Which Vid Card for Overclocking?

H

HardyOne

Limp Gawd
Joined
Aug 17, 2004
Messages
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I am going to build a new system (using AMD for the first time). I don't want the video card to be the bottleneck if I overclock it. The M/B will have a PCI-E-16, and I will only need one vid card as I am not a gamer. Most of what I do is internet and video things. I have used ATI before, but would consider nV. I expect to spend about $200 to $300.
My (proposed) system:
Asus A8N SLI Premium
AMD x2 3800+
2 gigs of memory
Thermalright XP-120 or ??

Any vid card suggestions? (or heat sink?)
 
The new 6800 GS looks like a great overclocker and costs 250 bucks. On the ATi side the X800 XL is also a good overclocker and can be found pretty cheap, and the X800 GTs and GTOs can be found really really cheap in the 100-150 range. The X850 XTs and 6800 GTs can also be found in this price range.

If you are not really a gamer or even just a casual gamer any of the above cards will do. The next step up would be the 7800 GTs and X1800 XLs, they offer significantly better performance but cost more than 300.
 
Particleman said:
The new 6800 GS looks like a great overclocker and costs 250 bucks. On the ATi side the X800 XL is also a good overclocker and can be found pretty cheap...
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The x800 XL is not a good overclocker at all, the pros,gtos/gto2s are the best overclockers of the x800 series.
 
I don't want to be rude, but why overclock a card if you do not play games? Do you do 3D rendering or the such? An ATi all-in-wonder might be what your looking for.
 
Basheron said:
I don't want to be rude, but why overclock a card if you do not play games? Do you do 3D rendering or the such? An ATi all-in-wonder might be what your looking for.
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seroiusly. why are you buying a gamer card if you dont play games?
 
Correct, the X800XL is not a very good OC even with a giant leaf blower. The GTO's, GT and PR, and XT from ATI. I did have a 6800GT and that overclocked really well, was eVGA methinks, because my friend has an XFX 6800GT that OC's worse than the eVGA.
 
i've had my bfg 6600GT up to 598/13xx PCIe on air. but it's dead and i RMA'd it yesterday :)

i am done with overclocking ;)
 
Sorry, didn't make my question very clear - on a few accounts. First, what I meant by overclocking is that I want to overclock my system and not necessarily the video card. I have tried to overclock my vid cards in the past, but it didn't seem to help much. I ended up replacing a vid card (cooling fan went out) and I'm not sure if it failed because of natural causes or because of the extra heat because of overheating. The other thing I didn't explain well was how I use the computer. By video things I meant that I use Ulead Media Studio Pro and Ulead DVD Workshop to author and edit video.

So, based on my usage and price range, what card should work best for me without causing the card to be the bottleneck of my system?
 
no modern videocard will be a bottleneck. they all display 32bit color, all can handle windows, and none of any bearing on how fast your video authoring goes - thats all CPU power.

just get the cheapest thing you can find.
 
Basheron said:
I don't want to be rude, but why overclock a card if you do not play games? Do you do 3D rendering or the such? An ATi all-in-wonder might be what your looking for.
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Actually, for a non gamer, any 64-128mb pci-e video card will be more than plenty to run windows well, something in the $50 range.. and even any serious photoshopping, etc.. He makes mention of ulead software - .. ONBOARD video will be plenty for that. Those programs are all about the CPU baby.

So, I suggest..

This Card as more than you could possibly need based on what you say your usage habits will be.

Or, This one if you need DVI

There really is going to be no reason, nor benefit to you to use a $200-$300 video card.

Now, if you decide to get into something like.. 3dStudio Max.. then that'd be different story. But your uses are *totally* cpu dependant, and are what we call "low video demand"

The reason why your video editing doesn't need a high end video card is because nothing has to be "Modeled" or "Rendered" - It's all pre-existing footage..
 
Thanks Malogato, that helps. Just out of curiosity - what type of high-end card would be needed for "rendering" or if one were to use 3D StudioMax?
 
ATI's FireGL and nVidia's Quadro's line of products are aimed to professional's workstations, other than that I have no idea.
 
Borgschulze said:
You will be banished.
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oh i've learned my lesson. 2 RMA'd 6600GTs from overclocking? hell no, i'm finished. when my next one arrives i'm going to be so nice to it. :)
 
HardyOne said:
Thanks Malogato, that helps. Just out of curiosity - what type of high-end card would be needed for "rendering" or if one were to use 3D StudioMax?
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a NV gaming card with the rivatuner driver hack to effectivly turn it into a quadro ;)
 
Best overclocking video card for the price right now is the 3dconnect x800GTO at ~$180, but its $154 AR at monarch right now. Stock is 400mhz core/980mhz memory with 12 pipes. Overclocks to 500-580mhz on the core and 1020-1120mhz on the memory. Plus, right now its having over a 90% success rate at unlocking all 16 pipes. x800xt PE at ~$180 for the win. http://www.techpowerup.com/articles//overclocking/vidcard/127/4
 
Not all X800gto cards are the same.
I have a sapphire X800 GTO AGP card. it has an R430 core and 2ns infineon ram. Obviously with the R430 core you are stuck with the 12 pipes you started with. The card also does NOT overclock very well, the best I could get out of it was 420Mhz core 520 memory (1040). The stock clock is 400 core/ 490 memory
 
ClearM4 said:
Best overclocking video card for the price right now is the 3dconnect x800GTO at ~$180, but its $154 AR at monarch right now. Stock is 400mhz core/980mhz memory with 12 pipes. Overclocks to 500-580mhz on the core and 1020-1120mhz on the memory. Plus, right now its having over a 90% success rate at unlocking all 16 pipes. x800xt PE at ~$180 for the win. http://www.techpowerup.com/articles//overclocking/vidcard/127/4
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read teh thread at all?

he isnt gaming.
 
HardyOne said:
Thanks Malogato, that helps. Just out of curiosity - what type of high-end card would be needed for "rendering" or if one were to use 3D StudioMax?
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To pull two other replies together....

ATI's "FireGL"
and
Nvidia's "Quadro" series cards are the best 'renderers'

However, a little known fact is that many of the Radeons and Geforces use the same gpu as FireGLS and Quadro's

I have an MSI-NX6600GT 128MB PCI-E ($130) that can be modded into a Quadro540 ($220) quite easily. Ati has similair setups.

The reason is that the processor is "tuned" for openGL or for DirectX depending on the usage.

Depending on how heavily one gets into rendering, however, there are bigger and badder cards then even the firegl's and quadros... 3dLabs realizm's are pretty nice.

http://www.3dlabs.com/products/product.asp?prod=293
 
TheJackal said:
oh i've learned my lesson. 2 RMA'd 6600GTs from overclocking? hell no, i'm finished. when my next one arrives i'm going to be so nice to it. :)
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DId you tell these companies that you overclocked (voided your warranty) before you rma'd the devices?

I cannot believe how comfortable peope feel when they commit felony level fraud ($250+)
 
Malogato said:
DId you tell these companies that you overclocked (voided your warranty) before you rma'd the devices?

I cannot believe how comfortable peope feel when they commit felony level fraud ($250+)
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nope.
 
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