Top-End Video Cards

[Fraggable]

I say buy a 1800XT, and yes I'm serious. Spend $200-250 now, play the games that are out now at full detail or pretty close to it, and save your pennies for a new card after Vista comes out that is DX 10 capable and can run Crysis. No card out now will run Crysis how you'll want it run so leave that out of your decision.

Normally waiting for new video technology doesn't make sense, but now I think it does. Dx 10 is huge and Vista is huge.

 

[aka1nas]

Originally posted by: Fraggable
I say buy a 1800XT, and yes I'm serious. Spend $200-250 now, play the games that are out now at full detail or pretty close to it, and save your pennies for a new card after Vista comes out that is DX 10 capable and can run Crysis. No card out now will run Crysis how you'll want it run so leave that out of your decision.

Normally waiting for new video technology doesn't make sense, but now I think it does. Dx 10 is huge and Vista is huge.

I agree this is a pretty reasonable solution.

 

[aiya24]

-X1900XT is the cheapest of all the options and can be OCed to XTX speeds

this alone makes it the best choice, or get a x1800xt and save.

 

[Polish3d]

Originally posted by: Fraggable
I say buy a 1800XT, and yes I'm serious. Spend $200-250 now, play the games that are out now at full detail or pretty close to it, and save your pennies for a new card after Vista comes out that is DX 10 capable and can run Crysis. No card out now will run Crysis how you'll want it run so leave that out of your decision.

Normally waiting for new video technology doesn't make sense, but now I think it does. Dx 10 is huge and Vista is huge.

I agree with what you're saying but according to what I've read an X1900XTX will run Crysis at full detail settings (ie, the highest settings) at 1280x1024 according to the developers, so assuming that is correct he may want to spend the extra money for t he X1900 card.

 

[akshayt]

7950GX2>7900GT SLi
check xbitlabs review.

Value:
Radeon 1900XT, a better buy than 7900GTX even if priced equal

Performance:
512mb Radeon 1800XT Crossfire

you can get a brand new 1900xtx for i think 420-440$ or so with rebate.

 

[Fraggable]

Originally posted by: Frackal

Originally posted by: Fraggable
I say buy a 1800XT, and yes I'm serious. Spend $200-250 now, play the games that are out now at full detail or pretty close to it, and save your pennies for a new card after Vista comes out that is DX 10 capable and can run Crysis. No card out now will run Crysis how you'll want it run so leave that out of your decision.

Normally waiting for new video technology doesn't make sense, but now I think it does. Dx 10 is huge and Vista is huge.

I agree with what you're saying but according to what I've read an X1900XTX will run Crysis at full detail settings (ie, the highest settings) at 1280x1024 according to the developers, so assuming that is correct he may want to spend the extra money for t he X1900 card.

Considering that Oblivion will stress a 1900xt at 1280 X 1024 at full detail and Crysis is supposed to be more video intensive than Oblivion, I don't think he's going to be happy with it. At E3 they used a 1900xtx crossfire setup to run the demo and there was some stuttering, you can tell on the sample videos.

 

[ItsAlive]

Give me a dartboard .......how much you payin?

I paid $220 shipped for my x1800xl 512mb card......I modded bios to run 650/650 and i score 8500-8600 in 3dmark05. Thats with my humble Sempron 3100+ and 1Gb of ram mind you. I can run Oblivion at 1024x768 Ultra High Quality and all sliders to about 90%. The only time i notice lag is when im in the city when theres alot of people around.

Soon after i bought my card the price dropped to $199 shipped tho. I am curious to see with the advancements in crossfire......wether the x1800xl cards will be able to run in xfire without a dongle. I heard tell of the x1900gt's being able to do it....if this is a possiblity then 2x x1900gt's in crossfire might be a reasonable buy.

 

[Polish3d]

Originally posted by: Fraggable

Originally posted by: Frackal

Originally posted by: Fraggable
I say buy a 1800XT, and yes I'm serious. Spend $200-250 now, play the games that are out now at full detail or pretty close to it, and save your pennies for a new card after Vista comes out that is DX 10 capable and can run Crysis. No card out now will run Crysis how you'll want it run so leave that out of your decision.

Normally waiting for new video technology doesn't make sense, but now I think it does. Dx 10 is huge and Vista is huge.

I agree with what you're saying but according to what I've read an X1900XTX will run Crysis at full detail settings (ie, the highest settings) at 1280x1024 according to the developers, so assuming that is correct he may want to spend the extra money for t he X1900 card.

Considering that Oblivion will stress a 1900xt at 1280 X 1024 at full detail and Crysis is supposed to be more video intensive than Oblivion, I don't think he's going to be happy with it. At E3 they used a 1900xtx crossfire setup to run the demo and there was some stuttering, you can tell on the sample videos.

I'm just going by what the developers say. I would agree that a going with the next gen will be better of course if he can do it

 

[PrISM506]

Thanks for all the inputs guys. I'm getting the feeling that the majority think that an X1900XT(X) is the way to go. While the nVidia options aren't bad, the ATI is probably the better value.

So my next two questions:
1. X1900XT or XTX? The XT is the cheaper of the two and a lot of people are saying you can OC it to XTX speeds. But there have been a couple of people saying that the XTXs have the better cores and more OCing headroom. With rebates it looks like either or is going to be less than $450.
2. Brand. Does it really matter if I choose MSI, Sapphire, HIS or any of the other brands?

 

[Polish3d]

Sapphire is well regarded for memory oc potential, HIS has a better heatsink. (Make sure you get the IceQ3 of that brand, there is an HIS XTX without the better heatsink also and its easy to mix them up)

 

[mikek753]

x1900xt IceQ

Price: $379.69
Available $25 Mail-in Rebate ($25 Off Price Above)

that on what I'm looking at

 

[CP5670]

You may want to be careful with buying HIS cards from Monarch. There was a thread on that recently and it seems you don't get much of a warranty on the card unless you pay the extra $50.

 

[imported_killuminati]

well if u get a SLI mobo , then by 7950GX2 u can go to Quad SLI , Later in ther future .

but then it will require alot of Power , better get a 750Watts or higher or get the NEW FSP 5.25bay solution for Video cards .

Peace & ciao !!!