*** The Official X1950 Pro Thread ***

[Big.Wayne]

A little thread for any owners (or prospective owners!) of this great 'mid-range' GPU (AGP or PCI-E).

So far I am well impressed with what I am seeing, amazing what you can get for your money these days in terms of eye-candy! . . . If your in the market for a new GPU and your budget is around the £100 mark you will probably be looking at either the Geforce 7900GS or the Radeon X1950 Pro, both good cards but it looks like the Radeon has the 'edge', read for yourself here and here.

Screenshots from Prey by 2K. Prey© 2006 3D Realms


Reviews:

Sapphire ATI Radeon X1950 Pro
XYZMHz/GPU - XYZXMHz/DDR - 2x DVI-VGA Dongle - Crossfire Connecter - PCI-E Power Adapter - See Bundle
Reviews PCI-E: 1 2 3 - Reviews AGP: 1

HIS ATI Radeon X1950 Pro ICEQ 3 TURBO SILENT
620-635MHz/GPU - 1486MHz/DDR - Bundle Varies
Reviews PCI-E: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

PowerColor X1950 PRO Extreme
600MHz/GPU - 1400MHz/DDR - 1x DVI-VGA Dongle - PCI-E Power Adapter - See Bundle
Reviews PCI-E: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 - Reviews AGP:1

'ULTIMATE' Sapphire ATI Radeon X1950 Pro
580MHz/GPU - 1600MHz/DDR
Reviews PCI-E: 1 2

X1950 Pro 'CROSSFIRE'
Reviews: 1 2 3 4


Comparisons:

Tom's Hardware Guide VGA Charts
Allows for interactive performance comparison, real-time!

Video Card Memory Analysis: 256MB vs. 512MB
Pure-Overclock (12 March, 2006)

GeCube X800XL 256MB vs. 512MB
Tweak Town (3rd August 2005)


Bonus:

Avivo™: Video and Display Perfection
[HTPC] What's all this HD-DVD and Blue-Ray stuff about then?

Folding@Home on ATI GPU's: A Major Step Forward
Believe it or not, some people will be buying this card to help medical research!


Downloads & Showcase:

Installation Procedure?
What's the best way to get your new card up and running?

Catalyst® 'Software Suite' for Windows XP
Single download containing the latest drivers and the 'Control Centre' (34.6MB)
Note: Catalyst® 'Control Centre' needs Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 installed (22.4MB).

Catalyst® Software 'Components' for Windows XP
If you don't like the Control Center then simply download & install the Display Driver (12.2MB)
and the WDM Integrated Driver (3.9MB) and your all set.
Note: The WDM driver (AVIVO) will get rid of the 'unknown device' seen here

Windows Media Video Footage from 'PREY'
Been a while since you played a FPS game, check out this 11 minute video!

Ruby: The DoubleCross (131MB)
Note: Requires at least an X800 GPU

Ruby: Dangerous Curves (179MB)
Note: Requires at least an X850 GPU

Ruby: The Assassin (131MB)
Note: Requires at least an X1K GPU

 

[Big.Wayne]

Wouldnt mind owning one myself.

What GPU are you using atm Tom?

Screenshots from Ruby: The Assassin ©2006 Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.

 

[Big.Wayne]

yea its not too bad a card. but it struggles in games like tombraider legend with next gen content enabled even at a rez of 1024x768.

Which games that you play have been gOOd on the X1950Pro then Cyber-Mav? and are you a 1920x1200 merchant?

I can't believe the performance for the price! I'm playing Far cry at the mo with everything set to MAX.

I bet that is awsome!, but what screen res are you using Beast?

geforce 4 mx 440.

Wow thats going back some!

gOOd luck with the saving, if you manage to get your new kit together you will have a pleasant suprise in store!

 

[Big.Wayne]

I am still in the early stages of setting things up, but I have had an issue where if I use the CD drivers then my PC doesn't switch off properly (its shuts down too quick), gonna try the latest drivers tonight to see if that helps . . .

 

[Big.Wayne]

I take it these cards need a PCI-E adapter thing from the PSU?

Yep, most modern PSU's come with this but for older PSU owners an adapter (Molex to PCI-E) is included!

It comes with an adaptor straight out the box, along with (count 'em) two DVI to VGA dongles.

I got the Powercolour version and mine came with just one DVI to VGA dongle. . .

 

[Big.Wayne]

Is anyone using this at 1680x1050?

Here are some results running at 1920x1200

These are pretty decent results considering the cards price

 

[Big.Wayne]

Screenshots from Prey by 2K. Prey© 2006 3D Realms

 

[Big.Wayne]

Are we talking strictly PCI-e here?

Nope not really, would be gOOd to have some feedback from AGP users also (I ammended the first post to reflect this).

I bet one of these cards would breath some fresh gaming life into an older AGP system

 

[Big.Wayne]

have a sapphire 1950 pro 256mb and its best card i ever own its eats gamesa live.

Are you sure that the game is not trying to eat you alive!

Screenshots from Prey by 2K. Prey© 2006 3D Realms

 

[Big.Wayne]

The X1950XT is a great buy also atm, although its a bit more expensive.

I went for the X1950 Pro because its cheaper, cooler, quieter, works with a modest PSU and appears to be easier to set up in 'cross-fire'.

I was tempted to get the X1950XT and 'mod' it with a quiet cOOler but that pushes the total cost way higher than the £100 I originally wanted to spend.

Any experts care to let us know more about the actual GPU's used?

 

[Big.Wayne]

What game is that?

im betting its PREY.

Definitely the same id engine. But I've got all those and as far as I can remember those beasties look different. Whats it from Wayne?

Screenshots from Prey by 2K. Prey© 2006 3D Realms

 

[Big.Wayne]

There's some rather sexual pictures being posted on this thread.

Updated opening post with a few links for anyone who didn't see 'Ruby' yet!

 

[Big.Wayne]

Cyber-Mav: "Ruby your nothing but an ati endorsed ho"

Ruby: "Hmmmm!" (gratuitous close-up of perfect lips)

Ruby: " I may be a Ho but your about to be vapourised!"

 

[Big.Wayne]

There are some gOOd questions being asked:

• 256MB vs 512MB

• HIS vs Power Colour ??

I'm not sure about the 256MB-512MB debate myself, but hopefully someone can grab some benchmarks showing any performance differences?

As to which manufacturer is best, which heatsink is best etc I feel that whoever is selling the cheapest card gets the nod. I picked up a pair of the Power-Colour 256MB cards, so far so gOOd.

The Power-Colour cards have the ARCTIC Cooling 'Accelero X2 ' prefitted. Still early days and I didn't try any overclocking yet but they are 'very quiet' cOOlers and are just plain HUGE!!!!!

Below is a screen of my GPU idling at 36°C! not sure about loads temps yet.

Would be good to hear some feedback from anyone who is using a HIS card, that appears to have a nice looking HSF, I am just curious to know if its silent or not?. I don't think the HIS will cOOl the GPU any better but the fact it exhausts the air out the case will appeal to some, also its a lot more compact than the Accelero X2 so may appeal to people planning a HTPC etc!

 

[Big.Wayne]

so if you see where im getting at.......

Nope! What are you getting at?

 

[Big.Wayne]

im after one of these next month but was going to get the saphire one

cheers, whats the diffrenece with all the makes, ie his,saph, an powercooler ?

There isn't much difference between the cards 'but' the coolers are very different. My m8 has the Sapphire one and he says its very NOISY when the fan spins up. I am using the Power-Colour one and its 'very' quiet (as is the HIS model). I wouldn't recommend the standard Sapphire model, although Sapphire do an updated model that features the new Zalman cooler.

Sapphire + Zalman (Ultimate Edition)
Power Colour + 'Accelero X2
HIS + Custom cooler

another quick ? would crossfire work on my asus a8n sli ?

I believe not, SLI yes, Crossfire no!

How cruel it is for us AGP users...Slowly decaying and withering away, and paying a higher price for the privilege...

Now now stop that

Difference between the AGP and PCI-e HIS X1950 Pro 512MB cards(PCI-e version is Crossfire2 Compatible):
PCI-e:
£164.49
AGP:
£187.99

Why such a premium?

i would thnk its a a case of they can sell more pci-e ones so can produce for lower cost.

agp is more expensive because there are hardly any agp cards produced now, so there in shorter supply, which is why sites/shops charge more for them.

As far as I know all the GPUs come off the main production line as PCI-e, then they have to add an extra 'bridge chip' to convert it from PCI-e to AGP . . . therefore added cost.

 

[Big.Wayne]

n00bs don;t know

Aww Mav

It's a thread to discuss the merits of the X1950 Pro, not to discuss how much u can buy the GPU for from other eTailors, or dismiss anyone who buys hardware from overclockers.co.uk as a nOOb . . . I dunno some people will never learn

 

[Big.Wayne]

Big wayne, post a pic

Lol Ruby is lOOking more and more real with each new GPU

 

[Big.Wayne]

just when you thought ruby could not be any more of a slapper.

 

[Big.Wayne]

just ignore him Ulfhedjinn, if he wants to thread trash thats up to him, meanwhile the rest of us in a gOOd mood can continue to munch the mince pies and discuss things in a 'positive' manner

Just about to order myself some new games me thinks