Upgrade Options Please

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bassboy_pete

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 16, 2003
Messages
178
Hi all,

In the next few weeks I am going to doing a fairly major upgrade to my system my brother is wanting my computer guys (He likes the cheap second-hand hardware, and I like the new stuff). So this is what I was thinking:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+
OCZ Platinum XTC REV.2 PC2-6400 2GB
ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe

And some other non-related hardware (Hard drives and optical drives and the like)

My problem is I am not sure what video card I should get now. My plan was to wait for ATI's R600 and buy that top of the line card. I do not want to rush into buying the 8800 GTX card as I wanted to see what ATI's competitive product would be and how it would perform.
So I still want to upgrade, but I want a relativly inexpensive card to hold me over until R600 can be released and able to buy. I currently have an x800 xt. I would just transfer it over, but its AGP.

I was looking at these cards:
X1950 XT, Pro, GT

I am not a big fan of nvidia these days. I espicially do not like their driver issues. I do play games quite a bit, and run a 22 inch widescreen monitor.

So what are your suggestions?
 
First of all if your going AMD get a brisbane core. those 3600's combo for 155 shipped look good. Alot of people are oc'ing to 3.0ghz and runs cooler. And for not buying nvidia why? Its not like your buying for vista their other drivers are fine. Why not just get a 7600GT but if your really set x1900gt's are at a nice price now also. You should also look at those buffalo firestix when they come back in stock.
 
Sorry, but I am also running vista too. I will be running dual boot until vista is ready to take over.
 
Newegg has an x1900gt for around $150-ish. However, for speed:dollars Nvidia is the best there is. To get a card even half as fast as a $300 nvidia card, ATI charge $470. When the r600s come out, you'll probably be looking at a hefty pricetag. The 7950gx2 is a very powerful card, although a pain due to the setup of it (dual GPUs if you don't know) and most people don't like them, thus they are being sold used for very cheap.
 
Personally I only beleve ATI currently charge much more is because Nvidia is on their next gen chips, and are trying to sell older stock for cheaper. ATI has not moved on yet to the next gen, so they are trying to make as much as they can off what they have.

I am an ATI fan, but will consider going with a nvidia card if I can get one for a good price. The trick is that I also do not live in the states, I am up in Canada.
 
Well since you said you also use vista read around and look that you should avoid the x1950xt for vista. And the canada thing is.... well its tough since you can't buy from newegg then. Your next best bet is either ebay or the trade forums here then.
 
Just because I live in Canada doesn't mean that there are no computer shops here. I generally do not like that assumption that becuase I live in a 'backwards' US that there is no civilization here. I only mention that becuase then hopefully not everyone links to newegg. Just looking for product information. I have plenty of places to get a good deal.

Sorry for the small rant, I am not mad at you or anything, just pointing it out.

Thanks again
 
I wasn't saying anything about canada..... I'm just saying usually the best prices are on Newegg and you don't have access to those. I did not mention anything about other shops. I actually like Canada and live very close to it. Go up every year to ski but whatever. Hope you build a nice computer, I just don't know of shops in Canada besides ncix. Sorry for not being of more help.
 
Well, I have been looking around, and the current ati cards just can't touch what nvidia is offering for the same price. I am considering going with the 8800 GTS 320mb card. Does anyone know what I should look at or consider if I am going to be running vista on it as well as xp?
 
bassboy_pete said:
Just because I live in Canada doesn't mean that there are no computer shops here. I generally do not like that assumption that becuase I live in a 'backwards' US that there is no civilization here.
Click to expand...

Dude, there isn't. I took a trip to Moncton this summer and was able to cruise at 85mph without any traffic - in a large city... on a Saturday night. :eek: Loved the landscape up there, nice open long freeways.
I've got a gripe though - I couldn't buy beer at a convenience store (only a liquer store) and to make it worse, they stopped selling it at some rediculous hour, like 6 oclock on a weekend. WTH.

Didn't mean to off-topic hijack. My recommendation would be the 8800GTS 320. 300 bucks for much better performance than the X1950 series; not to mention being DX10 ready.
 
Well I can safely say that I have never been to moncton. But you also have to consider that Canada has a much much much less people per square km. A whopping 3.2 people/km^2. I drive a motorcycle, and I personaly like how little traffic can get.

But anyways,
Will I have any trouble running vista on a 8800 GTS 320mb?
 
bassboy_pete said:
Well, I have been looking around, and the current ati cards just can't touch what nvidia is offering for the same price. I am considering going with the 8800 GTS 320mb card. Does anyone know what I should look at or consider if I am going to be running vista on it as well as xp?
Click to expand...

There's a 320mb version of the 8800 GTS? I thought all 8800GTS cards were 640MB and 320bit.
 
How about tigerdirect.ca? I've been finding some stuff on TD that is cheaper than the egg :eek: recently.

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/category/category_slc.asp?page=1&Nav=|c:1826|&Sort=3&Recs=10

Browse through those. Evga 7950GT KO is a good card, and there's some $300CAD x1900/x1950s in there as well. Just stay away from anything that says "hypermemory" or "turbocache". Running a google on the model number and the word 'review' generally works.
 
Good question. I was going to ask the same thing. I'm getting ready to upgrade and am having a hard time deciding between the ATI X1950XTX or the Nvidia 8800GTX.

Problem is, while the 1950XTX has the new GDDR4 driver, it does not, and will not ever, support the new DX10. Since this is a hardware issue and not a firmware issue it is not upgradeable. Nvidia has the GDDR3 but will support DX10.

I can't believe ATI didn't include the DX10 support in their newest card. If they did I wouldn't be having this problem.

Right now I'm leaning strongly towards the 8800GTX.

Any thoughts would be appreciated. Or is this simply a no brainer since I'm sure that most of the newest upcoming games releases will require DX10.
 
Well I went for the XFX Geforce 8800 GTS XXX 580Mhz Core, 320MB, 1.8Ghz GDDR3. I paired it with an AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+, 2GB of OCZ PC2-6400 RAM, and an Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe Motherboard. I hope it all runs smoothly, and I thank everyone that helped me out.

As for picking between the x1950xtx and the 8800 GTX, I would probably go with the 8800GTX as it is directx 10 compatible, and the performance is much better. Check out some of the reviews out there.
 
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