2600 XT 512, w00t?

Z

ZMTToxics

Gawd
Joined
Nov 4, 2004
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I am gonna get one of these cards for my new x2 system im building.

Reasons for purchase:
-Cost
-Power consumption
-Something other then nvidia for a change.

All of the benchmarks put it slighty better then the 8600 gts in dx10 games, and slightly worse in dx 9 games. 10 fps to save a ton of money in my books is worth it. And if it does turn out to be junk, its only 160 bucks and my dad said he would buy it off me if I didn't like it. It uses like 50 less watts then an 8600 gts and cools a ton better.

Anyone else really look into this card and think its a good option?
 
Where did you see a 50 watt power consumption differential between the XT and the GTS? According to the Tech Report, their XT system consumers ~11 watts less than the GTS rig under load, and consumes ~15 watts more than the GTS rig at idle. Anandtech's XT rig consumes ~12 watts more than the GTS rig at idle, and it's a draw under load.
 
I haven't seen the 512MB version anywhere yet, only the 256MB version.
 
It is very interesting to see that the HD2600-series have nearly FOUR TIMES the number of stream processors than the 8600-series. How this will play out in real-world gaming has yet to be seen but it should hopefully give ATI good lead over their Nvidia competition.
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That alone gives us a good indication that the reviewer has absolutely no clue what he's talking about. My advice, if I am to be so bold, is to block access to the site altogether so that you are not subjected to any more misinformed, ignorant mediocrity.

Read this, then wait for Brent to evaluate the 2600 series. Don't buy anything yet.

Brent has the magic understanding of stream processing that so few seem to have and will not subject you to stupid commentary. Please wait.
 
As a note that review wasnt the only one i looked at.

www.ncix.com sells the 512 meg xt's

My biggest problem is that the 8600 and the 2600 both suck. So pretty much, I know it wont be great, and that its cheap enough it can hold me off till the next line of mid range comes down the pipe.
 
Ok, i guess my real intention would be able to play bioshock and lost planet (dx9, playable, i dont care about settings, just playable). The system the new one is replacing has a 6600 GT OC in it.

That system is great because it can play doom 3 and quake 4 on 1280 @ ultra quality, and it can play hl2 @ 1280. But it cant do rainbow 6 las vegas, i have to play at 640 and i cant even run the lost planet demo.

This cheap ati card is ment to hold me off till the next mid level comes out or the prices come down. But can it play these new games i mentioned?
 
I get bored and buy new stuff somewhat frequently... Anyways I picked up a Brisbane 5000+, a gigabyte 690g-m3h, and a pair of 2600XT GDDR4 cards. The first thing I will say is they run pretty damn cool, peaked at about 50C last night with both cards running a few hours and gaming. That being said I have an Antec Nine hundred case so airflow is not an issue at all. I had seen an article claiming temps 20 degrees higher than what im seeing (idle im around 42C) so I figured id mention this. Secondly theyre really not as bad as everyone makes them out to be. I have not yet tried AA/AF, but ill give it a go tonight. Im running under Vista and Dirt even ran well at 1680x1050, and it didnt run well on my single 8600GTS. Quake 4 also ran well at 1680x1050, played this for a few, couldnt find my prey discs, but im still looking. Ill run some benches later if anyones interested. If you dont run AA, which honestly I infrequently do, these seem like decent cards. All reviews giving low figures seemed to be with AA enabled, its not the fastest card on the planet, but for 270 dollars I have a decent system. My thing with 1 expensive card is difficult to resell. I can easily get rid of 2 individual 2600xt's for not much less than I payed at work, while 1 x 8800gtx id have to take a huge hit on. This is another reason I went this route.

On that note the mobo northbridge actually runs COOL on this thing and the heatsink is nothing to write home about. The system is very responsive and ram I couldnt run at DDR2-800 (G Skill DDR2 800 - 2 gb kit) on my 965P mobo I have no issue at all with on this board. I found this odd because a friend sold me this due to issues with his Windsor X2 and the ram at 800. Anyways Pretty happy with the new box :) If anyone has questions let me know.
 
Youre welcome, the card honestly im quite happy with. Its quiet as well, its really what I was looking for and I've used nvidia for some time so it was something new to try. If you have any questions at all please let me know, but I think people are quick to cut down products they havent tried lately. Yeah the reviews are lackluster, but in other configs and different resolutions or AA settings, its a pretty good option. If youre running Vista pull down the pre 7.7 drivers that are available for Lost Planet. They apparently are a huge improvement from the 7.6's.

The one other thing I would add, I purchased the sapphire x2600xt GDDR4 model. I'd look into the DDR4 256mb model vs. DDR3 512mb model a little before making any decisions. I havent read alot comparing these.
 
You do realize that you spent the same (more after rebate) as a 8800gts 320mb card right?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130082

That is why people don't recommend crossfire 2600's, because they cost the same as a 8800gts card.

And I'd have to say you are off on your reselling statement, people would much rather buy a card that will perform OK than two that perform crappy in new games.
 
understood, I realize I spent more. However, as I stated people at work are MORE willing to pay 130 - 140 dollars for a card that they can use for either games or htpc's with hdmi output and low power consumption. I have a much greater chance of offloading 2 inexpensive cards taking less of a hit than I would on 1 * 300 dollar card. Im positive on this because Ive already been through this a number of times there.
 
again, there are features Im using on this that Id have not been able to use on an 8800 or 8600... Ive been playing around with the HDMI output w/ Audio on my 42" LCD TV... I had more than one reason to go this route but I didnt post here to defend a purchase, just stated my experiences.
 
Which is what I asked for, not sure why everyone hates these new cards so much.

They're cheap and apparently work!
 
ZMTToxics said:
I am gonna get one of these cards for my new x2 system im building.

Reasons for purchase:
-Cost
-Power consumption
-Something other then nvidia for a change.

All of the benchmarks put it slighty better then the 8600 gts in dx10 games, and slightly worse in dx 9 games. 10 fps to save a ton of money in my books is worth it. And if it does turn out to be junk, its only 160 bucks and my dad said he would buy it off me if I didn't like it. It uses like 50 less watts then an 8600 gts and cools a ton better.

Anyone else really look into this card and think its a good option?
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Hope you enjoy it. It might not be bad. You never know. :)
 
I swear I saw a 2600XT on newegg for $99 friggin bucks :eek:

It is the GDDR3 version, but still, they must know they suck real bad in performance. Where are the good mid range cards? These are more like low end cards than mid range, wtf
 
I hate that people try to "educate" others to the point where they have to defend their purchase over and over. Are people forgetting that these cards are excellent for an HTPC (as DPGX stated)? Not everything is for the sake of gaming and they have features not found in their big brother(s). Not a bad buy if you ask me, especially if you have the money (as it seems he does).
 
rmed64 said:
I swear I saw a 2600XT on newegg for $99 friggin bucks :eek:

It is the GDDR3 version, but still, they must know they suck real bad in performance. Where are the good mid range cards? These are more like low end cards than mid range, wtf
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The "good" mid-range card is when you pair two 2600XT's together. ;) Then you get performance that's in-between the 8600GTS and 8800GTS
 
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