Time to choose: 3 options

[Andeh]

Ok, im just about ready to place my order, but im having trouble deciding between these 3 cards:

PowerColor ATI Radeon X1950 Pro Extreme SILENT Heatpipe 256MB GDDR3 VIVO HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail - £129.24
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-064-PC

HIS ATI Radeon X1950 Pro ICEQ 3 TURBO SILENT Heatpipe 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail - £131.59
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-065-HT

Sapphire ATI Radeon X1950 Pro ULTIMATE SILENT 256MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail - 140.99
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-138-SP

Im leaning towards the PoweColor card because it has Vivo which would be handy for me since I like to do a bit of video capture from my game consoles, and it comes with the molex -> pci-e adapter which I will need.
The HIS doesn't come with the adapter and the adapters are out of stock at ocUK, also the HIS does not have Vivo, but the clocks look nice for only £2 more.
The Sapphire is a tad more expensive, but has nice clocks and a very nice cooler, it also has the power adapter I need, but again, no Vivo.
So im stuck choosing between those 3, anyone have any recommendations or good experience with any of them?

 

[beast]

I'm sure my HIS has avivo! It didn't come with the 6-pin molex which was a bummer, I had to buy one from ebay that I had to bodge a bit.

 

[Dmack]

HIS for me

 

[beast]

HIS does have avivo, watch the vid

http://www.3dgameman.com/content/view/5202/103/

 

[beast]

So does the Ultimate

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/11/24/sapphire_zalman_x9150_card/

So there you go! If the HIS is out of stock, why not get the ultimate?

 

[Andeh]

"The Ultimate Edition X1950 Pro has a pair of 2,560 x 1,600 dual-link DVI ports and an s-video TV-out connector capable of running at up to 1,024 x 768, Sapphire said."

Doesn't Vivo stand for Video-in Video-out? That suggests that it only has Video-out.

Edit: reading through a review, at the bottom, it states theres no vivo on this model, and it only supports tv-out. I cant post the link, so I'll quote it:

"Both dual-link DVI ports carry HDCP support, as per RV570 spec. There's no VIVO ASIC on this model, meaning the DIN socket in the middle provides TV-Out functionality only."

 

[ACESHIGH]

Get the PowerColor ATI Radeon X1950 Pro Extreme SILENT Heatpipe 256MB GDDR3 VIVO - it does have VIVO.

AVIVO is a video platform ATI introduced with its R520-based line of GPUs. The platform is designed to enhance the quality and flexibility of ATI's current video capabilities. The platform involves hardware video decoding/encoding (H.264 or High Definition content inclusive), and a variety of tools to aid in both. AVIVO's video decoder automatically offloads supported video formats/codecs to the GPU to lower CPU usage. AVIVO's video encoding technology still predominantly utilizes the CPU, however future plans have been made to utilize the GPU for encoding as well.

So a card can have video out only & still support AVIVO.

 

[mishima]

I would go HIS! Infact.. I am!

 

[Andeh]

Id'e probably go with HIS too, but A. I dont feel like scrambling around to find a PCI-E power adapter for it and B. it doesn't support video-in.

Thanks for your help guys. I went with the PowerColor X1950 Pro, I should recieve my order on tuesday

 

[mishima]

Id'e probably go with HIS too, but A. I dont feel like scrambling around to find a PCI-E power adapter for it and B. it doesn't support video-in

It's not an option then

I would go for the Powercolor then, I've seen that the ultimate draws out a lot of heat and its not that cutting edge over the normal pro's. Check this review on the ULTIMATE . Might help you decide!