help - upgrade time

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CguLL

It's that time again. Looking for a value upgrade for my tier 2 PC and
I'd prefer to go ATI.

But I admit to being more than a little confused with the plethora of
deliberate pricepoint segmentation offerings. Price wise, I have opted
for something around the 1600Pro or 1650Pro with 256MB of DDR2 in
PCI-e as the performance pricepoint datum to determine from.

So here's my dilemma/question.

The 16X0Pros only have a 128 bit memory bus and (800MHz) DDR2 in the
price range under consideration. Reading Tom's hardware, it reports
the older slower cored X800GTO (even if non-16 pipeline activatible)
with 256MB of slower DDR, but which has a 256bit memory bus as still a
real world performance slayer of either of those 16X0Pros. Is this
so????

Now for about the same price as either of those 16X0Pros,
alternatively I can pick up either a cheapie brand (Palit) legacy
X800GTO, _or_ for $15 more, a GeCube X850Pro, but with 256Mb of much
faster DDR3 on a 256bit mem bus. I do understand the X8x0's lack SM3
and HDL.

Now if I understand correctly, whilst the core of the X850Pro is
different from the X800GTO, the former is more overclockable (ATI
tool) friendly (stable), and of course, has much faster DDR3 vs DDR?

The card will be going into a 939 ATI 200P chipsetted MSI mobo driven
by an A64 3200 & 1GB of dual chanel Geil DDR400. It might get a faster
CPU upgrade sometime.

Nothing really FPS bleeding edge in the games I want to play. Hardest
hitting range of games raising the question of "adequate performance"
to play on that PC would be:
- Warhammer 40k, + Winter Assault/Dark Crusade add-ons;
- Company of Heroes;
- Supreme Commander (when released)
- Day of Defeat Source
- Counterstrike Source

If budget restricted to choosing from one of the 4 graphics card
choices mentioned above, which would you choose? PS: Would only be
required to drive at 1024x1028 or 1024x968. (19" CRT & 19" LCD native)

1. X1600PRO
2. X1650PRO
3. X800GTO (assuming non-unlockable to 16 & restricted to 12
pipelines)
4. X850PRO
5. none of the above

Thanks in advance for any assistance rendered.
 
Nothing really FPS bleeding edge in the games I want to play. Hardest
hitting range of games raising the question of "adequate performance"
to play on that PC would be:
- Warhammer 40k, + Winter Assault/Dark Crusade add-ons;
- Company of Heroes;
- Supreme Commander (when released)
- Day of Defeat Source
- Counterstrike Source

If budget restricted to choosing from one of the 4 graphics card
choices mentioned above, which would you choose? PS: Would only be
required to drive at 1024x1028 or 1024x968. (19" CRT & 19" LCD native)

1. X1600PRO
2. X1650PRO
3. X800GTO (assuming non-unlockable to 16 & restricted to 12
pipelines)
4. X850PRO
5. none of the above

Thanks in advance for any assistance rendered.
Click to expand...

Well all was going OK tell you said you wanted to be able to play Supreme
Commander, and Company of Heroes. Both of these games are taxing on even a
high end rig, at lest we do know the COH is, and you can bet SC is going to
need a hell of a rig to run with all the stuff going on at once.
So I suggest you go with the best card you can get for the $. The X850Pro is
still a great card, but it does lack S3 support, but you know that already.
So how much is your budget for a new card?
If you do plan on upgrading the rest of your system, you might want to look
at what I have which is the x1900xt (256) 256MB vs 512 in the original
1900xt making it around $100 cheaper. It's coming down in price, I picked
mine up for $259, but I'm sure you can find it cheaper. This card will smoke
just about any card out there, except the new Nvidia DX10 cards. I think
you'll enjoy the extra power of this card when it comes time to play SC!!
JLC
 
So I suggest you go with the best card you can get for the $. The X850Pro is
still a great card, but it does lack S3 support, but you know that already.
So how much is your budget for a new card?
Click to expand...

Hi, and thanks for taking the time to reply in the detail you did JLC.
I appreciate it greatly.

I'd twigged Company of Heroes was a bit of an ask from the little I've
gleaned reading about it. Haven't got it yet BTW. Still waiting on a
M8 who works with THQ to furnish me with a promised promo copy. His
office is OOS at the moment as everyone else has hit the promo bin for
their Xmas gift list. :)

Supreme Commander...hmmm..will see. I was around when Chris T released
TA in Sept '97, and although it was a RAM and CPU glutton, it wasn't
too big a hit on the GPU as I recall. Suppose we'll see. Whilst I
appreciate eye candy, it's never assumed a priority over gameplay with
me, so I'm happy enough to turn off candy features if required for
smooth play. Hell, I still reckon even the original TA and TA:K
graphics look good! :)

No upgrading of the system in the immediate future. This is a 2ndary
PC rebuild, (ie: it's being upgraded now) and I'm happy to at this
pricepoint performance tier with it until the gruntier stuff falls
through the segments. ie: everything new becomes old...and cheaper.
Right now, I have to grudge buy a new card for it though because it's
a new PCIe mobo. Old mobo - gone - was AGP.

The cards mentioned in my first post are all around the same
pricepoint, and that's my max spend target. Already spending more than
I want in compromise for respectable performance. Won't be seduced to
spend more to have the latest/fastest/most BLING/LAN frame rate
bragging rights. Been there, done that, had the t-shirt. Now I'd
rather just have the money I wasted so many times on the t-shirt!! :)
I keep a pair of ...ooooohhh <smiles> now worthless whopping 12MB,
...or was that 16MB, 3dfx Voodoo 2 Quantum Obsidian PCI cards which I
had SLI'd to remind me of my idiotic impetuosity of the past. Quake 2
certainly performed impressively on them in its day though. Now
they're just very expensive landfill...apologies for the digression.

Nope, my choice is pretty much limited to the cards mentioned or
another at a similar pricepoint. Personally I favour the X850 with a
256MB membus and its faster DDR3, but I'm open to knowledge and
suggestion from those more in touch with contemporary gaming
requirements than myself.

X19X0s are still an arm and a leg over here..well, more than my
graphics adapter budget extends to these days. I'll pick one up
sometime in future once they fall through the pricepoint segmentation.
Only have to look back and see what a vanilla X800 cost 18 months ago.
I like today's price on the 800GTO or 850 better. :) I'll make do
under sufference in the interim.

Cheers...
 
Just to give you an idea....My old system (P4 2.8GHz, X850 Pro, 1G memory)
ran CoH at 1280x1024 like butter with most graphic options set to "high or
medium." The only time it momentarily slowed down was when I used massive
off-map artilery support.
 
Just to give you an idea....My old system (P4 2.8GHz, X850 Pro, 1G memory)
ran CoH at 1280x1024 like butter with most graphic options set to "high or
medium."
Click to expand...

Thanks. Thats assists. That level of performance/playability will
satisfy me for the next 18 months until the X1950XT et al become
'old'.
 
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