X850XT not worth mentioning?

[Sonikku]

AATech has done another buyers guide and the X850XT is not even considered an honorable mention compared to the slower, more expensive 7600GT. Why is this exactly? It even goes to mention what performance you can expect in Oblivon, a game that performs even better on a X850XT then a lot of Nvidia's more expensive cards. This isn't the first time this happened. When the X850XT originally fell to $160 some time before a Video Card buyers guide AAtech was still touting other cards with a mediocre price to performance ratio as good deals in the mid range. And what's this about X1800XT's costing over $300? You can even get the 512 versions for less then that. Certainly not more. What gives?

 

[josh6079]

Anandtech is probably getting paid off.

I really don't know, but it is weird how newly purchased hardware comes with Anandtech's stickers on the boxes when their just a median that tests the products. You don't see "Car and Driver" stickers pasted on a new Camry, etc. Kinda makes ya wonder.

 

[Sonikku]

Seriously though, most people in the world aren't buying some crazy ass super ultra mega turbo SLI 7900GTX or 1900XTX Crossfire setup. Mid range cards, like the 6600GT, X850XT, 7600GT ect. are the cards people are buying. The X850XT should have at least have been mentioned.

 

[CaiNaM]

Originally posted by: Sonikku
Seriously though, most people in the world aren't buying some crazy ass super ultra mega turbo SLI 7900GTX or 1900XTX Crossfire setup. Mid range cards, like the 6600GT, X850XT, 7600GT ect. are the cards people are buying. The X850XT should have at least have been mentioned.

really? could you show us the x850xt sales data so we can see how well they are selling?

 

[Powermoloch]

I would say the same thing, but there are new stuff coming out...if you really want to see the x850xt performance. Go to toms :roll:

I own a x850xt series too

 

[Sunrise089]

IMHO X850XTs preformance makes it an outstanding choice for the money, but the feature set makes it hard to recommend to others if you're a site like anandtech. Basically anyone buying a card like an X850XT has to realize they are trading graphical features in more and more titles for raw performance, and anandtech may not want to advise something like that.

 

[Munky]

Well, we have people here recommending a midrange 7600gt or even a 6800gs over the x850xt because of the newer feature set, and then at the same time downplaying the outdated feature set of the high end 7900gt/x when compared to the x1800/x1900 series cards. What else can you expect?

 

[PingSpike]

I don't see the big deal about the feature set being less. If you're buying midrange on a budget, you're already planning on making some compromises in order to save money. Why would I care if the card has a whole bunch of features it doesn't have the horsepower to push? I realize some people would want the extra features instead of the horsepower...but a lot of people just want to play new games at reasonable framerates.

But the market doesn't seem to want that. Nvidia went that route with the GF4MX400 and it was pretty much universally hated despite not being a bad card performance wise. And yet the valve survey shows the the fx5200, probably one of the sh|ttiest parts nvidia ever released, is still in a ton of people's machines.

I agree, this part should at the very least be mentioned. ATI is giving these things away compared to their original price.

 

[Mavrick007]

Hehe I wish that it was only $160 for the AGP version but it's still pretty pricey for AGP.

It does usually go that they will put more focus on feature set even though the raw horsepower can be less than some older cards with less features. It's exactly the same when comparing the older GF4 which had much more power than the FX5200-5700, but it still couldn't play games like BF2 cause of the shader model was not supported even though it would play on newer cards, such as the FX5200, but it would run terrible.

They didn't include the older ATI parts because they are not current. They would rather push you towards the x1600-1900 parts than the x800-x850 even though these older cards still do have lots of life left but the feature set is less.

 

[apoppin]

the AGP x850xt is no longer a *great value* . . . when i got mine new in January for $200 that was an exceptional deal . . . now that they are usually found for well over $250 . . . . there are better values.

and AT frequently gets it *wrong* . . . it is still *opinion*

fortunately it still hangs with the best of nVidia and ati's current midrange offernings
[as long as i can play Oblivion smothly at 11x8 with mostly everything 'on' and 'high' plus AA+Bloom - i am happy. . .
btw, almost DONE with Oblivion . . . over 300 hours into the game and it is "winding down"]

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Originally posted by: Sonikku
AATech has done another buyers guide and the X850XT is not even considered an honorable mention compared to the slower, more expensive 7600GT. Why is this exactly? It even goes to mention what performance you can expect in Oblivon, a game that performs even better on a X850XT then a lot of Nvidia's more expensive cards. This isn't the first time this happened. When the X850XT originally fell to $160 some time before a Video Card buyers guide AAtech was still touting other cards with a mediocre price to performance ratio as good deals in the mid range. And what's this about X1800XT's costing over $300? You can even get the 512 versions for less then that. Certainly not more. What gives?

Slower, more expensive 7600GT? It sells for the same price range, and while slower in some titles, will be faster in others. Not to mention it doesn't need a power connector and is single slot, important for some, particularly SFF owners. Then there is the X1800GTO, which I have seen available, for very near the same money w/ MIR, and is also close in performance overall. Damned shame they didn't check for the best prices@Newegg on the X1800GTO $169.99+S MIR and XXX7600GT 590/800 $169+S MIR just before posting the guide, as both are sweet deals. They both not only have a more modern feature set for gaming, they have PureVideo and Avivo, that the X850XT lacks. Not important to some, but very much so to others.

Why recommend a older part in the price range, lacking all that, when you can get a part about the same price that does? IMHO, it seems unnecessary to give it an honorable mention since 2 overall better options at that price level are already provided. Even if the cards listed weren't the best deals going.