Final AGP upgrade - "This week only offer"

[Brizzles]

I'm very tempted by the Sapphire ATI Radeon X1950 Pro 512MB , on this week only offer.

My current spec:

AMD 64 3700+ Clawhammer
2 Gig patriot Ram
Gainward 7800gs+ ( 24 pipe version )

I've read through various articles etc. and would appreciate your thoughts on whether the upgrade is worth it.

The other "alternative " is the XFX 7950GT 512MB ~ £ 40/50 more

Bearing in mind i can sell my Gainward to probably cover the cost of the card , will i see a " huge" jump in performance.

Cheers,

Mark

 

[helmutcheese]

If you have the real REV1 Gainward 24pipe, 8vertex with 1.2ns Samsung Memory as I had then do not swap it, it is as good as that ATI at stock if not better and is DEF better at overclocking, the core can do 700mhz easy, Memory is rated for 1600mhz DDR if you get a volts mod for it as its supposed to get 2.0v not 1.76v as Gainward have limited it to.

Do not go by reviews on WEB as they aint that card they are later 7800GS 16pipes jobs.

 

[Brizzles]

If you have the real REV1 Gainward 24pipe, 8vertex with 1.2ns Samsung Memory as I had then do not swap it, it is as good as that ATI at stock if not better and is DEF better at overclocking, the core can do 700mhz easy, Memory is rated for 1600mhz DDR if you get a volts mod for it as its supposed to get 2.0v not 1.76v as Gainward have limited it to.

Do not go by reviews on WEB as they aint that card they are later 7800GS 16pipes jobs.

S/N checks out and Rivatuner shows the full 24 pipe.

Can't get the core/ram above ~550/1500 ( stock volts ) without failing Lost Coast stress test.

Hence my interest in the ATI.

Mark

 

[helmutcheese]

It came out long before the ATI its prob still faster and at stock most got Core to 550-600mhz, you can do simple pencil mod as Core is only at 1.2v, 1.5v is very safe and 1.55v is what I ran.

You wont need that much a increase as I was trying for more and Vcore mod as always helps Memory OC a little.

 

[Cyber-Mav]

79 series is renoun for failures, don;t mod it. and the 24 pipe 7900gt is loads faster than a x1950pro, its more on the lines of a x1900xt.

 

[helmutcheese]

I never had issues with my 7900 AGP or PCI-E not sure why others failed, I know EVGA and a few others had to mod card with extra resistors and some had to change Memory.

 

[HangTime]

No point upgrading from the 24-pipe GS+. Save your pennies for a full S775/DDR2/PCI-E upgrade.

 

[bfar]

As above, you'll get nothing more out of AGP. That CPU will hold back anything more powerful than what you've got at this point.

You might as well face up to a full mobo/cpu/mem/gfx upgrade

 

[TheRealDeal]

Would have to agree with whats said above more long term benefits.

 

[Brizzles]

Thanks for the reality checks

s754 and AGP have served me well , time to raid the piggy bank !!

Cheers.

 

[melbourne720]

AGP cards still fetch a lot second hand, the upgrade needn't be as expensive as you think.

That's not to say it will be cheap though!