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Upgrade to 20" WS (1680x1050)

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Soldato
Joined
12 Jan 2006
Posts
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Location
Edinburgh
I'll be looking at upgrading my whole pc once Conroe comes out.

I am looking at trying to make my next build nice and quiet - but obviously I want good performance too! :)

I'm looking at getting a new 20" WS TFT as well, which would mean I'd be gaming at 1680x1050 as much as possible. I don't play a lot of games, in fact I mostly play CS (CS1.6), but I'd like to be able to play things like HL2 and CS:S at high settings with decent frame rates. I realise these games aren't THAT demanding in comparison to other, more recent, games - but hopefullly it'll give you an idea of what I'm looking for.

I don't plan on spending a LOT on graphics, mainly because I can see me upgrading to DX10 in 2007.

My two main thoughts just now are:

An x1800xt

Connect3D ATI Radeon X1800 XT 256MB GDDR3 AVIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-044-CO)
Price: £144.95 (£170.32 Including VAT at 17.5%)
Available This Week Only for just £136.95 +VAT.
Click to expand...

or, 2x 7600GS in SLI

Leadtek GeForce 7600 GS SILENT 256MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (GX-082-LT)
Price: £74.95 (£88.07 Including VAT at 17.5%)
Click to expand...

The prices are very similar, but I would imagine that the x1800xt would have the superior performance?!? But I've heard that they can be quite noisey, whereas the 7600GS SILENT, must be a winner on the noise front ;)

Also I'm a bit worried that passive cooling on the 7600's may not be great for the performance of the card(s).

Bearing in mind the resolution I'll be looking at using (1680x1050), does anyone have any suggestions and/or benchmarks that would help me to decide?

Thanks
 
id go for the x1800 out of those 2 tbh, then put a after market cooler on it if the stock one is too loud. but theyre not all that noisy imo, but im not a silence freak :p
 
Yeah I thought about that too :)

But the x1800+cooler is going to be slightly more than the 7600gs SLI, AND it'll still not be quite as quiet :)

Any idea what sort of performance difference there is between the two options?
 
What sort of 20" WS TFT are you thinking of buying?


I have the NEC 20WGX2 and I can recomend it, CSS, COD2 and BF2 full res is wicked, colour etc looks loads better than my old Sony 19" crt ..!
 
tweakinfreak said:
What sort of 20" WS TFT are you thinking of buying?
Click to expand...

At the top of my list is the NEC 20WGX2 :D

So thanks for the input! Out of interest (and presuming you game at the native res of 1680x1050), what sort of frame rates do you get with the x850 in each of those games??
 
I have a x1800xt on a 20" monitor with a A64, those games you mentioned would EASILY run at those settings on the x1800xt, EASILY!!.

I've got a vf900 though the noise is unbareable once it starts heating up and the fans starts going.
 
Cheers for the info....

Are you saying that even with the vf900, the x1800's are stil very loud when under load?!?

Also I'm mainly concerned with noise during XP startup and general desktop use. My current system is certainly audible at all times, and I'm sure almost all of the noise is from:

AGP 6800gx graphics card, stock cooler
2.8Ghz P4, socket 478, stock cooler
Raptor 150

I plan on keeping the Raptor in the new system and putting it in an enclosure to keep the noise down. So its mainly the gpu and cpu fans that I'm trying to work on improving this time round :)
 
Well on CSS at Native I get 80 - 120fps with BF2 I'm not sure as I haven't had any fps checking running but at full Native and everything set to 'high' it plays smooth as silk :D and looks the mutts nutts..!!

I need to reinstall BF2 after installing a new raptor drive last night, once thats done I'll run fraps and and let you know m8..!!

COD2 is my only pain ATM can only play @ 1024 x 768? anything higher and it has a slight (but noticable) jerk, Can't button it down to anything yet but I'll get there!!!
 
I posted in your thread in the Monitors section - my guess would be that CoD2 is suffering from low FPS at the higher resolution.

Thanks for the info so far - would be interesting to see what FPS you get in CoD2 and BF2 :)

Hope you like your new Raptor :D
 
No you misunderstood me mate, the x1800xt STOCK cooler is bloody loud, really loud terrible (some people say it isnt loud but they are chatting rubbish claiming its silent, nothing i've ever used is silent unless its a zalman reserator, even that stick your ear next to it you can hear it).


The VF900 on low is not audible (unless you stick your ear right next to it), and even on low settings it performs similar to running the fan full speed.
 
Good, that makes more sense!!

How easy is it to fit the vf900?

Does this automatically invalidate the warranty on the card?

What do you use to control the speed/setting of the vf900?

Sorry for all the questions, a bit new to the whole idea of reducing noise :)
 
Extremely easy to fit mate, done it myself! Just get some arctic silver for applying the fan on as it registers a better contact.
 
Thanks, I thought it probably would be pretty easy to fit :)

Don't suppose you could comment on the other two questions...

Does this automatically invalidate the warranty on the card?

What do you use to control the speed/setting of the vf900?
Click to expand...
 
The VF900 has a speed control thing, the way I did it was basically stick it to full, kept going lower until I couldnt hear it then leave it at that.

Yes it would get rid of your warranty, but if it were to break you could always stick the stock cooler back on (dont kill me for saying you all know you do it).
But it wont break :D
 
You could also look at a 7900GT for that price (or slightly more). These overclock like crazy, and would handle COD2 at 1680x1050 maxed out no problems. I played it at this res when I had only one 7900GT and it was great :D
 
I did consider a 7900GT, but they seem to have quite a high number of quality issues, and that kinda put me off a bit.

Also I'm trying to put an upper price limit on things - otherwise you end up saying - "i could just stretch to a 7900gt", then "oh its not much more for an x1900xt" and before you know it, you've blown the best part of £700 on an SLI/crossfire setup :D :p
 
I have two 7900GTs and not one problem so far. I think that this card is currently the best bank for buck candidate, and is why it's worth forking out a little extra for :D
 
Thats what I mean though :) If you don't put a limit on the spending you just end up squeezing a little more performance out, but end up paying quite a bit more!! :p

I think the x1800xt is probably looking the best option for me!!
 
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