Video Card Upgrade

[JE78]

Its been a while since I've done any kind of uprade to my system so i'm kind of in the dark. I'm taking my old ATI x800XL PCI-E out of my current system and putting it in to my 2nd computer so I need one to replace that. Here is my current setup.

Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 (stock)
G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) DDR2 800 (stock)
ASUS P5N-E SLI LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI
XP Pro

I'm not looking to get the latest and greatest as I don't have much time for gaming anymore so I have a budget of under $150

I'd like to stay with ATI but i'm also looking to get the most bang for my buck. With the little looking i've done the ATI X1950 Pro looks like a good card as well as the GeForce 8600GT but i'm posting here for options. Thanks

 

[JustaGeek]

You will be much happier with the X1950Pro, IMHO.

 

[Arkaign]

Originally posted by: JustaGeek
You will be much happier with the X1950Pro, IMHO.

2nded, but if you can use patience, go to the AT FS/FT forums, and grab up an X1950XT or 7900GTX if possible, they're a whole lot better than the 1950Pro (or 7800GS/GT). Should be able to find one in the ~$150 range.

 

[JE78]

I was leaning towards the ATI, thanks guys.

 

[Arkaign]

Ooo : X1900XTX $175 shipped :

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2093725&enterthread=y

 

[JE78]

haha, just saw that. Thanks!

 

[Arkaign]

http://www.gpureview.com/show_...hp?card1=378&card2=466

Dramatic difference!

X1900XTX :

Manufacturer: ATi
Series: Radeon X1K
GPU: R580
Release Date: 2006-01-24
Interface: PCI-E x16
Core Clock: 650 MHz
Memory Clock: 775 MHz (1550 DDR)
Memory Bandwidth: 49.6 GB/sec
Shader Operations: 31200 Operations/sec
Pixel Fill Rate: 10400 MPixels/sec
Texture Fill Rate: 10400 MTexels/sec
Vertex Operations: 1300 MVertices/sec

X1950Pro :

Manufacturer: ATi
Series: Radeon X1K
GPU: RV570
Release Date: 2006-10-17
Interface: PCI-E x16
Core Clock: 575 MHz
Memory Clock: 690 MHz (1380 DDR)
Memory Bandwidth: 44.16 GB/sec
Shader Operations: 20700 Operations/sec
Pixel Fill Rate: 6900 MPixels/sec
Texture Fill Rate: 6900 MTexels/sec
Vertex Operations: 1150 MVertices/sec

So, 50% more shader performance, Texture performance, pretty sweet deal

 

[Laminator]

All you have to do is look at the architecture and clock speeds (efficiency of pipeline components should be comparable since they're both R5XX series).

Vertex Shaders : Pixel Shaders : TMU's : ROP's

X1900 XTX: 8:48:16:16

X1950 Pro: 8:36:12:12

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C...phics_Processing_Units

The X1950 Pro is basically 75% of the XT/XTX cards and has lower clock speeds.

 

[alkemyst]

there is a 512mb x1950xt new for $194 on newegg and a 256mb 7950 for $140 AR on newegg as well.

 

[JE78]

Thanks alot guys for your help, i'll be placing my order this week sometime.

 

[JE78]

I'm about to purchase the new card and I saw this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814102102 SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 2600XT 256MB. Is this anything that could compare to the x1950??

 

[Arkaign]

Originally posted by: JE78
I'm about to purchase the new card and I saw this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814102102 SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 2600XT 256MB. Is this anything that could compare to the x1950??

Nope, unless you're not a gamer at all, the 2400/2600s should be banished from your mind like the utter trash that hey are. Same goes for GF 8 series outside of the 8800s.

 

[JE78]

LOL, thanks, there gone like the wind.

 

[hkssupra69]

im gonna piggy back on this one and ask my question but i'm looking for something under a 100 so I doubt I can get a 1950 or whatever but can you guys recommend something that's worthwhile? I dont do major gaming but my video is starting to lag, its only an ati x600? I have a 20" monitor doing 1600x1050 and while I was playing starcraft(yes im still playing it) the game was lagging even tho i just updated my rig to an x2 4800 with 2gigs of ram. video playback has been iffy too so i thought its probably the vid card. anyway, any help is much appreciated and if I need to I'll start my own thread but thought i'd help reduce clutter.

 

[JE78]

Thanks for the advice about the 1950, the thing runs great and my games look awesome. I just have one other questions about drivers. I'm using the ones that came on the disc but which are the best ones to use?

 

[bryanW1995]

Just d/l the latest drivers, ati upgrades them every month so you'll have an upgrade soon enough if you have problems. also, you can just roll back to the drivers that came on the disk if you have any issues.