x800 XL for $250

[Zendeath]

Back to $249 w/ free shipping - I'm in!

 

[SignalSoldier]

Thanks for the bump mate!

 

[Lark888]

Before using a 20 pin to 24 pin adapter, do some checking in the forums or google. When I was checking out the same question a few months ago - there were a number of potentially serious drawbacks to using the adapter. I forget the fine details but it had to do with running circuits in parallel and actually adversely affecting the Power Supply/Board. Concensus I found was to either go without or get a real 24 pin power supply.

In my case (check the signature for details), I have been running without the slightest problem using Antec 20 pin power supply with my X800XL. I did power up the 4 pin board connector and floppy style connector on my DFI board.

A little research might save you trouble (and money ).

 

[SilverTrine]

Some motherboards with the 24-pin socket can take a 20-pin PSU with no problem, if you plug a 20 pin PSU cord into a 24-pin socket on some motherboards it will cause you endless problems. Its one of those things you need to look into when buying a board.

 

[hans007]

so far i've had 5 different 24 pin boards. and they've worked fine with my antec sl350. the highest powered board i've had is a 6600gt though but thats approaching the x800xl in power use. i think the problem is it will take the 12v rails on your 20 pins and use them instead of the special 12v rails that those other 4 pins would have and use them for the pci-e slot. if you hav ea power supply with cheap wiring etc, or a low powered or unclean 12v rail, then itll be a problem. if you have a good pwoer supply probably wont be a problem.

 

[agent2099]

Price probably went back down due to the 7800GTX, still it's not too bad. I'm still waiting for the 6600GTs to finally drop, mabye next week.

 

[Gloryfieldzi]

why 6600GT? Get a X800 plain

 

[agent2099]

Well X800 NPs are about $50 more than the 6600GTs and from all the reviews I've read most seem to agree that the 6600 is the sweet spot for price performance.

Is the X800 worth $50 more?

 

[TheFreakazoid]

Anyone know how loud this card's cooling is? Looking to build a relatively quiet computer and it would be stupid to stick in a video card with a jet engine on it while the rest of the cooling is all Nexus and Panaflow silent fans.

 

[WiseOne]

got one, hopefully I made a good decision.

 

[Lark888]

I got the ATI version of the card. Fan was not loud, not quiet. When I replaced my North Bridge fan with an old Alpha heat sink and panaflo, it became the loudest part in my setup. I purchase an Artic5 XL cooler and have been very pleased with the setup. There was only one potential drawback - The Artic5 cooler takes up two slots but has added benefit that the fan blows out the back of case instead of heating up the inside.

My setup is very quiet now, I hear my spouse's thinkpad hard drive from across the room and nothing from my case.

 

[Budarow]

I'm guessing this card will be available at most of the good e-stores for ~$225 within ~1 month (which equals 25% off MSRP). The MSRP for this card is $300 and full production is finally under way. I've generally seen video cards going for 25% off MSRP once the cards are widely available.

 

[WiseOne]

says OEM but I got retail box, weird.

 

[Averox]

Just a heads up for those of you wondering about 24pin/20pin and power problems.
I've got an MSI X800XL on an Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe and an Antec True480w 20pin ATX and the square 4pin molex plugged into the board. Running flawless.
Also in the mix are two 120mm fans, an 80mm, dvd±rw, and four Maxtor 300GB SATA drives.

 

[racer42]

Averox- your system will run with a 20 pin power plug but the missing pins are to supply power to the video card only. Under full demand conditions the voltage to your card could be low. Cards with a power plug on board are not affected but your x800 gets its power from the slot. I would get a 24 pin PSU. Preferably with a separate rail.

 

[Averox]

Hmm... any recommendations on a PSU to upgrade to? Antec True550 v2? OCZ somethingStream?

 

[nguyen1025]

ocz modstream 450 @ monarch for 75 free shipping....26A@12V

 

[Tweakmeister]

Originally posted by: Averox
Hmm... any recommendations on a PSU to upgrade to? Antec True550 v2? OCZ somethingStream?

Never had a problem with Antec - been running them for years.

 

[hans007]

Originally posted by: racer42
Averox- your system will run with a 20 pin power plug but the missing pins are to supply power to the video card only. Under full demand conditions the voltage to your card could be low. Cards with a power plug on board are not affected but your x800 gets its power from the slot. I would get a 24 pin PSU. Preferably with a separate rail.

i ran a x800xl with an fx55 and 2 gb ram on an antec sl350.

worked great at full load in bf2. i only have one optical and one hard drive though, but i think you should not have a problemw ith just a 20 pin psu as long as its a goodone.

 

[Tweakmeister]

ordered Mon/Tue with ground shipping, got here today.

Installed and running great.

 

[megawzrd]

Originally posted by: WiseOne
says OEM but I got retail box, weird.

yeah, definately not a white oem box...
I got what appears to be a retail box as well

 

[KristopherKubicki]

Nice deal 8D Nothing wrong with retail box!

http://labs.anandtech.com/search.php?q=Connect3D+X800XL+PCIe

Kristopher

 

[BULLlTT]

 

[BULLlTT]

I ordered mine on 6/30/05. Received 7/5/05. I opted for the free fedex shipping. This is a very good OEM package. It looks retail, no generic white box. The card itself looks just like an ATI card (ATI sticker on fan) No connect3D logos anywhere on the card it?s self.

First buying experience with Monarch. They?re good to go, I?d buy from them again.

BTW, I also purchased a gig (2x512) of PC-5400 Corsair XTreme Series (TWIN2X1024A-5400UL) for 244.90. I thought I was tipped off on that price from a post here, but I can?t find the thread. However, when I found the memory on the website, they were out of stock, but had an ETA of 4 July. I called them up to see if they already had buyers for that shipment. The sales guy told me they had already sold all of the 4 July shipment. I decide to just buy it from newegg. When I checked neweggs price, I decided I would wait, and I went ahead and ordered it from monarch. Newegg was nearly $70 more!

Turned out I didn?t have to wait. The sales guy at Monarch told me to order the video card and memory separately so the video card would go ahead and ship.
About three hours later, I got an email from monarch with fedEx tracking numbers for both. Sure enough, I got both the same day. No waiting, and their website said they were out of stock. I don?t understand what happened, but OK.

I see they?ve jumped the price up to 321.00 now.

http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant...PROD&Product_Code=140572&AFFIL=pg&NR=1

 

[Childs]

I got retail as well. Not that it makes that big of a difference, but component out cables are included as well. Kinda cool.