£150ish but which?

[Secret_Window]

I've started to notice the slowdown of running everything high on my games, and I want to run things smoother - I only play in 1024 res. But I'm stuck for what I should get. I'm not interested in the dx10 stuff because I would rather wait for that to all settle down. I'm interested in getting something that is pretty cheap but can give me a decent framerate.

I've had a look around myself but the Nvidia 7900 GS comes across *I don't know* a little naff, but that's just my perception - please prove me wrong. I want something that will just last me a year - hence the price, but would preferably want to spend less.

My current card is a Nvidia Geforce 6600 GT 128mb, rest of my specs are in my sig.

 

[Deception]

Maybe the:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/X1800_Series.html

Connect3D ATI Radeon X1800 XT 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-044-CO) £140.99

 

[LoadsaMoney]

For £150 the best card would be the 256mb x1800 XT, handles 1280x1024 with ease, using a 512mb one here at that res, and it cuts through everything maxed out, and the 256mb version is the same, the extra 256mb on the 512mb doesn't make a difference in the x1800's case

 

[Darkwave]

Personally I would recommend the HIS Radeon X1950 Pro 256MB on this page. It's a little quicker than an X1800XT 512MB from the benchmarks I have seen and has a fantastic cooler that makes practically zero noise while still exhausting heat through the back of the case.

It's about £165 but it's worth it IMO for the cooling solution you get with it and as LoadsaMoney said, you won't miss not having 512MB VRAM either.

 

[LoadsaMoney]

x1950pro is only x1900 GT performance, x1800 XT is faster, see here , yes it says the 512mb x1800, but as i said the 256mb x1800 is the same.

 

[Darkwave]

x1950pro is only x1900 GT performance, x1800 XT is faster, see here , yes it says the 512mb x1800, but as i said the 256mb x1800 is the same.

Those are the benchmarks I was referring to. When I look at benchmarks for comparing ATI cards I tend to pay most attention to 3D Mark 06 and games like Battlefield 2 and Far Cry.

The X1800XT definitely pulls ahead in most other games but the main reason I suggested the X1950Pro instead is the cooling solution. If he's thinking of switching to ATI we don't want to scare him off when he hears the stock X1800/X1900 cooler after using Nvidia graphics cards.

Not to mention the non-HIS is only about 66ºC under load according to FS, which is very nice now that ATI are tackling that particular issue with die-shrinking. I can only imagine the HIS version being much cooler.

 

[zo1d]

Although it clearly states on the add for the HIS ATI Radeon X1950 Pro ICEQ 3 TURBO SILENT Heatpipe 256MB, quote...

X1900 XT performance but with the advantage of much lower power consumption, cooler running and new Internal Crossfire mode makes the X1950 Pro a cracking card for very little money and one that packs a serious punch when you buy two cards and run in Crossfire mode via the internal bridge.

I can only assume that the 'turbo' clock settings must make up the performance gap between the X1900XT 256MB and standard X1950 Pro 256MB??

 

[Darkwave]

We can't really say about the OcUK claim of X1900XT speeds until someone gets their hands on one and reports back here, but if it is true and due to this version having higher clocks then that will be an excellent reason to buy it considering the cooler it also has.

 

[Secret_Window]

I heard the x1800 XT has a noise and heat problem? My 6600 GT is pretty hot sometimes as well, with temps of 78 C +

 

[Darkwave]

I heard the x1800 XT has a noise and heat problem? My 6600 GT is pretty hot sometimes as well, with temps of 78 C +

That is pretty hot for a 6600GT, I know mine never got that hot. My X1800XT did about 80ºC under load with a VF900 on it (and about 85ºC with stock cooling.)

The stock cooler on the X1800/X1900 series cards isn't loud per sé, but when compared to your 6600GT I think you will find it quite noisy. The HIS versions of cards usually come with an IceQ 3 cooler now though, both very cool and very quiet.

 

[FreeStream]

Although it clearly states on the add for the HIS ATI Radeon X1950 Pro ICEQ 3 TURBO SILENT Heatpipe 256MB, quote...

X1900 XT performance but with the advantage of much lower power consumption, cooler running and new Internal Crossfire mode makes the X1950 Pro a cracking card for very little money and one that packs a serious punch when you buy two cards and run in Crossfire mode via the internal bridge.

I can only assume that the 'turbo' clock settings must make up the performance gap between the X1900XT 256MB and standard X1950 Pro 256MB??

the 1950 Pro isn't as quick as X1900XT, and benchmarks show that. Even common sense says that 3/4 the pipes and shaders can't equal a X1900XT.


Clocks might make up the difference, but a X1900XT 256mb is the quicker card.

X1950 however does use less power, etc