Please help me decide between the Radeon X800 XL or XT

[digitalduck]

OK, Some of you have read my post asking for help getting back into the scene after a year out of it due to getting married and moving and such and after doing some much needed research I "think" I have it narrowed down to these two cards, either the Radeon X800 XL or XT.

Before I thought I would go with the X1xxx series, since there were a couple cheap Sapphire cards at Newegg I was looking at.

While im at it, what is the deal with Sapphire, or any of those cards for that matter? I have always gone with cards built and powered by ATI so ive never had to deal with it, but what do you give up by not going with ATI?

1. I know I wont have Shader Model 3.0, but does the X800 series lack SM at all, or just have a lesser version? I have seen examples of 3.0 verses 2.0 and I know that some games done even use it but I was going to get the card for Oblivion (and otheres) but that one to start with, will i be really lackign something? I plan on upgrading when I switch to PCI-E Later.

2. That is another thing, Im still at AGP, what is the difference between the two? Again, I go and get married and another version comes out. Can I safely wait for another number of months and then upgrade to PCI-E then? I figured I would just upgrade the video card at that point...


3. Okay, so since its also a cost factor which card should I be looking at? Cost factor making me choose to go with the X00, not between which card to pick. Which card would you reccommend? The X800XL or XT? And what is the difference? I also decided against the X850...good choice?

Will adding another gig of ram make a difference on my current mobo?

Thanks

 

[996GT2]

First, to answer your X800XL vs XT question:
There is not too much difference, except the XT has a higher core and RAM clock, and on some versions you get dual DVI vs 1 VGA and 1 DVI

Also, Sapphire is a good brand, and there is nothing to be lost by buying Sapphire over ATi.

However, If you are buying a PCI-e graphics card, the X850XT for around $150 at Newegg is an excellent deal, especially considering it costs less than the cards you want to buy and performs better. With a little OCing, that X850XT will go way beyond X850XT PE speeds, which is nearly (or at) stock 7800GT levels.
The X800 series cards don't have SM3, but even with their older SM version you won't be losing much. Not that many games right now use SM3, and when they do the card you have may not be powerful enough to run them at good settings and FPS.

If you feel SM3 is important, get the nVidia 7600GT for around 190 dollars. It offers similar performance to the X850XT stock but will not OC as high due to its already high core speed. It will draw a lot less power than the ATi card and also be quieter b/c it's built on a 90 nm process.

AGP and PCIe are just 2 different Graphics interfaces, and are NON COMPATIBLE. AGP comes in different versions, but the most popular is 4X/8X these days. PCI-e doubles that bandwidth to 16X (although there's trivial performance gains since most cards don't need all that bandwidth), and allows SLi or Crossfire, allowing you to use 2 cards of the same GPU model in a compatible mobo with 2 PCIe slots.

If you are going to upgrade to PCIe, you need a new mobo. So if you get a new mobo, you might as well upgrade the processor too to socket 939 and get an Athlon 64 3000+ since you're on a budget. You can OC it to around 2.5 with good air cooling

And yes, another GB of RAM in your system will improve performance, especially during game loads and the such

I think that about sums it up

 

[firewolfsm]

7800GT is much faster than an X850XT especially when you consider it's better OCing potential

 

[996GT2]

Originally posted by: firewolfsm
7800GT is much faster than an X850XT especially when you consider it's better OCing potential

True, but unless the OP waits he will pay over $100 more, and he said he's all for cheap cards

 

[digitalduck]

Thank you very much 996GT2 so would you reccommend the switch to the X850XT or stick to one of the 800XL or XT? What about the X800GTO? I didnt read as good of reviews on the X850, but then again, ive read alot of different reviews...

 

[996GT2]

Are you getting these reviews from newegg? If so, don't go by that. Read reviews from a trusted place like Anandtech or Tom's Hardware, etc.

Yes, I would recommend the X850XT if you are willing to trade some noise for more performance over the 7600GT. If you really care about noise and want an X850, get an ATSilencer from Arctic Cooling.

The X800GTO cards (Specifically, the Sapphire GTO^2 cards) used to be very hot deals because you could unlock them to 16 pixel pipes and OC to X850XT speed. This was before the X850XTs got slashed in price, so now there's no price advantage. I would not recommend getting one of the X800XL or XT cards-they are overpriced and don't perform as well as the X850XT.

 

[Conky]

Originally posted by: digitalduck
Thank you very much 996GT2 so would you reccommend the switch to the X850XT or stick to one of the 800XL or XT? What about the X800GTO? I didnt read as good of reviews on the X850, but then again, ive read alot of different reviews...

Get the 800XT or the slightly faster 850XT(same feature set as 800XT). :thumbsup:

 

[996GT2]

X850XT comes with a better cooler though, nice for OCing

 

[digitalduck]

Ok, new question...I noticed that the PCI-E X850 at Newegg is 165.00 for 256 megs, but the Visiontek AGP version is 300.00. Here is what I am wondering... could (should) I just use that extra $135.00 I would spent anyway (right?) and put it towards a new mobo or something? Get one that has PCI-E already?

However, here is the thing, can I have a mobo that gives you the option for Athlon 64 and Athlon XP at the same time so I cna go 64 later without buying a new one? Or will it just default down to XP if one is inserted? If so then Why are the AGP versions so expensive? Is that a good idea?

Thanks

 

[Rottie]

go and get X850XT you will be ok. it is faster than my X850 Pro but I can oc my card to 620 core.

 

[digitalduck]

Now someone kindly explain to me the difference between the different Athlon XP CPU's... can I just as well go with an Athlon XP CPU for now? Also I need a new mobo if im thinking of selling my complete mobo, cpu, and vid card, I need something like what I saw at newegg....Athlon 64 3000+ 2.0ghz... money is a factor here and since im at 1.89 now I can only assume that ill be faster overall once im at Athlon 64....

Basically the point is is that I cant get the new cheaper PCI-E X850 card unless I get a new mobo due to the Athlon 64 mobo instead of my current Athlon XP and if I get a new mobo to save money on the cheaper vid card im not saving money since i have to buy the mobo but i dont want to buy the lesser x800 card either, but if i do buy the mobo then i have to buy the new cpu so it ends up being a complete overhaul. Question is, is it worth it. This is one of those questions where its ok for you to answer "yes."

 

[Sunrise089]

OP - as much as I hate to say this, anyone building a PC now needs to keep in mind Intel's new Conroe chip that will be out not all that far in the future. If you decide you need to upgrade now, a really cost effective solution would be to keep everything in your PC other than your motherboard, CPU, and GPU (if your PS is up to spec) and buy a cheap but good MB and CPU combo, like an epox 9NPA and a Venice 3000+ (overclocking it to 2.2ghz should be almost a given) that could be under $200 plus a $150 X850XT in PCIe. That way if you have the $$$ to upgrade to Conroe you will not suffer very much depreciation from your MB and CPU. The X850XT is really still a good card, it is almost as fast as my 7800GT if my card were at stock speeds, and it will overclock pretty well. People will tell you it isn't up to par with newer cards, and it does like SM3.0, but it's $150, a really great price. I wouldn't buy any card between that price and $300, where you can get into a 7900GT or X1800XT.

 

[996GT2]

If you really want to wait for Conroe, buy a decent Intel mobo right now and get a cheap intel processor like a PD 805, and then just wait it out until conroe comes out

I'm pretty sure Conroe won't have a new socket, so LGA775 will still work

 

[Munky]

If intel's historical trend is any indication, you will most likely need a new mobo for Conroe. But that's still about 6 months away, there's no reason to buy an intel cpu now when they're not as good as A64's. And the x800xt is significantly faster than the x800xl. Not only does it have 100mhz higher core clock at stock speeds, it will also OC much better than the xl's.

 

[Sunrise089]

Originally posted by: 996GT2
If you really want to wait for Conroe, buy a decent Intel mobo right now and get a cheap intel processor like a PD 805, and then just wait it out until conroe comes out

I'm pretty sure Conroe won't have a new socket, so LGA775 will still work

I did think about this before posting my above idea, but AFAIK Conroe will be using a new socket. Honestly, I'm no intel expert, so if this is wrong going with intel now would probably be a better idea.

 

[t3h l337 n3wb]

Conroe will indeed run on Socket 775. Only certain current chipsets are "Conroe Ready" though.

 

[RussianSensation]

I would sell 9800Pro for $50. Get 6800GS on AGP for $200 - $50 = $150. Then upgrade to Conroe, and whatever is around in 8 months in time for Vista and DDR2/DDR3.