HMB I think you are (mostly) right, but also recall that neither HardOCP or Anandtech made much todo about driver problems that plagued the R8500 pretty much until the 9700 came out. I can't help noticing that both of those sites have double sized ATI ads running as well.
Overall, the comments I have gotten from friends with 9700s has been positive, and included things like "the drivers are not an issue". One person I know said they had tons of missing textures and ass quality when they switched from ti4200 to 9700pro; maybe a format is needed or maybe there are some incompatibilities.
I won't buy either of these cards, but I did find a Canadian webstore that is guaranteeing that the 9500s they sell are on the 9700 pcb. I assume this means they are ready for the resistor mod. $180US is actually within my price range, so I may upgrade in February...
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