Cheapest PCI-E 'upgrade' from an X800XT-PE?

ACESHIGH · 15 Aug 2007 at 16:27

Ste said:
Thanks for all the help

I think I'm sold on the x1950. I'm not going near vista for at least another 6months so the dx10 issue is no problem and I'll probably upgrade within a year anyway.

Can I just clarify - does the x1950 do hardware deinterlacing/decoding/etc. (is that what AVIVO is?)

Cheers

Pretty much, AVIVO is used for hardware video decoding.

From wikipedia

AVIVO

During capturing, AVIVO amplifies the source, automatically adjust its brightness and contrast. AVIVO implements 12-bit transform to reduce data loss during conversion, it also utilizes motion adaptive 3D comb filter, automatic color control, automatic gain control, hardware noise reduction and edge enhancement technologies for better video playback quailty.

In decoding, the GPU core supports hardware decoding of H.264, VC-1, WMV9, and MPEG-2 videos to lower CPU utilization (it should be noted that the bitstream processing/entropy decoding still requires CPU processing). AVIVO supports vector adaptive de-interlacing and video scaling to reduce jaggies, and spatial/temporal dithering, enabling 10-bit color quality on 8-bit and 6-bit displays during process stage.

willhub · 15 Aug 2007 at 16:31

peetee said:
And less power requirements, and being cooler.
the GT was a good choice because it could handle the shadows and lighting easier, yea you could always turn them off, which i did, but to be honest it was plain ugly etc.

HDR+AA etc, i dont care all that much about AA or HDR really, well i didnt back then, and i found the x800xtpe would buckle with some games with either on really..
They are around about the same performance level though, no arguement about it, fair enough each lacks support for certain things, opinions over which is more important are obviously different

The X800XT PE did not support HDR unless it was under the source engine, My x800xt pe never struggles, I dont think power requirements or temperature were an issue with those cards tbh..

J.D · 16 Aug 2007 at 00:45

Nope, it was bloom. Plus it had 256bit memory interface against the 128bit of the 7600

. It was weaker than the X800XT PE. I owned both cards and had them both running on the exact same equipment and the same overclock and the X800 was faster. Why else do would I buy it and sell it on 3 weeks later?. I wanted ATI back after that horrible downgrade so I got the X1900. It wasn't as bad as I'm making out but I noticed it right away and wasn't too happy

.

peetee · 16 Aug 2007 at 00:48

heh fair do's i stand corrected, the OP does only say that he plays a bit of pro evo though, so he really doesnt need the raw horsepower of the XTPE really.. =/

willhub · 16 Aug 2007 at 00:52

Yea I've just thought about that, if all he plays is that, he would be better off holding on untill betetr cards, not point upgrading to downgrade to upgrade again.

J.D · 16 Aug 2007 at 00:56

peetee said:
heh fair do's i stand corrected, the OP does only say that he plays a bit of pro evo though, so he really doesnt need the raw horsepower of the XTPE really.. =/

Lol np

. I think the x1950 will be better for 1080i than the X800 so it's still a worthwhile upgrade. Yes his X800 will widdle over Pro Evo but for anything else it might come in handy. For the price your not wasting much to get good graphics.

willhub · 16 Aug 2007 at 00:57

J.D said:
Lol np . I think the x1950 will be better for 1080i than the X800 so it's still a worthwhile upgrade. Yes his X800 will widdle over Pro Evo but for anything else it might come in handy. For the price your not wasting much to get good graphics.

If he plans on playing Pro Evo for the near future then it would be a waste to get a new card, he might aswell hold on for G90 so G80 prices drop so he can get a good dealing

J.D · 16 Aug 2007 at 11:40

willhub said:
If he plans on playing Pro Evo for the near future then it would be a waste to get a new card, he might aswell hold on for G90 so G80 prices drop so he can get a good dealing

??

Your post doesn't make sense at all :confused:

.

Waste to get a new card then wait until the prices drop. For Pro Evo 6 :confused:

.

X1950 Pro is only £70?????. The GTS or GTX will not fall to that much for a good while yet. Bang for buck it's great to get the x1950. Also, please re-read the first post. Your saying things like hold on for G90 so that G80 will fall in price but in the first post Ste mentioned he doesn't play games any more except from the odd bit of Pro Evolution.

Now for HDTV at 1080i the X1950 is a lot better equipped to handle this over the X800. It also will do anything Ste needs it too. Sharp image quality, AA and HDR together and decent frame rates in just about everything he could try. Now please try and tell me that's not worth £70?, and that it's still a great idea to hold out for a GTS or GTX that will be anywhere near £70 in the next few months

oh and to play Pro Evo (hehe).

willhub · 16 Aug 2007 at 11:57

I mean hold on abit, if all he plays is Pro Evo 6 then the X800 will surely cope at any res, so he might aswell hold untill the new cards come out which will gaurantee a price drop on the G80 and push other cards even further down, if all he plays is Pro Evo 6 and currently its fine with the X800, I see no point in upgrading it at this moment in time...

J.D · 16 Aug 2007 at 12:01

willhub said:
I mean hold on abit, if all he plays is Pro Evo 6 then the X800 will surely cope at any res, so he might aswell hold untill the new cards come out which will gaurantee a price drop on the G80 and push other cards even further down, if all he plays is Pro Evo 6 and currently its fine with the X800, I see no point in upgrading it at this moment in time...

Please answer my question in the previous post.

Will the x1950 be better for 1080i HDTV?.

Lol Will. The guy wants a new card. Slight upgrade and doesn't need a powerhouse but wants a change otherwise he wouldn't be here.

Also why wait????. It's only £70 and about double the performance for the card he paid £250 for

.

willhub · 16 Aug 2007 at 12:04

J.D said:
Please answer my question in the previous post.

Will the x1950 be better for 1080i HDTV?.

Lol Will. The guy wants a new card. Slight upgrade and doesn't need a powerhouse but wants a change otherwise he wouldn't be here.

Also why wait????. It's only £70 and about double the performance for the card he paid £250 for .

God why pay out when a damnd x800 can play it tho, obviously the x1950 is better for hdtv, but for only playing one game, I dont see a point.

Fair enough if he wants to play Bioshock or something then an X1950 would be ok.

J.D · 16 Aug 2007 at 12:10

willhub said:
God why pay out when a damnd x800 can play it tho, obviously the x1950 is better for hdtv, but for only playing one game, I dont see a point.

Fair enough if he wants to play Bioshock or something then an X1950 would be ok.

Ste said:
Hi all,

A couple of years ago I played a lot of games and spent about 250quid on an ATI X800XT PE AGP card. I don't play games much anymore (bit of pro evo is about it!) but am thinking of getting a new system and don't want the graphics to be a 'downgrade' from what they are now, if that makes any sense!

So which nvidia card (I'd like purevideo for HTPC stuff) is the best all round upgrade from the X800XT for the least cash? i.e. how much do I have to spend to get a card that performs the same / marginally better?

Twin DVI would be a bonus, as would this purevideo thing I've heard about, will it decode 1080i HDTV stuff onboard?

Thanks for any help

willhub said:
God why pay out when a damnd x800 can play it tho,

Please read the first post again Will :rolleyes:

.

He wants an upgrade. End of. Oh and keep your knickers on sunshine.

willhub · 16 Aug 2007 at 12:13

J.D said:
Please read the first post again Will .

He wants an upgrade. End of. Oh and keep your knickers on sunshine.

Well I dont think there is a point unless he's going to play games that take advantage of a decent card :rolleyes:

, Oh and dont calle me sunshine :rolleyes:

Dont you just hate rolleyes?

J.D · 16 Aug 2007 at 13:00

willhub said:
Well I dont think there is a point unless he's going to play games that take advantage of a decent card , Oh and dont calle me sunshine

Dont you just hate rolleyes?

If you hate it so much sunshine then why use it three times

. Also you were the one that got a tiny bit touchy and used the

willhub said:
God why pay out when a damnd x800 can play it tho,

. Now that was no way to engage in a debate is it?.

That's the whole point Will. It isn't your point to make. Now I can't see why your not picking up on the fact that the card that is nearly a quarter of the price of the £250 paid for the X800 and is nearly double the power of the older card is a great and very viable option?. This is the reason I'm posting to you as much in this thread. I don't know how you can't see that as a good and cheap upgrade from a X800?.

willhub · 16 Aug 2007 at 13:04

Now.. I have never ever said it was a bad upgrade, I am aware it is a good and cheap upgrade, but I dont see the point of paying out 70 quid for a card to play something your old card allready easilly can do.

peetee · 16 Aug 2007 at 13:11

theres a new pro evo out in a month and a half odd, and its a 'next-gen' title.
Plus the OP wants an upgrade, end of, we dont know what else he does, maybe he wants a dual core, more ram etc?
Maybe his pc is about to die a horrible death?

Cyber-Mav · 16 Aug 2007 at 13:17

get a 8600gt, the trick is to get the cheapest one you can find, which will be around 65 quid, and then overclock it.

J.D · 16 Aug 2007 at 13:17

willhub said:
Now.. I have never ever said it was a bad upgrade, I am aware it is a good and cheap upgrade, but I dont see the point of paying out 70 quid for a card to play something your old card allready easilly can do.

Yes you are correct on the Pro Evo thing. The X800 is more than enough.

I think that Ste is going to upgrade his whole PC and is looking for a PCI-E card that's a tiny bit of an upgrade and at nowhere in the region of the £250 that he paid for the AGP X800XT PE.

He also mentioned that he wanted a card that was about the same or marginally better in performance and didn't want to pay out much money. The X1950 pro fits that perfectly imho as the GTS is a little dear for an upgrade and waiting for prices to drop wouldn't do him much favours either as I can't see X1950's dropping anytime soon as they are at an incredible price right now.

The X1950 might be a little bit of a waste on Pro Evo but it will be better for HDTV, will have dual DVI with VGA adapters and if Ste ever gets back into gaming it's a great start. All reasons why this is good buy to me.

J.D · 16 Aug 2007 at 13:19

Cyber-Mav said:
get a 8600gt, the trick is to get the cheapest one you can find, which will be around 65 quid, and then overclock it.

Thats a downgrade from an X800XT PE is it not?. Not sure though so don't eat me alive for saying that

.

Also does the X1950 not trounce that card?. Then again with Ste not playing games it wouldn't really matter.

Cyber-Mav · 16 Aug 2007 at 13:29

J.D said:
Thats a downgrade from an X800XT PE is it not?. Not sure though so don't eat me alive for saying that .

Also does the X1950 not trounce that card?. Then again with Ste not playing games it wouldn't really matter.

if he is not playing games, then its best to get the card which produces the least heat, consumes the least power, has the most features and is cheapo.

8600gt fits that budget. also has purevideo hd which helps out with video decoding. dx10 support is there (for what its worth).

8600gt is quicker than a x800xt, the 7600gt had 12 pipelines, the 8600gt has 16 pipes, with total of 32 stream processors. its performance is above that of the 7900gs, mate has a 8600gt and im absolutly shocked by its performance (overclocked to 650 on the core :eek:

), it rivals that of my x1900xt in places. an astounding card for the money really.