ATI X850 XT AGP Question and Ram Question

[mismajor99]

Question #1

I currently have a 9800 XT running on my specs listed in my sig. I have noticed with BF2, Fear Demo ect.. that my rig is begining to show some age when it comes to running games with high graphic settings. I am contemplating on purchasing a ATI X850 XT agp version. I know I should get a significant jump in performance with the 16 pipelines but I am concerned that my 754 pin single channel memory board (ASUS K8V-D SE board) will in essence be a bottleneck and that I will not get the full benefits of a new card like the X850 XT. Any thoughts? Or am I just overly concerned? I am trying to get the most life out of my rig without having to upgrade the board and processor again.

Question #2

Someone else told me that by upgrading my ram to 2 gb will help as well. Any suggestions on good performing RAM for my board? I would be looking for (2) 1gb sticks of ram. Currently I have 1GB(2 sticks of 512) of corsair 3200 TwinX llpt 2-3-2-6. Corsair discontinued this ram, that's my luck, so I cannot purchase more of the same ram. Does anyone have this board with 2gb of ram, and if so what is a good suggestion. I am open to any brand. Thansk in advance.

 

[selfbuilt]

I wouldn't worry about it. I've done a similar upgrade - from an o/c 9800pro to a X800XTPE AGP (basically the same as the X850XT) on S754 system (Asus K8N, Newcastle 2800+ o/c to 2.34Ghz) with the same mem as you (2x512mB Corsair TwinX3200LL).

In non-AA/AF modes, the X800XTPE was more than twice as fast in 3Mark05 (i.e. from 3040 to 6200) and Doom3 (i.e. from 36 to 80fps at 1280, MQ), and noticeably faster in HL2 and UT2004. But it really shines with 4XAA/8XAF, where it's up to about 1.5x faster than the 9800pro (e.g. Doom3, from 20 to 56fps at 1280, HQ, 4XAA)

People worry too much about the single channel mem controllers on A64s ... it's doesn't make that much of a difference to gaming.

 

[mismajor99]

Thanks for the reply selfbuilt. Those numbers you gave just me got me excited I remember being a top dog when the 9800xt came out but how quickly things change , and I am an avid gamer so I think I'm going to go for the upgrade. Would you suggest the X850 XT (pe) version? or your card ? Is the extra money worth it? It seems they both have 16 pipelines but the 850 has a sligthly high clock speed. Your thoughts?

 

[selfbuilt]

I don't see much point for the price premium for the X850XTPE - I had been thinking of getting the X850XT myself, but then saw the now-closed ATI "refurb" deal on the X800XTPEs for ~$210, and couldn't resist. From the benchies, X800XTPE seems neck and neck with the X850XT. There were a few other X800XTPE deals going around last month, but most of them got gobbled up fast. At this point, you might want to wait and see what benchies and prices are like on the X1800 series cards due out soon.

As for mem, 2GB is definitely supposed to help with BF2 (I don't have it, though). People seem to like OCZ memory these days (you might want to check out the CPU o/c forum here for mem discussions). Good luck!

 

[jevans64]

I paid slightly more for my x800xt PE refurb since I didn't have the freeship code and the coupon code for %off was reduced to 5%. I still got it for $233 shipped and it LOOKED brand new to me. The card breakdown is something like this:

x850pro = x800pro w/ higher clock. ( 500/500 vs 475/450 12-pipes )
x850xt = x800xt PE ( 520 core / 540 memory )
x850xt PE = 20 MHz higher core than x800xt PE and 50 MHz higher memory clocks ( 540 / 590 )

I guess the BAD thing is that I only saw the x800xt PE ( $389 ) and the x850xt PE ( $355 lowball $$ ) in AGP 8x at The EGG. The others were all PCIe. So. In this case the x850xt PE would be a deal if you LIKE VisionTek. Sapphire makes the cards for ATi, so these are identical. The x850xt PE is a two-slot card so it won't fit in most SFF ( ie. Shuttle ) systems.

OH! BTW. I can overclock my x800xt PE to 560 core 590 memory, but I don't keep it there ( SSF = bottled heat :laugh: ).

My benchmarks on the Shuttle system in my sig using Cat 5.8 with stock clocks were:

3DMark03 ... 12355 averaged 3 runs
3DMark05 ... 5830 averaged 3 runs

 

[Powermoloch]

I have a X850XT. I got really decent frame rates for almost of games that are out atm . pretty good imo

 

[jevans64]

I was surprised how much smoother HL2 was at 1920x1200 4xAA / 8xAF on my little ATi box vs. my big box w/ 6800GT.

 

[mismajor99]

I went ahead and ordered a Radeon X850 XT Platinum Edition Yesterday. Should be here by Friday. Can't wait I figured I would jump head first, as usual. From what I could gather talking to a few people over at ATI yesterday, the new line of ATI cards are coming out, X1800 ect. but I was told there are no current plans for an AGP version. That being said, I figured why not get the most out of my AGP board and hopefully the x850xt will keep my happy eough until I eventually upgrade later down the road.

I started seeing performance problems with new games like the FEAR Demo and BF2 , which I have to jack the settings down for my 9800XT. HL still runs great, but Doom 3 is a bit shaky with high settings. With games like Quake 4, Stalker, and Unreal 07, I want to be able to run them at decent settings. ATI was telling me that I should see a 2x to 2.5x jump in performance.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally posted by: selfbuiltAt this point, you might want to wait and see what benchies and prices are like on the X1800 series cards due out soon.

Are you saying that the new x1800 line will also be available in AGP? I sure hope so.

 

[selfbuilt]

Originally posted by: WhipperSnapper
Are you saying that the new x1800 line will also be available in AGP? I sure hope so.

My bad ... forgot we were only talking AGP here - the X850XTPE is as high as you can go (which is pretty high!). ATI says there's no plans for an AGP version of the X1800 series. Of course, I suppose that could change, but it seems unlikely at this point.

 

[mismajor99]

When I talked to ATI the other day they told me PCI-E only. I googled it and found the same. A lot of people are asking the question. Not sure though, ATI doesn't seem to be releasing much info at this point. I think AGP is being phased out by some manufactures and it looks like ATI is one of them. That's fine with me, as long as I can get the most of this board I currenlty have. Supposedly the new X1800 will have 512mb onboard memory and a heftty price tag. As long as people with AGP have this current generations video cards, I think we will be fine with gaming for a long time. I don't see any games right now in development that would require us to go beyond the current GPU's. Hopefully

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally posted by: mismajor99As long as people with AGP have this current generations video cards, I think we will be fine with gaming for a long time. I don't see any games right now in development that would require us to go beyond the current GPU's. Hopefully

That's the problem--will the x850xt-pe be available for purchase (at a reasonable price for a card of its power) two or three years from now? From what I can tell, the stock of high-end AGP cards is becoming increasingly scarce. (Visit NewEgg's and ZZF's stock of 6800 GT's, for example.)

What I wonder, is, are they even producing any more high end AGP cards or is the stock now limited to what's already been produced? (In which case, hurry up and get one if you need one before they're gone.)

 

[mismajor99]

Yeah, that'a a concern for sure. I would think, companies like NVIDIA and ATI and there vendors like Sapphire/Visiontek will be keeping a close eye on the sales of motherboards and whether or not people are buying PCI-E or AGP boards. Most likely if someone was to buy a motherboard these days , PCI-E seems to be popular choice. That being said, I thnk video card manufactures will still produce high end cards in AGP for at least the next year of more, but I think we will see it become more and more less prevelant. Just like you said, stocks will continue to fall as long as the demand for PCI-E cards rise. Companies like New Egg and such thrive on good inventory managment, so I would assume that is the case why there might be a shortage in high end AGP.

By the way, got my X850 XT today and I am extremely happy. I am downloading 3dMark2005 right now to check the benchmark increase. So far, I jacked up the settings all the way up to high with 6x AA on BF2 and it ran like a charm with much more juice. I would have to say, if you have the money and your still sitting on a 9800 or 9600 series, make the upgrade, whether it's an X800 or an X850, especially if you have an AGP, why not get the best while it's out, being that the future of AGP isn't looking to hot. That is , of course if you have the money.

Now, what to do with my 9800XT. Ebay is selling it for 50 bucks. That's a real bummer. I paid $500 2 years ago when it first hit the market. I guess buying a video card is like buying a car, you love it for a while in the begining but after a short while. it ain't worth a damn. I think I might just throw it in my old rig, but that only has a ABit KT7A-R with a max of AGP 4x and a 1.4Ghz Athlon T-bird. Oh well.

 

[mismajor99]

Just ran 3Dmark2005 and scored a 6551. Not bad considering I scored a 2900 with the 9800XT . Below is the link. That is stock without overclocking. I'm not much of an overclocker, so thats fine with me. Anyway, we all know benchmarks are purely artificial. The real deal is how the current games are running. Figured I would give an update.


http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm05=1245184

 

[ney12]

I'm also using an ATI Radeon 9800XT and am thinking of either building a system (first time) or upgrading the video card to an ATI Radeon X850XT Platinum Edition. I have a Dell 8300 and have been satisfied with the stability of Dells, but upset with the upgrade options. I mainly use the system for gaming, so I thought of building a system with an AMD FX-57. I just downloaded 3DMark05 and scored 3085. I'm still using the Pentium 3.0 Ghz chip that came with the system but recently upgraded the audio card to a Creative X-FI.

Am I able to post my 3DMark05 while using the free trial? The games I play are BF2 and Doom 3, but plan on playing Quake 4 in the future. Your score more than doubled mine, so I wonder if I should expect the same increase even though I'm using a Pentium chip verses AMD. I am also using 2GB of RAM that came with the system from Dell. They took up all four slots (Argh).

I feel the same as you about the gaming experience and only used 3DMark05 as sort of a gauge being that we had the same 9800XT and looking to upgrade to the same X850PE. Do you have Doom 3? I'd like to see your timedemo FPS with all settings on Ultra...

Thanks

 

[mismajor99]

yeah, I have doom 3 , love that game and one of the bigest reasons I wanted to upgrade was for quake 4. Yeah, I was about at a 3000 score with the 9800xt. I don't think my amd chip makes that much of a difference over your p 3.0, just a little . I would go with the X850XT. Figure this way, if your not satisfied with the setup and performace after upgrading the video card, you can then go ahead and buid a new system from there. The FX-57 is incredible but very expensive. I would try just a video card update for now if I were you.

I'm loving this card. Been playing HL2 all night and BF2. Being that it's late, I will definately run the doom 3 timedemo on ultra and post my results. And yes, you can post your link with 3dmark05, you just have to register with them to record your score online. Where your scores are is your URL that I provided above. BTW, I found the X850XT at mwave.com for $395.00. Not a bad price considering my performance jump.

 

[Powermoloch]

I got a X850XT for 349.99 @ ati.com not long ago. I was really surprised from a 6600 card that I currently had. A great performance jump, and all the eye candy without sacrificing performance. Top AGP card yet

 

[mismajor99]

Was it the Platinum Edition? That mush have been a sale. Right now at ATI it costs $450.00. I found it cheaper at other vendors like mwave.

http://shop.ati.com/searchresults.asp?dept_id=17

 

[Elfear]

Looks like Tigerdirect has them for $310. Can't remember who found this in the Hot Deals section, but credit goes to them.

I think the X850XT PE is an awesome card. Mine clocked to 600/600 on stock cooling and voltage. From the benchmarks I've run it keeps up very well against my 7800GTX in some games (FarCry and HL2). Enjoy your new card OP.

 

[mismajor99]

That's PCI-E , I needed an AGP version. Seems like the AGP versions are more expensive. What's up with that? At tiger the, the X800XT All in wonder is 340.00, and I couldn't find an X850XT PE AGP in stock or a price. I think stocks are low right now. I hope I didn't get burned at 400 for AGP.

 

[Elfear]

Oops. You're right, sorry about that.