Which is better: ATI 1900XL or 8500GT 512?

primesuspect

Yay for me! I bought a PCI-E 8500GT 512, forgetting my kid's computer had an AGP slot.... Purchase=pointless! Go me!

Anyways, I have a 1900XL. Is the 8500GT512 same, slightly better, or slightly worse than my current card?

BlackHawk

Well looking at Tom's HW gpu graph, you're current card is alot better. The 8500 GT is below the X1600 XT.

primesuspect

yay!

Snarkasm

Hmm... well according to that Tom's table, I may have been better off sticking with my 7950GTKO than getting the 8600GT. What do you guys think?

http://www.evga.com/products/moreinfo.asp?pn=512-P2-N635-AR&family=18
http://www.evga.com/products/moreinfo.asp?pn=256-P2-N751-AR&family=19

The table I'm referencing is this:
http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/10/01/the_best_gaming_graphics_cards_for_the_money/page6.html#conclusion

And besides the memory, the other difference is DX10 vs DX9, so how much does that matter?

primesuspect

So the moral of the story is: The more "X's" in a video card's name, the better?

Snarkasm

Stupid arbitrary naming conventions. God forbid higher numbers actually mean better cards!

Does anybody have a solid opinion on whether I should keep the DX10 card or the supposedly better DX9 one?

GHoosdum

I'd keep the 7950. The 8600GT is barely a step up from the 7600GT, let alone the 7900 series.

joytime360

I think it all depends on , what's your setting .

Snarkasm

I broke down and returned the 8600 and got an 8800GTS OC.