Best buy in ATI X1K series?

[hmorphone]

While eyeballing Ebay I noted that the going rates seem to be:

X1900 GT - $175 to $200, substantially less than the egg
X1900 AIW - $225 or less, less than what they are on the egg
X1800 XT 256 - $225, or about what they are on the egg
X1800 XT 512 - $275 or more, or about what they are on the egg or more!
X1900 XT - $350, or about what they are on the egg

All prices are give or take. I know that common wisdom holds that the X1800 XT, partic. the 512 version, is the best choice. However that's based on pricing like the egg. I'm guessing that prices on Ebay may be influenced by the common wisdom that X1800 XT's are the way to go (upping demand and prices), and by the fact there may be some dumping going on with the X1900 GT's and possibly the AIW's to get them to move ( as the original price didn't really match the performance.) Based on the above prices, is the crippled X1900 GT the best buy for the buck? Or is the X1900 AIW, with all the pipes but downclocked, better? Assuming you have little need for the AIW video features.

 

[hardwareking]

out of them the best card for the money would be thr AIW x1900,provided u can find a way to OC it.That would beat the x1800 xt if u could get the clocks and mem up to x1900 gt speed.
At stock speeds,i'd go with x1900 xt.Its just $75 more than the x1800 xt but u'll get a lot better performance.

 

[hmorphone]

From what I've seen you can't get a X1900 AIW up to GT/XT speeds, I'm guessing either the extra vid components are a strain to the card or they're speed binned XT chips. Obviously the X1900 XT is the best of the cards but not all of us have $350 to put out.

 

[akshayt]

1900XT surely si the best, however if you want to save 75$ for some other upgrade then 1800xt 512mb should come very close as well.

 

[Smartazz]

Originally posted by: akshayt
1900XT surely si the best, however if you want to save 75$ for some other upgrade then 1800xt 512mb should come very close as well.

Is the X1900XT really as good as people say it is, I've seen benchmarks and it doesn't always edge the 7900GTX.

 

[hmorphone]

Let me rephrase it. What do you feel the best buy is for $225 or less? (out of the X1K cards at Ebay prices) and why?

 

[akshayt]

1900XT is better especially with AA and AF and will only get ahead of geforce 7900gtx with new shader intensive games. Also ATI offers higher IQ and if you switch the same on Nvidia then you loose a lot on fps, also nvidia can never giev the same image quality and ati gives hdr + aa as well.

1900XT starts at around 350$ and it is steal for the price.

For less than 225$ get X1800XT

 

[akshayt]

don't know 1900AIW performance too much,

 

[TheRyuu]

If you can fork out $350 for a X1900, yea, go for it. You get HDR+AA (which does wonders for Oblivion and any other game that uses it), better IQ, and you can most likely OC the X1900 to XTX speeds.

IMO the best single card out there is the X1900XT (also getting cheaper).

 

[TanisHalfElven]

i would go for the x1900 AIW cuz of AIW features and the fact that it has more shader and pipes. but from what i see on XS forums the AIW does not clock as high as the gt. AIW if no OCing and gt if OCing.

 

[hardwareking]

what if the HSF were changed to an arctic cooling accelero or something?I don't think over volting is safe cause it might damage the TV tuner.

 

[CP5670]

If you can get an X1900 AIW for $225, I think that's definitely the best choice for your price range even if you don't need the AIW features.

Originally posted by: tanishalfelven
i would go for the x1900 AIW cuz of AIW features and the fact that it has more shader and pipes. but from what i see on XS forums the AIW does not clock as high as the gt. AIW if no OCing and gt if OCing.

The AIW has all the pipes enabled though, just lower clocks and less memory than the XT/XTX. The GT has a quad disabled.

 

[Smartazz]

Originally posted by: CP5670
If you can get an X1900 AIW for $225, I think that's definitely the best choice for your price range even if you don't need the AIW features.

Originally posted by: tanishalfelven
i would go for the x1900 AIW cuz of AIW features and the fact that it has more shader and pipes. but from what i see on XS forums the AIW does not clock as high as the gt. AIW if no OCing and gt if OCing.

The AIW has all the pipes enabled though, just lower clocks and less memory than the XT/XTX. The GT has a quad disabled.

Does the AIW have all 48 pixel shader processors?

 

[Polish3d]

Originally posted by: Smartazz

Originally posted by: akshayt
1900XT surely si the best, however if you want to save 75$ for some other upgrade then 1800xt 512mb should come very close as well.

Is the X1900XT really as good as people say it is, I've seen benchmarks and it doesn't always edge the 7900GTX.

Go check out nvidia's 7950gx2 review. (Newer drivers).

Add about 10% to the XT to account for an overclock, and at 1600x1200 4xAA you have the XT beating/equaling 7900GT SLI and coming close to or equaling the 7950GX2 in something like 4/6 games.

And if you want to be potentially more accurate, remember the XT has higher default image quality settings, and when Nvidia's are raised to equal it, it loses even more performance.

Also, XTX stock beats 7800GTX 512mb SLI in Oblivion

 

[TanisHalfElven]

Originally posted by: CP5670
If you can get an X1900 AIW for $225, I think that's definitely the best choice for your price range even if you don't need the AIW features.

Originally posted by: tanishalfelven
i would go for the x1900 AIW cuz of AIW features and the fact that it has more shader and pipes. but from what i see on XS forums the AIW does not clock as high as the gt. AIW if no OCing and gt if OCing.

The AIW has all the pipes enabled though, just lower clocks and less memory than the XT/XTX. The GT has a quad disabled.

i know thatss whati said, AIW is just lower clocked than the x1900xt.

 

[Smartazz]

What would be better for gaming?
An X1900XT with 1 gig of ram or
a 7900GT with 2 gigs of ram?

 

[Polish3d]

Hmm.... tough one to predict. 2 gigs is useful for Bf2 and that's about it as far as I know.

You can volt mod a 7900gt and OC it fairly close to X1900XT performance if you dont count the image quality difference...

You'll probably want 2 gigs in the future, what does your current setup haven now? 1 gig?

 

[Smartazz]

Originally posted by: Frackal
Hmm.... tough one to predict. 2 gigs is useful for Bf2 and that's about it as far as I know.

You can volt mod a 7900gt and OC it fairly close to X1900XT performance if you dont count the image quality difference...

You'll probably want 2 gigs in the future, what does your current setup haven now? 1 gig?

well this is for a future conroe build.

 

[mylok]

"And if you want to be potentially more accurate, remember the XT has higher default image quality settings, and when Nvidia's are raised to equal it, it loses even more performance.

Also, XTX stock beats 7800GTX 512mb SLI in Oblivion"



QFT

 

[CP5670]

Originally posted by: Smartazz

Originally posted by: CP5670
If you can get an X1900 AIW for $225, I think that's definitely the best choice for your price range even if you don't need the AIW features.

Originally posted by: tanishalfelven
i would go for the x1900 AIW cuz of AIW features and the fact that it has more shader and pipes. but from what i see on XS forums the AIW does not clock as high as the gt. AIW if no OCing and gt if OCing.

The AIW has all the pipes enabled though, just lower clocks and less memory than the XT/XTX. The GT has a quad disabled.

Does the AIW have all 48 pixel shader processors?

Yeah, of course, those are part of the pipes. (with the way a pipe is generally defined now, anyway)

Originally posted by: tanishalfelven
i know thatss whati said, AIW is just lower clocked than the x1900xt.

Sorry, I thought by GT you meant the X1900GT, not the 7900GT.

 

[Polish3d]

Originally posted by: Smartazz

Originally posted by: Frackal
Hmm.... tough one to predict. 2 gigs is useful for Bf2 and that's about it as far as I know.

You can volt mod a 7900gt and OC it fairly close to X1900XT performance if you dont count the image quality difference...

You'll probably want 2 gigs in the future, what does your current setup haven now? 1 gig?

well this is for a future conroe build.

You really cant spring an extra 50 bucks for the difference between 7900GT and an XT? I'd just save a little bit more up myself. Either way, may as well go with 2 gigs. If you get the 7900gt or XT you'll probably end up wanting to upgrade within 6-8 months (vid card) anyway

 

[hmorphone]

Originally posted by: tanishalfelven
i would go for the x1900 AIW cuz of AIW features and the fact that it has more shader and pipes. but from what i see on XS forums the AIW does not clock as high as the gt. AIW if no OCing and gt if OCing.

Now that's the kind of awnser I was looking for (though Akshayt seems to be inclined towards the X1800 XT 256 if one can be found for about $225 or less.) They do seem to be able to OC the X1900 GT a fair amount, more on the memory than the core I believe. Any of our resident X1900 GT owners around right now? Or 1900 AIW owners?

 

[Sonikku]

Where are all these X1800 and X1900 cards? My Best Buy, Sam's Clubs and Wal Marts deal almost completely in FX 5200's. (What the hell man?)

The best card I can find in Best Buy is the 7800GS selling for about $350.

 

[hmorphone]

I know, Circuit City's not much better. You would think Wal Mart would be selling 7900 GT's cheaper than Newegg could buy them. Instead you get Radeon 9500s or FX 5200s for almost as much as when they first came out

 

[thepd7]

Originally posted by: hmorphone
I know, Circuit City's not much better. You would think Wal Mart would be selling 7900 GT's cheaper than Newegg could buy them. Instead you get Radeon 9500s or FX 5200s for almost as much as when they first came out

LOL my walmart has an fx5200 "clearanced" for $80, down from $100 (its price in what, 2003?).

And as far as the OP goes, x1900 aiw seemed to be just a little below the x1800xt 512 in the reviews on here when the x1900s first came out, it would seem to me like it would match the x1800xt 256.

Only thing is its only a single monitor card. If you don't care about that, get it. It comes with adobe something or other right?