New graphics card [Archive]

abhi63

26 Mar 2005, 1:05am

Hi,

I need to upgrade to a PCI express card now that i'm going athlon 64.

What do you think about the X800 XL or X800 XT?

I am more than open to suggestions of other cards.

And i'm not loyal to ATi if that's what you were thinking! ;D

primesuspect

26 Mar 2005, 1:42am

well, what's your budget? The best card out there right now is the nVidia 6800 Ultra PCIe but that's a lot of money.

ryko

26 Mar 2005, 2:52am

abhi63

26 Mar 2005, 11:45am

Mt_Goat

26 Mar 2005, 3:55pm

My budget's around $300.

How good is the X800XL compared with the 6800 GT?

Thanks.

EDIT// What about this?

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=14-102-486R&type=Refurbished

Is the 6800 Ultra better than the 6800 GT?
6800 Ultra is the best of the 3 but cost much more
6800 GT is second in price and equal to the X800XL
X800XL is the lowest in price of the 3 and is relatively the equal of the 6800 GT. It is roughly $100 less than the 6800 GT and depending on what you play will do insignificantly better or worse than the 6800 GT.

The X800XL is possibly the best bang for the buck in vid cards and is also in a very sweet spot for performance. It is going to be a big improvement over your current card and still be good for the next couple of years up and coming games. I speak from experience as I recently made the switch you are considering. I just went from an NF7-S and a 9800 Pro to what is in my sig below.

ryko

26 Mar 2005, 10:23pm

mtgoat,

love the system in your sig....almost the exact same that i will be upgrading to soon! :D

how high can you take the DFI nf4 w/ those tccd modules?

m.oreilly

27 Mar 2005, 12:01am

x800xl all the way....under $300 and keeps up with the +/-$100 more expensive 6800gt. best price/performance ratio right now i believe for higher end pcie.

quick look at newegg and i found this....

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=14-164-041&DEPA=0

that would be your best bet. also, the new ati cards are native pci-e. this is my first ati purchase, and i'm very satisfied w/ it.

Mt_Goat

27 Mar 2005, 5:22am

mtgoat,

love the system in your sig....almost the exact same that i will be upgrading to soon! :D

how high can you take the DFI nf4 w/ those tccd modules?
Have had it to 270 but didn't have the time to tune it for stability and crashed widnows after a few hours of folding. But I got to 250 super easy by just leaving all the memory settings on 'Auto' and it has been running there for a week now super stable. I will have nore soon as I finally got a day off to play. :thumbsup:

abhi63

27 Mar 2005, 10:32am

mtgoat,

I was thinking about buying the A64 XP3200 Winchester, and I see you've got the A64 XP3000 Winchester.

In terms of stock speed and overclockability, which is better?

Thanks.

Mt_Goat

27 Mar 2005, 4:06pm

mtgoat,

I was thinking about buying the A64 XP3200 Winchester, and I see you've got the A64 XP3000 Winchester.

In terms of stock speed and overclockability, which is better?

Thanks.
It is actually very close between the two and will likely depend more on the production week and RAM choice than which of the two you get. If you get a dog of either the extra multi on the 3200 would come in handy. You certainly want to wait fot the next gen of cores due out in the coming weeks! I will be building a new rig for my wife soon and give her my XP3000 so that I can put a new Venice or San Diego core XP4000 in mine. If money is tight I will go with the Venice Core XP3500. Once you get into one of these the need for speed will become very addictive!;)

abhi63

27 Mar 2005, 7:05pm

What difference do different cores make, e.g newcastle, winchester, venice?

Thanks.

Mt_Goat

27 Mar 2005, 8:04pm

What difference do different cores make, e.g newcastle, winchester, venice?

Thanks.
The main differences are that the new cores will have SSOI over SOI, SSE3 in addition to SSE2 and a much improved memory controller. This last item is very important since the memory controller is actually part of the CPU as opposed to being on the motherboard like on all other platforms. The new core revisions are due out 4/4/05.