Powercolor X800XL or Gigabyte's X800XL?

[Wizard12]

hey

a friend of mine just got a new comp and bought a non-sli board, so I recomended him to buy a X800XL, yet Power color is priced 20$ lower than gigabyte's.

So what would it be :

Powercolor or Gigabyte ?

 

[MonkeyWrench4000]

I can tell you Ive used many Gigabyte products and have never seen any trouble. I dont think Power Color is a very reputable brand, but then again Ive never heard bad things about them either. If they are both the same Bandwidth memory, i guess you cant go wrong saving $20.

 

[TheDude20165]

http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/ati_radeon_x800_xl_roundup/

 

[imported_Kensai]

Originally posted by: TheDude20165
http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/ati_radeon_x800_xl_roundup/

 

[hans030390]

gigabyte seems to be higher quality.

Just to let you know, i would rather get a 6800nu and softmod it to a GT than an x800xl. It's a great performer, and if you DO softmod it, you payed $250 for a 6800gt. plus theres Shader model 3.0, which is always nice to have. or will be.

but yeah, since we're talking about an x800xl, the $20 difference should show you which is better. sometimes thats not true though.

 

[ronnn]

What are the odds of a successfull softmod on a 6800 vanilla? Also didn't realize that you ended up with a gt. edit oops just remembered something about the pcie 6800 not being soft moddable.

 

[mwmorph]

dont do it. the pci-e ones arent softmoddable and the agp ones which can fully softmod 50% of the time will never be as fast. 1/2 the memory and at much slower speeds makes it memory choked. just spring $30 more for a x800xl.

edit: amy i recocmend a x800pro vivo? it is vivo, and has a VERY high chance (somethnig like 75% or more) of softmodding to ax800xt. even if it dosent softmod, it's only like 1-2fps slower so it's a good risk to take. they currently go for $288 on newegg i think but you can probsbly find it cheaper.

retail:279(newegg)
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductde...496&CMP=OTC-pr1c3watch&ATT=Video+Cards

OEM: 269 (black cart)
http://www.blackcart.com/product_info.php?products_id=1137

both are pci-e

 

[Munky]

What about an x800pro, are those available fot pci-e? Because if they are, and you get a vivo version that mods to a x800xt, then which one would be better, the x800xt or the x800xl?

Edit; damn, you beat me to it

 

[mwmorph]

x800xt is faster than a x800xl by a lot(more than 5-10fps)
pci-e and agp both softmod

 

[ronnn]

Don't think the pcie x800pro is a good candidate for soft modding.

 

[mwmorph]

they are wasily softmodded
read this first:
http://forums.extremeoverclocking.com/showthread.php?t=112849

the following are inxtructions for x800pro to x800xtpe(about as fast as an 6800ultra i thnik)

" Hey guys thought id write a simple method on how i flashed to xt.

1.Make sure your card runs stable at 520/560 as this is what the xt bios will set your clocks at.

2.use ati tool to dump bios(settings/misc/dump bios) this will back up your original bios into the ati tool program folder.mine was called bios.bin and was 56kb.

3.download http://tw.giga-byte.com/Download/Do...r80x256v_f1.exe

this is all you will need to do the mod(and a floppy) it contains the flash program and the bios you need.

4.Create a boot disk(need a floppy). just pop your disk in then go to my computer and right click on the floppy disk and click on format and in there make sure you check off create boot disk. the disk will then be formatted and all the files to make the boot disk will be copied on there.

5.when the disk is finished go to the file you downloaded and extract the contents somewhere and copy all the files onto the floppy. also just for good measure put the bios that ati tool dumped on there just so u can always flash it back to original bios if somehow something goes wrong.

6.ok now reboot with the floppy in the drive and make sure you have floppy as first boot device(duh) and it will go into dos mode and you will have the a:\ on the screen.

7. now for the flashing. simply type in gvf11 -p a:\r80x256v.f1 -f

gvf11 is the flash program and r80x256v.f1 is the bios

this should only take a few seconds to do.

8.reboot and take floppy out then when windows starts you will have to reinstall your drivers,control panel etc. i used the 4.6 cats off atis website and everything worked fine so dunno about other ones.

9. The moment of truth open ati tool and you should see your core running at 520 and mem at 560. then click settings and you will see that your device id has changed from 4a49 to 4a50 and then finally look at your active pipes and there should be 16. also if you go to ati control panel now it will have the overdrive tab that you can use now too.

10. rejoice that you now have a fully fledged xt!


hope i wrote this guide alright and hope it helps some people out.

Thxs to doogal for this
for more info goto http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/"
obviously from
3dGameMan of http://www.3dgameman.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27163

Success rate is 71% form around 70 participant poll

 

[fstime]

I would go powercooler cause they use a molex connector.

 

[fstime]

Just to let you know, i would rather get a 6800nu and softmod it to a GT

A NU will never be a GT.

 

[Pete]

For $20, get the one with the quietest cooler.

I wouldn't risk modding a P VIVO. Just get a full 16-pipe XL for the same price, and enjoy the legitimate warranty.

 

[mwmorph]

hey man, just learned that all sapphires(even vivo) require a softmod(dab of conductive paint needed to paint a small spot on the core where the pipes have been laser cut, making it harder to mod to x800xt) go ebay and try to find some other brand. Built by ATI never softmod and so dont sapphires, but HIS would be a good choice as well as any other brand. so far, not BBA and non sapphire cards have had a 100% chance of turning into a x800xt.

 

[GRIdpOOL]

Well... If you want a silent PC, get the Gigabyte. No fans are always attractive. Unfortunately, if you want to volt-mod the card and overclock, you will need a fan such as a Silencer. The Gigabyte is entirely passively cooled and that is awesome. But I don't care. Go for the cheaper one.

 

[imported_Gorath]

XBitLabs says PowerColor's X800XL is dreadfully noisy:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/pc-x850xt-x800xl_3.html
"""
having installed the card into the system and turned it on, we heard something not unlike the noise from a household vacuum-cleaner. The most terrible thing, the PowerColor X800 XL doesn?t behave like the RADEON X850 XT which slows its fan down a few seconds after the start but keeps the fan speed constant irrespective of the load or video mode. It makes your being near the computer quite an uncomfortable experience. Searching in our memories we could only recall one, even louder, cooler ? the one they used to install on the GeForce FX 5800 Ultra!
"""

Do you think this was a fluke, or standard behavior?

 

[Auric]

Originally posted by: GRIdpOOL
Well... If you want a silent PC, get the Gigabyte. No fans are always attractive. Unfortunately, if you want to volt-mod the card and overclock, you will need a fan such as a Silencer. The Gigabyte is entirely passively cooled and that is awesome. But I don't care. Go for the cheaper one.

Once you have a heatsink that can adequately cool the card you are free to add a fan. Whereas the reverse is not true (a tidgy heatsink with a fan cannot suffer disabling the fan). No brainer.

 

[andy nowotny]

powercolor is good....

 

[tallman45]

The Gigabyte has the nicest (and quiestest) HS I have ever seen. At least you can see part of it through a case window.

 

[mwmorph]

Originally posted by: tallman45
The Gigabyte has the nicest (and quiestest) HS I have ever seen. At least you can see part of it through a case window.

I prefer the brushed metal of the powercoloer but the gigabyte probably has better noise control as well as quality.

 

[KevinH]

Originally posted by: tallman45
The Gigabyte has the nicest (and quiestest) HS I have ever seen. At least you can see part of it through a case window.

I'd go for the Gigabyte as well. I'm using an X800Pro with a Ati Silencer 5 and the option to go fanless is something I'd kill for. Unfortnately I'm stuck on an AGP board right now so it's not an option .

 

[Capt Caveman]

I have the Powercolor and very happy with it. Since the review where it mentioned that it was noisey, Powercolor must have fixed the problem b/c my is pretty much silent. I know I can control the fan speed manually or via temperature using ATI Tool Tray which the reviewer couldn't do. I also have been able to o/c the card to 462/575 with no artifacts at 42c degrees. It has an external power connector which may help it in oc'ing. The other nice thing it has is dual dvi, so if you ever decide to use two LCD monitors, you're all set. My two cents.

 

[TheDude20165]

I'd try MSI.

 

[leedog2007]

Originally posted by: hans030390
gigabyte seems to be higher quality.

Just to let you know, i would rather get a 6800nu and softmod it to a GT than an x800xl. It's a great performer, and if you DO softmod it, you payed $250 for a 6800gt. plus theres Shader model 3.0, which is always nice to have. or will be.

but yeah, since we're talking about an x800xl, the $20 difference should show you which is better. sometimes thats not true though.

The PCI-e version of the 6800NU does not softmod, it physically doesn't have the 4 pipes disabled, they don't exist. Its a different core than the AGP version.