need to choose a new vid card..

aximbigfan · 01-01-07, 08:05 PM

well...

as some of you know my previous new video card was defective (x1650pro) and i just checked neweggs website and it is out of stock which with no eta. so i have to choose an alternative. so here are my requirements

*must be eather agp 4/8x or pcie x16 (would prefer agp but can go with pcie if nessisary)

*i have 15 amps max on eatch of my 2 +12rails.

*must be ati and have a gpu in the x1k range

thats about it. i was thinking about an x1800gto, but the power requirments are 18amps on the +12rail.

chris

01-01-07, 08:27 PM

ABF, why do you need a new graphics card? Do you do photoshop? Do you game?
I've heard you have a 9550. I have a 9550 in my Dell, and I love it! Just stick with what you have.
-Justin

aximbigfan · 01-01-07, 08:30 PM

Originally Posted by Axim_X50_owner

ABF, why do you need a new graphics card? Do you do photoshop? Do you game?
I've heard you have a 9550. I have a 9550 in my Dell, and I love it! Just stick with what you have.
-Justin

yeah i agree, the 9550 is a great card, overclockes great, stable, ect. i just need a new card for vista and in general i would like a little better performance and full support for sm3, dx9, ogl2 ect...

chris

01-01-07, 08:36 PM

They would not RMA the card you had?

I am confused why you are buying another one and not RMAing your card....

Anyhow, like i said before the amps on the rails is not a HUGE thing. It is mainly the Graphics companies being preventative.

Also, why can you go either PCIe or AGP? My advice would be to go PCIe as you cannot use AGP on any of the new chipsets and boards (they just do not support it). So if you can go either, PCIe is a better choice for future upgrades.

As far as a suggestion, also as said before I am an Nvidia guy :p

But,

The X1650pro is in stock:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814103017

aximbigfan · 01-02-07, 12:24 PM

Originally Posted by Grentz

They would not RMA the card you had?

I am confused why you are buying another one and not RMAing your card....

Anyhow, like i said before the amps on the rails is not a HUGE thing. It is mainly the Graphics companies being preventative.

Also, why can you go either PCIe or AGP? My advice would be to go PCIe as you cannot use AGP on any of the new chipsets and boards (they just do not support it). So if you can go either, PCIe is a better choice for future upgrades.

As far as a suggestion, also as said before I am an Nvidia guy :p

But,

The X1650pro is in stock:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814103017

no no no, i have rmaed the card, they are out of the x1650s so they cant send me a replacement. all they can do is give us a refund. also, i knwo they have x16450s in stock but the x1650s tend to run EXTERMLY hot and if you noticed the card i originally had had a huge cooler on it to compinsate. all of bthe 1650s they have i nstock have pidly little coolers that look like they wouldnt be able to cool the gpu properly.

also, i have a transition board with a phisyical pcie x16 (but with the bandwith of a 4x slot) and a regular agp 8x slot.

chris

chris

01-02-07, 01:49 PM

ahh, ic

With x4 PCIe you will not get very good performance out of a PCIe card (hence probably why you would prefer agp?)

The other thing to remember is you can get an aftermarket cooler...the artic cooling setups are fairly cheap ($30~) and I have heard they work very well.

aximbigfan · 01-02-07, 03:03 PM

Originally Posted by Grentz

ahh, ic

With x4 PCIe you will not get very good performance out of a PCIe card (hence probably why you would prefer agp?)

The other thing to remember is you can get an aftermarket cooler...the artic cooling setups are fairly cheap ($30~) and I have heard they work very well.

actully a popular net magazine (name escapes me right now) did a test and they found only a differnce of 2-5 max fps.
and ytea that is the reason why i would perfer agp.

the thing of it is, im trying to keep this below $145 which was the price vof the orginal card, and the cheapest card i can find on newegg that meets my specs is $183 which is over 145 by a good $35. also, i was thinking about an x1650xt becouswe of the 80nm prosses which would reduce the rquired power by a bit and reduce the temps. only thing is that they are onyl avalible in pcie flavor.

chris

aximbigfan · 01-02-07, 03:22 PM

ok.... its between these two cards. what do you think, gray?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102021
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814121038

keep in mind that i only have 15 amps max on eatch of my 2 +12rails.

chris

01-02-07, 05:15 PM

Well comparing those cards (even though price does not suggest it) i think the X1800GTO is a faster card that will provide a bit more performance. I am not 100% sure on that though.

I have not had very good luck with sapphire in the past as well, and Asus is a known good company and makes a quality product. The sapphire cards I have seen and used in peoples machines seem to die early and easily, I even had one that had components come unsoldered by themselves!

IF it were between those cards I personally would go with the Asus X1650XT as it is Asus and a decent brand.

The other option you have (and I am NOT trying to be a fanboy here) is to look at the factory overclocked 7600GT. They are pretty much on par with the X1650XT and there are some awesome AR specials going on now where you can get one for cheap:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150182
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130017

The thing I like about those is that they have lifetime warranties and sorry to say, i have used both a ton, the Nvidia drivers and software work much better than ATI which can tend to be a bit buggy (I AM NOT just saying this, I have used both and it is just what I have noticed).

They dont have them all, but here is a good comparison of cards:
http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics.html?

In my mind, like i said though, if its between those two cards you listed, the Asus is a better quality choice.

aximbigfan · 01-02-07, 05:39 PM

ok, thanks for your input. i think i will look for an x1800gto by assus or something.
now, 1 more question. do you thin kthat my psu will eb able to handle an x1800gto under load?

chris

aximbigfan · 01-02-07, 06:20 PM

WTF? on asus's website it says that the card requires 30 (!) amps on the +12rail, that cant be right can it?!?!?

chris

01-02-07, 07:33 PM

Like I said, it is being over cautious on the manufactures part.

Also in looking into it more, the X1800GTO is older and more of a hog than the X1650XT that actually performs about the same. The X1650pro was what i was comparing to before and the X1800GTO is better than the pro but about the same as the XT.

So I would go with the XT as it does use less power than the GTO since it is a more refined process.

EDIT: I was just looking on ATI's website and noticed this on the 9800pro page:

" ATI recommends a 300-Watt power supply or greater to ensure normal system operation where a number of other internal devices are installed. "

To show what I mean by overly cautious, my friend has a machine from dell with a 9800pro in it and only a 250watt PSU. The machine also has dual optical drives, SATA, P4 3.0, bunch of addon cards (Audio, Lan, Modem), and still runs perfectly.