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What would be my best bet?

D

DragonFire

Golden Member
Alright here is my system specs before things went to hell.

OCZ powerstream 520W
MSI NEO2
FX-55
2GB Corsair PC3200 (4x512)
ATI X800XTPE
SB Audigy2 zs platinum

First my X800XTPE went down the drain. I am not sure what killed it but I am unable to RMA it back to newegg because there sticker on the bottom came off (long story) and Iv been told dealing with sapphire is a nightmare since usa tech support is in india...

So now I am stuck with my old 9800 PRO...

The next think that went just the other day was my MSI NEO2. Somewhat my fault but whatever the case its gone. Now in a effort to get a computer running again I went out and got a Abit AV8 and I hate it. I can't even use all 4 sticks of ram which is a known problem with this board 75% of the time.

Now I know that my 9800 PRO is a bottleneck for my FX-55 and would like something a little faster but I also want a differnet motherbaord and not cost me an arm and a leg.

I believe I have two paths to pick from.

Option #1
Buy another NEO2 and a AGP 6800GT for $440 before shipping.

Option #2
Buy a MSI NEO4 that has one PCIe 16x slot and get a X800 PRO for $404 before shipping.

Which do you all think I would be better off with? I went with the 6800GT in #1 because its cheaper then a X800PRO but the same hold for #2 when I went with the PCIe version of the x800pro as its cheaper then a PCIe 6800GT. From a newegg point of view, Option #2 would be a little cheaper which is good and I would asume the performance differnce between the 6800GT and X800pro would be small since the X800 pro is on a faster bus...

However I might look intp getting a PCIe 6800GT off of Ebay. If I managed to get one cheaper then what newegg has them for, should I get option #2 with the 6800GT?

 
Option#2 definately, you don't have to get rid of AGP, but if you have the chance definately go PCI-E now.
and I don't understand why are you getting the x800pro? Do they even make x800pro in PCI-E?
I would get the x800xl for the same performance as a 6800GT.
 
Originally posted by: toattett
Option#2 definately, you don't have to get rid of AGP, but if you have the chance definately go PCI-E now.
and I don't understand why are you getting the x800pro? Do they even make x800pro in PCI-E?
I would get the x800xl for the same performance as a 6800GT.
Click to expand...


and I don't understand why the heck you would have 4 sticks of ram...
running @ DDR333 @ 2T sucks.. especially you have got a FX-55
 
Well newegg says there is a X800 Pro in PCIe but I never even thought about about the XL. In most cases the XL means slower, made for the low end market......I'll look into that.

I really wish people would stop saying 4 sticks of ram suck because you have to run at DDR333 with 2T. Doesn't anyone uses there computer for more then running firefox? I have seen both Azureus (bittorrent program) and Simcity4 suck up between 600-850 megs of ram depending on how long they stay running. In fact just now I had to close Azureus because everything else was being swapped out with the 1GB of ram that is supposed to be enough. Wouldn't you know it this makes everything run even slower then if you ran your ram at DDR333 @ 2T. Unless you are only running benchmark programs on your computer, you won't even see a difference after some tweaking.

 
Originally posted by: DragonFire
Well newegg says there is a X800 Pro in PCIe but I never even thought about about the XL. In most cases the XL means slower, made for the low end market......I'll look into that.

I really wish people would stop saying 4 sticks of ram suck because you have to run at DDR333 with 2T. Doesn't anyone uses there computer for more then running firefox? I have seen both Azureus (bittorrent program) and Simcity4 suck up between 600-850 megs of ram depending on how long they stay running. In fact just now I had to close Azureus because everything else was being swapped out with the 1GB of ram that is supposed to be enough. Wouldn't you know it this makes everything run even slower then if you ran your ram at DDR333 @ 2T. Unless you are only running benchmark programs on your computer, you won't even see a difference after some tweaking.
Click to expand...

I think the consensus is that if you want over a gig or ram, it's better to get two 1 gig sticks rather than 4x512. I'm not saying that nobody needs over a gig, just that if you can afford it (which you obviously would have been able to spending a couple hundred dollars to get an FX-55 instead of a 4000+) then 2x1gb would have been the better choice.

It sounds strange that your videocard and motherboard both weant bad... that could be the result of an underlying problem (bad powersupply?).

You also said "Iv been told dealing with sapphire is a nightmare"... does that mean you haven't even tried it yet?

Unless you did something to void your warranty (other than removing a sticker), then give them a shot before you give up on your $500-ish (or whatever it costs) card.
 
MSI K8N Neo4-F - $86
Retail ATI X800XL PCI-E - $315
or
Connect3d Retail X800XL PCI-E - $288

TOTAL = $374 (Connect3d) or $401 (ATI branded)

The x800xl is a nifty single card solution. Competes with the 6800GT as well as besting the Ultra in a handful of benchmarks, and at a lower cost.

Either way, you might as well use this opportunity to jump into PCI-E. Pricing is comparable (less expensive if you consider the Neo4-F) and you'll be as future proof as it currently gets, at least for the time being. 😉
 
Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
Originally posted by: DragonFire
Well newegg says there is a X800 Pro in PCIe but I never even thought about about the XL. In most cases the XL means slower, made for the low end market......I'll look into that.

I really wish people would stop saying 4 sticks of ram suck because you have to run at DDR333 with 2T. Doesn't anyone uses there computer for more then running firefox? I have seen both Azureus (bittorrent program) and Simcity4 suck up between 600-850 megs of ram depending on how long they stay running. In fact just now I had to close Azureus because everything else was being swapped out with the 1GB of ram that is supposed to be enough. Wouldn't you know it this makes everything run even slower then if you ran your ram at DDR333 @ 2T. Unless you are only running benchmark programs on your computer, you won't even see a difference after some tweaking.
Click to expand...

I think the consensus is that if you want over a gig or ram, it's better to get two 1 gig sticks rather than 4x512. I'm not saying that nobody needs over a gig, just that if you can afford it (which you obviously would have been able to spending a couple hundred dollars to get an FX-55 instead of a 4000+) then 2x1gb would have been the better choice.

It sounds strange that your videocard and motherboard both weant bad... that could be the result of an underlying problem (bad powersupply?).

You also said "Iv been told dealing with sapphire is a nightmare"... does that mean you haven't even tried it yet?

Unless you did something to void your warranty (other than removing a sticker), then give them a shot before you give up on your $500-ish (or whatever it costs) card.
Click to expand...

Alright, when I first got the video card from newegg, I had it sitting on my desk waiting to be installed when I knocked over a glass of water and it got wet. While cleaning it up there sticker came off so newegg wont accecpt the rma because they dont know if its there card. HELLO! you can see I bought a X800XTPE from you and you can see what card I am sending....

As for trying with the Sapphire, I tried calling. I got india, I told him why newegg wouldn't rma it and then he says that cant either because the sticker was removed. Well hell the sticker was from newegg not them! I might trying emailing them and see where I get but a few people on there fourms said there tech support is joke and more then likely I wont get anywhere....

As for the motherboard, I was using chilled water and forgot to insulate the back of the cpu socket. It got frosty and went dead a few days later.

Originally posted by: One4yu2c
MSI K8N Neo4-F - $86
Retail ATI X800XL PCI-E - $315
or
Connect3d Retail X800XL PCI-E - $288

TOTAL = $374 (Connect3d) or $401 (ATI branded)

The x800xl is a nifty single card solution. Competes with the 6800GT as well as besting the Ultra in a handful of benchmarks, and at a lower cost.

Either way, you might as well use this opportunity to jump into PCI-E. Pricing is comparable (less expensive if you consider the Neo4-F) and you'll be as future proof as it currently gets, at least for the time being. 😉
Click to expand...

Thanks for the ideas but if I can I would really like to get everything from one place.
 
Originally posted by: DragonFire
Well newegg says there is a X800 Pro in PCIe but I never even thought about about the XL. In most cases the XL means slower, made for the low end market......I'll look into that.
Click to expand...

Actually the XL is quite a bit faster than the pro.. 16 pipe vs. 12 pipe.
 
Originally posted by: toattett
Originally posted by: DragonFire
Well newegg says there is a X800 Pro in PCIe but I never even thought about about the XL. In most cases the XL means slower, made for the low end market......I'll look into that.
Click to expand...

Actually the XL is quite a bit faster than the pro.. 16 pipe vs. 12 pipe.
Click to expand...

QFT

benchmarks

 
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