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***The AGP & PCI-E Graphics Card Buyers Guide***

Dumbass question - my LCD monitor only has a VGA connector. Does this mean I cant use an X1950 card (they all seem to have two DVI connectors?) :confused:
 
james73 said:
Dumbass question - my LCD monitor only has a VGA connector. Does this mean I cant use an X1950 card (they all seem to have two DVI connectors?) :confused:
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You should get a dvi to vga conector in the box :) you do with most cards these days, if not you can pick them up online so no worries
 
Pulse said:
sorry i meant PCI-E versions
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Oh, sorry. :)

I originally left the x1950XT off the buyers guide because you can get 8800 GTS for not much more. The price of it has come down since, so I'm not sure as to whether to recommend spending more on old tech. With the 8600 GTS just round the corner, would you spend £160 on a DX9 card?

It's a close call but I think I'll still recommend saving a bit more up for an 8800 GTS or future DX10 card.

At around the £100 and below price point, the x1950 Pro and the 7600 GT are still powerful enough to recommend at that price point.
 
melbourne720 said:
LOL well put :D
Click to expand...

Just got another box of chocolates from VISA today just to say thank you ......

I ordered the XFX 7950GT 512MB AGP yesterday and I should have sometime late in the afternoon. I'll let you know how it stacks-up against the X1950XT AGP.

Edit:



Drum Roll Please......and the Winner is the X1950XT AGP by a landslide......

Should have know what the results were going to be after using the Gainward Bliss 7800GS+ 512MB which was based on the 7900GS. Before I get to the numbers, remember what I said about the Gecube Box? Look at the size of the Gecube compared to the 7950GT. Hummm, maybe there's something there. The Larger the Box, the Larger the performance??

Anyway, on my rig the Gecube clearly came out on top. Even at it's X1950XT's default clocks it beat the 7950GT overclocked. I also used Driver Cleaner a few times because I thought the numbers were a little low for the 7950GT. Made no difference though so I guess I'm still an ATI guy.

XFX 7950GT 512MB AGP / Core 550 Mhz. / 1300 Mhz effective

3DMark05: 8396
3DMark06: 4323

XFX 7950GT 512MB AGP / Overclocked / Core 620 Mhz. / 1430 Mhz effective


3DMark05: 8867
3DMark06: 4698

Gecube X1950XT TEC Turbo Fan 256 MB AGP / Gecube Recommended Overclock - Core 675 Mhz. (default 648 Mhz.) / Memory 1400 Mhz. effective

3DMark05: 9617
3DMark06: 4860

Gecube X1950XT TEC Turbo Fan 256 MB AGP / Overclocked / Core 675 Mhz. / Memory 1600 Mhz. effective

3DMark05: 9818
3DMark06: 4860

Other Reference Benches:

Visiontek X1950 Pro 256MB AGP (my 1st X1950 Pro) - returned for refund

3DMark05: 8756
3DMark06: 4034

Sapphire X1950 Pro 512MB (my second X1950 Pro) - sold for $50 more on Ebay

3DMark05: 9119 / OC'd to HIS - 9261
3DMark06: 4232 / OC'd to HIS - 4356

Gainward Bliss 7800 GS+ 512MB AGP / 7900GS Core/ Goes Like Hell Ed - 20 Pipe / Overclocked / Core 603 Mhz. / Memory 1550 Mhz. effective

3DMark05: 8611
3DMark06: 4513
 
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melbourne720 said:
*** Naff NVidia DX10 Card Warning***

Sadly the 8600 GTS has proven to be a bit of a let down in the frames per second department. Even Gibbo can’t recommend them, and they loose out to the x1950 Pro in DX 10 games.
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Hmm, but 8600 can run DX10 whereas the x1950 can not. BUT DX9 fps for the X1950 is quite competitive against the 8600. I am not saying your warning is wrong, just that it would be misleading if you talk about DX10 on a DX9 card.

Just to be absolutely clear:-

8800 – good!
8600 – bad!
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That's true.

8800 > 8600 as is the X2900 > X1950.
 
CrossFire works on P965, 975X and P35 :) Should work on the graphics versions on those chipsets (where applicable) too, but haven't seen it in actual use. X38 will support CrossFire, and it would seem, SLI too.
 
I'm suprised ATI are going with 128bit memory bus on there 2600. I would have thought they'd need to trounce the lower (8600gts) section of the market and kept with 256.

Especially considering there will be no point buying a 8600/2600 for dx10, and should only really it for dx9 games.

Matthew
 
After looking into it for quite some time I personally went for an x1950xt 256 pci-e. It is only £105 at time of writing compared to the pro which at cheapest is £90. It beats the pro substantially in most benchmarks and believe it should be re added to the pci-e recommended list.

However at £90 for the 512 version of the pro it is outstanding value, but the extra memory does not really give it any speed boost even at higher res's. The 48 pipes (xt) compared to 36 pipes (pro) simply cannot make up the difference.

At £105 it's an outstanding deal given that it's only £15 more for at minimum 10 extra fps (not bad when it 23 verus 33 fps :D). Some versions of the pro are actually more expensive than the xt now, some by about £20!.

Obviously the x1950xtx PCI-E is a complete rip of for old tech however at well over £200 from what i've seen.

Matthew
 
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