MSI ATI X1800XT 512MB $286 AR

[Trikat]

Originally posted by: straightalker

Originally posted by: MrCoyote
They ended this coupon early. Bad business decision if you ask me. I was going to get the X1800XT, but am now buying it at another store. Newegg's prices have just shot up recently on everything. Shipping has become a joke too, when you order several small items. Instead of having a combined shipping charge that is based on the final weight of all items, they use the individual shipping prices. Example...Put 9 Arctic Silver in your cart. Shipping is $18 which is ridiculous. They need to re-evaluate their shipping prices.

Got my MSI ATI X1800XT 512MB using fedex midday thursday after ordering it after business hours on monday. Basicly to shop at Newegg you apparently need to be patient and pick up what parts you need on sale when they offer free shipping. When ordering a complete system worth of individual parts they do sting you on shipping charges. But it's all give and take. Their reputation for service is as good as it get's from what i hear and read.

Now about how happy i am with this video card...

The Geforce 5500 (128mb) that got booted out scored only 1109 on 3DMark03. Playing oblivion was like watching a slide show in slow motion. Now compare that to 15510 3DMark with the MSI ATI X1800XT 512MB and total playability in all games.

Since i have not re-installed WindowsXP in quite awhile there is a load of garbage on my hardrive. This does not help the Catalyst 6.4 control center. It is not opening up sometimes when i double-clip on that program. ???

Anyhow, i hear a lot of talk about the fan being noisy but i notice no great noise from my Antic Sonata II case. Nothing loud. Certainly no reason to upgrade the fan. At stock speed.

I could use advice on the best driver setup, but will go to another forum section to learn that.

Total cost 245$ shipped fedex is what to keep in mind when comparing this card to the 7900 GT that costs 20% more and has half the memory and 10% slower memory chips.

In terms of game performance the X1800XT 512MB vs. the 7900GT each do better in certain games.

So i have no buyer's remorse here. I like Nvidia drivers and products but the ATI option this time was the better choice. It all depends on when you buy and how much over-clocking you like doing. The 7900GT does offer higher overclocks with a volt-mod but i don't get into that much modding.

Heatwize, the X1800XT pushes it's hot air out of the case. The 7900GT does not.

It's choosing between apples and oranges based on your budgit and modding intentions.

Performance boosts on the X1800XT on overdrive at 700/800 looks very easy to achieve. Will go there after this card breaks itself in.

Board: ASRock 939Dual-SATA2
CPU: AMD Opteron 144 (CAB2E 0545 MPMW) (not-overclocked)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix PC3200 2x512 (2-2-2-6)
Video: MSI X1800XT 512mb (not-overclocked) (score: 15512 3DMark03)(1024x768)(catalyst 6.4)
Case Antec Sonata II 450watt

If I were you run some cleaning utilities, but since you have a great system I am assuming you already have antivirus, spyware remover program, and maybe a firewall.
The first thing I would do is to download CCleaner and clean up your system. Then if you want to clean out your registery with some other program (I don't know of a good one. Google is a good friend though or AT forums). After that run antivirus, spyware remover (such as AdAware), and then defragment.
As for Catalyst CC now running you need Microsoft .Net framework 1.1 or higher.
The X1800XT produces more heat than the 7900GT I believe as it uses more power.
I don't know about overdrive, but I heard to bios mod to the X1800XT (PE) allows a bit more overclocking overhead so you might want to give that a run.

 

[Trikat]

Originally posted by: OvErHeAtInG

Originally posted by: anandtechrocks
I got mine today, and I'm not sure why you guys are saying it's so loud. Mines very quiet (startup is loud, but for what? 3 seconds?) and during games it's just a dull low pitched hum. Nothing that bothers me. I used the X1800XTPE bios and now I'm screaming at 700/800 and broke 10K in 3D Marks '05!!! Great deal, thanks OP.

I keep my window open so my ambient temperature is about 70C which isn't that cold. Maybe those of you that have excessive noise from your X1800XT should rewire your case (for better airflow) or keep your room temp down.

a) What do you mean by X1800XTPE? There's no such product
b) Where'd you get the BIOS?
c) Can one overclock this card with ATI TT? It just says "overclocking disabled" for me in the app and can't find where to enable it

Google is your friend so use that, but to answer your question... There is a bios flash to is called XTPE or XTOC. I believe the two are the same, but I am not sure.
Both I believe are Sapphire bios which pushes the card to 700/800 and increases the voltage during 3D gaming. I would use it only if you have good cooling, but don't know if the stock cooling is good enough. I only read that it works for most people and allows a bit more overclocking than overclocking without the bios.
I can't answer your 3rd question since I have no clue what ATI TT is, but just use the BIOS/ATI Tool as a means of overclocking. I believe this method is the most commonly used by many people.

 

[you2]

I also picked up one of these and I have to agree it isn't that loud (not as loud as nb fan). THe only thing that scares me is it runs hot. I'm a litlte confused because the fan doesn't really increase in speed until it gets into the 70'sc . My card seems to hover in the upper's when doing intensive 3d graphics (3dmarks/games) but the fan is no where near 100% (according to ati tool). None of this is with overclocking (havent' overlcocked this card and not sure i will).

btw not sure yet how much this card cost - waiting to see if msi honors the rebate (they should since the ati promotion was not offered by them).

 

[OvErHeAtInG]

Originally posted by: Trikat
Google is your friend so use that, but to answer your question... There is a bios flash to is called XTPE or XTOC. I believe the two are the same, but I am not sure.
Both I believe are Sapphire bios which pushes the card to 700/800 and increases the voltage during 3D gaming. I would use it only if you have good cooling, but don't know if the stock cooling is good enough. I only read that it works for most people and allows a bit more overclocking than overclocking without the bios.
I can't answer your 3rd question since I have no clue what ATI TT is, but just use the BIOS/ATI Tool as a means of overclocking. I believe this method is the most commonly used by many people.

Wow, thanks very much. I had heard about that Sapphire BIOS now that you mention it. I was referring to Ray Adams' ATI Tray Tool. I've personally had better luck with that than with ATI Tool.

 

[ChewyTran]

with the accelero, my x1800xl stay at 60 underload with 36%fan. If i recall right, the temperature was 70s with stock cooler.

 

[aboothman]

Originally posted by: BS

Originally posted by: aboothman
I believe the fan runs at somewhere near half speed unless you have a program such as ATI Tool.

Of course this also means that you are getting less then full cooling. If you turn the fan all the way up you will
see that it IS quite loud. You know that 3 seconds when the fan first spins up? Just imagine that the entire time you are gaming.....um ya fun

Total myth. I game with this card all the time and the fan is not loud. I really dont understand where this myth came from after owning one now for about a month.

Let me make this "myth" a reality. In the last few months I have owned several ATI cards that use essentially the same cooler...an X850XT, and 2 X1800XTs. If you had read what I
wrote, you would have noticed that I said the ATI drivers do NOT run the fan at full speed.
It does NOT speed the fan up dynamically either. All three of the cards I have used have
run at or above 80C, and I live in an area with an average temperature of 50-70 all year.
This was with a clean case with plenty of ventalation and airflow.

ONLY WITH ATI TOOL will your fan run at full speed, or another program that lets you
control fan speed. As I mentioned above, this means that for the sake of quiet operation
your fan is running at half speed if I remember correctly. That 3 seconds that the fan
spins up to full speed at boot is the sound it will make constantly if you turn the fan speed
all the way up.

Why would someone do this you may ask? To me, and many others it appears, 80C+ is
WAY WAY WAY too hot for a $200+ piece of gear. This may be a myth, but I firmly believe
that heat + time = dead component. So I used ATI tool, which is far superior to the ATI
catalyst control center by the way, and turned the fan up. By the end of the day I had
a zalman vf700cu on the way, and a few days later I was a happy camper. A 20C-30C
drop (depending on volts) with near silence also depending on volts. The best thing is that
I adapted the zalman to connect to my card so I can control its fan speed by temp just
like the stock cooler. Good stuff

 

[you2]

Interesting trade off. You can replace the stock cooler so it stays cooler and runs longer but voids the warranty or you can leave the stock cooler on which causes it to run hotter but keeps it under warranty

 

[imported_BS]

Originally posted by: aboothman

Originally posted by: BS

Originally posted by: aboothman
I believe the fan runs at somewhere near half speed unless you have a program such as ATI Tool.

Of course this also means that you are getting less then full cooling. If you turn the fan all the way up you will
see that it IS quite loud. You know that 3 seconds when the fan first spins up? Just imagine that the entire time you are gaming.....um ya fun

Total myth. I game with this card all the time and the fan is not loud. I really dont understand where this myth came from after owning one now for about a month.

Let me make this "myth" a reality. In the last few months I have owned several ATI cards that use essentially the same cooler...an X850XT, and 2 X1800XTs. If you had read what I
wrote, you would have noticed that I said the ATI drivers do NOT run the fan at full speed.
It does NOT speed the fan up dynamically either. All three of the cards I have used have
run at or above 80C, and I live in an area with an average temperature of 50-70 all year.
This was with a clean case with plenty of ventalation and airflow.

ONLY WITH ATI TOOL will your fan run at full speed, or another program that lets you
control fan speed. As I mentioned above, this means that for the sake of quiet operation
your fan is running at half speed if I remember correctly. That 3 seconds that the fan
spins up to full speed at boot is the sound it will make constantly if you turn the fan speed
all the way up.

Why would someone do this you may ask? To me, and many others it appears, 80C+ is
WAY WAY WAY too hot for a $200+ piece of gear. This may be a myth, but I firmly believe
that heat + time = dead component. So I used ATI tool, which is far superior to the ATI
catalyst control center by the way, and turned the fan up. By the end of the day I had
a zalman vf700cu on the way, and a few days later I was a happy camper. A 20C-30C
drop (depending on volts) with near silence also depending on volts. The best thing is that
I adapted the zalman to connect to my card so I can control its fan speed by temp just
like the stock cooler. Good stuff

Lets see, Those temps are fine for this card and there is ZERO reason for you to spin the fan up above ATI spec. Sorry but no cigar. By the time this card would die because of heat you will have a new one as the cycle never ends. Also failed to mention the guy that tried one of these aftermarket coolers and dorked his card and now it runs 100c. Hmmm, Too bad he is out of luck now that he altered the card. Maybe he can make it look like he didnt take the old fan off but Im betting not. He just threw away $500 on his altered X1900XT card.

 

[LumbergTech]

Originally posted by: BS

Originally posted by: aboothman

Originally posted by: BS

Originally posted by: aboothman
I believe the fan runs at somewhere near half speed unless you have a program such as ATI Tool.

Of course this also means that you are getting less then full cooling. If you turn the fan all the way up you will
see that it IS quite loud. You know that 3 seconds when the fan first spins up? Just imagine that the entire time you are gaming.....um ya fun

Total myth. I game with this card all the time and the fan is not loud. I really dont understand where this myth came from after owning one now for about a month.

Let me make this "myth" a reality. In the last few months I have owned several ATI cards that use essentially the same cooler...an X850XT, and 2 X1800XTs. If you had read what I
wrote, you would have noticed that I said the ATI drivers do NOT run the fan at full speed.
It does NOT speed the fan up dynamically either. All three of the cards I have used have
run at or above 80C, and I live in an area with an average temperature of 50-70 all year.
This was with a clean case with plenty of ventalation and airflow.

ONLY WITH ATI TOOL will your fan run at full speed, or another program that lets you
control fan speed. As I mentioned above, this means that for the sake of quiet operation
your fan is running at half speed if I remember correctly. That 3 seconds that the fan
spins up to full speed at boot is the sound it will make constantly if you turn the fan speed
all the way up.

Why would someone do this you may ask? To me, and many others it appears, 80C+ is
WAY WAY WAY too hot for a $200+ piece of gear. This may be a myth, but I firmly believe
that heat + time = dead component. So I used ATI tool, which is far superior to the ATI
catalyst control center by the way, and turned the fan up. By the end of the day I had
a zalman vf700cu on the way, and a few days later I was a happy camper. A 20C-30C
drop (depending on volts) with near silence also depending on volts. The best thing is that
I adapted the zalman to connect to my card so I can control its fan speed by temp just
like the stock cooler. Good stuff

Lets see, Those temps are fine for this card and there is ZERO reason for you to spin the fan up above ATI spec. Sorry but no cigar. By the time this card would die because of heat you will have a new one as the cycle never ends. Also failed to mention the guy that tried one of these aftermarket coolers and dorked his card and now it runs 100c. Hmmm, Too bad he is out of luck now that he altered the card. Maybe he can make it look like he didnt take the old fan off but Im betting not. He just threw away $500 on his altered X1900XT card.

ive installed nv silencers, ati silencers..4 or 5 times..never once have i messed up the installation, you just make sure that the rev you are getting is documented to fit the card without trouble..

 

[you2]

Well. I stand by my comment. Replacing the cooler voids the warranty. Even if you keep the card cooler and it last longer - if it has a problem or early failure from natural causes you're potentially out of luck. If it runs hot and burns itself out but you use it per spec then it should be replaceable under warranty (though I'm not sure how many foliks have tested this concept).

 

[aboothman]

And how long does the warranty last on most ATI cards? I have replaced vid card coolers over 15 times with no issues. I am a reasonably honest person, so if I were to damage
a card while installing an aftermarket cooler I would eat the loss. However, if a card dies while using an aftermarket cooler for 'natural' reasons (funny term given we are
talking talking about computers) then you can bet your a$$ I am going to slap the OG cooler back on and RMA it. I seriously doubt they will put the time in to check for
different thermal paste lol. And please, do not start a discussion of honesty...we are talking about dealing with big business here. Big business is synonymous with
dishonesty...just ask Mr. Gates.

The best way to comprimise between our arguments is to install an aftermarket cooler after the warranty period is over.

But this is all getting away from my point that the fan is loud. Loud, that is, if you care enough about keeping your card alive to ensure the fan is running
at full speed when it is needed most. The fact that the fan CAN run much faster than stock tells me that it was made that way for a reason. But I must conceed that it
does not run this way using normal drivers as your average user would. However, I must ask why ATI allows support of voltage and fan adjustment if they did not
expect or want people to use it. They could just disable any such options as they have disabled the ability to adjust memory timings on the X1000 series cards I have encountered.

Lets face it, a company makes money off of your card going bad. If they wanted your expensive piece of gear to last longer, they would
use better cooling and put more effort towards creating low heat solutions. But as we have learned from the motor vehicle industry, quality components do not line the pockets
of your shareholders. Maybe some of you want to buy a new $300 component every year, but I do not. Believe it or not there is a correllation between heat and computer component
death.

/rant

 

[you2]

It looks like the standard warranty is 3 years. Don't know about you but in 3 years I doubt it will be worth much. If you're not playing games you could replace it with a $50 card and if you are playing games you'll need to upgrade. look in principal i agree with you (heat isnt' good for electronics) but I rather have a 3 years warranty and not worry about it then optimize my video card life span.

 

[imported_BS]

I cant say Im to worried that my X1800XT isnt going to make it 3 years. And if it doesnt then I return it to them and they send me another. If there is one thing I have found about computer parts upto now is that if they work for a month they will usually work for years as long as you stay within spec. More power to you if you think its the right thing to do but I just dont think people should come on here and tell other people to take off the factory installed cooler as if their card is going to burn up or something. Its not going to happen. They dont make these parts so they will fail unlike the way you think they do.

 

[daezuel]

I just want to know where anyone is seeing these on sale for ~$250, I'm seeing more like $300...I mostly use headphones when I'm gaming, I could care less how loud the fan is...I just want to buy the card for $250, not $300!

 

[imported_BS]

Originally posted by: daezuel
I just want to know where anyone is seeing these on sale for ~$250, I'm seeing more like $300...I mostly use headphones when I'm gaming, I could care less how loud the fan is...I just want to buy the card for $250, not $300!

The sale on this card ended last week, Newegg had the promo code which is now gone. You can get the X1800XT 256MB for $249 after rebate. Thats the one I ended up getting. But it was $269 after rebate for me.

 

[daezuel]

Yeah, I tried getting in on that deal but was just a hair too late

I'd much rather have the 512 meg version, otherwise why not wait a little and get a 1900gt? Should be available any day now and will be smaller and produce less heat.

Just was confused that people keep talking about this card as if they can find it anywhere for ~$250 and if anyone can, I'd sure like to know!

 

[imported_BS]

Early reports on the 1900GT is that it performs the same as the X1800XT but cost a good $100 more right now. X1800XT at its current price range is your best bet unless you have to have a single card solution. The 256MB version performs just about the same as the 512MB version minus a few frames in games that like the 512MB of ram which there are not many of them.

 

[daezuel]

I doubt its going to cost 100 bucks more however, the msrp is $300...once these things are on the market, do you really think they'll go for msrp? I'm guessing you'll be able to pick one of these up for $250ish in the next month, maybe less.

I guess another factor is I have a 19in lcd monitor and the max res it will do on DVI is 1280x1084, do I even need a card this good? Would I be just as well off buying an 1800gto? They got one on newegg AR for about $170.

 

[OvErHeAtInG]

Originally posted by: daezuel
I doubt its going to cost 100 bucks more however, the msrp is $300...once these things are on the market, do you really think they'll go for msrp? I'm guessing you'll be able to pick one of these up for $250ish in the next month, maybe less.

I guess another factor is I have a 19in lcd monitor and the max res it will do on DVI is 1280x1084, do I even need a card this good? Would I be just as well off buying an 1800gto? They got one on newegg AR for about $170.

That depends almost exclusively on whether you want to play Oblivion. Or F.E.A.R. IMO. I'm running one of these XT's on 1280 LCD and I love it, since I'm playing Oblivion.

 

[OvErHeAtInG]

Originally posted by: aboothman
...
Lets face it, a company makes money off of your card going bad. If they wanted your expensive piece of gear to last longer, they would
use better cooling and put more effort towards creating low heat solutions. But as we have learned from the motor vehicle industry, quality components do not line the pockets
of your shareholders. Maybe some of you want to buy a new $300 component every year, but I do not. Believe it or not there is a correllation between heat and computer component
death.

/rant

I see where you're coming from in theory. OTOH, I've seen people's CPUs running for years at insane temps--like, at or above rated spec, let's say 70-80c on an Athlon XP for five years. Finally there's so much dust in there it overheats and crashes. Guy calls me in, I clean it, problem solved, keeps using same PC LOL. I understand the concept of planned breakdown but I'd need to see more evidence that an R520 would actually deteriorate at that temp...I personally think it's fine, seeing as it'll be at that temp (i.e. high 70s ) only about 2 hours a day, 3 days a week--or five days, whatever...

/rant

We should stop bumping this damn thread

 

[daezuel]

Originally posted by: OvErHeAtInG

Originally posted by: daezuel
I doubt its going to cost 100 bucks more however, the msrp is $300...once these things are on the market, do you really think they'll go for msrp? I'm guessing you'll be able to pick one of these up for $250ish in the next month, maybe less.

I guess another factor is I have a 19in lcd monitor and the max res it will do on DVI is 1280x1084, do I even need a card this good? Would I be just as well off buying an 1800gto? They got one on newegg AR for about $170.

That depends almost exclusively on whether you want to play Oblivion. Or F.E.A.R. IMO. I'm running one of these XT's on 1280 LCD and I love it, since I'm playing Oblivion.

Yeah, I'd definetly be running Oblivion, big Elder Scrolls fan.

 

[you2]

It remains to be seen if msi will honor the rebate....

 

[OvErHeAtInG]

Originally posted by: you2
It remains to be seen if msi will honor the rebate....

Terms and Conditions:

11. This offer is subjected to change or cancellation at any time without notice.

:Q

The draconian policy is bad enough, but the grammar.... :thumbsdown: :laugh:

 

[ChewyTran]

Pardon me for a dumb question: i got an HIS x1800gto flashed to x1800xl and this MSI x1800xt, i just got the asus A8r32-mvp motherboard, the question is "can i put both card in crossfire configuration since both card are crossfire ready." i read the manual and it stated as long as both GPU are in the same series.

 

[masamune2387]

crossfire ready = crossfire edition card + xfire ready card. so no