Curse

BlackRecluse · Jul 26, 2006, 11:42 PM // 23:42

ok so i have about $250 and im gonna blow it on a video card. ive pretty much narrowed it down to either x800 xt or x800 xl. now i believe the xt is slightly better than the xl, but the i found an xl for $100 off. its an all-in-wonder, and im just wondering if i shouldnt dish out and extra $120 to get the xl, since i believe its more "gamer-prone".

Lurid · Jul 27, 2006, 12:49 AM // 00:49

I assume your on AGP only? Otherwise thats deffinately not a good idea, assuming you have a good PSU. X1800XT or a 7900GT, any model of X1900XT if you can find one in the $250 range.

BlackRecluse · Jul 27, 2006, 03:04 AM // 03:04

yes, AGP, completely forgot. oh well, there goes the all-in-wonder. godamn my mobo

LaraStonecypher · Jul 27, 2006, 03:14 AM // 03:14

I recently got a Geforce 7600GS (256mb) that's PCI-E, and it's a very good card. Got it for $109 on Newegg.

Lurid · Jul 27, 2006, 06:03 AM // 06:03

AGP wise the top of the line is the 7800GS, I would personally probably go with something like a 6800GS or an X850XT PE. If your using s754 you could potentially replace the motherboard, and pick up something that supports PCI-Express. An upgrade consisting of say...

This or A Similar Motherboard
&
Something in This Range

If your on s478 or the like, then you'll have to search your current socket to see if there are any motherboards that support PCI-Express. That would probably be my prefered upgrade. Unless of course you wanted to look in another direction. If it were me and my graphics weren't too bad, then I would by an ASRock Dual SATA2 ULi chipset motherboard, for s939. Aswell as an X2 3800+, for your allocated budget this would be a nice upgrade. You will have to post your full system specifics before anything like that can be really proposed though.

Riplox · Jul 27, 2006, 06:59 AM // 06:59

Yeah, I'm really suprized that AGP card prices are as high as they are. I have an AGP motherboard on my comp at the moment and my 6800XT cost me $215 used. The prices have dropped some, but PCIE is way lower overall. I can get the same card I have now, but in PCIE for 1/2 the price...new. If I were you, I'd save up a little more (maybe $350 or so) and buy yourself a respectable motherboard and video card.

On a BIG side note (and a little bragging...hehe):
It's ok for me now because I'm going to be building a new comp which is going to be a work/game pc funded by my friends business.
Main Parts Listing:

ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce 570 SLI MCP ATX AMD Motherboard
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Windsor 2000MHz HT 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 Dual Core Processor
4GB OCZ Gold 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM Unbuffered DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel System Memory
XFX PV-T71G-UDE7 GeForce 7900 GT EXTREME (520MHz) 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card (SLI Ready) -- (I'll get another one to pair up with it when I get some extra cash)
Xion PowerReal XON-600F14T-201 ATX12V V.2.01 600W Power Supply
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

sleepy samurai · Jul 27, 2006, 11:24 AM // 11:24

x800 xt or x800 xl are very similar and the AGP market is at a stand still. If x850 is an option you might see an improvement but other then that I would save the $100.

Or get the 7600 as it is new and has some extra features but do not spend to much money on them, save up...

I have the x800 xt AIW and it runs perfectly on all games in 1280x1048 resolution. Used cards are really cheap right now too.

sleepy samurai · Jul 27, 2006, 11:31 AM // 11:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by Riplox

On a BIG side note (and a little bragging...hehe):
It's ok for me now because I'm going to be building a new comp which is going to be a work/game pc funded by my friends business.
Main Parts Listing:

ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce 570 SLI MCP ATX AMD Motherboard
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Windsor 2000MHz HT 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 Dual Core Processor
4GB OCZ Gold 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM Unbuffered DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel System Memory
XFX PV-T71G-UDE7 GeForce 7900 GT EXTREME (520MHz) 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card (SLI Ready) -- (I'll get another one to pair up with it when I get some extra cash)
Xion PowerReal XON-600F14T-201 ATX12V V.2.01 600W Power Supply
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

4GB ram is allot. Are you sure you need 4? Mind you DDR2 is cheap.

600W power supply is allot but I assume you are buying an SLI power supply?

Might be an idea to get two hard drives if you like playing and try RAID0 or have room for storage.

You should get one of those 24" dell monitors too

Other then that I like the system and was thinking of some thing similar.

Riplox · Jul 27, 2006, 04:16 PM // 16:16

About ATI. I know they're good...really good. The only thing is that I've had bad experiences with the older of ATI's models, especially with opengl support. That's one reason I went back to NVIDIA.

To sleepy samurai:
I do a lot of Adobe CS2 and Macromedia Studio 8 (just learning) work, so I need it. As it stands now, I frequently run out of memory when working with Photoshop.
Also I don't like really like huge screens. 19" max. I guess it cause I sit pretty close to my screen so even a 17" fills up most of my view. DDR2 also isn't much more expensive than regular DDR so I decided to go with it instead.
About the 600...I was thinking of going with an 850 so I'd never have to worry about power and yes, it is SLI capable.

BlackRecluse · Jul 27, 2006, 05:19 PM // 17:19

im just gonna dumb a couple grand and get a new computer. all of my parts are old and need to be replaced. yeah im getting a dell, im a sell out - whatever. and the only thing i havent decide is either dual 7900 GS or x1900 xtx

Riplox · Jul 27, 2006, 05:47 PM // 17:47

NONONO!. If you have a couple of grand to dump, do NOT buy a brand name comp. ALWAYS build your own. You get much higher quality for the money. Newegg.com is a great place to start. Look at what I'm putting in my comp. I DARE you to find something from Dell or any computer manufacturer besides Falcon Northwest with those calibur components for less than 2 grand (can't really get anything awesome from FNW for less than 3k so they dont really count). If you need any help in choosing components, I'm sure there are more than a few willing people out there to help.

Lurid · Jul 27, 2006, 07:16 PM // 19:16

Bleh, if you have that much money to spend the only way to get your money's worth is to custom. I won't call you a sell out, i'll just call you silly, lol.

gabrial heart · Jul 27, 2006, 07:41 PM // 19:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by sleepy samurai

4GB ram is allot. Are you sure you need 4? Mind you DDR2 is cheap.

600W power supply is allot but I assume you are buying an SLI power supply?

Might be an idea to get two hard drives if you like playing and try RAID0 or have room for storage.

You should get one of those 24" dell monitors too

Other then that I like the system and was thinking of some thing similar.

I just build an intel machine Dual core 2.66, 1066 fsb, 2 gig ram, dual sata 150 raid 0 (10k rpm <8.2ms seeks), ati x1900 mastercard, dual pci-e x16 500 watt power supply, 19 widescreen lcd and did it for under $1k. Pretty much the most optimum machine for the price. Even plays oblivion at a nice frame rate in the forest. Going with a RAID will seriously speed up load times and most of the newer mobo's support it without anything additional, just look for RAID 0/1.

Riplox · Jul 27, 2006, 08:44 PM // 20:44

WTF...How can you get all that for under 1k? You going with standard off-brand models or something? You must mean 2k. IF however you do mean 1k, please show me where you're getting your stuff

. Also I will NEVER use a plain-ol power supply that comes with a case ever again. They are far too inefficient and have a tendency to go out more often. You could have a faulty power supply and not even know it (unless you test it) because it could be putting out low voltages on it's rails and that's bad for the rest of the parts in your comp and could shorten the overall lifespan of your rig.

BlackRecluse · Jul 27, 2006, 08:44 PM // 20:44

just found one riplox

Riplox · Jul 27, 2006, 08:53 PM // 20:53

Can you provide me a link or tell me exactly what you have in it?

gabrial heart · Jul 27, 2006, 09:13 PM // 21:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by Riplox

WTF...How can you get all that for under 1k? You going with standard off-brand models or something? You must mean 2k. IF however you do mean 1k, please show me where you're getting your stuff

. Also I will NEVER use a plain-ol power supply that comes with a case ever again. They are far too inefficient and have a tendency to go out more often. You could have a faulty power supply and not even know it (unless you test it) because it could be putting out low voltages on it's rails and that's bad for the rest of the parts in your comp and could shorten the overall lifespan of your rig.

The only thing i had was the case with a blown power supply, floppy drive and wireless keyboard/mouse and cd burner.

Mobo/processor combo by ecs special @ fry's = $200
*1 gig dual sdram stick @ fry's= $89
*2 sata 150 100 GB drives @ fry's (@10krpm) = $140
*1 dvd r/w 32x/32x/16x@ globalcomputer.com = $40
*1 500 watt power supply (ULT31841) @ globalcomputer.com= $50 w/shipping
*19 lcd widescreen @ fry's = $150
* 1- ati (ati model) 1900 master card **used** =$250 (brand new is 600 and up)

For a total of $930...

Riplox · Jul 27, 2006, 09:45 PM // 21:45

Why do you keep calling it a master card? There's a video card (or GPU if you like) and a motherboard/mainboard. Please use the correct terminology.

gabrial heart · Jul 27, 2006, 11:26 PM // 23:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by Riplox

Why do you keep calling it a master card? There's a video card (or GPU if you like) and a motherboard/mainboard. Please use the correct terminology.

It is the correct terminology according to ati. Part of thier crossfire package includes purchasing what they call a master/slave combo (2 or more cards running in tandum). Currently there are slave's available, but the master's are limited in availabilty (now called "crossfire addition" board http://www.ati.com/designpartners/me...f_Board_sm.jpg) . The board offers the ability to "sync" up with a later purchased "slave" cards and share directly the graphics processing power and speeds across all cards via special connectors found on the rear of the board), this allows you to purchase various models (any 1k model, 1300, 1600, 1800,1900,etc.) slave cards instead of buying 2 up-front that match with exact specs. Basically when the 1800's drop in price, i'll get a slave.

Riplox · Jul 27, 2006, 11:49 PM // 23:49

Oh...oh...oh...Wow. I feel like a dumbass now. Well didn't know that little bit of info. I really need to remember the old proverb: A closed mouth gathers no feet.