Brand new ATI Radeon x850 XT, agp for $250?

[Hammer67]

I was looking to upgrade from an ATI 9800 Pro 128. My budget was in the $200 range.

I was looking at the Nvidia 6800, 6600 GT, and now the 6800 GS when this little deal fell into my lap.

I have a P4 3.0 ghz. 800 FSB, 1 gb ram. Not looking to upgrade to PCI-E system yet.

THis would be my final graphics card update before the switch to PCI-E.

Looks like a deal. Anyone iffy on this card? Only negative I see is shader version 2.0, not 3.0. From the benchmarks I have seen, it doesn't relaly matter...

 

[shinzwei]

:thumbsup: Go for it. Looks like a great deal on an X850XT.

 

[Corporate Thug]

i would jump on it as well

 

[impemonk]

THERE SHALL BE NO JUMPING ON INNOCENT DEALS IN THIS FORUM?!

You can steal a deal... but never jump on it... you might inflict physical harm?!

 

[Conky]

I just got back from the store with mine and haven't even installed it yet. Similar upgrade 3.06GHz P4, 1GB, and a 9800Pro 128mb.

Time to shut her down and install!

 

[NoStateofMind]

Shader model 3.0 doesn't matter? then explain the performance hit in CoD2 in this benchmarking:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/games-2005_10.html

 

[Ackmed]

Originally posted by: PC Surgeon
Shader model 3.0 doesn't matter? then explain the performance hit in CoD2 in this benchmarking:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/games-2005_10.html

Why do you think SM3 is in CoD2?

 

[NoStateofMind]

Originally posted by: Ackmed

Originally posted by: PC Surgeon
Shader model 3.0 doesn't matter? then explain the performance hit in CoD2 in this benchmarking:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/games-2005_10.html

Why do you think SM3 is in CoD2?

actually i dont know, but how else do you explain a slower clocked card beating out a faster clocked card with both having 16 pipes? Something isn't right.

I'm talking about FSAA 4x + Aniso 16x by the way

 

[Hammer67]

Originally posted by: Crazyfool
I just got back from the store with mine and haven't even installed it yet. Similar upgrade 3.06GHz P4, 1GB, and a 9800Pro 128mb.

Time to shut her down and install!

Oh man...let me know how it goes!

I am off to get mine tomorrow...

 

[Hammer67]

Originally posted by: PC Surgeon

Originally posted by: Ackmed

Originally posted by: PC Surgeon
Shader model 3.0 doesn't matter? then explain the performance hit in CoD2 in this benchmarking:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/games-2005_10.html

Why do you think SM3 is in CoD2?

actually i dont know, but how else do you explain a slower clocked card beating out a faster clocked card with both having 16 pipes? Something isn't right.

Interesting conversation especially since neither my current card or the card I am considering are even included in those benchmarks....

 

[NoStateofMind]

Originally posted by: Hammer67

Originally posted by: PC Surgeon

Originally posted by: Ackmed

Originally posted by: PC Surgeon
Shader model 3.0 doesn't matter? then explain the performance hit in CoD2 in this benchmarking:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/games-2005_10.html

Why do you think SM3 is in CoD2?

actually i dont know, but how else do you explain a slower clocked card beating out a faster clocked card with both having 16 pipes? Something isn't right.

Interesting conversation especially since neither my current card or the card I am considering are even included in those benchmarks....

here's the PE version of the card you want with those eye cany's on:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/games-2005_9.html

An average of 29 FPS, now a 6800GT gets almost 34 FPS:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/games-2005_10.html

So if your going to spend $300 , wouldn't the GT be a better choice?

 

[justly]

Originally posted by: PC Surgeon

Originally posted by: Hammer67

Originally posted by: PC Surgeon

Originally posted by: Ackmed

Originally posted by: PC Surgeon
Shader model 3.0 doesn't matter? then explain the performance hit in CoD2 in this benchmarking:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/games-2005_10.html

Why do you think SM3 is in CoD2?

actually i dont know, but how else do you explain a slower clocked card beating out a faster clocked card with both having 16 pipes? Something isn't right.

Interesting conversation especially since neither my current card or the card I am considering are even included in those benchmarks....

here's the PE version of the card you want with those eye cany's on:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/games-2005_9.html

An average of 29 FPS, now a 6800GT gets almost 34 FPS:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/games-2005_10.html

So if your going to spend $300 , wouldn't the GT be a better choice?

I'm not a gamer, but even I can see that you are only using one game to compare. Try going to the same article (pages 12 and 13) and compare FEAR. If you used the FEAR numbers the 6800GT is definitely not the better choice.

 

[Ackmed]

Originally posted by: PC Surgeon

Originally posted by: Hammer67

Originally posted by: PC Surgeon

Originally posted by: Ackmed

Originally posted by: PC Surgeon
Shader model 3.0 doesn't matter? then explain the performance hit in CoD2 in this benchmarking:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/games-2005_10.html

Why do you think SM3 is in CoD2?

actually i dont know, but how else do you explain a slower clocked card beating out a faster clocked card with both having 16 pipes? Something isn't right.

Interesting conversation especially since neither my current card or the card I am considering are even included in those benchmarks....

here's the PE version of the card you want with those eye cany's on:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/games-2005_9.html

An average of 29 FPS, now a 6800GT gets almost 34 FPS:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/games-2005_10.html

So if your going to spend $300 , wouldn't the GT be a better choice?

I thought so. Dont assume. SM3 doesnt make them faster in CoD2. NV has generally been a lot faster in OpenGL. Which is what we are seeing here.


Why dont you show the other games, where the X850XT would be faster? As in, about every other game? Also, he said $250, not $300. For $250, the X850XT is a great card.

 

[NoStateofMind]

So how does that make sence? Your right about the fear benchs, but in a lower graphically intence game the GT outperforms the PE? why?

 

[NoStateofMind]

Originally posted by: Ackmed

Originally posted by: PC Surgeon

Originally posted by: Hammer67

Originally posted by: PC Surgeon

Originally posted by: Ackmed

Originally posted by: PC Surgeon
Shader model 3.0 doesn't matter? then explain the performance hit in CoD2 in this benchmarking:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/games-2005_10.html

Why do you think SM3 is in CoD2?

actually i dont know, but how else do you explain a slower clocked card beating out a faster clocked card with both having 16 pipes? Something isn't right.

Interesting conversation especially since neither my current card or the card I am considering are even included in those benchmarks....

here's the PE version of the card you want with those eye cany's on:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/games-2005_9.html

An average of 29 FPS, now a 6800GT gets almost 34 FPS:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/games-2005_10.html

So if your going to spend $300 , wouldn't the GT be a better choice?

I thought so. Dont assume. SM3 doesnt make them faster in CoD2. NV has generally been a lot faster in OpenGL. Which is what we are seeing here.


Why dont you show the other games, where the X850XT would be faster? As in, about every other game? Also, he said $250, not $300. For $250, the X850XT is a great card.

Well the INITIAL COST is $300, 4 to 6 weeks later, he will have his $250 card. ATI is not a bad card producer, so im not playing sides here.

I'm also concidering the X850XT (or 6800GT), and what better way to learn about which is the better deal then to read and to have a conversation over it? (besides actually owning it)

 

[Hammer67]

ACtually...check out this great benchmark article from Tom's Hardware...it's from a few months ago but it shows most of the current AGP cards.

The x850 XT and the PE version are near the tops in most benchmarks. Of course, these are older driver revisions...

Tom's AGP benchmarks

 

[Munky]

Originally posted by: PC Surgeon
So how does that make sence? Your right about the fear benchs, but in a lower graphically intence game the GT outperforms the PE? why?

In general the xt pe outperforms the 6800gt, but some games are just coded in a way that the gf6 architecture is more adept at running them. Doom3 is a prime example of that, although lately Ati cards have improved a lot in that game. So, if you're primarily gonna play OpenGL games, or COD2, then the gt is a better choice. But for all if you play a lot of games in general, then the xt pe is better.

 

[Hammer67]

Originally posted by: munky

Originally posted by: PC Surgeon
So how does that make sence? Your right about the fear benchs, but in a lower graphically intence game the GT outperforms the PE? why?

In general the xt pe outperforms the 6800gt, but some games are just coded in a way that the gf6 architecture is more adept at running them. Doom3 is a prime example of that, although lately Ati cards have improved a lot in that game. So, if you're primarily gonna play OpenGL games, or COD2, then the gt is a better choice. But for all if you play a lot of games in general, then the xt pe is better.

Thanks....

It seems as though any card I get is going to blow away the 9800 Pro I currently have!!

 

[Powermoloch]

Lol go for it man..with the rebate . I paid 100 $ more with mine last summer. But it's all worth it.

 

[Toro 45]

Go for it, I just ordered one, great card, good price, you won't look back. I got tired of waiting for a better deal. Jones'en to play BF2 on my new Dell 2005FPW on High settings

 

[Conky]

Originally posted by: Hammer67

Originally posted by: Crazyfool
I just got back from the store with mine and haven't even installed it yet. Similar upgrade 3.06GHz P4, 1GB, and a 9800Pro 128mb.

Time to shut her down and install!

Oh man...let me know how it goes!

I am off to get mine tomorrow...

HOLY COW!

I was expecting a nice boost but the image quality in addition to the speed has me simply amazed in some games.

I just done playing some COD2 online and it simply looked like another game. Q4 looked the same but like 4 times the framerate. These are all I've tested so far but all I can say at this point is if you are still considering upgrading to this card at this point then just do it!

I am off to try HL2, Doom3, NFS-MW, and maybe even Serious Sam 2, lol. Dang, I feel like I have a whole new system!

 

[Avalon]

Ackmed, I think the COD2 engine may not be based on an OGL engine. It was an in-house project, that I know for a fact, but I believe it's DX based.

 

[Patrick Wolf]

Originally posted by: PC Surgeon

Originally posted by: Hammer67

Originally posted by: PC Surgeon

Originally posted by: Ackmed

Originally posted by: PC Surgeon
Shader model 3.0 doesn't matter? then explain the performance hit in CoD2 in this benchmarking:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/games-2005_10.html

Why do you think SM3 is in CoD2?

actually i dont know, but how else do you explain a slower clocked card beating out a faster clocked card with both having 16 pipes? Something isn't right.

Interesting conversation especially since neither my current card or the card I am considering are even included in those benchmarks....

here's the PE version of the card you want with those eye cany's on:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/games-2005_9.html

An average of 29 FPS, now a 6800GT gets almost 34 FPS:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/games-2005_10.html

So if your going to spend $300 , wouldn't the GT be a better choice?

Please note significant performance drops of ATI RADEON-based graphics cards with 256MB of memory when the FSAA and AF re enabled. We did not experience this with NVIDIA GeForce 7800-series and believe that there is a memory management flaw in ATI?s Catalyst driver that limits performance in the Call of Duty 2 game and may affect some other titles.

ATI's drivers may be to blame for this. Either way it's a fact that the X850 XT is better than the 6800 GT. And ATI releases new drivers about once or twice a month. The lastest drivers (5.12) give a nice performance boost.

 

[zagood]

FYI: (also posted this in another thread)

http://www.fatwallet.com/t/24/548538


"The UPC on the box does not match either one of the two UPC's listed in the rebate form.
I returned the one I bought.
You've been warned."

"I am concerned about that as well. That's why I sent in the S/N from the box instead of the UPC, which was an option per the rebate instructions. I sure hope I get it."

Hope they matched for anyone who bought it, if not send the S/N from the box.

-z

 

[BespinReactorShaft]

Originally posted by: Crazyfool
I just done playing some COD2 online and it simply looked like another game. Q4 looked the same but like 4 times the framerate. These are all I've tested so far but all I can say at this point is if you are still considering upgrading to this card at this point then just do it!

I am off to try HL2, Doom3, NFS-MW, and maybe even Serious Sam 2, lol. Dang, I feel like I have a whole new system!

Fresh from finishing HL2 Lost Coast, FEAR and CoD2 with my upgraded system (a notch below yours, 9800pro to X800 XT) I can rightly share this feeling. And with some overclocking further down the road we AGP-ers can hopefully last till at least mid-2006.