$550 to blow, what to do?

[JiveCoolie]

Ive been behind a bit with the last few years and the cards that came in that time. Right now I am running a 6800GT OC by BFG and well I think its time to upgrade.

so basiclly I am looking to order a new card and motherboard tonight (pci-e) that will last a good while and that run solid.

 

[SpeedZealot369]

well my friend,

What are the specs for the rest of your pc and monitor? please include memory, processor, psu, etc

What games do you play?

i would say its between a x1900xt/7900gt for the video card issue, dont know about motherboard though.

 

[JiveCoolie]

well sir, I am running a AMD 64 3500+ Venice, 2 gigs of 3200 ddr corsair, 500w xconnect Psu.. and I am interested in running crap like ut2k7, oblivion, the new battlefield and uhm anything else that comes out

 

[1Dark1Sharigan1]

I'd say X1900XT for the vid card. As for the motherboard, it's depends, but unless you plan on SLI sometime in the future a board like the DFI UT Ultra-D is a good deal for $112 on Newegg.

 

[Arkane13131]

Bang for your buck right now... 300$ 7900gt... but since you got cash you want to spend...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814103175

that should keep you occupied for awhile.

 

[JiveCoolie]

lol that would leave me no cash for a decent mo board, im looking for a 7900GT i think thats probably best.

 

[thilanliyan]

Check out the X1800XT also. Same price as the 7900GT but is faster and has some better features. And the X1800XT comes with 512mb of GDDR3 which comes in handy for some games, especially with AA turned up.

However, the 7900GT runs cooler but is not quieter with the stock fan.

Check out this review. Has the 7900GT and the X1800XT in it.

review I'm not sure whether they test the 256mb or 512mb version of the X1800XT in that review though. Either way it wins most benchmarks. But you decide what's important to you and then choose.

 

[1Dark1Sharigan1]

Originally posted by: JiveCoolie
lol that would leave me no cash for a decent mo board, im looking for a 7900GT i think thats probably best.

X1900XT for $434 at Newegg + DFI Ultra-D for $112 = $546 dollars (before shipping) . . .

Also you can sell your old board and your 6800GT and get a better power supply than that Ultra X-Connect . . .

 

[JiveCoolie]

Oh god I know, this x-connect is very bad .. the cables are a pain.

hey, 1Dark1Sharigan1.. how well do you run games? I see you have a 7900GT and you are pointing me twords a x1900xt I am curious if the performance is worth the extra 100 bucks?

 

[tuteja1986]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102629 this what i recommend :! Much better performance with oblivion

From my older post :
http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/bfg_geforce_7900_gtx_oc_7900_gt_oc_review/

Battlefield 2 2048x1536x32 4xAA/16xAF

X1800XT : 70.3FPS
7900GT : 31.7FPS

Quake 4 Ultra Quality 2048x1536x32 4xAA/16xAF

X1800XT : 49
7900GT : 40.1

Lock On Modern Air Combat 2048x1536x32 4xAA/16xAF

7900GT : 57.6
x1800xt : 47.9

Pacific Fighters 2048x1536x32 4xAA/16xAF

7900GT : 45.7
X1800XT : 41.5

FEAR 2048x1536x32 4xAA/16xAF

X1800XT : 25
7900GT : 20

Call of Duty 2 2048x1536x32 4xAA/16xAF

x1800xt : 23.2
7900GT : 16.7

Serious Sam 2 2048x1536x32 4xAA/16xAF

X1800XT : 36.9
7900GT : 34.5


ATI Avivo vs Nvidia PureVideo

http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/ati_nvidia_video_quality_shootout_spring_06/

Oblivion Dynamic Benchmarking

http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/oblivion_high-end_performance/

 

[Arkane13131]

the x1900xt is faster. but the 7900gt overclocks like nobodies buisness.... I get 11,000+ 3dmark05 and 6300+ 3dmark06 with my rig.
Not x1900xt scores...but good for a sub 1000$ computer

 

[1Dark1Sharigan1]

Originally posted by: JiveCoolie
hey, 1Dark1Sharigan1.. how well do you run games? I see you have a 7900GT and you are pointing me twords a x1900xt I am curious if the performance is worth the extra 100 bucks?

Well my GT @ 690/1880 is generally on par with an X1900XT performance wise, at least at resolutions of 1600x1200 and below (above that, the extra framebuffer would kick in) as both cards would exchange wins and losses.

and tuteja1986, the reason that the X1800XT beats the 7900GT by so much in certain cases in those benches you show is because it's running at 2048x1536 with high AA and AF in which the 512MB frambuffer on the X1800XT helps alot. At 1600x1200 and below (which is probably what the OP will be gaming at) the difference is less.

However, while I'm not disappointed with the performance of my 7900GT, I am disappointed at the IQ. I don't care what others say, but the IQ my X800XL had was leaps and bounds above my 7900GT. But I got it because I qualified for Step Up, but now I'm actually thinking of selling it and getting an X1900XT.

 

[Arkane13131]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813157081
this motherboard is cool. both agp and pci express slots... and its cheap.. asrock is pretty solid.
so 70$ shipped mobo 480$ x1900xtx = 550$ with a 25$ mail in rebate. I dont think you would be pissed off about that heh.

 

[JiveCoolie]

Lol I went with
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16814131006
and
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813136152

Now ive got that sick stomach feeling you get when you spend alot of money at once ;P

(boy im gonna be in trouble with the fiance)

 

[1Dark1Sharigan1]

Originally posted by: JiveCoolie
Lol I went with
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16814131006
and
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813136152

Now ive got that sick stomach feeling you get when you spend alot of money at once ;P

(boy im gonna be in trouble with the fiance)

Hey, didn't think you'd actually take my advice . . .

But yeah not a bad way to spend $550 . . .

Now you just need to sell your old mobo and that GT . . .

 

[buzzsaw13]

Originally posted by: Arkane13131
the x1900xt is faster. but the 7900gt overclocks like nobodies buisness.... I get 11,000+ 3dmark05 and 6300+ 3dmark06 with my rig.
Not x1900xt scores...but good for a sub 1000$ computer

The X1900XT overclocks very well too on stock cooler, and you can up the voltage using ATI Tool.

I had mine flashed to XTX and overclocked to 729/823@1.5V

Not quite sure if the powercolor version can flash to XTX

 

[JiveCoolie]

Originally posted by: 1Dark1Sharigan1

Originally posted by: JiveCoolie
Lol I went with
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16814131006
and
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813136152

Now ive got that sick stomach feeling you get when you spend alot of money at once ;P

(boy im gonna be in trouble with the fiance)

Hey, didn't think you'd actually take my advice . . .

But yeah not a bad way to spend $550 . . .

Now you just need to sell your old mobo and that GT . . .

you want em? your in austin would be easy to get it to ya

 

[deadseasquirrel]

Originally posted by: JiveCoolie
you want em? your in austin would be easy to get it to ya

Wow... lotta Austinites in this thread! Nice choices on the upgrade-- I've got pretty much the same and it's working great (DFI SLI-D and XTX).

As for selling your old stuff, head over to the For Sale/Trade forum. I sold my BFG GT there two weeks ago for like $165ish I think.

 

[Munky]

Originally posted by: JiveCoolie
Lol I went with
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16814131006
and
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813136152

Now ive got that sick stomach feeling you get when you spend alot of money at once ;P

(boy im gonna be in trouble with the fiance)

Hey, you got the exact same card and mobo as me.

 

[aniruddha23]

Welcome to the club

 

[jiffylube1024]

Buy some blow and just go buck wild!

Seriously, get either a 7900GT ($300) or a X1900XT (~$400) along with a good socket 939 board (eg DFI Lanparty UT Ultra-D) and something like an Opteron 144 (and overclock it like nuts) or another good CPU from the message board, and then sell your old config.

 

[JiveCoolie]

whats wrong with my 3500 venice? I just got it like 3 months ago D:

 

[LittleNemoNES]

congrats on your awesome purchase!
The DFI board will help you OC your 3500+ with mem dividers. I have corsair value and the DFI Ultra-D board on my OTHER PC and I gave it a 1:1 200 mhz OC... I'll try more later (prime stable 24 hrs)

 

[Ika]

3500+ venice is still a great chip, you shouldn't need to replace it with anything unless you want dual-core.

 

[JiveCoolie]

Well I just got my box from newegg and guess what? The video card isnt in the box. There is a ziplock bag with the cords, cds, and booklett but no card.. I did get the motherboard. Now they said they are opening a clain wich is going to take 7 days... this is not cool.