Choice between x850XT and x1650 Pro

[TMoney468]

Hi everyone, I had a quick question about which card is better. I recently sent in my x850XT for RMA, because it died. I found out from the RMA center that their x850XT is backordered and is about a 3-4 week wait for it to be shipped out. They mentioned that they would be able to give me a x1650 Pro 512MB in place of my x850XT. Is this worthwhile to do it?

I saw benchmarks for the x1650 Pro and it didn't seem that impressive at all. Granted I don't game that much on this computer anymore since it is quite old, but I wouldn't mind playing Tiger Woods or some similar games on it from time to time. The only plus I see with the 1650 is that it has dual DVI, which would be good were I to get another monitor in the next couple of months. Any ideas? Should I see if they can give me a card more matched to the performance of the x850XT? Thanks!

 

[happy medium]

Tell them you want a 1650XT. Thats about equal to a 850xt.

 

[v8envy]

850XT is much faster than a 1650Pro. But it lacks SM3.0, so new games can look not so great on it. I'd wait for the X850XT if I was in your shoes.

My X850XT had dual DVI. Weird version you got there.

 

[PingSpike]

I'm not even sure I would say the x1650XT is as fast as the x850xt. It probably depends a little on the title, but the x850xt has a lot of advantages over the x1650xt.

Plus, I remember reading a benchmark between the 7600gt and the x1650xt and they were fairly close with the advantage to the 7600gt. I know the x850xt trades blows with the 7800gt.

 

[Killrose]

Originally posted by: PingSpike
I'm not even sure I would say the x1650XT is as fast as the x850xt. It probably depends a little on the title, but the x850xt has a lot of advantages over the x1650xt.

Plus, I remember reading a benchmark between the 7600gt and the x1650xt and they were fairly close with the advantage to the 7600gt. I know the x850xt trades blows with the 7800gt.

Yeah, an 850xt smokes an X1650pro even without sm3.0, so dont let them send you that looser card.

 

[Lithan]

What company is this? Most GFX seem to only bump you UP when they dont have your rma in stock. Im curious so I can avoid these guys.

My guess is if you refuse the x1650pro they'll immediately send you a better card, they're prolly willfully trying to screw you to save a few bucks, figuring you wont know which card's better.

 

[v8envy]

My guess: Sapphire. I've seen this question at least twice before. They wanted to 'upgrade' some poor guy from a X800XT to a 1600Pro in 2006!

 

[TMoney468]

This is actually direct from ATI/AMD, but I have dealt with Sapphire in the past so I get where you're coming from with that

I guess I could respond to the RMA CS and then ask if I could get a comparable card to my x850XT instead. This is off topic, but I remember having to RMA a 2GB SD card for my digital camera from OCZ, they didn't have 2GB in stock so they overnighted a 4GB card instead. I was very impressed with them for doing that. What's a current comparable card to the x850XT? The 2600XT?

 

[Lithan]

lol, sapphire... I guess that is the hidden advantage of me buying Nvidia the past couple gens. The worst I have to deal with is the mobo manus (gigabyte, asus, msi, ecs, etc)... all the primarily gfx guys (evga, xfx, bfg) are tripping over themselves trying to outdo each other's support. Fortunately for me, back when I was buying all the 9000's, Newegg actually seemed to prefer you RMA'ed through them, so I never had to deal with Sapphire.

 

[Lithan]

Looks like the lowest card that beats X850 on ati's side is the x1650xt (appears ~=, maybe a lil faster or a lil slower... hard to tell, can't find a direct comparison)... a safer bet looks like the x1950pro.

 

[nemesismk2]

The x1650 Pro is slower than the x850 XT, I would want atleast a x1800 gto or better still a x1950 pro.

Check THIS review which features the x1950 xt, x1950 pro, x1800 gto, x800 gto and x1650 pro. The x850 XT would be faster than the x800 gto but not by a great deal.

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: TMoney468
What's a current comparable card to the x850XT? The 2600XT?

I would say, depending on the title, the X1650XT or the 2600XT would both be fairly equivalent to an X850XT. Note how much slower the X1600XT is versus the X1650XT. Now, note how much slower the X1600 Pro is compared to the X1600XT, and you'll see how badly your friend in the RMA dept, was trying to screw you.

BTW, there is no "wait time" on new X850XT's.:laugh: They haven't made that card in a long time. He was just trying to pressure you into agreeing to accept a card that's half as fast, assuming you wouldn't realize the difference, as I'm sure most of their customers don't. You should actually call him back/e-mail him back tommorrow, and tell him you'll accept either an X1650XT, a 2600XT, or you'll wait for the X850XT's to come back into stock. Of course, an X1950 Pro would be fine, also.

edit: Oops, I just realized that he was offering you an X1650 Pro. Even though that card isn't listed in either of the links in this post, it's almost exactly the same speed as the older X1600XT, still making it a slow card. Tell him you'll accept nothing slower than an X1650XT or 2600XT, and I bet you'll get one.

 

[evolucion8]

Originally posted by: PingSpike
I'm not even sure I would say the x1650XT is as fast as the x850xt. It probably depends a little on the title, but the x850xt has a lot of advantages over the x1650xt.

Plus, I remember reading a benchmark between the 7600gt and the x1650xt and they were fairly close with the advantage to the 7600gt. I know the x850xt trades blows with the 7800gt.

The advantage are in a theorical point of view, but the X1650XT has a more sophisticated architecture and higher shader power, hence the slight performance edge in newer games, and as fast or slighly slower in old games, specially the ones with lots of pixel and texture data.

 

[TMoney468]

Thanks for all the info guys...when I first saw the offer of a different card I was like "Yeah, awesome!" because my x850XT was pretty old but still a good card. Then I looked up the benchmarks and saw just how crappy the card was. I replied to the RMA dept asking if I could get a card more equal to the performance of my card, so either a 1650 XT or a 2600 XT. We'll see what they say.

 

[TMoney468]

Sorry to bump this thread, but I still haven't heard back from ATI/AMD since I posted my response on Friday. One off-topic question I had though, was that I had my mom ship out my card to the RMA center for me since I work all day and couldn't drop it off myself. I did it via USPS, but my mom never got delivery confirmation and on the RMA status website it still says "unavailable" for both date received and date shipped out. Am I screwed for this, or is there any way I can find out if it made it there (like go to the post office)? I know they said that you should use Courier-type services to ship your cards, but I don't know what that means really...is that USPS?

 

[Denithor]

I always use a FedEx/UPS delivery with tracking so you can tell them when it arrives (just in case it doesn't show up in their system for a week or something). That way you have proof that they have received the card and it's on them to track it down. Otherwise if they say "we never received it" how are you going to refute it?

 

[myocardia]

Personally, I never use anything besides the USPS, with insurance and delivery confirmation. BTW, if you ship out an RMA before you get it confirmed as to what they're going to send as a replacement, you're just leaving it up to them, as far as what they want to send you. Hopefully, they're all out of 9600 Pro's, or you may very well be receiving one, instead of an equivalent card.

 

[TMoney468]

They did confirm the RMA, hence the RMA number I got from them + the shipping instructions. It wasn't until I contacted them about the status of my RMA that they mentioned they were out of the x850XTs and offered a lower card.

ATI is really starting to piss me off, I had a ticket open for this very issue and my post from last friday has gone unanswered, yet I can't add another post until another person at ATI responds to mine. I finally gave up on my patience and submitted another ticket looking into the status of my RMA. The online RMA tracking for ATI hasn't been working for days, so I can't even see the progress online anymore.

I should have gotten insurance + delivery confirm. but I forgot to tell my mom that when she mailed that...I guess you live and learn with these things!

 

[Oyeve]

I would definately fight to get the x850xt. I have the x850 XT PE in my second system and it still kicks much ass in games, even the latest ones. I will never sell or give that baby away.

 

[TMoney468]

That is what I ended up doing. ATI *finally* received my card, all though it says they got it on April 22nd (they only have an online RMA status checker). It seems that ATI themselves do not offer a card higher than a x1650 pro, so I'm going to stay and get an x850xt, once they come back in stock.

Funny thing was that one of the CS reps asked if I wanted to get an x1650Pro instead, only it being PCI-Express. Considering my card in an AGP one, I don't think that would help Overall I'm pretty dissatisfied with ATI, they took forever to answer my questions and I was left out in the cold wondering if they got my card or not. I probably won't buy an ATI-brand again.