Looking at a card to hold me over til the DX10 ones come out

Icarusintel

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Just like the title says. I've currently got an X800XT, but I really want a performance boost. I'm going to be getting a Core 2 Duo processor soon and need something that can keep the pace with it. I'm looking at an X1800 card, or a GeForce 7000 series. I'd like to pay no mor than $230 for a card, and am looking for what will give me the best performance for the money. I've been an ATI man for a while now, but I'm willing to switch.

Any help or suggestions I could get are welcome.

One card I'm looking at is the Connect3D Radeon X1800GTO - is this a decent card for $200?
Edit: Nevermind, found it for $180 at Newegg
 
I bet the X1800GTO is very close the same performance of the card you have now.
Link
Shows the X850xt and X800XL (above and below the performance of the x800xt).
Also shows the X1800gto.

If you can sell your card for a good price then maybe look at a x1800xt or 7900GT. If you are going to be paying for a new card but not getting any money or not selling your old card then i'd just wait. In order to get a nice performance improvement you would have to shell out a bit more money.
 
My x1800XT is working me out pretty fine so far. Heck, why are you wanting to change from teh x800XT? That should be sufficient to run games on. \=
 
No HDR I guess, although its not worth that much more money just for that
 
No HDR I guess, although its not worth that much more money just for that

I run 1280x1024 / Full detail / HDR / 4x / 8x on an X800XL, so HDR shouldn't be a problem on an XT.

EDIT: Forgot to mention, that's on Source :/
 
Ah I see, its just the shader model thats diff. they can both do hdr
 
My Radeon 9600 has HDR, and it runs fine...
Only for Source. For other games you will need a 3.0 pixel shader card, 9600 is a 2.0 card.
 
Source doesn't have proper HDR though...
 
Let me get this straight: My 7900GTX won't be able to handle DX10? I mean I heard from one knowledgeable person that it was just a matter of a driver update. Not sure if he meant the graphics card or something else... But uhhh, what do you guys think/know?
 
It will not support the new features of DX10. It isn't something a driver update can change, it's a hardware thing that must be built into the card to support DX10. It will be able to play the games but it will be in DX9 mode.
 
You'll be able to run dx10 games fine, just some effects won't be present. I wouldn't worry, the first batch of dx10 games are going to use dx9 with a few extra goodies bolted on - the difference will most likely be minor at best.

I see little sense in picking up a dx10 card at release - as with previous versions of direct x, it'll probably be quite a while untill games utilise this new technology to much extent (I certainly wouldn't buy a dx10 card to play Crysis for example). By the time titles that do more than bolt on a few dx10 extras come out you'll be able to pick up better cards for cheaper. This was the case with dx 7, 8, 9 - the early adopters end up spending alot of money for very little.
 
Yeah, I figured as much... Just clinging to that thin branch of hope. So how different will Direct X 10 really be? I've seen the videos showing soft particles, volumetric clouds, etc, but it would be nice to see just how much it has changed.
 
I guess we won't know untill release, but I think very little at first.

Think back to when dx 9 games were first released. Many rushed out, spent crap loads of money on new gfx cards, and then spent the next year or so playing dx8 games - occasionally with a few fancy additions that really made bugger all difference. Infact it wasn't untill quite recently that we've been playing 'proper' dx 9 games.
 
Well, I think I'm gonna get an X1900 XT, since my parents owe me a bit of money. I'm just wondering, do ATI card get along with NForce chips? Because I'm looking at getting an E6600 Core 2 Duo with an NForce 5 mobo when they come out. Will this be a problem?
 
Well, I think I'm gonna get an X1900 XT, since my parents owe me a bit of money. I'm just wondering, do ATI card get along with NForce chips? Because I'm looking at getting an E6600 Core 2 Duo with an NForce 5 mobo when they come out. Will this be a problem?
Yes they work fine together. The X1900XT is a great performing card.
 
Well, I think I'm gonna get an X1900 XT, since my parents owe me a bit of money. I'm just wondering, do ATI card get along with NForce chips? Because I'm looking at getting an E6600 Core 2 Duo with an NForce 5 mobo when they come out. Will this be a problem?
As ASUS said, yeah they'll work fine... however you may want to check THIS article and reconsider your choice in motherboard chipsets. We'll see how things go as both nVidia and ATI get nearer to retail release, but for now it looks as though ATI has a monster enthusiast board on their hands... :thumbs:

BTW, NewEgg has an X1900XT on sale for $100 off right now... pretty impressive price difference.
 
As ASUS said, yeah they'll work fine... however you may want to check THIS article and reconsider your choice in motherboard chipsets. We'll see how things go as both nVidia and ATI get nearer to retail release, but for now it looks as though ATI has a monster enthusiast board on their hands... :thumbs:

BTW, NewEgg has an X1900XT on sale for $100 off right now... pretty impressive price difference.
Holy f*cking shit! :eek:
Wow, thank you!

edit: Wow, that chipset looks great, guess i'll be getting one of those mobos with my E6600 in September
 
ATI's chipsets are getting better and better. My ATI Xpress 3200 (AMD board) OCs to 300-350mhz. Better than most of the Nforce boards.
 
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