the 9500 is essentially the same as the 9700 but the official drivers make it use 4 pipelines instead of 8 (9700 uses 8 pipelines).
you just have to get some drivers like the omega ones >
http://www.omegadrivers.net/ that unlock all the pipes.
i
think the 9600 only uses 4 pipelines, so therefore a 9500 + the softmod, would indeed be quicker / perform better.