9800PRO upgrade

[greyt_Autumn]

I'm looking at the ATI shop for the X800XL and the X850 Pro.

I'm still a bit confused on which is better- Most seem to say the X800XL and go from there. I thought that even with fewer pipelines, the X850 was faster overall. (850xl=6800, 850=6800gt)

Which REALLY is faster? I can wait no problem for either card from ATI.

I'm upgrading my PSU to go with it, but still trying to be budget (already have the PSU on order)

Other than that I have a solid system- for 3 years old. I'll do a 6600 Conroe Build in Q1 2007 and move up to PCIe with Vista, probably with a DX10 card, as I'm a sim geek and FSX will support DX10 near Vista's launch.

With the games I like, I'm sure that I'm gpu limited- my install of FS2004 is heavily modded and a killer on texture usage (FSX will be a texture hog too) so my 128MB 9800 is falling behind for me. I've just been to cheap to do the upgrade Plus I like to run at 1200x1600 and get 'free' AA. It's still a decent performer, but I know my limits.

 

[freakycody]

I was had the same questions before I ordered my x800xl. The way it ends up is though the x850pro is faster, it has less pipelines and therefore a slower fill rate than the x800xl which has more pipelines. When looking at FPS charts comparing the two you will see that the x800xl is faster than the x850pro. I was told that the x800xl is the really the replacement for the x850pro. Hopefully that provides you with some help. Search the net, you should be able to easily find some comparisons. If it matters, the x800xl is practically twice as fast as the 9800pro.