What is the best upgrade from an X850XT?

[Cheex]

Two things to bear in mind....

1) I acknowledge that 8800 is the best right now. If I fall into enough money, I'll buy an 8800GTS 320MB. (please don't suggest R600, it's not out yet)

2) For a temporary (until NV8) upgrade such as this, give suggestions for the best card under $200 (still the lower the better). Performance must be able to exceed my current card.


Thanx.

 

[Zenoth]

I'm in almost the same boat. Almost, because I am actually waiting for R600's mid-range/performance variants before going for an upgrade. I was considering the 8800GTS 320MB version myself, and I was originally planning to wait until late March early or mid April to decide. But R600's launch has been delayed, so will my upgrade. It will give me more time to save money anyway.

Bottom line ? I suggest you to wait until R600 and until the GeForce 89xx refresh series. Considering that the Radeon X850XT is still quite a strong GPU, just don't put all in-game settings at their highest possible values in demanding games, and you'll be alright. If you had something less efficient, less powerful like a Radeon 9xxx series or lower than I'd have suggested to got for an 8800GTS 320MB right now, but you current rig can still do the job for a few extra months.

 

[apoppin]

the mimimum upgrade would be the x1950xt ... imo
[i guess we are talking nearly double the performance of your current card]

is your CPU *enough* for a 8800?

and i went from a x850xt to a x1950p ... decent enough but probably not the *bang* you are looking for with the 'xt'

you will get SM3.0 and some other nice features with x1900 series including slightly better IQ

 

[Cheex]

1) Please explain "IQ".

2) I will hopefully be upgrading to a DS3 motherboard and an E4300 CPU within 2-3 weeks. That will definitely be enough.

3) I'm thinking of upgrading my video card once the prices come down a bit (after the R600 release). I was just thinking of a worthwhile 'temporary' upgrade.


PS: It is nice to know that people still considers my X850XT, a strong GPU...

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: Cheex
1) Please explain "IQ".

2) I will hopefully be upgrading to a DS3 motherboard and an E4300 CPU within 2-3 weeks. That will definitely be enough.

3) I'm thinking of upgrading my video card once the prices come down a bit (after the R600 release). I was just thinking of a worthwhile 'temporary' upgrade.


PS: It is nice to know that people still considers my X850XT, a strong GPU...

1) Image Quality
2) OK
3) x1950p/x1900xt/x1950xt
--in ascending order of both price and performance

look in Hot Deals Forum - the PCIe versions are all in your price range

strong *midrange*