Following on from this I now need a new agp card. I was thinking either the x800gto, or x1600pro, but which would be better for me? The gto has a 256 mem bus which I like, but the x1600 has SM3.0, and avivo. I mostly game at 1024x768, but with a new card I would be looking to turn on all the eye candy. I play mostly driving (CMR, TOCA, GTL etc), RTS (C&C, homeworld & maybe star wars EaW), and only a couple of FPS (thief series & the wonderful farcry). So which one do you think ppl? Oh I also an x800 a-i-w VE for about the same money, but I can't find any details on this. The best I could come up with was a foreign site which might have said it has only 4 pipes. Does anyone know if this is true and if so can they be unlocked?
I've used an X1600 recently and, while the performance was good, I feel that it was lacking slightly due to the memory bus. The X800GTO is cheaper with a wider memory bus and performance that can match a vanilla 6800 if overclocked. If you're only playing the games that you listed, I'd shun SM3 and Avivo and go for the X800GTO. If you're going to be playing a variety of newer games, I would go with the X1600 - SM3 will allow you to boost the eye-candy a lot more in these titles.
The X1600Pro should be dismissed due to insulting poor memory bandwidth, the X1600XT is the X1600 to consider. The X800GTO_256MB has 42% more memory bandwidth than the X1600XT and nearly 3 times the X1600Pro. However the X1600Pro has a 25% faster core (although the memory bandwidth will hurt this) while the nicely balanced X1600XT has a 48% faster core yet still decent memory bandwidth. The X800GTO_128MB has the same memory bandwidth as the X1600XT despite having 256bitDDR. So the question really is why not consider the X1600XT which gives you a fast core with good memeory bandwidth AND SM3.0 support too! X1600Pro Core=6000+625 RAM=10.9 X1600XT Core=7080+738 RAM=22.1 X800GTO Core=4800+600 RAM=31.4 (128MB version slower, RAM=22.4) That X800 AIW 'VE' sounds like a BIG gamble, best avoided IMHO. Any particular reason you're not considering nVidia cards such as the 6600GT or 6800?
Thanks ppl. I would consider the X1600XT, but you can only get up to the pro version with the agp interface unless someone knows different. tbh I was leaning towards the X800 GTO since you can always try to overclock the core, but you can't change the mem bandwidth Most of my games are a little out of date, the only new ones I'd consider are TOCA 3, and SW EaW, so it looks like the GTO Edit: I have looked at Nvidia, but the 6600Gt also has a 128 bit mem bandwidth and seems to be a bit dearer. I'm not a big gamer, so I don't want to get carried away!
It's an msi something or other mini ATX, with an XP2200+ and 768MB ram. I'm not too bothered about upgrading the rest of the system since it does everything I need (except gaming at the mo..), and I've got it running nice and quiet. Oh I forgot to mention it's AGP 4X. If the gfx card is 256MB ram then hopefully it shouldn't restrict performance too much.
Yeah but most of my games should be okay. my mobo doesn't recognise beyond an XP2600 so I'm just waiting for a full upgrade somewhere down the line.
There would still be some merit in buying cards as fast as 9700Pro, 9800Pro, X700, X800, X1600, GF6600, GF6600GT etc. Is there any chance you can o/c to get nearer XP2600+ speed? £?? 9700Pro Core=2600+325 RAM=19.8 R£67 9800Pro Core=3040+380 RAM=21.8 K£79 X700 Core=3200+600 RAM=11.2 D£87 X700Pro Core=3400+688 RAM=13.8 R£129 X800Pro Core=5700+713 RAM=28.8 K£138 X800GTO Core=4800+600 RAM=31.4 (128MB version slower, RAM=22.4) £?? X800XL Core=6400+600 RAM=31.4 K£95 X1600Pro Core=6000+625 RAM=10.9 £?? X1600XT Core=7080+738 RAM=22.1 K£76 6600 Core=2400+225 RAM=11.0 (RAM speed varies) K£98 6600GT Core=4000+375 RAM=16.0 'R£' prices are Retek (refurbs), 'K£' are Komplett and 'D£' are Dabs, just for an idea of comparative cost of the cards. Komplett are doing a £135 6800GX 128MB AGP (unofficial spec) with user comments saying there's a very good chance of enabling the 4 dormant pipes which would yield 6800GT and X800XL type performance. 6800GX Core=4320+450 RAM=27.2 (unlocked Core=5760+540) Dabs have an X800 VE AIW 256MB for £108 (it says "up to 16 pipes" but I assume 12 would be the minimum) X800VE-8 Core=3400+? RAM=25.6 X800VE-12 Core=5100+? RAM=25.6 X800VE-16 Core=6800+? RAM=25.6 Finally Dabs have a 6800 (vanilla) 128MB for £117 and it stands a very good chance of modding to enable all 16 pipes (getting close to 6800GT). If it doesn't mod you're still left with a card that outperforms the 6600GT even before you begin o/c'ing. D£117 6800 Core=3900+406 RAM=22.4 (only 128MB RAM though)
Thanks for the info Austin. The plain 6800 looks good, but you only get 128MB of memory with it. Ideally I would like 256MB and 256 bit bandwidth. I've looked at Retek and if I cant o/c my cpu I might just save the £30 or so and go with a 9800pro from them. I'll have to do the wire trick on my cpu since my msi mobo is all automatic with voltage and multipliers (I bought the puter off my mate, hence not the best mobo. Probably due for replacement but it will have to wait). i finish my current job on Thursday so I might just wait till then when I have more time That X800 A-I-W VE would be attractive at even 8 pipelines and the rf in/out would be very handy, but getting any decent info on it is hard. If it wasn't for that I would have stuck a pointer in the bargains section. Anyway thanks for the info, I'll let you know if I get my wires right on my cpu!
