While my good comp is in for repairs, i've been shopping around for a new video card, mainly because of Oblivion. A friend of mine is upgrading to some new $500 card, and is going to sell me his slightly used (about 2 weeks of actual use) radeon x800 XT for $200. After looking around i was unnable to find a better deal on that card, even on new egg, so i know it's a great deal. The issue is, i'm currently using a radeon 9800 pro (128mb) and i'm wondering if its worth the $200 for the upgrade, considering my card will still run any game ever made with ease, and still flawlessly if i turn the graphics down to medium depending on the game. Also are there any cards out there that are faster than this one (even nvidia) at the $200 mark? My own searches have revealed nothing, so any advice would be greatly appreciated, thankyou!
Radeon x800 XT?
- Thread starter DaLagga
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PCIE or AGP?
As far as the 9800 goes the new card usually outperforms (by around 100% in most cases), partly down to the new architecture. Only thing to worry about is increased power consumption (IIRC a 480w PSU or similar is recommended).
It's certainly worth upgrading if you can spare the cash, though not essential. Couldn't say anything regarding Oblivion until the official specs are released, though obviously the new card will offer better performance than the current one.
Pricewise it is a good deal, although the price tends to depend upon the amount of memory on the card. One thing I would say is that if it is the 256Mb version it is definitely worth it.
The closest cards to the X800XT in performance and price is the Nvidia 6800 Ultra & GT series of cards. Performance on the whole is tricky - Nvidia outperforms in certain tests while Ati works better in others.
Nvidia supports Shader 3.0, while Ati only 2.1. On the other hand, Ati includes features such as compression to boost the performance. As a general rule, the Nvidia card offers superior performance on a wider range of games which weren't specifically written for either card.
Faster cards tend to be way above that price.
As far as the 9800 goes the new card usually outperforms (by around 100% in most cases), partly down to the new architecture. Only thing to worry about is increased power consumption (IIRC a 480w PSU or similar is recommended).
It's certainly worth upgrading if you can spare the cash, though not essential. Couldn't say anything regarding Oblivion until the official specs are released, though obviously the new card will offer better performance than the current one.
Pricewise it is a good deal, although the price tends to depend upon the amount of memory on the card. One thing I would say is that if it is the 256Mb version it is definitely worth it.
The closest cards to the X800XT in performance and price is the Nvidia 6800 Ultra & GT series of cards. Performance on the whole is tricky - Nvidia outperforms in certain tests while Ati works better in others.
Nvidia supports Shader 3.0, while Ati only 2.1. On the other hand, Ati includes features such as compression to boost the performance. As a general rule, the Nvidia card offers superior performance on a wider range of games which weren't specifically written for either card.
Faster cards tend to be way above that price.
PCIE has a much larger throughput than AGP (i.e more information can be sent to the card using PCIE rather than AGP), although until developers (and Direct X)start coding for it you won't notice much of a difference.
AGP versions of most modern PCIE cards perform no different, since the only difference between the cards is the connector (most AGP versions are identical to the PCIE, with what is essentially an 'adapter' grafted on to the bottom of the card).
AGP versions of most modern PCIE cards perform no different, since the only difference between the cards is the connector (most AGP versions are identical to the PCIE, with what is essentially an 'adapter' grafted on to the bottom of the card).
Actually, i recall hearing that PCIE takes more power, but i have no idea why that would be. I've got a 400watt power supply, should be plenty for any card. When i first got my 9800 pro, i installed it in my old system which had a 233 watt power supply, and even though the card "required" a 350watt, it ran just fine aside for a few minor issues.
They're essentially the same card, with the same power requirements. The only difference would be down to the onboard cooling system, though it shouldn't alter it too much.
400w should be fine. In most cases its not the actual power rating of the PSU that causes the problem, its the maximum load the unit is capable of. If you have a cheaper PSU, or a large number of drives and similar plugged into it, then the load during startup can overload the PSU and cause it to shutdown.
400w should be fine. In most cases its not the actual power rating of the PSU that causes the problem, its the maximum load the unit is capable of. If you have a cheaper PSU, or a large number of drives and similar plugged into it, then the load during startup can overload the PSU and cause it to shutdown.
thesneakster
Grandmaster Knight
Personaly, i would wait, and then upgrade to a PCIe, board, and then mabye a 7800gt, espeically the one from albatron, because it's cheap for good performance. Also, does anyone se the irony here
Heh. Fine meaning, good...but not perfect or flawless. 1/5 of the time it would fail to boot, and shut itself off before loading windows, but all you had to do was try again and it would usually work. And about once a week it would shut off during a game, but it was nothing more than a very very minor annoyance.
I did a little more digging, and found a comparison of the radeonx850 xt and a geforce 7800 gs. Anyone know how the latter performs compared to the gt version? Anyway, seems a x850xt is about 5% faster than the x800xt i want, and after some extensive testing the site determined that the geforce 7800 gs was about equal to the radeon x850xt. Which...from what i gather means that the card i'm looking at performs so close to a 7800 gs that it wont' even be noticeable, right? Sorry for being picky, thanks for the responses, keep them comming!
But would there be a good reason for doing that? My board is fine, and PCIe won't improve performance at all, for the next 3-5 years even, long after my computer has lived its gaming lifespan anyway.
I did a little more digging, and found a comparison of the radeonx850 xt and a geforce 7800 gs. Anyone know how the latter performs compared to the gt version? Anyway, seems a x850xt is about 5% faster than the x800xt i want, and after some extensive testing the site determined that the geforce 7800 gs was about equal to the radeon x850xt. Which...from what i gather means that the card i'm looking at performs so close to a 7800 gs that it wont' even be noticeable, right? Sorry for being picky, thanks for the responses, keep them comming!
7800 GT is Nvidia's latest card. GS versions are simply overclocked versions of the standard card, while the GT versions tend to be upgraded versions of the standard card. The big problem with comparing the cards these days is that it's highly innacurate. Hardware differences and actual speeds are slight, so its generally down to driver optimisation and of course getting developers to code specifically for your card.
Hence no matter how good your Ati card is, if the developer has optimised for Nvidia you'll still see better performance on an Nvidia card, and vice versa.
As far as performance, the latest batch of cards are more of a feature upgrade type of thing rather than a straight out power increase. Most include a higher memory bandwith and support for things like HDR, although the actual difference in clockspeed etc is rather small.
Hence no matter how good your Ati card is, if the developer has optimised for Nvidia you'll still see better performance on an Nvidia card, and vice versa.
As far as performance, the latest batch of cards are more of a feature upgrade type of thing rather than a straight out power increase. Most include a higher memory bandwith and support for things like HDR, although the actual difference in clockspeed etc is rather small.
I've noticed this a bit myself. The high end of the 3rd generation family (9xxx) is the 9800, and the high end of the 2nd rate family is the x850 which is worlds better. But the high end of the Top notch family, the x1900 i believe isn't all that much better than the x850. See, as a gamer, what i look for in a card is something that will simply deliver a good fps. I don't need max settings, and am perfectly content playing on average as there usually isn't much of a visual difference anyway. I like to get around 45-50+ fps in most fps's, so as long as a card is capable of that, i don't really care. My 9800 pro fits that description perfectly, but the only reason i'm upgrading is because this seems like a great deal and if i don't grab it now he's going to sell it on ebay. Plus knowing that i can play games 2 years from now just fine with it is comforting to know.
Anyway, so i'm going to call my friend tomorrow and tell him i'll take it. Thanks a bunch guys! I'll post and let you all know if there is any improvement in performance on M&B. I doubt it, but never know until you try i guess.
Anyway, so i'm going to call my friend tomorrow and tell him i'll take it. Thanks a bunch guys! I'll post and let you all know if there is any improvement in performance on M&B. I doubt it, but never know until you try i guess.
thesneakster
Grandmaster Knight
Yeah, going to PCIe won't actually get much extra performence, for now, but you can't find the latest cards (eg 7800, x1800) for AGPx8
Anyway, your right on how it is a good price, and you don't have to buy much else for your system. Still, i'm soon to get a 7800gt with a SLI mobo, so when i get another $500 (minium wage is $7.50) and my card can't run on high detail anymore, i'll just buy another one.
Anyway, your right on how it is a good price, and you don't have to buy much else for your system. Still, i'm soon to get a 7800gt with a SLI mobo, so when i get another $500 (minium wage is $7.50) and my card can't run on high detail anymore, i'll just buy another one.
thesneakster
Grandmaster Knight
Well there ya go, but I said GT, not GS, still, that is good news, tell me you can have SLI with AGPx8 and then ill be interested. Also if i buy one Albatron 7800gt-sh 256m PCIe video card now, and then a year later when i can't run new games on high detail mode anymore, buy anotherone of exactly the same brand (albatron 7800gt-sh), will they be compatiable? I've heard that getting two cards of the same type form different Companies (eg, asus, XFX) won'twork together), but i don't know if it is the same for this?
Got the card, and installed it. Most games run about the same on low-medium settings. But when i turn things on high...wow! While playing M&B, i went to praven to do a few tests, and outside the city where you start with everything in my view i was getting 80fps with AF at 16x, AA at 6x, 1600x1200 resolution, and all the graphic settings to the max. And HL2 is just super perdy in all its shiny glory.
thesneakster said:
You can, assuming your motherboard has 2 AGP ports for some reason. Mind you, since its only technically possible to have 1 AGP port I suppose it wouldn't work, unless you start soldering some kind of Frankenboard together...
Tricky. In theory it shouldn't cause a problem ... in theory. The problem is that over the space of a year the card will not be the exact same version of the card from a year previously. Cards are revised all the time with no change to their make or model, sometimes something as simple as changing the memory manufacturer can cause problems.
SLI isn't going to be worth having for a few years yet though. Even a 6600 will chew through most games due for release over the next few years (its all down to the console market really). The next likely requirement hike will be the processor.
DaLagga said:
I remember when I went from the 440MX to the 6600GT. Morrowind, at full detail with pixel shaders and everything.....
thesneakster
Grandmaster Knight
I remember when I went from a 32 meg card, with a Ps 500mhz and 128meb's of ram, to a 5700fx, a gig of ram and A p4 2.8ghz
