Help me decide between these ATI X800/X1300/X1600

[dalfollo]

I am looking to install a new video card on a Compaq Presario SR1610NX; it currently has ATI X200 onboard video...I am upgrading the PSU to handle any power needs...it has a S939 MB with 1.8GHz Sempron; 1.25GB RAM

I will be using this mostly for internet/web site work/home office...secondly image manipulation for photography, and some video editing (either pulling in VHS tapes to DVD or using my Firewire enabled DV camcorder)...finally I would like to be able to play with MS Flight Sim or X-Plane with no issues and good/decent frame rates.

Primary consideration: Must handle Dual Monitor (Both are 17" CRTs until they break or a massive sale goes on); Must use PCI-e slot; over clockable would be nice, but not required as long as the card performed well; would prefer not taking up two PCI slots.

What I have narrowed it to are the following cards from ATI that I have run across or have been suggested to me....some are 128Bit, some 256 bit; some are DDR2 others DDR3.....

I appreciate any suggestions you have...it can't be so easy as to choose the highest X####, then the highest bit rate, the highest VRAM and DDR type??

The X1600 at the top, then the 1300. then the x800 at the bottom...there is only $42 difference between the highest and lowest prices...thanks for any feedback and suggestions.

$155 - SAPPHIRE 100145L Radeon X1600PRO 512MB 256-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102653

$134 - SAPPHIRE Radeon X1600 PRO 256MB PCI Express 100144 SAPPHIRE Radeon X1600PRO 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a...2650&CMP=OTC-pr1c3watch&ATT=14-102-650 (One Review indicating higher than expected fan noise)

$129 - SAPPHIRE 100144L (Retail) Radeon X1600PRO 256MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail
(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102651)


$113 - $123 Sapphire 100142 ATI Radeon X1300 512MB DVI/VGA/TV-Out PCI-Express Video Card
http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?p=AT-X13005&c=pw or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a...2631&CMP=OTC-pr1c3watch&ATT=14-102-631

$124 - SAPPHIRE 100142L Radeon X1300 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a...2630&CMP=OTC-pr1c3watch&ATT=14-102-630


$148 - SAPPHIRE 100129FBL Radeon X800GTO 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 FireBlade Edition Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102660

$144 - SAPPHIRE 100129L Radeon X800GTO 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102602

 

[Termie]

I believe your best bet would be the x800 gto series. They are much faster than the x1300, and I believe they're faster than the x1600pro. That applies to 3D gaming - for video use, it won't matter. I might suggest a card I bought from newegg - the MSI rx800 128MB, which is quite a bit cheaper than all of those after rebate, but only has 128MB ram. I don't think this would limit your uses at all.

 

[mwmorph]

fireblade.
the x1300 are garbage. The x1600 arent any better with the low rops It is much faster tan a 6600gt in some games like Serious Sam II and Fear but choke, being /13 af fast in Call of DUty 2 and 1/2 as fast in Quake4. The x800 is the only competitive one. a x1300 is much is slower thna a 6600gt. a x1600pro os a little slower than a 6600gt. a x800gto fireblade is as fast as the nrmal x800got, which is moderately faster than a 6600gt, but for $4 more you get a better cooler and overclockability.

 

[dalfollo]

I find it interesting that what appears to be an older card, has better performance than the X1600 or X1300... does the engine make such a difference when the memory is compared??

X800GTO/256-bit with 256MB at DDR3 is better than
X1600PRO/256-bit with 512MB at DDR2?????

both have 12 pipelines...

I am looking at the Sapphire X800GTOs at newegg.com and just trying to grasp all of the differences in models...with extra fan, without, quiet/regular, retail/OEMetc...I will have a question or two to further narrow down between the various X800GTO models...

I think I am pretty sure I will stay away from the Fireblade editions, as I don't really want ot lose a PCI slot, and prefer the PC to remain on the quiet side (it is dead silent now...)

Thanks for you help with this...

 

[unclebud]

post back if it works tia

 

[fbrdphreak]

X800GTO has 12 pipelines and I think 12 ROP's also; the X1600 has 12 pipelines & half the ROPs or something. Kinda makes having 12 pipes a moot point.

My suggestion: get a 6800GS. They're around $200, more than your current cards, but it will perform a lot better, supports all the new technologies, I believe comes with 256MB, and is PCI-E. The 6800GS will OC like crazy and hit 6800GT performance. :thumbsup:

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: dalfollo
I find it interesting that what appears to be an older card, has better performance than the X1600 or X1300... does the engine make such a difference when the memory is compared??

X800GTO/256-bit with 256MB at DDR3 is better than
X1600PRO/256-bit with 512MB at DDR2?????

512MB on that card is not going to be used fully; the card just doesn't have the performance for it. It's better to have less (fast) RAM than more (slow) RAM that you can't really make use of.

both have 12 pipelines...

The X800 has 12 full pipelines; the X1600 *sort of* has 12 pipelines. It has 12 pixel shaders, but not 12 ROPs or texture units. It looks better on paper than it really is in most benchmarks (although it is *really* good at a few games/benches). The X1700 is supposed to be much better, but has been a no-show so far.

 

[unclebud]

"My suggestion: get a 6800GS. They're around $200, more than your current cards, but it will perform a lot better, supports all the new technologies, I believe comes with 256MB, and is PCI-E. The 6800GS will OC like crazy and hit 6800GT performance."

x800xl is $199 @ compusa this week

 

[Cruise51]

Without a doubt, the GTO is the best out of those cards.
The Sapphire X800GTO 128mb is crap, stay away if you can. :thumbsdown:
The Sapphire X800GTO 256mb is a decent card, pretty quiet. :thumbsup:
The ultimate GTO has a passive cooler, so it's silent. :thumbsup:
The Fireblade GTO is the same as the regular one, only the big a$$ cooler lets you do MAJOR overclocks. :thumbsup:
The X800GTO2 lets you unlock 4 extra pipes, giving it a good performance boost. :thumbsup:
Both the GTO2 and Fireblade can reach X850XTPE performance, the plain 256mb GTO can also but only with a 3rd party cooler.
An overclocked 6800GS will be a little slower the an overclocked/unlocked GTO2 or Fireblade, but has SM3.0, a feature that you might be looking for. :thumbsup:

 

[dalfollo]

Here is a great arrtticle that compares the "Sapphire Sisters":

Can anyone tell me how silent the Fireblade version is, when one if not over clocking?

I am intrigued by the silent version of the card, but if I want to overclock it (a lot) I need to add an after market video cooler...seems I should just get it it upfront with the Fireblade....eat the loss of the PCI slot....run it quiet and non-overclocked most of the time...but then crank it up if i am running a game or something intense...

http://www.hardwarezone.com/articles/view.php?id=1748&cid=3&pg=1

 

[otispunkmeyer]

Originally posted by: Matthias99

Originally posted by: dalfollo
I find it interesting that what appears to be an older card, has better performance than the X1600 or X1300... does the engine make such a difference when the memory is compared??

X800GTO/256-bit with 256MB at DDR3 is better than
X1600PRO/256-bit with 512MB at DDR2?????

512MB on that card is not going to be used fully; the card just doesn't have the performance for it. It's better to have less (fast) RAM than more (slow) RAM that you can't really make use of.

both have 12 pipelines...

The X800 has 12 full pipelines; the X1600 *sort of* has 12 pipelines. It has 12 pixel shaders, but not 12 ROPs or texture units. It looks better on paper than it really is in most benchmarks (although it is *really* good at a few games/benches). The X1700 is supposed to be much better, but has been a no-show so far.

i beleive its only got 4 of these TMU/ROP things.....whatever its lacking, its only got 4 of em!

 

[v8envy]

Plus, the X1600 is badly cripled by a 128 bit memory bus. The non-XT versons doubly so with their slow clocked ram. As others mentioned, the X1600 really is the world's fastest 4 full pipe card, on steroids.

The only interesting card out of the entire X1K lineup at the moment is the X1800XT (possibly $349 AR at compusa this second!). The 1600 and 1300 series may make okay extreme value cards, but at their current prices they're competing with vastly superior NVidia counterparts and previous generation models.

All the X1K cards do very very well on pixel-shader intensive tasks, like 3dmark05. In games, it depends.

Oh yeah, I also got me one of them sr1710nx boxes. Cute little machine, wish it had a reasonable BIOS. A 256K 2Ghz sempron, asus board. I just know this puppy will dial up to 2.6 or 2.8. =)