About to get a x1950 pro

[MikeyLSU]

looking at newegg I could get an ASUS card for $170 or a Saphire one for $185...are there any differences?

Also, does ASUS make a good video card? I didn't even know they made them.

What is a good one to get?

 

[bamacre]

If there is a difference, it's not much.

If you can afford to wait a bit, Nvidia is closer to releasing the 8600 series video cards which will be around your price range.

 

[BlancoNino]

Originally posted by: bamacre
If there is a difference, it's not much.

If you can afford to wait a bit, Nvidia is closer to releasing the 8600 series video cards which will be around your price range.

This is also what I'm waiting to do. DX10 cards are out, and I'm assuming that with the next wave of them coming out next month or so, there will be a nice price range and selection along with a lot more reliability and support. A DX10 card will keep you from wanting to upgrade longer.

 

[MikeyLSU]

I would wait, but I'm building my rig now, and don't have a PCIe card to hold me over...so I need something.

Also, I plan on dual booting Vista/XP so I can still play games in XP since performance is just not up to par yet in Vista(which I'm currently running).

On top of that, I have heard too much bad thigns about Nvidea and drivers with Vista so far that I would rather wait until maybe even the second round of DX10 cards before jumping in.

 

[zodder]

Cooling seems to be what differentiates all the 1950 Pro models. The Diamond has the Accelero 2 already on it, so switching cooling on that won't void your warranty. But those coolers are so cheap now, if you wanted to go with another manufacturer, adding an Accelero wouldn't be that great of an expense.

 

[Mallet]

The ones with the standard one slot cooling solution get loud. pick one with the acellero or the gigabyte version with the zalman cooler

 

[MikeyLSU]

ok, what about this

PowerColor 1950 pro

PowerColor Open Box

Looks like the OEM one is clocked a little higher. Looks like a good manufacturer, but the retail is too expensive. I don't really need all the cables cause I don't output to anything other than my monitor anyway. But looking at the retail cables, it looks like they come with a power cable that needs to be hooked up to the back.

The OEM doesn't look to come with this and doesn't mention it at all. They are not the exact same card because they don'thave the same clock speeds, but does anyone know if the OEM one would work out of the box? Or would I need somethign else to make it work?

EDIT: another question. Is there anyway to get that pci-e cable online or some other place?