Your thoughts on the Sapphire x850XT PE

[robodude666]

Originally Posted by polobunny

Then a X1950 Pro is your card. $150.00 US
Eats a 7900GS for breakfast. =P

Edit: Well it's a very good air cooled x850 XT score, probably one of the best around. My AMD Athlon 64 3700+ cruising at 3Ghz. (stock 2.2ghz)

Either way, the final 3DMark score is mostly based off of your graphic's card performance. Your score is like almost 3x mine. It can't be that bad of a card. You may just be used to that x1900XT :P

As for $150 x1950PRO? Where can I find such a card? All I managed to find are:

JetWay $160
GECube $165
Sapphre $165
HIS $200

JetWay, GeCube are like ewww... I don't like Sapphire a whole lot. and the HIS card is the one I want.

Originally Posted by gvblake22

So do you plan on running CrossFire? I would actually suggest against such a setup as it really ends up costing more money than it is worth. There are almost always single cards that will do just as good as a dual GPU setup (be it SLI or CrossFire). And if a better card isn't out now, then chances are good that the next generation of cards will be better. In the end, it's usually better/easier/cheaper to just stick with a single card.

That said, the 7600GT is still arguably one of the best bang for the buck cards available. If you want to step up from that and can afford a bit more, the X1950Pro or GT is worth considering.

I am not sure I will run XFire, but I can still get a good card now and then later buy a second one if I find a good deal on it. Its cheaper than buying a R600 right away... I probably won't run XFire but its still good to know you have an ATI card which supports XFire. I also read that XFire is good when you have multiple monitors (which I do) with a total resolution of 2560 x 1024. a Single video card could hardly run that.

I thought about the GT but only Sapphire makes them, and as I said I don't like them a whole lot. Plus, I also read it is a Stiff card and can not overclock to save its life!

[polobunny]

Forget about overclocking the x1950 Pro and GT.
And honestly, I think you should try to get over the Sapphire is bad mentality. It would help you save at least :P
Over at newegg the Sapphire x1950 Pro "one slot cooler" goes for $145.00 after rebate. The HIS x1950 Pro "one slot" goes for $150.00 after rebate. The HIS x1950 Pro "dual slot" goes for $180.00 after rebate. Those are the prices for the 256mb PCI-e versions.

[gvblake22]

I've never really found that overclocking the video card will actually translate into anything very noticeable (unless you have a gem of a card and great cooling).

[robodude666]

Originally Posted by polobunny

Forget about overclocking the x1950 Pro and GT.
And honestly, I think you should try to get over the Sapphire is bad mentality. It would help you save at least :P
Over at newegg the Sapphire x1950 Pro "one slot cooler" goes for $145.00 after rebate. The HIS x1950 Pro "one slot" goes for $150.00 after rebate. The HIS x1950 Pro "dual slot" goes for $180.00 after rebate. Those are the prices for the 256mb PCI-e versions.

I like the dual slot version of the HIS card more. First of all, the heatsink and cover look cooler. Second, the default clocks on it are better and I heard it runs a bit cooler. Especially when underclocked to speed of iSilenceII.

Originally Posted by gvblake22

I've never really found that overclocking the video card will actually translate into anything very noticeable (unless you have a gem of a card and great cooling).

I noticed a great increase in temperature :) When I overclocked my x1300pro I noticed about a 5-10FPS increase (+80MHz on core and +100MHz on memory). Its not much, but when your average is 25FPS... all you can get helps =D

As for my "Sapphire is bad mentality"... I don't know. I don't think they are a bad company or anything. They make wonderful cards.. but whenever I look at a Sapphire card it make me like "ehhhh" for some reason. Don't know why. Maybe their heatsink covers aren't as cool looking and ugly. Not sure =/

[robodude666]

Well, thanks guys. I think I will go for the x1950PRO. Its not MUCH (>_>) extra but its upto date... I will still have good over $100 left over after I get everything. I may hold off on the R600 and just do a system upgrades (video + mb) when AM2+ comes out in the fall.

Thanks!
-robodude666

[screwballl]

I got ~4900 on my 3DMark06 version with my setup below.. this is a Sapphire X1950GT... sapphire has gone from a cheapo worthless brand to a good replacement for the high priced alternatives... I am very happy with my X1950GT from Sapphire

I will run the 3DMark03 later to see what I get on it.

[robodude666]

Originally Posted by screwballl

I got ~4900 on my 3DMark06 version with my setup below.. this is a Sapphire X1950GT... sapphire has gone from a cheapo worthless brand to a good replacement for the high priced alternatives... I am very happy with my X1950GT from Sapphire

I will run the 3DMark03 later to see what I get on it.

Thanks for the scores mate :)

[screwballl]

ok with my setup in my sig:
3DMark06 = around 4900
3DMark05 = 8703
3DMark03 = 14596

edited and added 3DMark03 score

[JCLW]

So, did you get one?

[robodude666]

Originally Posted by JCLW

So, did you get one?

Thanks for asking mate! I ended up going with the HIS x1950PRO for $184.99!! I added it to my cart when it was $200 and when I went to order, I was surprised it dropped $15! I ordered on tue and I should get my hardware tomorrow! I will make a thread later and post pictures of my new rig!!