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ATI x850 or GForce 7600GT ?

TomTomTom

TomTomTom

TomTomTom

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Joined
6 Feb 2004
Posts
812
Hey,
I'm going to choose between these two cards most likely or very similar (partly based on local availability for me):

ATI X850 XT (256 MB, 256 bit)

Geforce 7600GT (256 MB, 128 bit)... this one a bit less expensive

I need the card for a RC flying sim called FS One. I'm upgrading from a ATI Radeon 9250 (128 MB, 64 bit). The old one works fine (performance is OK), but it gets some VPU errors and freezes some times (gets overwhelmed by the sim occasionally).

Any opinions on my choices? Opinions about ATI verses NVidia? I've used only ATI in the past (low end cards), so I'm tempted to go with the x850.

I'm not entirely sure what info I'm after here, because I'm not savvy with GPU's, just thought I should ask just in case, if there is anything significant I should know in making this choice.

Thanks for helping out a GPU noobster :)
 
both are good, especially for that game - i would go for 7600gt as has shader model 3 which is useful in some other games (and its cheaper)

7600gt uses less power as well, your psu may not have the watts for the x850
 
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fraps said:
both are good, especially for that game - i would go for 7600gt as has shader model 3 which is useful in some other games (and its cheaper)
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Ah so it has a feature that x850 doesn't? Sounds good.

fraps said:
7600gt uses less power as well, your psu may not have the watts for the x850
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That's a very interesting point. I didn't know that these cards consumed that much power... makes sense though when you think of the massive coolers they have (that heat comes from somewhere).

My psu is a good one though... I have an Antec TruePower 380W. But then it's power is also going toward an overclocked mobile XP2500 and two hard drives... could that PSU still get over loaded by the x850?

But if they are both good, I may opt for the cheaper. FS One performs really well with not much tweaking even with the 9250 (except for the errors and freezes which is a pain).

Thanks a lot. This helps.
 
SM3 was/is required to play bioshock (caused a bit of an uproar) so you're best going with the 7600GT, I'd guess speed wise they'd be fairly similar :)
 
kylew said:
SM3 was/is required to play bioshock (caused a bit of an uproar) so you're best going with the 7600GT, I'd guess speed wise they'd be fairly similar :)
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Thanks for the tip. Starting to look like the 7600GT is it. I'm not sure about the x850, but the 7600GT GPU speed is 560 MHz. Club 3D has the video ram running at 1100 Mhz. x850 however is 256 bit whereas 7600GT is 128 bit, but sounds like 7600GT is plenty good enough.

Cyber-Mav said:
members market may even net you an x1950pro.
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Yah, the reason I considered x850, is because it's the highest ATI that has drivers for Win2000pro which I still use on a couple of computers.
 
weescott said:
You could just get the X800GTO, flash the bios and have an X850XT, possibly X850 XT PE
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GPU OC'ing mischief is a whole realm of it's own ;) Never tried that side of OC'ing myself. Guess you'd have to change the cooler on it after the flash?

Great help from everyone. I feel like I'm more or less up to speed enough to make a choice and know what I'm getting.

Cheers :)
 
willhub said:
X850 is faster than the 7600GT but due to no SM3.0 the 7600GT may be the only good choice now.
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Aye, I've had both cards (well it was the X800XT Plat Edition) and the X800 was a lot faster than the 7600GT. Both cards are good but the image quality in the X800 is far better than the 7600 but the lack of shader model 3 makes some games unplayable.

If you are going to be playing any other games that might require Shader Model 3 then get the 7600GT. If the game in question is the only game you will be playing then I'd get the X850 as it will give you better performance levels and a sharper image.
 
Yeah the X850 is the quicker card, so it comes down to whether you need pixel shader 3.0 and whether the power consumption is an issue since the x850 uses around double the power.

As said above if you can stretch to an X1950 Pro that's a much quicker card.
 
Ricinus said:
How likely is that to run on his 380W power supply ?
It's the PSU question that is holding ME back from getting a newer card.
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A decent 380W can run a Quad, 2GB, 500GB hard drive, DVD-RW, DVD-ROM, and 512MB 8800GT at stock just fine. The system only consumes about 230-250W (at full load). So you'll be fine, don't overestimate the wattage draw - there are PSU calculators you can use that will work out the figures if you enter your system spec. http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculator.jsp
 
Hey guys,
Got the 7600GT today. Works a treat. Only problem initially was that I had it hooked up to an old compaq presario moniter; it caused problems. But then hooked up my Samsung 753s and everything took off.

Then GUESS what happens next? I dropped the controller box that comes with the RC sim onto a hard tile floor (sticks facing down). I hate it when something fun gets immediately offset by something not fun :mad: It appears to be intact and working normally, but for that reason I haven't been playing the sim much yet with the new card.

But it was a good choice. I don't get VPU errors and freezes any more and I've cranked up the volume on graphical detail without issues. Good card :)

Cheers and thanks for all the input

P.S. Turns out that I would not have been able to get the x850 anyway. Retailer said they don't have and no chance of getting it (discontinued).
 
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TomTomTom said:
Hey guys,
Got the 7600GT today. Works a treat. Only problem initially was that I had it hooked up to an old compaq presario moniter; it caused problems. But then hooked up my Samsung 753s and everything took off.

Then GUESS what happens next? I dropped the controller box that comes with the RC sim onto a hard tile floor (sticks facing down). I hate it when something fun gets immediately offset by something not fun :mad: It appears to be intact and working normally, but for that reason I haven't been playing the sim much yet with the new card.

But it was a good choice. I don't get VPU errors and freezes any more and I've cranked up the volume on graphical detail without issues. Good card :)

Cheers and thanks for all the input

P.S. Turns out that I would not have been able to get the x850 anyway. Retailer said they don't have and no chance of getting it (discontinued).
Click to expand...

Nice one and I'm glad that you are happy. Now go and get some gaming in :).

I hope the controller is ok too.
 
J.D said:
Nice one and I'm glad that you are happy. Now go and get some gaming in :).

I hope the controller is ok too.
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Amazingly it appears to be unharmed. But since the RC sim is supposed to condition your reflexes for flying the real ones, I'll probably be obsessing for the next few days about if the controls feel right :rolleyes:

But it seems totally fine and I've been enjoying the sim again on a new level for the past hour+ :cool:
 
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