gaming. I'll hold on to my cash and my salt for now, but doesn't anyone want the "bang-for-the-buck" gamers' money?