Pricewar Brewing

[Genx87]

FX5900 going for 200 bucks on pricewatch.com
9800 NP 250

This should drive the 5700 Ultras into the 150 range which makes them a better match for the 9600 Pro.

 

[Quixfire]

Yeah, if you didn't care about image quality or using AA or AF.

 

[Schadenfroh]

good deal, cant most 5900s hit ultra?

 

[nRollo]

good deal, cant most 5900s hit ultra?

As they only need to bump the RAM 25MHz (~6%) I'd hope so. The performance difference is tiny in any case.

 

[Insomniak]

Hell, bring it on.

 

[Genx87]

Originally posted by: Quixfire
Yeah, if you didn't care about image quality or using AA or AF.

Running mine in every game I play 1600X1200 2AF, 2AA and I see no problems with image quality.

 

[Matthias99]

I think he was talking about the 5700s, not the 5900s. They're *way* underpowered to be running AA and AF at almost any resolution. 🙂

 

[Quixfire]

Yes I was!

 

[jiffylube1024]

Originally posted by: Genx87
FX5900 going for 200 bucks on pricewatch.com
9800 NP 250

This should drive the 5700 Ultras into the 150 range which makes them a better match for the 9600 Pro.

You have to be sure what kind of RAM you're getting on the FX5900. Usually ones in the ~$220 price range come with the 2.2ns RAM (the good stuff) but some FX5900's (particularly the cheapest ones) use 2.8ns memory, which is horrible for that card.

Fortunately 2.8ns-equipped 5900's are starting to be called 5900SE's, which is good. I'd make sure that a card I was getting came with 2.2ns memory though.

 

[Pete]

Originally posted by: Rollo

good deal, cant most 5900s hit ultra?

As they only need to bump the RAM 25MHz (~6%) I'd hope so. The performance difference is tiny in any case.

You mean bump the core 50MHz (~12%). The RAM speed is the same on the 5900 and 5900U. You're probably comparing a 5900U and 5950U.

 

[lifeguard1999]

Why do they call it a 9800SE or 9800SESE or 5900SE? Why not call it what it really is: SE == SUX

 

[modedepe]

Originally posted by: Pete

Originally posted by: Rollo

good deal, cant most 5900s hit ultra?

As they only need to bump the RAM 25MHz (~6%) I'd hope so. The performance difference is tiny in any case.

You mean bump the core 50MHz (~12%). The RAM speed is the same on the 5900 and 5900U. You're probably comparing a 5900U and 5950U.

The ram is different on the 5900u and 5900nu--sometimes. The 5900u is supposed to have 2.2ns and be clocked at 850. The 5900 has 2.2ns sometimes, other times 2.8ns. It comes clocked at 800.

 

[Corporate Thug]

for anyone considering a 5900 @ ~$200, stay away from the leadtek LX as they have 2.8ns memory

btw, buy.com isnt listed on pricewatch. they have an XFX for $180

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: modedepe

Originally posted by: Pete

Originally posted by: Rollo

good deal, cant most 5900s hit ultra?

As they only need to bump the RAM 25MHz (~6%) I'd hope so. The performance difference is tiny in any case.

You mean bump the core 50MHz (~12%). The RAM speed is the same on the 5900 and 5900U. You're probably comparing a 5900U and 5950U.

The ram is different on the 5900u and 5900nu--sometimes. The 5900u is supposed to have 2.2ns and be clocked at 850. The 5900 has 2.2ns sometimes, other times 2.8ns. It comes clocked at 800.

My eVGA 5900nu has 2.2ns mem.
Agreed about the Leadtek LX and I also heard the cheap Chaintech comes with 2.8ns mem.
Keys

 

[nRollo]

The ram is different on the 5900u and 5900nu--sometimes. The 5900u is supposed to have 2.2ns and be clocked at 850. The 5900 has 2.2ns sometimes, other times 2.8ns. It comes clocked at 800.

This is what I thought the deal was, didn't know there were 5900NUs with 850 memory.

 

[Keysplayr]

When I bought my 5900nu, I really didn't think it had the same core and memory speed as an Ultra. I thought both core and mem were slower.
I was pleasantly surprised to find that it had the same mem speed and only 50 MHz slower on the core, which it can be o/c'd to about 485 compfortably. So in a kind of sense, I bought an Ultra minus 128MB of DDR. I have heard that there are a few companies selling the very cheap 5900's and they should be checked very closely before buying them. They may have the 700 MHz mem or 2.8ns. But that could be just the 5900 SE or value that I'm hearing about.

Keys