X800 Pro second thoughts

[ShinX]

Steep drop

Look at the 2nd bench. We all love ATi but that is just inexcusable. Why cant they recall that craptastic card and release a 16 pipe one to beat down that GT. Look at it , raise the resolution and the purpose of the X800 pro is defeated. :frown:

 

[GeneralGrievous]

The X800 Pro has a 125 mhz clockspeed advantage. In many games it competes well with the 6800 GT. It's already available in store. It probably will drop in price slightly when the GT is released. It also crushes Nvidia's 12 pipe card.

There's nothing wrong with it at all. I'd even skip over the GT. $100 doesn't mean that much at such high prices, and I figure its best to get the X800 XT.

Pipelines don't mean everything. The 9600 XT exceeds the 9500 Pro in some games.

 

[sparkyclarky]

Originally posted by: GeneralGrievous
The X800 Pro has a 125 mhz clockspeed advantage. In many games it competes well with the 6800 GT. It's already available in store. It probably will drop in price slightly when the GT is released. It also crushes Nvidia's 12 pipe card.

There's nothing wrong with it at all. I'd even skip over the GT. $100 doesn't mean that much at such high prices, and I figure its best to get the X800 XT.

Pipelines don't mean everything. The 9600 XT exceeds the 9500 Pro in some games.

It crushes nVidia's 12 pipeline card, huh? Mind showing me those benchmarks. Strangely enough, I don't recall ever seeing them on the web.

 

[Corporate Thug]

Originally posted by: ShinX
Steep drop

Look at the 2nd bench. We all love ATi but that is just inexcusable. Why cant they recall that craptastic card and release a 16 pipe one to beat down that GT. Look at it , raise the resolution and the purpose of the X800 pro is defeated. :frown:

you dont like the card? dont buy it. problem solved

it is buy no means "craptastic", nor is ATi going to recall it

 

[ShinX]

I like the card but its just a mystery why its only 12 pipes. Oh and learn how to differentiate "by" and "buy".

Sparky , the X800 Pro does crush the 6800 non ultra. I think Driverheaven or Hexus has those reults.

 

[Corporate Thug]

Originally posted by: ShinX
I like the card but its just a mystery why its only 12 pipes. Oh and learn how to differentiate "by" and "buy".

Sparky , the X800 Pro does crush the 6800 non ultra. I think Driverheaven or Hexus has those reults.

hitting me where it hurts: the grammer. oh noes!!!!!!!!

so you like the card and the way you convey that message is call it a "craptastic card"?

i confused. do you like it or not?

personally i would pay the extra for the XT or better yet but the 6800Gt

 

[ShinX]

damn skippy

 

[exar333]

i wouldnt call it crappy....if you dislike 12 pipes so much, send it to me, ill "get rid of it" for u....no charge!

 

[ShinX]

cheapo . nah i havent bought it yet. i am now , but i'm praying that the disabled 4 pipes can be modded later. otherwise its plenty fast. after that 9800 pro i cant have enough of ATi

 

[Corporate Thug]

Originally posted by: ShinX
cheapo . nah i havent bought it yet. i am now , but i'm praying that the disabled 4 pipes can be modded later. otherwise its plenty fast. after that 9800 pro i cant have enough of ATi

if there is a possibility of unlocking the other 4 pipes, i would take my chances with the X800 pro as well

 

[GeneralGrievous]

I don't understand why the possibility wouldn't be there. I have heard something about ATI laser cutting pipelines, but that just adds to their cost and risks damaging an otherwise good card. Perhaps they could be flashed to modified XT bios with lower clock speeds if they can't be softmodded with drivers.

 

[Jeff7181]

The x800 Pro wasn't intended to compete with the 6800GT, it was intended to compete with the 12 pipe plain jane 6800. nVidia just released a mess of variations... the 6800, 6800 GT, 6800 Ultra, and 6800 Ultra Extreme. Personally, I'm waiting for the 6800 Ultra Extreme Super Duper Awesomely Wonderful Spectacular Uber l33t version.

 

[rbV5]

I like the card but its just a mystery why its only 12 pipes

Whats the mystery? It allows for a better yield on the chips. Its not the first time ATI has disabled pipelines before and its a proven successful model for them. How would a cheaper 16 pipeline card not take sales from the XT?

Seriously, unless your totally sold on a X800 pro, why even buy until the dust settles anyway? Seems premature if you're already waffling.

 

[reever]

Originally posted by: GeneralGrievous
I don't understand why the possibility wouldn't be there. I have heard something about ATI laser cutting pipelines, but that just adds to their cost and risks damaging an otherwise good card.

How do you think Intel locks their chip multipliers? Do you ever hear them talk about how much of a problem it is for them or how much money it is taking to do this procedure?

 

[ShinX]

Well , if the first gen 9500 pros can unlock, then why not the first gen X800 pros. ATi might have made it easy to mod the card because thats what drove thier sales last round.

 

[Dman877]

I'm going to reserve judgement until a time when all these cards are available to buy from multiple manufacturers. I'm sure the prices will settle according to performance, hopefully the 6800GT remains the same price as the X800Pro but I doubt it will. The X800Pro is already at 360$ from compusa.

 

[EarthwormJim]

Originally posted by: ShinX
Well , if the first gen 9500 pros can unlock, then why not the first gen X800 pros. ATi might have made it easy to mod the card because thats what drove thier sales last round.

First of all it was first gen 9500 np's not the pros, and the reason why the pipelines could be enabled was because they were dissabled in the BIOS. From what ATi said about the X800pro, it's pipelines will be physically dissabled. So unless you have a really good magnifying glass and a steady hand, it's extremely unlikely anyone will be able to be reactivate them.

And I see no example of an extreme difference in performance between the XT and Pro in actual game benchmarks. It even performs better than any 9800xt, which is costs about the same as. And if you compare it to the 6800GT, it goes toe to toe with it, infact it tops the 6800ultra at times.

 

[ShinX]

Jim , the 9500 Pros with the L shaped memory were the cards that could be turned into the 9700 pros , i remember because i was about to buy one.

 

[EarthwormJim]

Originally posted by: ShinX
Jim , the 9500 Pros with the L shaped memory were the cards that could be turned into the 9700 pros , i remember because i was about to buy one.

No it wasn't, there is nothing to flash a 9500pro into, it already has all 8 pipelines enabled. And there were no L shaped 9500pro's, they had their own l shaped PCB (which later 9500np's used). 9500np's with the L shaped PCB could be flashed though because they only had 4 out 8 of their pipelines enabled, and a 256bit bus thanks to the L shaped PCB.

 

[ShinX]

thank god i didnt waste my cash

 

[BFG10K]

Why cant they recall that craptastic card and release a 16 pipe one to beat down that GT.

Because a 16 pipe card would cannibalize their XT sales.

 

[WA261]

What about the x800PE??

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: WA261
What about the x800PE??

It'll probably be a tad expensive and end up competing with the 6800 Ultra Extreme. The x800XT will compete with the 6800 Ultra. The x800Pro will compete with the 6800. ATI doesn't seem to have anything to compete with the 6800GT. nVidia may lose 6800 Ultra sales because of the GT... and they probably realize that and may only make a certain number of them in an attempt to get people to buy the Ultra when they can't find the GT. So... when you see 6800GT's for sale, as long as reviews don't indicate otherwise, I'd buy one the first chance I get.

 

[SilverTrine]

Yeah darn ATi for releasing one 12 pipe variant and one 16 pipe variant. They should do like Nvidia next time, screw up production so bad they have so many underperforming 16 pipe dies laying around they're forced to release a crippled version of their 16 pipe card.

Trust me when ATi joke about Nvidia's production being how many wafers per die it takes not how many dies per wafer, they're not joking.

If you could ask Nvidia if they'd prefer almost all their 6800u dies to work perfectly over having a crippled 16 pipeline card I think everyone knows what the answer would be.

As for someone attacking the X800pro, thats like attacking the 9600xt because its not a 9800xt, well duhhhh.

Once all the cards are on the market the x800pro will find its price/performance sweetspot just like all cards do.

 

[Illissius]

X800 Pro MSRP: $400
6800 GT MSRP: $400
=> The X800 Pro and 6800 GT are meant to be competitors

X800 XT PE MSRP: $500
6800 Ultra MSRP: $500
=> the X800 XT PE and 6800 Ultra are meant to be competitors

6800 non-Ultra: $300
6800 Ultra Extreme: above $500

ATi hasn't announced any cards to compete directly with the 6800 NU or 6800 UE that I know of, though there's rumors of an X800 SE for $300 vs. the 6800.

(And the "Platinum Edition" was only added because they wanted more to differentiate it from the 9800XT than just a single character, can't remember where I read it though.)