AGP Graphic Choices

[brianw2112]

I have a Radeon 128 Mb 9800se AIW agp that I would like to change for something a bit faster and with 256 Mb, I have narrowed it down to 2 or 3 cards. These are the HIS X800XL , Asus X850XT or the NVidia 6800GS. Any advice would be really appreciated in making the final choice. I know that the Nvidia supports SM3, but the ATI's don't. Does this mean I would not be able to play games that use SM3 using the ATI option, or that I will be able to play them but without all the bells and whistles?

 

[brianw2112]

Thanks for the advice. I might wait for the 7800GS, but price will come into it. The cards I looked at are all between £170-210 and I suspect that the 7800GS will be around the £300 mark (which is pushing it after Christmas!).

 

[brianw2112]

i would wait for the 7800gs or at least until u can find out how much they will cost.

in the mean time, why dont u try unlocking some pipelines on your 9800se AIW, if it works u might be able to get a free 9800pro AIW and get a little speed boost to tide u over

Already unlocked the 4 pipes and then had to put it back the original 4 only due to problems with the PC sometime later (ie a few months with nothing untoward). Had varoius niggly problems later with occasional restarts and error messages with the ati2mtag and decided that maybe the card didn't like using the extra pipes. So I think I might go with the Asus X850XT and maybe some Arctic cooling.

 

[brianw2112]

Just a quick note, the fan on the Asus x850xt isn't too load, depending on other fans in system (water cooling and you'd hear it, lots of case fans and blends in) and can be adjusted in ati tool for spin up at different temps. If you did want to change the fan, then although the arctic cooler will mount on that card, the power connecters are different so you would have to mod the conneter to make it fit. Either that or you could go for a Zalman vga cooler instead.
Can't fault the card itself and for £209 it's your best bet.

Thanks for the advice on the fan. I had read that the stock fan could be a bit loud and thought the Arctic would do, but the Zalman would be a good bet.